Dev phones available!

JesusFreke · Dec 6, 2008

Google announced that they're making unlocked developer phones available. No sim lock, unlocked bootloader and all that.

http://code.google.com/android/dev-devices.html

$399 + $25 dev registration fee, with free shipping.

Oh, and check out the back cover

http://android.brightstarcorp.com/images/placeholders/dev3.jpg

Koush · Dec 6, 2008

Awesome! I am assuming Google will be doing separate OTA updates for the dev phones. That will be nice to have as well for existing rooted phones.

jashsu · Dec 6, 2008

About time!

You can use any SIM in the device and can flash custom Android builds that will work with the unlocked bootloader. Unlike the bootloader on retail devices, the bootloader on the Android Dev Phone 1 does not enforce signed system images.

Are they referring to the htc bootloader?

unknown.soul · Dec 6, 2008

Is it possible to extract the data from these phones and use them on non-dev phones? Or am I asking a stupid question?

JesusFreke · Dec 6, 2008

Yes. Per swetland on freenode/#android, it has the htc engineering bootloader.

JesusFreke · Dec 6, 2008

unknown.soul said:
Is it possible to extract the data from these phones and use them on non-dev phones? Or am I asking a stupid question?

Possibly.. we'll have to wait and see

rb2k · Dec 6, 2008

I’d be really interested in where they’ll ship the handsets from…
The price is good, but if they ship it from the US, I’d have to pay VAT (19%), import taxes and shipping which would result in the package being 100$+ more expensive :-/
If they'd be able to ship them from inside the EU on the other hand, I'd immediately order one

funbacon · Dec 6, 2008

Can I order one. I'm from Vietnam.
Who have G1 dev version please write a review, I want to know about battery life

hetaldp · Dec 6, 2008

at last what i was Emailing on Daily Basis.

Infact i was insisting them to release Developer Edition of Firmware

But they have come with Device

keatonreckard · Dec 6, 2008

this is sweet...im gonna try to sell my current g1 and buy the dev one.

bhang · Dec 6, 2008

I buy the cover from a struggling dev

I'd give 25$ +shipping for that back cover with that funky bullsh1t on the back, looks 'leet
and donate sumthin to a dev, id also offer mine to replace...

its kinda just a joke but if anybody wants to take me up on it when they get one of these badboys, with the recent nand dump, we can now just dump the bootloader on the make nicenice with the devs phone and repalce our stock boot with it and whammo, RUN ANYTHING? and flash it to the handset, debian, ubuntu mobile, WM, even custom android could I say "distrubutions?

wholly open source tmobile , BatMan... If Im wrong please let me know but this seems like goog or andy or whomever is sympathetic to the plight of the enslaved tmobile G1s

bhang

CleverJake37 · Dec 7, 2008

This is in google's best interest. They want android to be a success, and in order to do that, atleast the most effective way to do that, is to give devolpers the most open of a door as possible to the system.
The big stick-in-the-mud as far as root goes has always been t-mobile. telcoms don't want people to have full control of their device.

The only thing surprising about this to me is that they didn't introduce the g1 with this edition as well.

=]

card13 · Dec 7, 2008

Well I can safely say, t-mobile employees aren't trained well enough, and they basically said that there is no way to updrade or downgrade firmware's, and rc 30 was "perfect", litterally.

korndub · Dec 7, 2008

well....not all t-mobile employees...

im a t-mobile employee, and from my experiences since september 23, have been that most of the people around me know their way around the device from a retail consumer standpoint. you cant assume that general customer care or even tier 1 tech support knows as much as the people that read/post here.

just looking out for my collegues....

CleverJake37 · Dec 7, 2008

card13 said:
Well I can safely say, t-mobile employees aren't trained well enough, and they basically said that there is no way to updrade or downgrade firmware's, and rc 30 was "perfect", litterally.

well, I don't fully agree. There are a number of employees that should be deemed legally retarded, but just because they are a t-mobile employee doesnt mean they should know how to work the phone. From a t-mobile standpoint, the rc-30 is the perfect (for now) as its a non-root that has no known security holes, htc I doubt would care one way or the other, and google would probably prefer completely open hardware (see the dev phones).
What would you want to know from a t-mobile employee about this phone that they can't answer?

You have to remeber, they don't design the phone, they don't hack the phone, they just sell airtime. So they have no reason to know alot of things that we find out, since they don't attempt to.

card13 · Dec 7, 2008

That is true I work in cs for VZW, I should probably have rephrased that the tier 2 tech ppl, especially the g1 support line have no clue how to work the g1. And the PDA/Smartphone tier 2 ppl say it's "perfect", and also have no clue how to work it, either. I called litterally everyone I could find a contact for to find a way to downgrade from RC30. HTC got mad and gave the # for cs at t-mobile. Google sent me to google.com/support. G1 suport sent me to HTC and PDA/Smartphone support, or told me they had no clue.

neoobs · Dec 7, 2008

card13 said:
That is true I work in cs for VZW, I should probably have rephrased that the tier 2 tech ppl, especially the g1 support line have no clue how to work the g1. And the PDA/Smartphone tier 2 ppl say it's "perfect", and also have no clue how to work it, either. I called litterally everyone I could find a contact for to find a way to downgrade from RC30. HTC got mad and gave the # for cs at t-mobile. Google sent me to google.com/support. G1 suport sent me to HTC and PDA/Smartphone support, or told me they had no clue.

So you have one small problem... Tell me something since you say you work cs at VZW... do you think anyone at your company would tell you how even if you could? Do you really think they would handle any support about how to upgrade or downgrade software on any of their smartphones? Last I checked VZW was the worst when it comes to smart phones by locking out GPS and other functions unless you pay, and only allowing their phones on the network.

So far when I have called up I have got nothing but good results. Even if the problem couldn't be completely fixed over the phone they have always compensated me (I got about 40 dollars off my next bill)

And yea their CS department can't do much on the tech side... but I have gotten to Tier 3 numerous times on other devices and always been satisfied.

card13 · Dec 7, 2008

neoobs said:
So you have one small problem... Tell me something since you say you work cs at VZW... do you think anyone at your company would tell you how even if you could? Do you really think they would handle any support about how to upgrade or downgrade software on any of their smartphones? Last I checked VZW was the worst when it comes to smart phones by locking out GPS and other functions unless you pay, and only allowing their phones on the network.

So far when I have called up I have got nothing but good results. Even if the problem couldn't be completely fixed over the phone they have always compensated me (I got about 40 dollars off my next bill)

And yea their CS department can't do much on the tech side... but I have gotten to Tier 3 numerous times on other devices and always been satisfied.

I don't care, I tell ppl what they need to hear not what they want to hear, yes I tell them things that aren't official. And I tell them google is their friend. Since I'm flex pay, they dn't care about keeping me there, I've been on my own acct since the G1 came out, that's the whole reason I switched from the Iphone. That thing about the GPS is only true on regular phones, the PDA/Smartphones/Blackberry's are a whole diff story. I'm also quitting that job soon, due to me being tired of screwing ppl oer the phone.

JesusFreke · Dec 7, 2008

Woo! I've ordered my dev phone. Now I need to get rid of my G1. Luckily I can still take it back to t-mob for a refund (tomorrow is the last day though). I thought I would offer it to you guys first though. It's unlocked and has modified RC30 of course. I'll let it go for $400, including free shipping. If no-one says they want it by tomorrow at noon, it's going back to t-mobile. I'll even sign it if you want

Update: taken back to the t-mobile store. got a full refund, no restocking fee or anything. So I'll only be out about $20-25 for the dev phone.. got $430 back for the G1 and $455 for the dev phone ($400 + $25 market fee + $30 tax)

rb2k · Dec 7, 2008

does anybody know if the credit card address can be different from the shipping address?
I'd love to be able to use the reasonable "free" shipping to the US and have a friend bring it over on his next visit to germany

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