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Will The G1 Continue To Get One?

Aug 18, 2009  By Justin Ryan

One of the significant disadvantages of being an early adopter of any new technology is what comes after it, specifically, the improvements that every technology experiences over time. Such appears to be the case for those who rushed to pick up the G1 — the first Android phone on the market — as questions have begun to pop up over whether the device is in line to see its last update.

Like any device, the G1 has certain physical limitations — only so much stuff can fit in the case, and among the stuff being stuffed in is its memory. Apparently, according to one of Google's developers, not enough memory was stuffed when the stuffing was good, and now G1 owners may find themselves short on updates.

Posting via Twitter — the mass-communication tool of choice these days, it would seem — Google's Jean-Baptiste Queru announced on Friday that the G1 is running out of space. "As much as I'm hoping that it'll be possible to somehow continue updating the G1, I can't promise anything." Queru ought to know, considering that he's one of the guys working on it, and apparently the team knew going in that space would be shrinking. "We knew that internal flash space was going to be very tight on the G1 and we kept the system partition tight on purpose," he wrote later, in response to ideas from fellow Twitterites on how to proceed.

Google, for its part, apparently isn't commenting, but T-Mobile apparently was. A statement from the company reportedly proclaimed: "We plan to continue working with Google to introduce future software updates to the T-Mobile G1. Reports to the contrary are inaccurate." That raises the question — and users are most certainly already raising it — of whether the company is denying outright that a problem exists, if there is a solution in the works that nobody is willing to talk about, or if a bit of corporate doublespeak is underway. The suggestion has already been made that "future software updates" may refer to security and bugfix updates, but not feature upgrades.

Those interested in Queru's comments might wish to have a look through his Twitter stream, though his most recent tweet, as of this writing, suggests that he's said his piece. "At this point I can't comment any further on this issue, sorry."
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Justin Ryan is News Editor for LinuxJournal.com.
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Justin Ryan is a Contributing Editor for Linux Journal.

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Root it

Russ35's picture
Submitted by Russ35 (not verified) on Fri, 08/28/2009 - 08:11.

If you just Root the G1 as per the instructions given on XDA Developers, or numerous other locations on the net you wont have to rely on updates from t-mobile or any other supplier.
There are a whole plethora of ROMS available with new ones coming out almost daily which already do over and above what the Stock G1 was supposed to be able to do i.e multitouch, senseui, apps2d, etc.
Yes is true to say that this is only for the techie's and the geeks out there(like myself), although not complicated to root and Flash the G1 with another ROM, the average user isnt at all interested in going through all this and indeed why would they? I think that android is still for the geeks at the moment, I personally love it but joe public just doesnt 'get it' and wont do until it becomes available in an 'iphone-esque' standard which anyone can just pick up and play with. The one downside with open-source is that its not standardised enough for the consumer market and I dont think that android will ever compete with Iphone on that note.

Cellphone carriers... Bah who needs them!

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 05:26.

Even if T-mobile will leaves the G1 in the dust, check out the work at xda developers, they'll show you how to teach an old new tricks.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=448

By the way they've tweaked the HTC Hero's ROM to fit on the G1 and a microSD card

Now that only leaves someone to sell it to the public.

Unavoidable

Rick's picture
Submitted by Rick (not verified) on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 16:12.

Fact is, with new devices getting more ROM, the pressure to add in new features, and pure one-upmanship from providers, it is inevitable that some Android release will not fit on the G1.

I don't think you can get 200MB free on a G1 any way at all, and I just had a myTouch in my hand with 277MB free, and running the apppack and eyecandy delivered out of the box.

If rooted G1s get any of these much later Android releases, it will be after they have been massaged to spin them into the available ROM and taken advantage of apps2sd etc to move cache and apps off the ROM. Which will get progressively harder until one day even the minimal system won't fit reliably.

I bought my G1 expecting it would last no longer than the upgrade period - 22 months in my case, which means around August 2010, unless TMO decides to do something clever.

And for those of you wondering why the myTouch gets all the love with accessories, bling, etc, well sadly that is a tale in both the market validation the G1 brought and the target market. G1 was pointed at geeks, early adopters, and the brave. myTouch is pointed at their little sisters.

Of course, this means I will sit down and work out rooting my phone. It's the only growth option now for anything beyond Cupcake.

ps- I wonder if Bluetooth is stronger in the myTouch...;)

what a bunch of tossers

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 13:01.

what a bunch of tossers

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