G1 News

The unlocked $400 version of the T-Mobile G1 finally got a shot in the arm to put it back on track, as the Android Dev Phone 1 became 1.1 via an update.:

The release notes illustrate just how broken the Dev Phone was, as the update is said to remedy:

• Support for Search by Voice
• Priced Apps (yay!)
• Alarm Clock Fixes (what?)
• Sending Gmail freeze fixed
• Fixes mail notifications and refreshing intervals
• Maps now show business reviews

Oh, and also the issue that many had with POP3 mail accounts is also fixed, which means that people can actually use their Dev Phones now!

The only problem is that copy protected apps are still off limits to the device, the fear of dipping in and copying was addressed by Dan Morrill of the Google crew:

“Some developers have asked about the support for copy-protected apps on developer devices, and indeed there is a limitation you should be aware of. Many developers are concerned about the unauthorized redistribution of their applications, so they make use of the copy-protection feature (known as “forward locking”) which prevents applications from being copied off devices.

However, developer phones like the ADP1 allow for unrestricted access to the device’s contents, making it impossible to enforce copy protection. As a result, the Market application on such devices is not able to access copy protected apps, whether they are free or paid.

If you choose to add copy protection when you upload your application to the Android Market, then you won’t be able to test it on the ADP1’s Android Market client. Your application will always be accessible to users who have standard configurations though, and if your application (whether it is free or paid) is not copy-protected it will appear on all devices, including developer configurations.”

So there you have it. At least Google listened to the clamour of a million G1 geeks waving their phones at the internet in protest, pretty quickly too!