If you look closely at the bottom of the Nexus One, it has 3 tiny metal contacts, this seems to be for a plugless charging cradle to be released in the future. We have tested the pins with the Micro USB B connector and found the Ground and Vcc pins, however the ID/Sense pin doesn’t seem to connect to anything on the USB B connector. Time will tell.
Here it is straight from the horses mouth…
The new year begins with T-Mobile’s 3G network reaching significant milestones to support current and future smartphones:
* T-Mobile’s 3G network now reaches more than 200 million Americans
* HSPA 7.2 (faster 3G data service) is now enabled across T-Mobile’s entire 3G network
* T-Mobile is the first carrier to launch the even faster HSPA+ in the U.S.
While other carriers talk about 4G plans and the promise of compatible devices, T-Mobile will speed ahead with HSPA+ deployments across the bulk of its 3G footprint this year, delivering 3-5 times the speeds of today’s 3G. And the best thing about the HSPA+ upgrade is that it’s backward compatible, so that T-Mobile 3G-enabled device being announced this week…it’s getting faster in 2010.
The Google Nexus one has arrived! You can buy the unlocked N1 for $529 USD or $189 with a 2 year agreement through T-Mobile at http://www.google.com/phone
Mobile broadband with HSPA continues to evolve. Leading operators including Telstra were attending when Ericsson demonstrated its latest mobile broadband technology, HSPA Evolution with 42Mbps, near Stockholm, Sweden. It was the first time in the world such speeds were achieved on commercially-available products. Until now, consumers have seen network speeds of 28Mbps at best. The increased speed enables true “instant access”.
[From androidandme.com]
Everyone’s favorite Android hacker appears to have angered someone at Google. We just received word that Cyanogen has received a cease and desist letter from Google. Details are scarce, but it appears Google is not happy about Cyanogen distributing their closed source Android apps (Market, Talk, Gmail, YouTube, etc). CyanogenMod is easily the most popular custom Android rom with over 30,000 active users.
Relevant bits from the chat log we received:
[20:03] <cyanogen> google just cease and desisted me
[20:15] <cyanogen> cyanogenmod is probably going to be dead
[20:16] <cyanogen> i’m opening a dialogue with them
[20:20] <cyanogen> no they are talking specifically about the closed-source google apps
[20:20] <cyanogen> and how i am not licensed to distribute them
[20:20] <cyanogen> my argument is that i only develop for google-experience devices which are already licensed for these apps
[20:20] <cyanogen> so we’ll see what they say
[20:20] <cyanogen> maybe we can work something out
[20:24] <cyanogen> maps, market, talk, gmail, youtube
Hopefully, the two parties will be able to work something out. I’ve been using CyanogenMod on both my Android phones for several months and they are awesome. If you want to show your support for Cyanogen, you can always visit his site and place a donation (His site is down at the moment) for all the countless hours he has put into improving the Android platform.
[End androidandme.com content]
Google you better watch it, you might just piss off the wrong group of people you have been trying to so feverishly accumulate. Do be like Apple, and have to control everything. Android is open source.
And if I want to use other firmware in my phone then dammit im gonna with or without your or T-Mobile’s ok.
Seth Lemons one of the developers of the popular “Wifi Tether for Root Users” app for the Android platform was kind enough to accept an interview with us.
WebNetta: As a contributor to the “WiFi Tether for Root Users” app, what is the reaction the group had to the app being pulled by Google?
Seth: We were surprised, because we had hoped Google would work to keep the Market free from the control of cell carriers. This was one way that Google could have differentiated itself from Apple, but chose not to.
WebNetta: Did Google give you any warning before the app was taken down?
Seth: The first contact they gave us was a notice that it had already been removed from the Market in all countries. We were later given a notice that we had been restored in non-U.S. markets because T-Mobile and other carriers do not have a policy against tethering in other countries. Those are the only communications we’ve had with the managers of the Market.
WebNetta: What plans does the group have for future apps?
Seth: We have recently added Bluetooth tethering to our application, to allow for better battery use. In addition, we’ve included more information about data usage and other user interface improvements. This new release can be downloaded from our Google Code website. We each also have some individual projects, such as the Target game now available on the Market and a program in progress based on the jFlubber podcast helper.
WebNetta: Have you gotten any reaction from Google over the Tether Petition app in the Marketplace?
Seth: No direct contact has been made from Google to us after they reinstated us in non-U.S. markets. I believe this was due to community responses to our banning, but I don’t know if the petition was up on the Market at the time. We certainly thank them and others for the publicity and support.
WebNetta: What kind of response from the users have you gotten regarding the Tether Petition app?
Seth: We have read some of the comments on the petition’s Market page and appreciated the support. I don’t know of any direct communication from users because of it, but it definitely raised awareness of our work and the banning. User support after the banning has been quite uplifting and encouraged us to continue providing and improving the program.
WebNetta: How do you feel about your wifi app being pulled and yet the bluetooth tether “tether Blu – Free Edition” app remains?
Seth: According to that application’s description, it only allows users to tether a wifi internet connection and not the cell connection. While the new Bluetooth-enabled version of our program allows for this particular use, we aren’t willing to restrict our users in that way and, thus, we also allow them to tether their cell connection over Bluetooth. I appreciate that the author of tether Blu wants to provide this functionality to Market users, but wish that Google would leave Terms of Service enforcement to carriers and allow developers to provide as much functionality as possible to users.
Thanks again Seth for the interview. You can download and install the coveted Tether app from right here.
Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky reported back on September 23rd of last year that T-Mobile’s CTO Cole Broadman said the following during an interview with Ryan Block:
When asked about what T-Mobile’s reaction would be to users creating tethering or unlocking apps for the phone, he was surprisingly even-keeled, noting that while the company didn’t encourage the practice, they wouldn’t lock down the OS or update the software to break those applications. Our impression was that as long as their use was relegated to a small percentage of owners, T-Mobile likely wouldn’t take action, though he did voice concerns over tethering apps and their effect on the network, with a clearly guarded eye to letting users have free reign.
So T-Mobile won’t lock down or break the OS to stop Tethering apps but strong-arming Google in to removing apps isn’t the same thing. Nice logic there T-Mobile.
Tethering apps and the network? First, T-Mobile now sells a USB 3G adapter you can use on laptops, so if they were so concerned about data usage they wouldn’t be selling the USB 3G adapters. Second, when I had Total Internet with my Dash I was able to login to WiFi at any Starbucks with my laptop, it was wonderful. I was also able to thether my Dash to my laptop via USB and surf around using Edge.
When I got my G1 they made me switch to the G1 Data Plan and only the G1 can connect to the WiFi (I found this out after being on T-Mobile support for an hour), no laptops allowed unless I pay extra for the Hotspot plan. To me data is data it shouldn’t make a differience if my G1 or my Laptop is sending data over my 3g plan I pay for.
It is like an ISP saying that you can only use desktops on your broadband connection, no laptops allowed. To me T-Mobile is just another data pipe to the Internet, I pay for service and I should be able to use it how I see fit ,on whatever device I see fit to use it on. This is one of the reasons I have and use the Tether App on my own G1.
Haykuro, a 17 year old Android Hacker who got his home work done early, managed to release Rodgers Android build a day before Rodgers themselves. This build has (as Haykuro puts it) :
Exchange support, Every language enabled, Other fun features..
*Requires SPL 1.33.2005
You don’t need to do anything other than rename to update.zip and flash. (a wipe is most likely needed)
Things missing from this build are Root and Paid Market apps, however you can snag it from Here or Here.
Update:
Rodgers R2 build Get it Here
Root working, ion-dalvik, Rogers apps ripped, HTC Sync removed, and paid apps working.
Screenshots! Thanks androidandme 
In a move to apease big T, Google has pulled all the tether apps from the Android Marketplace citing that T-Mobile doesn’t allow tethering.
Seth Lemons, a contributor to the tether app “Wifi Tether for Root Users” has this to say:
This raises some interesting questions about this “open” platform. Android phones are supposed to be released for other carriers in the future, right? Does this mean that apps in the Market have to adhere to the ToS for only T-Mobile, even when other carriers sign on? Will all apps have to adhere to the ToS for every carrier that supports Android phones? Why is all of this enforcement Google’s job, in the first place? If T-Mobile wants to force people to pay for broadband plans in addition to their phone data, it’s their job to either make that attractive to users or strongarm them into it by, say, instituting data caps. Playing cop for cell carriers doesn’t really seem like the ideal way to establish credibility as a promoter of free software and a strong development community.
Aside from the issue of “authorized carriers,” there are some otherwise valid uses of tethering software which users are now being denied. One of the apps banned was for tethering Internet over Bluetooth. With wifi tethering, the Internet has to come in from the cell carrier, but Bluetooth tethering allows a user to connect their phone to a wireless router and then share it with a device that has Bluetooth but no wireless card. This use, by definition, can’t violate the T-Mobile ToS, since it doesn’t require their data plan at all. And that’s not even to mention phones which have been set up to use other carriers who allow for tethering.
To add to the irony, one of the folks who helped develop the initial tethering scripts works for Google, I’m told. Another Google employee has forked Wifi Tether, added Bluetooth support to it, says he and his office-mates use it on their commute, and has even given us a patch we can merge in when we get the time. I know they’re not any more responsible for this policy than I am, but it just makes me giggle to know that there’s an underground presence inside the machine. Hopefully they (and you) can help us push for a really open Android instead of the same greedy corporate power plays we see from other mobile platforms.
We hope Google gets the message that Android Market isn’t T-Mobile Market.
This is the official T-Mobile Cupcake build for the unrooted G1’s.
Download “signed-dream_gfh-ota-147201.6d1386de.zip” from here.
rename “signed-dream_gfh-ota-147201.6d1386de.zip” to “update.zip” and copy to the root of your SD card.
Bootup in to recovery mode by holding Power+Home.
Install update.zip by pressing Alt+L then Alt+S.
Enjoy!
Today we were suprised by a 1.5 Cupcake release from JesusFreke.
Here are the instructions….
Get the new HTC radio update here You *MUST* update the radio before loading JF1.5
Rename “ota-radio-2_22_19_26I.zip” to “update.zip” and put it in the root of your sd card.
Power into boot loader mode, by holding the Power and Home buttons.
Install the Radio update.zip by pressing Alt+L then Alt+S
After this is done, delete the update.zip from the SD card root.
Get the JF1.5 update here
Rename “JFv1.50_ADP1.5.zip” to update.zip
*** It is highly recommened that you wipe your phone before installing cupcake ***
To wipe your phone go into bootloader mode (Home+Power)
Press Alt+W to Wipe
Then Alt+S to install Cupcake!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(Excerpted from http://jf.andblogs.net/2009/05/01/when-is-your-15-coming-out/ )
Future JF Releases can be auto-installed by using the JFUpdater avalaible in the market app.
I have installed this on my own phone that was running JF1.41, I am having no problems.
