Evolution of Android

[Casey]

*****DISCLAIMER***** This thread will ONLY make sense to anyone already familiar with Google's Android OS - ie, anybody that has a T-Mobile G1 or HTC Magic phone. I know there's a few here, myself, Gotti, SOFI, Synful*Luv, linx! and maybe some more. *****

Anyway, this is supposedly a video tutorial for an upcoming build of Android that might be 2.0 Donut. (Currently we in Europe have 1.5 OS Cupcake whilst the US is still on 1.1 but getting 1.5 in the next 2 weeks)

It's possible that this might not be 2.0, but instead 1.5 with a refreshed UI from HTC. I believe there is a team of people with inside connections that have obtained this firmware and as we speak, are working on porting it to the G1. Anyway, here's the video.

[YOUTUBE]2B4u7P4L6qE[/YOUTUBE]

That is fucking sick. The widget placements - wow. All other mobile OS's can step the fuck back!!

 

[S O F I]

Yeah, looks sick.

Apparently they were supposed to roll out Cupcake in a week, now they're saying early June.

You have the upgrade already?

 

[Casey]

Yeah, looks sick.

Apparently they were supposed to roll out Cupcake in a week, now they're saying early June.

You have the upgrade already?

Yeah. I've had Cupcake for 2 weeks now. It's amazing. Watching all the videos and reading what it does doesn't compare to actually having it and checking it out for yourself. It makes day-to-day usage much more pleasant. The camcorder is a very welcome addition, the auto-rotate is very slick, and the virtual keyboard is very handy.

Best thing about it is the animations/transitions though. They're initally switched off, so after you get the update you have to enable them from the settings, but they make so much of a difference. I really wouldn't have thought they would make as much of a difference as they did, the whole experience is just more enjoyable now.

Anyway, once a few people get the update in the US and somebody shares the link to where it's located on Google's servers, you'll be able to flash the update manually. That's what I did.

If you're really impatient I'll give you the link to the UK build and you can flash that manually. Synful*Luv said she was considering doing that, and there's a bunch of US folks on the Android forums that have done that.

 

[ImmortalTech]

For the people that have already updated to Cupcake, what are some of he major differences you guys noticed?

oh and when are they coming out with Flash?

Oh and is it just me, or is bluetooth file transfer crippled on the g1?

 

[Synful*Luv]

I just set up my UK version of the Cupcake and it works GREAT!!! I'm missing a few features, but not enough for it to matter. And then I'll just manually install the US version when it comes out.


And yeah, although that looks great.. I'll get excited once the friggin Cupcake finally gets to the States!!!! lol

 

[Shadows]

Evolution of Android? WTF? :amazed:

What will Goku do now!?!

 

[Casey]

For the people that have already updated to Cupcake, what are some of he major differences you guys noticed?

oh and when are they coming out with Flash?

Oh and is it just me, or is bluetooth file transfer crippled on the g1?

Supposedly the next build, the one I posted the video of, has full Flash support. That's what I've been hearing.

As for cupcake, like I said, the main difference is the animations/transitions. Very, very cool. And the camcorder obviously. There are so many small bug fixes as well - I used to sometimes get a lag on 1.1 after pressing the Home button, I'd see the background but the icons would take 5-6 seconds to show up. That's fixed with Cupcake. And that's just one example. Oh yeah, the native apps. They're all a LOT better now. YouTube app is speedier, has more functions, and supports direct upload. GTalk is a million times better. I didn't use to use GTalk much on 1.1 because it would d/c me a lot and I'd lose chat history. That scarcely happens on 1.5 and now I use Gtalk every day, it's become my main IM client.

Widget support! How could I forget that. That's my favorite thing about Cupcake. There's more default widgets now including a music player widget and a calendar widget that displays upcoming events. There's also some AMAZING 3rd party widgets in the market now. Synful (and others with Cupcake), make sure to check out the Sticky Note widget from the market. It's freakin' awesome. There's also a money tracking app that has it's own widget now, so you can display your balance on the home screen, which is certainly coming in handy for me. I had an expenses tracking app before, but I'd often forget to go into it. Having the widget right on the home screen now rocks.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Bluetooth. I know Cupcake adds A2DP support for stereo bluetooth headsets. File transfer, well, Android doesn't currently have a native file management system, so that could be the reason. I don't really see it as being a big deal, but I know it's a problem for others.

Syn, glad you're enjoying the update!

 

[Prize Gotti]

Yeah Cupcake runs alot faster and smoother than before, only downside is the 3rd party apps in the market that havent been updated or updated properly, but thats the developers fault, not Androids.

Also, Power Manager App sometimes doesnt load. But again, I think that its nothing to do with Android.

I don't know if any one here uses StickAm.Com but if you do, get the Android App for it. Its buggy as hell, but at the same time very handy for me, as most of my StickAm buddies are American, so Im at work when they are online.

 

[Casey]

I think most of the apps have been updated now. I know all the ones I use have, and I have at least 80 apps installed. I haven't had any problems with Power Manager, Gotti.

 

[Synful*Luv]

I had to go back and redownload many apps. They had the "pre-cupcake" and the "cupcake" version. Whereas both worked, but the cupcake version ran much smoother.

 

[Flipmo]

I don't know much about the Android, but I'm thinking about getting the HTC Dream or HTC Magic which has it included obviously ...

Any suggestions about which is better? ...

also, what makes Android much better than anything from Apple?

 

[Prize Gotti]

I don't know much about the Android, but I'm thinking about getting the HTC Dream or HTC Magic which has it included obviously ...

Any suggestions about which is better? ...

also, what makes Android much better than anything from Apple?

As far as i am aware, Android is a Linux format, which is the easiest platform to develope for, as its completely open source, and Linux is the most stable platform aswell, as it isnt hardware dependant.

 

[Synful*Luv]

The HTC Dream is the same phone we're talking about. It's the G1 phone just marketed under a different name.

 

[Casey]

I don't know much about the Android, but I'm thinking about getting the HTC Dream or HTC Magic which has it included obviously ...

Any suggestions about which is better? ...

also, what makes Android much better than anything from Apple?

The Magic is basically the Dream without a keyboard. They both run the same OS and have basically the same hardware. Personally, I prefer the Dream/G1 because I like to have a physical keyboard, it gives you more options and options are always good.

Android is better than Apple's mobile OS because it's open source. Every part of the phone, software wise is replaceable. Even down to the core functions, if third party developers make better browsers, music players, dialers, contact apps - you are free to use those as the default, you aren't forced to use any native software if you don't want to, and because the whole platform is open, there are viable alternatives to everything depending on what suits your needs.

iPhones aren't true smartphones when it comes down to it, because they can't multitask. You have to exit out of one application before entering another, which kind of sucks IMO.

If you want true control over your phone and it's functionality and what you do with it, go with Android.

If you like being dictated to and not having options, shit - not even having a removable battery or external storage slot, get an iphone.

 

[Flipmo]

Thanks for the info Casey.

Android seems awesome, as for which phone to get... I'm still kinda torn between them both, but I'm leaning towards the G1, cause I'm a texter, and I hate most touchscreen keyboards.

 

[Casey]

This right here is exactly why Android is shitting on the competition.

[youtube]Ezr9LJrGJiU[/youtube]

I mean, are you fucking shitting me? Near perfect SNES emulation? So there'll soon be a day where I can play Zelda:Link To The Past, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World, Street Fighter Alpha 3 on my phone? Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

I already have perfect NES emulation, thanks to Nesoid which is in the market already. Now we're gonna get SNES (and apparently Genesis/Megadrive in the same app, so you can add Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, Toejam & Earl, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage to the above list).

Android > Everything

 

[Flipmo]

If you can get the old school Final Fantasy 3 (the best one) on there. I'm sold.

 

[Prize Gotti]

Toejam & Earl

lol remember when we played 2 player over the net?

 

[Casey]

lol remember when we played 2 player over the net?

Oh yeah LOL! Love that fucking game, too awesome.

 

[Casey]

SOFI, Synful*Luv, linx! and any other US users with a G1, here you go!

https://android.clients.google.com/updates/partner/signed-kila-ota-148830.de6a94ca.zip

That's the link to manually flash the Cupcake update. And yes, this is the full US version.

Here's what you do:

1. Download that file and rename it to update.zip
2. Put the file on your SD card.
3. Turn your phone off.
4. Turn your phone on by holding down the Home Button and then pressing the Power button. Keep holding down the Home button until you get to screen with a triangle.
5. Press Alt+L
6. Press Alt+S
7. Wait for the installation to finish, it will take a few minutes.
8. You're done! Enjoy cupcake!