LMAO, I downloaded this turned my G1 on and it says an update is available! Guess I don't have to wait or do the manual update ;p

awatt

@sototallycarl: I used a fake demo unit in a T-Mobile store yesterday, and I did notice the keys were rather low. I just wasn't sure if it was the same, considering the one I used was fake. Oh well, I'll most likely be staying with Verizon anyways.

Jagged Toaster

@Jagged Toaster: the buttons are a little low and take a while to get used to. sometimes you can't tell if you hit a key or not. other than that i love it. if you put the key click sound on low, its just enough to give feed back but not enough to annoy the crap out of you or surrounding people.

sototallycarl

The keyboard is 50/50 for me. Its a good keyboard, but not as good as sidekick's. The buttons don't have as much feedback when you press them but I've gotten use to it and it works fine.

Personally I enjoy the G1 a lot more than I enjoyed my 1st gen iPhone. The not having to jail break it is one thing I really enjoy, also the sound quality from the G1 is the best I've heard. Down side being that you need that stupid adapter to use normal headphones.

I wouldn't suggest changing carriers for the G1, but if anyone's on T-mo it's the best phone on the network right now.

Technogen

To those of you who own a G1: how is the QWERTY keyboard? It's the one question I have that is still keeping me back from buying one.

Jagged Toaster

Because installing firmware that is not officially supported yet on your smartphone has never ever ever gone wrong.

OMG! Ponies!

@OMG! Ponies!: When I worked at the Apple Store, we got a hold of the iPhone 2.0 software early, and installed it manually on some of the personal devices...bad idea.

armydrummer

G1 users. How is your battery life?

I used this phone in the store and was really impressed. But i'm concerned about reports of bad battery life and i don't want to be stuck on a two year contract when a new android phone comes out. I tell you a Touch Pro w/ a normal headphone jack and android would have been stupendous. But anyways hows the battery?

diamonddnice

Worked for me. Rock solid and easy as can be. After you hit the reboot keys it will show an image of a microchip. Don't freak out. Also, It will hang at the Android logo for a min or so. AGAIN don't freak out. Just wait.

NOTE- Will not work with SD card that came with phone.

amreason

@Jagged Toaster: @Jagged Toaster: @Jagged Toaster: For the most part, I agree with the other replies. The keys are shallow (to keep the phone thin), and have very little travel (distance traveled from press to depress). The one thing I would add, is that I type about 2x as fast on the G1 as I do on the iPhone, so for all the complaints about shallow keys, its still a mile ahead of the iPhones virtual keyboard.

SuchetaByblis

Weird, I got my RC29 upgrade straight from T-mobile yesterday.

phi

Worked like a charm!!!!

digitalrio

@Jagged Toaster: The QWERTY is really good. I came from a Moto Q and have had my share of virtual keyboard typing on iPhones, Archos, and other such devices. The keyboard on the G1 is the best so far. I don't know why people want to add a virtual keyboard to the G1, but I guess the android software may eventually have one to support phones that don't have a physical keyboard.

MaxRC

@diamonddnice:
Well, I think it's fair. The battery drained out rather quickly when I first got it, probably because I was excited and wanted to try out different things with the phone. I was getting about 2:30 hrs of continuous use before the batt droped below 20%.

After a week though, things are settling down and I'm getting farily decent battery results. Now the battery lasts 1 whole day with regular email checkups and some 10-20 min of talk time.

One thing I noticed though, after I went through 1 full charge-cycle (drained below 10%) the battery seems to last longer. Also the battery drops down from 100 to 80% quickly, but then between 80% to 30%, battery seems to drain not as quickly.

Anyway, having said that, I still feel that the phone still needs some tweaking. If you are so-so about android, then I'd suggest you to wait a few months and see how things play out.

ywpark

I just want to know if the back of the phone says "beta" like everything else that is google branded.

fosphen

@diamonddnice: Define good battery life - it depends on what you do. In my limited experience it will last a day on a charge but I have no idea how long other devices in this class will last.

aurispector

@Jagged Toaster:
I have a G1 and I came from the stone-age of the t9 flip phones. So while I have no other mobile keyboard reference to compare against, I find my typing is pretty speedy and have few mistakes. I will note that the keys feel "soft", but not quite mushy... if that makes sense.

rockanon

@fosphen:
Android isn't beta. It's at 1.0 at the moment.

Bluesk1d

@diamonddnice: I just got mine a couple days ago, so I don't have the perspective of ywpark, but I'm pretty disappointed in the battery life. Especially with wifi enabled. Forget about keeping the GPS on when you're not using it! Even 3g is quite draining. I still haven't done a full discharge and recharge yet though. hoping that will help, but not expecting miracles.

ogoldberg