G1 News

Remember that awesome decaled developer-spec T-Mobile G1 that Google was selling for $399?

Yeah, turns out it isn’t so awesome now that paid apps are available on the Android Marketplace. The free-wheeling nature of the Android Dev Phone 1 means that you would be easily able to roam around in the secret compartment where all the downloaded paid applications reside.

So if you were savvy enough to dip in there, fish out the app and ping it to your friends, then you end up in a crazy “free love and apps” world…and Google does not want that.

So for you, loyal fan of the G1 who shelled out the 400 bones, plus a $25 registration fee, there is no paid apps. Consider it a reward for your devotion and service. Come on, Google, surely we can reach some sort of solution that doesn’t involve shutting out the people you need most!

If you are jealous of how SIM and lock free the new Dev Phone 1 is, good news is that you can install the very same firmware onto your vanilla T-Mobile G1!

As T-Mobile was unlucky enough to send the all-singing and dancing version to a talented hacker, he managed to reverse the polarity (or something), and now the loader is available for everyone to break their phones with!

This is how you do it:

1. Have root access to your T-mobile G1. Don’t know what that means? This fix is not for you.

2. Download and apply the unlocked bootloader to your phone. You can find those (complete with flashing disclaimer) here!

3. Boot up the handset whilst pressing down the power and camera buttons, and hey presto! The skateboarding Androids mean that you are free to mess around with all of your G1’s innards!

Source: Boy Genius Report