How would you change the T-Mobile G1?

The T-Mobile G1, the world's very first commercially available Android-based handset, ushered in a new era of mobile computing when it launched earlier this year. The long-awaited Googlephone had finally come to fruition, and it managed to warm the hearts of just about everyone that touched it. But like any phone, it wasn't without its flaws, some of which are still being worked out today. For those of you who decided to pull the trigger, you've had the past few months to see how it stacks up. The question is, how does it stack up? What are you hoping for in the next firmware update? Are you completely satisfied with the hardware? Are you longing for a capacitive touchscreen and and a slightly less noticeable chin? It's okay to criticize your dear G1 -- it's all in the name of love, after all.

[johnkzin Posted Dec 21st 2008 2:08PM]

1) move the charging port to the side of the chin (near the red button) so the charging/data/headset cord doesn't stick into your hand while you're trying txt.

2) dpad instead of trackball

3) 3.5mm jack on the top

4) about twice the battery life

5) bigger screen (and yes, thus a bigger device) ... for me, I'd be ok with something with a screen the size of an N810's screen and resolution, but still shaped like the G1, exact same keyboard feel and layout (best I've used on any mobile device so far)

6) tilt screen, if possible

7) (more android than G1, but still a change I'd want) -- tethering -- Wifi, BT DUN, BT PAN, _and_ (not or) USB ... with cradlepoint router compatibility on the USB tethering.

8) Maybe make the chin symmetrical (ie. a second chin at the top of the device, sort of like the layout of that new AT&T phone, or a sidekick slide)... which would make for a straight slide instead of an arc slide, but would also make the device more solid, I think.

9) another "more android than G1" -- enhance the Android Google Reader experience: a) at the top of the page, list total unread messages; b) allow keyboard shortcuts; c) allow tag adding/editing

10) another "more android than G1" -- enhance the Android Gmail experience: add label and filter creation/editing to the gmail app

11) another "more android than G1" -- enhance the Android Google Sync experience: a SyncML client for Calendar, Contacts, and Bookmarks

Everything else, I'd leave exactly the same.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 21st 2008 6:25PM]

Need outlook support
get rid of the small bar at the bottom which has the call, home, end keys.
Make those soft keys on the touch screen itself
regular/worldwide 2100 Mhz 3G band

[BoBoTheChimp Posted Dec 22nd 2008 10:55AM]

Better battery (I have to charge the damn thing at least 2-3 times a day) and not neccesarily the phone, but for the love of God, T-mobile bring 3G to the Hampton Roads area! Other than that I love my G1.

[BoBoTheChimp Posted Dec 22nd 2008 10:57AM]

BTW- The Mario app is the best damn thing ever. There is nothing like jumping around making jump noises at a party!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:23PM]

I love my G1 and it only needs minor changes.

-Ability to save Sent Images through text messages.
-Better Battery Life


and thats pretty much it.

[ocdavid Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:07PM]

1. FLASH support

2. Let apps be installed to the memory card

3. Have smoother scrolling in the SMS/MMS list

4. Better Memory Management

5. Longer battery life

6. Slightly larger screen (10-20% larger)

7. Allow for more control over notifications. (i.e. Allow SMS to have an audible ring but no status bar notification, or vice versa)

8. Auto rotate using the accelerometer instead of basing it on the keyboard being open or not throughout the OS

9. Allow for desktop widget creation

10. Native video support with standard codec support (divx,xvid,etc...)

11. 3.5" stereo jack

12. Multi Touch

13. Ability to change screen timeout when on a phone call

14. On Screen Keyboard in both portrait and landscape

15. Certain buttons on the home screen would be dynamic, like the calendar button would actually show the date of that day, the messaging button would show how many unread messages, and the Gmail/Mail buttons would show how many new/unread messages existed.

16. Show battery charge status when you plug in the charger (Like in the original software release)

17. UMA Support

18. Eliminate the horrible shutter delay for the camera

19. A solid way to close an app, since some apps keep running whether you want them to or not until you reboot.

20. Haptic feedback used throughout the OS. Games by Gamevil have integrated it already.

21. Ability to adjust trackball sensitivity

22. Internal memory of 1GB+ for smoother OS and app operation

23. Data Tethering

24. More robust Contacts GUI (company name, categories/labels)

25. Calendar Search

26. Allow for data storage (such as browser cache and app data) to be saved on the memory card instead of on the limited internal memory.

27. Cut/Copy/Paste all or selected text throughout the OS, browser, and apps

28. Good PDF Support integrated

29. Google Docs

30. Better keyboard lighting

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 5:06PM]

I cant believe noone has mentioned crysis yet... its almost a travesty.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 8:03PM]

One thing. Display font size management. Many people is using Blackeberry phones just to be able to read what's on the display. Older you are, bigger the issue..

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 23rd 2008 3:08PM]

Question
Network cood
fot g1 new
thanks

[adamzfun Posted Dec 24th 2008 12:43AM]

Well here are a few things I think need to be changed immediately. This is not a revolutionary list, like the genius who made the photoshop mockups (Dude, you should keep that to yourself and start manufacturing your own handset. lol)

1. A Video player that actually plays videos. I do not want to watch Youtube very often. I want to put movies on my memory card and I always have problems with codecs. Sometimes I get audio only, sometimes video only.

2. The email big. This is the most annoying thing no one seems to be able to fix. If you click any email link in a webpage that has a subject header attached in HTML, the G1 changes the email address to be @gmail.com no matter what the real extension is. Go to craigslist for example and try to answer a job listing and it will change [e-mail] to [e-mail]. This bug is just insanity and its something my 8th grade pascal teacher would have failed us for. Google should be able to program better than this.

3. The scroll wheel thingy is insane too. It has a mind of its own and really obeys no real rules of logic. People who have used the phone may know what I mean. It jumps to random places and sometimes you click a link and nothing happens. This is too hard to explain, its just bad.

4. A better battery. Hell the case is huge you could double the battery size.

5. My earphones gave me an electric shock. And not just once. I have reported this to t mobile and they were like, oh well. Call HTC. Needless to say I bought new headphones.

6. Attachments! I cannot attach any files other than freakin pics to my emails. I wanna do business, send reports and read documents too. And you cannot upload anything.

7. A basic google docs/spreadsheet/powerpoint app. Come on, you're not going to let windows mobile kick your ass in this department, are you?

8. Virtual keyboard. I am sure its coming, they just didnt want to look like iPhone imitators out of the gate. But the qwerty is a great idea, but this first keyboard really sucks. Which leads me to:

9 Ergonomics redesign. You cannot pop open the keyboard and type while the headphones are plugged in. It blocks your right hand from holding the device well.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 25th 2008 4:22PM]

1. Bigger Screen

2. Better keyboard - keys being not so flush.

3. Chin not being so angled.

4. Camera to have flash and being quicker at taking pictures.

5. Virtual keyboard (which is on it's way anyway..)

6. Better battery.

7. 3.5mm headphone jack.

8. Video playing capability.

9. Flash for browser ( hopefully on its way)

10. Multi-touch

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 25th 2008 10:02PM]

This phone is awesome.

[ohmyggg Posted Dec 28th 2008 8:27PM]

Better battery

Better camera (especially in dealing with motion)

Faster CPU/more internal memory

More storage

3.5mm headphone jack

Sleeker/thinner design/more color options

Multi-touch

Better colors on keyboard so it's easier to read

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 31st 2008 3:27PM]

Make satellite-based GPS default to being on, and don't let it kill the battery that much. When the G1 was being hyped, I rather expected that GPS-based advertising was the whole point for Google -- I really wish it had been, because the most-used application on my winmo phone is Google Maps, and my only real complaint there is that it takes so long for it to initially get its coordinates.

If I open my phone and say "nearest McDonald's", I want it to show me a map from where I am to the closest one within 10 seconds. Why can't it do that? The internet connection is there and pretty much always on -- the bandwidth is high, and the latency is low. The app is started in just a couple of seconds (or already running). The only hold-up is the 30 seconds it takes while searching for GPS satellites.

Surely there's a compromise possible between the "update once per second" behavior needed for maps while driving and the "only update when I turn on GPS because I have to leave it off to save battery power" behavior!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 31st 2008 3:27PM]

I'd really love voicemail ON the phone, on the SD card. My old Sanyo used to do this great -- instead of sending callers to the carrier's voicemail, I could use the phone as an answering machine.

This made for some really great features that I used ALL the time.

1. I could screen calls, picking them up midstream if the voicemail sounded like something I wanted to address immediately. This always used to get some surprised reactions -- but it's a real time-saver.

2. I could speed up voicemails during playback. People leaving messages always talk too slowly!

3. I had "visual voicemail" without some pointless integration with the carrier's service -- the phone had all the messages, so there was no need for some special client/server protocol in the middle.

It'd certainly be nice if someone could bring that capability over to Android (and my winmo phone that I still use too :-) ).

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 1st 2009 12:39AM]

g2! duh

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 16th 2009 5:29PM]

I guess to make this phone better and to keep my business I need to stop saying and hearing that things are on their way. Make them happen!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 8th 2009 3:28PM]

I think this phone is cool on web browser,and every thing that's programed into it its that its kinda UGLY. next year pleas make a more cooler body.pice youngbroindahod hit it up

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 9th 2009 2:21AM]

I love my G1 Only thing is I can NEVER hear the little tones preset in the phone when I get a Notification other than the green light on the top. Can I make an MP3 It's Tone like I have Disturbia as my ringtone; but would love a different song for my tone please email if you know how to do this?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2009 2:25PM]

page 106 in the user's manual. I found the .pdf file on the support.t-mobile.com site. It tells ya all the crap you gotta do to change the notifications. I changed mine to Bruce Lee yelling!
That reminds me.
4) I wish you could assign contacts different notifications so you can prioritize them by ear!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2009 2:16PM]

I don't get the complaint about the "chin" Are people's clothes that freakin tight where it would matter?!. I would change only a few things.
1) ability to save texts.
2) flash support if possible
3) Easier way to delete or uninstall unwanted apps. Some people expect this smart phone to be wayyyyy too smart. I love it mostly the way it is.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 1st 2009 12:18PM]

I would use the duo memory chips so the internal memory and external memory could increase but still be fast or something.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2009 9:56AM]

and needs a flash for the camera and the camera is not perky it needs tweaking this phone has the understanding of multitasking but still not quite there one of us needs to assist with the os

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 18th 2009 10:17PM]

The only thing that I think is wrong about the G1 is that you cant create videos I think they should add that feature. I
dont have the G1 but overall the phone is great and i will be getting it when my contract is up.
T-MOBILE is great.