[G1 General] jlacy76:
You know, at some point you almost have to wonder how much more do we really "need" in software.

Things we needed were GPS, wifi tether and better audio. We have all that now in hacks, workarounds. While we didn't need to OC that's just a nice bonus along with apps2sd but the fact still remains, it's a phone.

The sad thing about the G1 is the hardware and particularly the camera/video functions among others.

Thank goodness for android and google. They really got it right and are really pushing the technology, which makes it exciting. One day we'll have hardware that's as good as android and the development going on at this forum but even today we have so much more functionality than the typical phones out there.

I was a blackberry user for many years. I liked blackberry for one reason. They just did what they were supposed to do.

My son and I were out of town the other day and we had this discussion. (he works for T-mo.) I asked him if you were stranded and had only one phone call to make, would he pick his BB or his MT3g. He said without hesitation, the BB and I concurred. It's not that we could not count on Android, but if we were betting our survival on it, the BB hardware would get the call.

I like the g1 better than any other phone out there right now. The virtual keyboards lacks a lot to be desired. Having the best android phone and the work that Enom, Cyan and others have made a pretty lame hardware phone better obviously but we still have a ways to go on hardware.

I've looked at all of the newer offerings out there but always come back to the G1. Fact is, as lame as it is, it's still better than all of them.

Who will make a really fine android phone is anyone's guess. If you have not followed some of the pocket video cameras that technology is really moving along. We can already do 1080p/30fps and 720p/60 in the Kodak zi8. Panasonic and Canon both have optical image stabilizers that actually work and shoot still images at 5mp and up. Some are using Zeiss and Leica lenses. Get some of that technology inside an android phone along with a flash and you really have a "camera phone".

I never understood why HTC and others put the speaker on the back away from your ears. As small as the speakers are, it only makes sense to put them where you can hear them. If your phone is to be used for an mp3 player, video player, GPS device, speaker phone why not put the sound where you ears are?

It also boggles my mind why something with all these capabilities, like gps wifi, email, web surfing and such a large screen has such pathetic battery life. The stock battery is about 900mah usable as we know, and that's a battle we fight every single day.

One of these days it's going to dawn on manufactures what we actually need in a all in one device. The OS is solid and getting better everyday, but the hardware is lagging waaay behind from current state of the art and some of these designs for android are only incremental and cosmetic upgrades at best and some of the makers are STILL missing the point entirely.

If it's going to be a phone that does multimedia, surf the web and has a camera, let's bring up the hardware changes up to the rest of the technology and I suspect many of us will leave the G1 far behind. Until then, my G1 has to stay.

Oh yeah, one more thing, if it's going to be a camera phone, add a tripod mount to the bottom of the phone. How hard could that be?