Other features that the v2 version will include are: the absence of the chin that the current G1 has, making the design look more post-modern to compete with the iPhone look, and also a 5 megapixel camera!

The G1 v2 will be available from WalMart in October priced as $148 (with two year agreement).

What are your thoughts on the v2?

How Textecution Works
The way that Textecution can prevent you from texting while driving is by using the G1′s motion detection capability. Whenever the car is moving faster than 10 miles per hour, a message will appear on any of the G1′s texting applications stating that “You Are Moving Too Fast To Use This Application”, and not allow the user access to the specific texting application.

This is also a great application to install if you have teenagers that use G1s!

How To Get Textecution:
You can download it straight from Textecution’s main site.

What a great application to prevent a growing trend among the driving community!

The features of the “My Account” application include:

• Fees Summary
• Information on your current plan or other plans
• Summary of texts/minutes remaining
• Online bill payment from your G1

To download this application onto your G1, simply go to Android Market, and it is available under the “Tools” section. If anyone has already downloaded the app, please feel free to share any feedback/experience with “My Account.”

This a great video for viewing the different ways that the G1 can be used, and showing how user-friendly the different methods of the G1 are.

Interesting, right?

Well, it turns out that because the finishes of the black G1 and the “bronze” (brown) G1 are slightly different, and because of that, the owners of the black version were experiencing the creak because of a tiny offending ridge of plastic underneath the screen above the end/power button. The reason that the owners of the brown version weren’t getting the creaking noise is because the paint was a little smoother than the black version, as the black version is more of matte finish – causing more friction, which caused the creak.

Thanks to “TechGuru” over at the official T-Mobile Forums for diagnosing this and letting us know how to get rid of it!

Instructions on how to get rid of the infamous G1 creak:

I was certain it was the screen rubbing on the phone body. I diagnosed the problem using a very thin piece of paper…like a credit card receipt (super thin thermo-paper). I slid the paper in between where the screen bezel meets the phone body (above the menu key) and moved it back and forth and up and around the screen hinge, and that’s were I found the tight spot of the screen touching! …there’s a tiny ridge on the far left side that you can see if you hold the screen open (see picture) ~ half way. I believe this raised was intended to keep the screen from slamming into the phone body itself and preserve the case?! I didn’t care, I wanted the darn squeak to stop!

To modify the little nub/ridge, I first used a small object to hold the screen open slightly to give clear access to it. Then, I used an Exacto knife to cut the smallest sliver from the nub and PRESTO! No more creak!

My wife has the brown G1 and it does NOT make any squeaks or creaks, but I think its because the paint finish is glossy smooth while the black one has more of a matte or flat finish to it.

“The official word from T-Mobile is if your account has been active for 90 days, they’ll unlock the G1 for you, just like they would with any other phone.”

That’s from the good people at Gizmodo, who are quite the experts on the new G1 phone. Here is what T-Mobile said: (I believe it was over in the official T-Mobile Forums)

“T-Mobile branded phones operating on the T-Mobile network may only use T-Mobile SIM cards. To use a T-Mobile branded phone on another wireless carrier’s network with a non-T-Mobile SIM card, you must first request a “SIM Unlock” code from T-Mobile. Conversely, if you have a phone from another North American wireless carrier, you may need to request a “SIM Unlock” code from that carrier before being able to use a T-Mobile SIM card on the T-Mobile network.

* SIM Unlock Codes will only be provided after your account has been active for 90 days. Only one unlock code may be provided per customer every 90 days.”

Rumors say that within the next day or two, budding developers will release an unlocking application, which T-Mobile dare wouldn’t block or disable, as again, that would kind of defeat the purpose of the whole “open source” love fest. We will keep you updated, of course.

Legally Unlock Your G1 Phone Here!

The G1 Vs. iPhone

- The G1 has a Linux based open source Android mobile platform, the iPhone runs on the Mac OS X.

- G1 weighs in at 158 grams compared to 133 grams the iPhone weighs .

- Google’s G1 has a screen size of 3.2 inches against iPhone’s 3.5 inch screen.

- The G1 has a sliding QWERTY keyboard while the iPhone has an on screen virtual keyboard.

- G1′s camera is an impressive 3.2  mega pixels compared to the 2 mega pixel iPhone camera.

- The G1 uses the trackball for navigation compared to the multi-touch option provided by iPhone.

- While the Google’s G1 has been manufactured by HTC and is priced at $179 with a 2 year contract; the iPhone is made in-house by Apple and is price at $199/$299 for the 8GB/16GB models respectively.

- T-Mobile has been given the network responsibility for G1 and its just $70 per month for unlimited web, e-mail and text messaging while iPhone’s network is handled by AT&T and its priced at $90 for the same monthly service.

- The G1 also scores over the iPhone by providing 350 minutes of talk time over the 3G network compared to iPhone’s 300 minutes. But the iPhone beats G1 by about 200 more minutes in the 2G network, providing an impressive talk time of 600 minutes.

- In the standby time though the G1 emerges the winner in the 2G and 3G categories by providing a standby time of 319 and 402 hours respectively; against the iPhone’s fixed 300 hour standby time.

- G1 provides you with the option of purchasing songs through the Amazon store while the iPhone offers the iTunes store for the same.

- Headphone jack – The G1 also has a proprietary mini-USB plug while the iPhone has the standard 3.5mm stereo jack.

- You can  watch videos on the internet through YouTube on G1 while the iPhone offers both the YouTube and iTunes TV/Movies option.

- Lastly, while its possible to sync the G1 with your computer only wirelessly in opposition to the iPhones wired syncing in both Mac and PC through iTunes.

So you tell us – who wins?

Obviously both smartphones have a lot to offer, but we can’t help but wonder if the G1 is going to end up pwning the iphone someday soon. There really isn’t a whole lot of griping about the G1 like there was the iphone when it launched, with the exception of a few little things here and there, but then again, it’s only been out for around 48 hours now.

We’d love to hear your thoughts/arguements/rants – so get to writing below!

Don’t trip though, we love the G1, and like any other great product, it’s going to take time and in this crazy smartphone marketplace, it’s going to have to prove to thousands of “iphoners” and other fanboys that it has the guts to take the place of your (insert trendy, overpriced smartphone here).

I think Google, T-Mobile, and HTC are cool with that, and with the collective marketing resources (pockets) of the two, creating buzz and popularity probably won’t be a problems. There are already early reports of the Android OS kicking ass 6 ways from Sunday, so that’s always a good sign.

Anyway, if you’re a G1 holder, be on the lookout from today to the 31st for the first wave of G1 updates.

For those wondering what the update will include, Will, a T-Mobile Forum Administrator, released a FAQ of the new update hitting the airwaves today, and here it is:

What does this update do? This update will include enhancements (I don’t know what is termed an “enhancement”:smileywink: and one bug fix that is visible to customers which makes all songs from Amazon available for listening.

Why do I need it? So your device will perform better long term and you don’t have to worry about corrupt files from Amazon.

When will I get mine? If you participated in the PreSale, you will receive it between the 23rd-25th otherwise you should get it by 10/31.  For those receiving their devices after that date you should receive the update soon after you activate the phone (within 2 – 3 days).  New phones from HTC will come pre-loaded with the update.

What if I don’t get mine? Just wait for it, it will come.

What do I do when I haven’t gotten mine by the time you said I’d get mine? Wait a little longer

Seriously, I didn’t get mine.  Where is it and when will I get it? Why am I missing out? Check your software version, you probably had the new software all along and were waiting for nothing.

How do I check my software version? From the main screen hit Menu > Settings > About phone > Build number.  Look for where it says RC##  The initial release is RC19.  The Updated release is RC28

Will I lose any applications or settings? Nope.  Your settings and apps should be preserved.

We’ll keep you updated on the updates because afterall, the word updates is in our domain name, and we wouldn’t want to fall short of your expectations