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Archive for August, 2009

Replace Audio Jack on 5th Gen iPod Video from Rebecca Maza on Vimeo.

My first video. Did you know YouTube only allows for videos under 10 minutes in length. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I could have cut my video down to about 5 minutes – first video – if I ever do another, I’ll be more time efficient.

Soon before the G1 was released at the end of 2008, I had my eye on it – waiting for the day I could get my short stubby fingers on it. The day came and Shadowslayer, Fox, and I all bought one. I’ve given it plenty of thought now and after having it for more than 6 months, I have a fairly good idea of what I like and what I don’t like about the G1.

After the cupcake firmware update the first thing we all noticed was improved battery life – definite win. Features like video recording and the ability to view html in email were also added. I love the Google Maps and GPS features. Google’s Latitude seems like a great tool but I haven’t really been able to use it very much. A lot of the applications and features on the G1 are social and interactive, so your friends all have to join in to get the full experience. When you setup your gmail account, you can sync all your phone and email contacts. You can even choose to only view those contacts with phone numbers in your contact list or view them all. The touch screen is great. Its a good size for any tasks on the phone including watching videos. My favorite part about the screen is that unlike the new MyTouch, it isn’t your only option for typing – G1 has a full QWERTY keyboard under the screen – WIN. On top of all of that, the G1 has 1000′s of applications, many of which are free.

Overall there’s a lot of potential in the G1 and with so much good, its shortfalls are minor. Some people seem to think the slight angle at the bottom of the phone is awkward when typing on the keyboard – but to be honest, you won’t even notice it after a few days. At launch there was no support for editing Microsoft Documents. As of right now, you can download Documents to Go from the Market for $19.99 and gain the ability to view, edit, and save MS Word and Excel docs. I like the camera on the G1 but have found that picture quality indoors is poor unless you have near daylight conditions. There is no flash for the camera. The G1 also lacks a standard audio jack for headphones. The app market is full of free apps, but only a handful of them are nifty apps. I’ve been disappointed to see that most of the apps are purely for entertainment, like the seemingly endless list of soundboards. I’d like to see more apps like Documents to Go that are aimed at making this a true Smartphone – one that professionals can utilize as well instead of just casual users. I think given some more time, more useful apps will appear on the market.

Some apps I use:
10001 Cocktails
chompSMS
Digital Clock
Dream
FaceBook
Flashlight
Labyrinth Lite
MySpace
Phonalyzer
PureRSS
Ringdroid
SnapPhoto
Pac Man
The Weather Channel
Throttle Copter
Tip Calculator
Toggle Wifi
Twidroid
WoW Realm Status