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According to Pocket-Lint, a T-Mobile spokesperson has said that the company, “will be offering G1 users the firmware update in April,” referring to the now infamous Cupcake Development Branch we told you about in December. Among the most treasured of additional features is the on-screen keyboard the G1 is so desperately needing at the moment.
Also onboard will be video recording, voice recording, stereo bluetooth and the ability to save MMS attachments. This is no surprise considering that the all-touch HTC Magic is launching in April and would therefore REQUIRE the onscreen keyboard that Cupcake promises. However T-Mobile was unwilling to link themselves to the Vodafone bound Magic:
“We can’t say whether this will be connected with the launch of the HTC Magic as we aren’t aware of what alternations if any they are making to the operating system”.
It looks like April is going to be a very good month for Android… so long as we aren’t getting April Fooled.
Sounds great, I’m most looking forward to the new bluetooth profiles. I bought the G1 FOR the hardware kb, so I don’t care so much that it’s lacking a soft kb.
As for MMS attachments, I’ve been able to save those since the RC33 update. Just long press in the message (outside of the actual attachment) and a menu pops up allowing you to copy it to SD. Is this something different from what was referred to in the article?
we’ve heard this before. i’ll wait for it happen before i get overly excited.
I’ve been waiting for the stereo bluetooth support! I used that a lot on my Nokia N95.
what about battery life?!!!
I also wait before buying an android phone for the A2DP support. I also use it every day in the car for streaming internetradio over bluetooth to my carradio.
I think till that is finaly out, i can get the new android phone from HTC with the 5MP cam(have been talked about on the cebit).
Please! Another dissapointing cupcake update. Need flash. Need to save app on sdcard with out rooting the phone.
I hope this release also marks some announcements for certain carriers, and their, ahem, new Android handsets (Sprint, I’m looking at you).
I know I for one prefer the hardware keyboard. I’ve been using ChompSMS and just don’t like the keyboard. Same with Steel. 2 other friends interested in G1’s I showed them the Magic but informed them it’s touch keyboard only. I let them try the touch screen first and then the hardware one. Everyone I have talked to said hands down they like the hardware one. So why is this so vital to have touchscreen?
Having it built in IF I chose to use it, well why the heck not. But considering that it’s just far easier to type with a hardware one, who would prefer a touch to that? Everyone I spoke to said they will buy G1 versus the Magic just for the keyboard. I have to agree with them but wanted them to make their own choices of course.
I miss A2DP so much. I love my hard kb.
The kb was what made me choose the Android over the iPhone, but I’ll be glad to have the virtual option. Now, when are they going to fix the battery life?
I will believe it when I see it!
Wow. “now infamous”? “desperately needing”? That’s a little harsh.
Again? probably April fools day…
Agree with “namo”.Without flash,regular email is about as frustrating as it gets!Having to open and close each attachment one by one?ctfo!!
I just want them to come out with a battery, same size as the one that originally comes with the G1, that has long life..I bought the extended battery, but its kinda bulky and the battery door it come with looks and feels so cheap.
Hopefully they fix this soon :)
People have been waiting for nearly for months for a stupid ass on-screen keyboard that a nine year old child can make. These dev’s plus HTC, Android and tmobile have fooled the public in to buying a device with software no where near completion. Amazing how Iphone came out and whatever bugs it had were fixed quickly, on top of everything the whole “open source idea” is a load of bullshit. This OS has just as many restrictions as the Iphone. Dont be fooled either as “Cupcake” will likly never even be released for the G1. Just saying, dont get your hopes up!
Oh another thing people, HTC Magic will only be released in Europe, leaving the U.S stuck with this BEHEMOTH called the G1 till god knows when.
Jon po, you sound like an unhappy fella. Chill out man.
What’s your problem with open source? Interested in hearing your actual issues with it all.
We’ve developed for iphone, nokia and android and as a developer its clear to us that android is a much better platform and is coming along very nicely. Early days yet too.
Just interested in hearing what your problems with the platform are that make u say those things, or is it just a general dislike you have? Believe me, as a developer the open adroid os is far less restricting than when we developed for iphone. As an owner of iphone and g1 I know which I prefer, both as a user and developer.
We develope bespoke apps for companies in the uk and as soon as g1 became available we not had a single client ask for iphone over it. So some people must be happy.
G
Tinylion development uk
Jon po you do sound a bit disgruntled… I too have issues with the G1 but as the first android phone it is pretty good. At least we won’t be “appled” into buying a whole new phone for updates, the new purchase will be our choice.
I also spoke with a T-Mobile rep who indicated that although the “main parts” of cupcake would make it to the g1 that the operating menu wasn’t large enough for all. He stated everything in this article except when I asked about stereo bluetooth. He could not confirm it.
He did however also inform me that flash was coming avail late march.
Although the G1 doesn’t do what my windows mobile did, it has other features and is quickly gaining the others.
In the previous comment I meant operating memory not menu.
Wow the ppl who are all like zomg 9 year old coulda wrote it, and iphone has all it’s bugs etc etc… open source isn’t bull shit.. it’s a great concept…
just a big bunch of haters…
Yeah, flash by end of March, Jim H? Sounds like the same crap they fed us about flash being available in January. Look, Adobe itself has said NO FLASH FOR ANDROID UNTIL IPHONE GETS IT BECAUSE IT IS IN THEIR CONTRACT WITH APPLE AND WE WON’T SEE OFFICIAL FLASH SUPPORT UNTIL END OF 2009.
Why do you say we get flash at end of this month when everyone in the actual companies say no? This is the kind of stupid rumor crap that makes the Android community look like a bunch of whiny 12 year olds sitting at their pc’s with cum stains on their blankets and half empty bottles of Coke strewn around their desks…
Come at me with some real info next time. If I sound hostile it is because Google, HTC, and Adobe have turned a brilliant idea with so much potential into a “Why the frack did they do it this way..?” debacle.
FIX THE BATTERY LIFE PROBLEM. Until that is remedied I can’t get excited about anything.
People. Quit crying about the battery. If you turn off some of the features on the phone when not in use, namely 3G, GPS, wifi, bluetooth, and dim the screen, you will have decent battery life. All of these features are battery hogs. I have heard that 3G phones have bad battery life in general. And I couldn’t leave the wifi on my MDA on all the time. So what makes you think that the G1 is any different. The battery has a lot of stuff drawing on it. Learn how to manage those things, and battery life will increase greatly.
Jeez why is everyone hatin on the battery life? Ever since i downloaded the battery app(duh) mines been great, i can usually go 2 even 3 days without charging it and it works fine. The only thing I’m really looking forward to is the virtual keyboard, trying to text and drive or text in class is just about impossible with having to open it out completely. I’ve downloaded just about every one i can on the market and the only one that has any promise is the droidsans virtual keyboard, if they just make that the keyboard and put the existing messagin format above it, i’ll be uber happy
I have all the stuff turned on and my battery life is fine!! There is a book that several Android Developers need to read about how to properly code your application and how to think about programming it for power consumption. I have found that a few apps just suck the life out of the phone, and those get a 1 star rating and uninstalled as soon as I come across them. I urge anyone else to do the same. So April is almost gone where is this infamous Cupcake? :)
Cheers!
Well, its May… Where is cupcake?