myTouch 3G, T-Mobile’s second Android-powered phone has been officially launched today. The device will be available for $199.99 and are available in three colours, black, merlot and white. This device comes without a hardware keyboard, and appears much slimmer than T-Mobile G1, the company’s first Android-powered device.

This device sports a 3.2″ QVGA screen, a 3.2 MP camera, 528 MHz Qualcomm processor, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, WiFi and GPS. Click here to know more about the device.

[via AndroidCentral]

T-Mobile G1, aka HTC Dream won the “highly commendable” award at GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards, 2009. According to the GSMA , this award “recognises the combination of design, technical excellence and functionality that comes together to position a product at the top of its market.”

The following were the judging criterias :

• Functional and physical design innovation
• Product performance
• Simplicity of use – such as an intuitive user interface
• Wide range of applications and features supported
• Unique attributes (i.e. key market differentiators or Unique Selling Points)

[via androidguys]

According to a report by tmotoday, HTC is working on a 3G device which would sport TouchFlo 3D, and HTC Sense and will be launched in the month of September or October. Now, why do I say that these specs can be that of G1 v2 ? Because, the G1 v2 is supposed to release in the same time as this HTC’s “high-profile” device. Also, inclusion of HTC Sense in the specs brings out the speculation that it could possibly be an Android device.

All the Android devices currently in the market (HTC Dream, Magic and Hero) are all mid-range devices. But, a high-profile device, I suppose, will not be a mid-range one. So, may be its time to gear-up for a feature-packed Android device, and be ready to shell out a fortune!!

It has been three years since the Apple released their iPhone and since then, we have seen a lot companies coming out with “iPhone-killers”, but no company till now has been actually able to offer something that iPhone offers: coolness. As odd as it sounds, but people now want easy-to-use interface, something which has no-to-very-little learning curve. HTC has released a lot handsets in the past few years and lets face it, it is through HTC that Windows Mobile is alive till now. Otherwise, it would been dead a long time back.

Last year, HTC came up with T-Mobile G1, which was the first Google Android phone, but it was never touted as ‘iphone-killer’, because it just was not one. By various online sources, HTC HERO is going to be the first real “iPhone-killer” and I too agree that HTC HERO is the first phone that has a UI that is more slick and fluid than iPhone’s UI. The phone is so much straight forward and easy to use and combined with the power and flexibility of the Android OS, looks we’ve a winner in our hands.

HTC has done a tremendous work in customizing the Google Android OS so that even a beginner can jump-start using it. It is, however, interesting to note that myriad of HTC’s Windows Mobile phones are running the same processor  suffer from sluggishness. I am not sure the reason behind this: either Android OS is highly CPU efficient or Windows Mobile is a BETA product. Whatever the case is, we are sure about one thing: Google Android OS will very soon become the favorite OS of a lot of people around.

You bought the latest and the hottest gadget in the market, the Android powered T-Mobile G1 with high hopes. But, you found that there are many things, some very essential and basic functions like taking screenshot, which you cannot perform? If the answer to the question is “YES”, then you have landed at the right place.

All you need to do, is follow some steps carefully and root your device to reveal the true potential of the great device. But, perform these steps at YOUR OWN RISK, as a slightest mistake could brick your device forever.

You need to have firmware version RC 29 (for the US users) or RC 7 (for the UK users). If you have RC 8 or higher (for the UK users
) or RC 30 or higher (for the US users), you need to downgrade to firmware version RC 7 or RC 29 before proceeding to gain root access. To know how to downgrade your firmware version, click here.

The steps that need to be followed are :

1. Download recovery.img and Hard SPL to the root of your SD card. Click here to download recovery.img and click here to download Hard SPL.
2. Restart your device. Then, press Enter twice, and type “telnetd” and press Enter again.
3. Download and install a Telnet application on your device.
4. Type the following commands into the application :

• mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
• cd sdcard
• flash_image recovery recovery.img
• cat recovery.img > /system/recovery.img

Congratulations !! now you have root access on your T-Mobile G1.

The recently launched Android powered phone, HTC Hero, comes pre-loaded with Flash. But, what about the older devices, HTC Dream and Magic ? The answer is easy now. Bsquare is planning to launch a Flash plugin for Android devices. But, the plugin would only work with devices running Android 1.5 cupcake.

Larry Stapleton, VP global sales, Bsquare said, “Our Flash Platform technology browser plug-in will be valuable to OEMs building ARM-based smartbooks and to those who are developing other types of Android devices requiring a rich media experience that is fundamentally different than anything else available for users today”.

[via androidcommunity]

There are many occasions when one needs to downgrade/upgrade the firmware version on his/her T-Mobile G1. For example, to get root access on your G1, you need to have RC 29 (for the US version) or RC 7(for the UK version). But, if you have a device with a higher firmware, you need to downgrade to RC 29 or RC 7.

Here are the steps that you need to follow. But, perform these steps at YOUR OWN RISK, because if something goes wrong, your phone can be bricked forever.

1. Use a micro SD card, that has been formatted with FAT 32 mode.
2. Download the firmware version you wish to install. Rename the downloaded zip file to update.zip. Place the file in the root folder of your micro SD card, and put the card in your device.
3. Turn the device power off.
4. Keep the Home+End button pressed until you see the T-Mobile G1 logo.
5. Now, press Alt+L on your keyboard.
6. Now, press Alt+S to begin the update process on your device.
7. Carefully follow the instructions on your screen. Then, press Home+Backspace button to finish the process.
8. Your device will reboot a few times, to completely flash your device with the new firmware.

To check, if your new firmware has been flashed, go to Menu > Settings > About Phone. Scroll down to the Build Number. If it reads the firmware you just flashed, then the update has been performed correctly.

1) Palringo:

The best part about Palringo is that is available for all the mobile platforms (of course, including Android) and is free. Heck, they have even made a version for Windows, Linux and Mac! It is easy to use and did I mention that it is free? Download it from the Android Market and you are ready to go.

Now Android users can keep in touch with their buddies on all the most popular IM services using text and photo messaging. Busy? Not a problem, just choose the medium that works best for you depending on the message and the situation. Simply type, snap and share.

Plus Palringo can run in the background on Android and alert you to new messages as they arrive so you’ll never miss a chat conversation again.

Location features are also available on Android so with just one glance at your Palringo contact list you can see where your friends are right now and of course you can share your location with those people you trust.

[Palringo]

2) Meebo:

Meebo is also a great IM client for the Android OS. Just like Palringo, it too can run in the background. Search for “Meebo” in Android Market to download it.

[Meebo official webpage]

3) Mundu:

Mundu has released a ‘near’ fully functional IM client for Android OS and it looks very promising. However, it costs $11 and is not available at Android market. Its APK file can be downloaded from their website.

Hera are few screenshots of it:

[Mundu IM]

4) ICQlive:

It is an ICQ-only chatting client for Android OS supporting almost all the features of standard ICQ client except file transfer, which can be a deal breaker for some folks.

[Handango Link for ICQlive]

5) IRCell

It is a simple, FREE IRC application. Nothing much to talk about it.

[IRcell website]

6) AndroidChat

AndroidChat is a location aware chat client (and server, but more on that later) for the Android Platform designed to compete in the Android Developers Challenge. It is a freeware.

[Download Here]

7) eBuddy:

Like Palringo, the eBuddy is also an IM client that supports MSN, Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ, Google Talk and Facebook buddies.

To get it, go to Android Market and search for “ebuddy”.

Know more interesting IM apps for Android? Just comment below and we will love to add it on the list.

thanks to Michael suggesting eBuddy!

Google has updated the Google Maps for the Android devices and has been tested to work on all the available Android devices. The update is available via Android market.

Search for “Google Maps” in Android Market to ensure that you have the latest release.

[Google Mobile]

Getting tired of the boring look of your T-Mobile G1 aka HTC Dream ? You need not look any further. We have done all the homework for you. Just browse through this column to find interesting themes for your dream device.

Please check the supported ROM versions, if any, before downloading any theme.

1. Gloss Suite & Aero JF ADP1.5 theme

Here are  a few screenshots of the themes :

Aero with black notification and black clock with stock lock screen, download here.

Aero with white notifications and white clock with black bar, download here.

Gloss with Menu, White Clock, White Notifications, battery percentage, gloss keys and custom gloss boot image, download here.

2. *Aero1.5* JFADP1.5/Dudes1.x

The following screenshots show the Aero 1.5 theme running :

Here’s a picture of the icons contained in the theme :

Aero v1.5(BLACK) by JF ADP 1.5, download here.

Aero v1.5(BLACK) by Dudes1.2, download here.

Aero Wallpaper, downloGoogle Android Mix › Edit Post — WordPressad here.

Official Aero icon pack(For use with Bettercut. Unzip all the icons to your sdcard, then user Bettercut to change icons.), download here.

Icon pack by RainCrow(For use with Bettercut), download here.

3. Black Ice JF 1.51ADP

Works with JF 1.51adp

Here are a few screenshots of the beautiful theme:

Download the theme here.

3. Aero Haykuro 6.0r1

A look at a few screenshots of the theme :

Download this theme here.

4. Stargate G1 jfrc33 1.42 /adp 1.1h

Here’s a sneak peak at how the theme looks :

Instructions for downloading and installation :

1.first you need root and jf rc33 (1.42) or adp 1.1h.

2.just change the name to update.zip and add it to your phones sd card.

3.shut the phone off and boot your phone in to recovery mode by holding the home+(red)power button until you get to a android system recovery screen.

4.then press ALT+S .. and there your done now.

To download jfrc33 1.42, click here and for adp 1.1h, click here.

5. ANDROID PLUS (+) for Dude’s Cupcake 1.2 a/b

This theme is basically a combination of the Aero theme and the Gloss Suite theme, along with some more advancements.

Here are a few screenshots of the theme :

Home widgets, download here.

Icon Pack, download here.

Complete Theme Pack, download here.

6. Macdroid v2.3 RC33

A look at a few screenshots of the theme :

Macdroid 2.3 RC33, download here.

Macdroid Add-on, download here.

Macdroid 2.3 RC33 Dark Notification, download here.

Macdroid 2.2 RC30, download here.

Macdroid RC30 (Dark taskbar), download here.

Macdroid 2.2 ADP1.1, download here.

Macdroid 2.2 RC8, download here.

7. Juggalos and Juggalettes JF 1.5.

This theme works with JF 1.5

Here’s a look at the theme :

Download this theme here.

8. Dark Symmetry

A look at the beautiful theme :

Download this theme here.

Keep an eye on this post for further updates.