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Froyo Technically Possible on the G1, Still Not Likely to Receive Official Update

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At this point, I’d be surprised if anyone still thought that the ‘Godfather’ of Android devices – The T-Mobile G1 – had enough juice left in them to make Google want to aim their latest and greatest at it. While the Android team wishes the G1 could still keep up with the Joneses, they’ve formally stated that Froyo would never be officially adapted for the phone.

That doesn’t mean all hope is lost, however, as the Android team has also assured us that – thanks to the unaffiliated development scene – the G1 is still technically capable of running Android 2.2. Those who root their phones have probably become familiar with the Danger SPL: it’s a custom SPL that repartitions the phone’s flash memory so you’ll have more space to install bigger operating systems.

t-mobile-g1

The biggest problem with Froyo on the G1 seems to be the space, though, as the Android team told Android Police at the Fireside Chat that Froyo was built with the slower processors in mind (as we saw Google allude to when they announced that the JIT compiler would be implemented for Dalvik at Google I/O).

Google’s stated that if you do want Froyo, then you’ll need to be looking at developers like Cyanogen to cook up a solution for your antiquated (but still very capable) hardware. Whether or not Cyanogen takes up the challenge remains to be seen, but I think you owe it to yourself to start thinking about buying a new phone, at this point.

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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16 Comments

  1. Someone has made a port for the Eris..I’m sure it will happen eventually for the G1…I love Android:)

  2. [quote]Whether or not Cyanogen takes up the challenge remains to be seen, but I think you owe it to yourself to start thinking about buying a new phone, at this point.[/quote]

    I want to get a better phone than the G1.
    And I will buy it outright without extending my contract.
    But when is T-Mobile going to offer a better phone ?
    I’m still waiting for T-Mobile (not Google) to sell me a Nexus One.
    :-D

  3. “start thinking about buying a new phone”… unless you still have some time left in contract.

    Go Cyano!!

  4. I’m almost sure that we G1 owners will stuck with Android 1.6 forever, this is a price of buying prototypes ;-)
    For me bigger issue than lack of official builds for Android higher than 1.6 for G1 is lack of full Android Market in most countries. Still from Poland I can only install free apps, I cannot buy anything in Android Market because full Google Checkout isn’t availalbe in most of countries.

  5. Well, many of the G1’s are old enough that most people are pretty much set for a new contract by now or thereabouts.

    G1 came out in september 08! of course most android phones are more expensive now, but not all.

  6. “Whether or not Cyanogen takes up the challenge remains to be seen, but I think you owe it to yourself to start thinking about buying a new phone, at this point.”
    Us early adopters still got until October until our two year contract is up.

  7. As much as I would love to get a new phone, T-Mobile UK don’t exactly have the best range of phones.

    And I love my keyboard and don’t want to switch to a phone that doesn’t have one.

    So I’ll most likely be sticking with my G1 for a while, until T-Mobile UK pick up some good keyboard phones.

  8. Cyanogen will most likely get around to it. He will hit up N1/Droid/etc first though.

  9. Why can’t Google come out with a newer version of the G1? If there was a phone that came out like the evo with the same form factor of the G1 (Slideout Keyboard) then that phone would dominate other phones… Also, Google would have to sell it to all carriers! Or just AT&T.

  10. Cyanogen is going to do it based on his twitter update. And someones already ported it to the G1 in XDA. so all thats left is the fine tune ups. I do want a new phone, but my G1 is still kicking ass with 2.1 thanks to Cyanogen.

  11. Cyanogens CM5 for the G1 is using almost the exact same files as his nexus and droid variations (granted there are the resized images and some intensive apps like gallery 3D were removed). As soon as we get a leak of 2.2 for the nexus and we can get root access on it, 2.2 will be there for the G1. I want to expect a fully working 2.2 on the G1 in about a month lol. Cyanogen really is amazing, google should hire him he makes the best android sofware=p

  12. 2.1 runs great on my MyTouch. I’m 100% sure there will be a good 2.2 out in the next couple of months, and yes, of course I will be updating again. I have no complaints about the MyTouch. It’s hard to justify paying more for a phone, especially when you can get a used MyTouch for $50 and flash it to 2.1 right now!

  13. What about simply writing an app to allow tethering or hotspot under 1.6+ ?

  14. @sgt there is an app to allow tethering and hotspot under 1.5/6 you just have to have root

  15. Thank you, cyanogen, for porting 2.1 to MT3g. Now,I didn’t have to buy N1.
    B-))

  16. Thank you cyanogen! MT3G running 2.1 & loving it!!! B-))

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