HTC G1 Cellphone
Prepurchase Evaluation

On about 2008-09-23 (all dates are ±a few days), the T-Mobile^TM G1 with Google^TM was announced officially, slated for availability 2008-10-22. This is a cellphone, made by HTC, with 3G data capability, 802.11 family WiFi, a 320x480px touch-sensitive screen, and a drop-down QWERTY keyboard. It uses the Android^TM desktop environment (Linux). The subsidized price from T-Mobile is US $179.

I would very much prefer if the Nokia N810 (my hardware review here) were able to communicate on the cellular network, i.e. to be a cellphone. But it can't. Can the HTC G1 replace my Nokia N810?

Table of Contents:

• Context and Requirements
• Activities to be Performed
• Two Reviews of the HTC G1
• How Much Does It Cost
• Specifications of the G1
• Evaluating Features
• The Judgment
• Appendix A: Wish List
• Appendix B: Android Market

Key web links:

Context and Requirements

Readers should understand that I am very unusual as a cellphone user, and they should reinterpret my choices in the context of their own potential use of the HTC G1. While other people talk for hours and have a Bluetooth HSP earphone permanently attached, I have a cellphone for rare but high-value conversations, such as incoming calls from my wife, summoning aid for an automobile breakdown or other emergency, or reporting arrival and contacting the visitee after an airplane flight, which in some cases is international. Therefore, I use a pay as you go (POGO) cellphone plan, and use about half the airtime that comes with the minimum allowed revenue stream. I would like to make better use of the cellphone's data capability, and although the N810 can do Bluetooth DUN with the existing cellphone, there are integration issues which have made the experience frustrating.

I have the following intersecting requirements, met as indicated by the carriers in my area:

The AT&T data plan for POGO is expensive but is suitable for special or emergency situations: $0.01/kilobyte. If you invest $10 you can use 10 megabytes, which last for 30 days ($0.001/kilobyte). It is easy to burn through a megabyte of data ($10), and in the future I will make a practice of activating the 10 megabyte bundle before doing data activities. (Details from 2008; in 2009 the data feature pack is different.)

T-Mobile offers Sidekick to Go, a POGO plan intended for their Sidekick handheld computer. The terms (in 2008) are $1 on each day you use the service, $0.15/minute for voice calls, and unlimited data use on the paid-for day. (In 2009 it's $1 per day used or not.) Here is my query and T-Mobile's response about this plan. In their response they say it is for the Sidekick, but they do not actually come out and say that you are positively confined to their walled garden. Of course, the Sidekick is a closed-source machine and the server-based features such as e-mail will almost certainly only work with an actual Sidekick; in other words you will not be able to use their e-mail service without having their mail reader running on their OS and hardware. It's probably worth the effort and modest expense to try out this service, but absent a positive offer of generic data transport, I have to conservatively judge that T-Mobile does not offer generic data for POGO.

However, here are forum postings about the Sidekick to Go plan:

• In cellphoneforums.net dated 2007-04-17, comment poster TMOCCR says, The Sidekick plan works with any GSM phone and is unlimited everything excluding minutes.

• In modmygphone.com dated 2008-11-19, original poster elbombillo says that he tried and failed to activate his G1 with the standard unlimited ($20/mo) data plan and the Sidekick data plan. He says it could not connect to the Google servers. One reply says you can't do that, you need the specified plan for the G1.

• In forums.tmonews.com dated 2008-10-09, TRobshi says he put the sim from a Sidekick LX into a G1 and everything worked on it. He could only get EDGE, not 3G, but it's not clear whether his area has 3G service. Stevenreanimator comments, T-Mobile is going to be redoing their data plans soon; what works now may not work later.

If I take the conservative interpretation, these requirements cannot all be met at once. I will have to accept this partial solution:

• Carrier is AT&T.
• Phone is unlocked, not subsidized by the carrier.
• Data is limited to 2G.

Update: T-Mobile's Sidekick to Go works. See the setup page.

Update: Starting about 2009-08-10, T-Mobile requires on the Sidekick plan that all web access (ports 80 and 443) be through their proxy, which does the WAP thing and also suppresses images, in line with the capabilities of the actual Sidekick. See Sidekick details here.

Presently, I keep with me the Nokia N810 ($440 from Nokia) and a Nokia 6126 phone ($200 from Nokia, unlocked, GSM). The latter is a good phone and serves the purpose. Why would I abandon my investment in this equipment and buy a new geek toy, the HTC G1? The purpose of this document is to answer that question. The main issue is unity and integration: relatively rare but high-value activities are easier to learn to do and to make to work if only one device is involved.

Any bean-counter would advise me to stick with the existing, paid-for and familiar equipment, to work harder to overcome integration issues, and to use Linux's unique advantage of being able to install arbitrary open-source software on the N810 to cover requirements that are met poorly by the Maemo distro and desktop environment. For example, I (like many users) found the provided mail reader on the N810 to be unsatisfactory, and therefore I compiled and packaged Pine for Maemo. So are there unmet requirements that are sufficiently hard to deal with to justify spending money, and even more important, spending time to learn how to make the HTC G1 do what I want?

Activities to be Performed

I perform these activities with the handheld device, or would like to perform them. My choice whether to get the new phone will be determined by how well it supports these activities. In many cases it won't be possible to evaluate activities before actually buying the phone, but some reviews and some hands-on experience have provided useful advance intelligence.

Update: Now that I've bought the phone, I have annotated each item with its current status.

Daily Activities

• Read downloaded journal (magazine) issues using the web browser on local files. Using a borrowed G1 on T-Mobile's 3G network, I logged in to Science Magazine and read a short article. This worked out reasonably. Normally I download a whole issue on my home machine and transfer the files using WiFi to the N810. I also read e-books.

  Update: Due to security paranoia the Android browser refuses file:/// URLs. Until this hack is reverted (more hacking by me), I have put the downloaded issues on the LAN, which gives me part of the function I want and for my use-case is an advantage over reading directly from the magazine's website.

  Update: See Google Gears on the hacking page. With this hack I can read a copies of Science Magazine issues as well as my e-books and reference material, independent of the network. The Android browser continues to be excellent for this purpose. See the browser discussion on the apps page.

• Record blood pressure in a flat text file; I frequently but not daily do other flat file activities. Android must have both some kind of GUI flat file editor and/or vi, but I wasn't able to identify which are provided despite some searching on the device.

  Update: The Textedit application is a flat file editor and I'm using it for the blood pressure record. However, this is properly a job for a database, and Google Gears has a demo of how to do this, which I hope to transform to a web app I can use.

• Play mindless games. Some are already available in the Android Market, and for sure they will proliferate.

  Update: See the games list on the apps page.

Non-Daily Activities

I'd like these to improve. Presently they are done exclusively from the N810 via WiFi, and when WiFi is available it is always cheaper and usually gives better communication performance than cellular data, particularly 2G. But on a recent trip to Europe before having the data-capable cellphone, I planned to report arrival by e-mail, but it took three days before I was able to hunt for and find an Internet cafe with WiFi service so I could do that. I really want to be able to do these things freely over the cellphone data network: free referring to when I can do them, not how much roaming charges I pay.

• General web browsing. Limited use tells me that the Android browser is better than the Osso branded browser on the N810.

  Update: After more extensive use I continue in this opinion, although the Android browser is not perfect and has a few annoying quirks. See the browser discussion on the apps page.

• E-mail, receive and send, using IMAP from work. I don't do Gmail (Google's IMAP mail service). On the N810 I use Pine, not the provided GUI application based on Sylpheed-Claws. Android for the HTC G1 has two mail readers, one specifically for Gmail and one which is said to handle multiple generic accounts.

  Update: See the email discussion on the apps page. While Android's reader is better than Maemo's, it insists on storing the user's password, and this violates my security rules, so I may have to give it up.

• Music player. My music collection (of legally owned discs) is ripped to Ogg Vorbis format and the album backbones are M3U. These can be streamed from my house server, or for out-of-house use they can be copied to the N810. Android for the HTC G1 can do both of these modes. It has codecs for MP3, Microsoft and Flash formats, but not Ogg Vorbis. I hope that such a codec will appear relatively quickly.

  Update: There is a Vorbis codec but the web browser lacks an association (mailcap) to ship such URLs to the player. This player is going to be useable. Now all I need is an adapter for my wired headphone with a 3.5mm jack (got it, see accessories), or more preferred, an A2DP Bluetooth client. See the music player discussion on the apps page.

  Update: Starting in Android v1.5 Cupcake, A2DP works very nicely.

• Instant message, using XMPP to my house server. I do not use Google Talk, nor any of the other commercial instant message networks. Nor do I do SMS with my cellphone, except very rarely. Android for the HTC G1 does all of the IM protocols that I do not use.

  Update: What was planned was not delivered. The actual IM client only talks to Google Talk; no other protocols, nor generic XMPP. However, see the discussion of the Jabiru client on the apps page. This app meets my requirement.

• GPS navigation and maps. Position sensitivity and map display is a major theme on Android for the HTC G1. Fortunately I do not object politically to Google Maps, though I would really like to be able to preload maps, for example of a foreign country where I would have to pay high data roaming charges if downloading on the fly. I would also like the option to use open source maps if political issues developed later.

  Update: This is working well. See the discussion of Maps on the apps page.

• Contact list, calendar, to-do list, other PIM functions. These are local only, not to a Microsoft Exchange server or an open source equivalent such as Horde. The contact list is a major theme in Android, and I've seen but not investigated the provided calendar; I assume that other PIM functions are also present and usable.

  Update: The Contacts and Calendar functions appear to be functional.

• Camera. Video conference (webcam of talking heads) is not a high priority, but showing scene photos in real time via SIP or OBEX would be a nice capability. For actual photography I use a real camera. The HTC G1 has a suitable camera, facing the rear i.e. not for video conferences. There is software support.

  Update: The camera works; see the Camera sections on the apps and hardware pages. (I have not yet evaluated the camera in detail.)

Wish List

• Survey for WiFi access points (wardriving). I have no idea what software is feasible on the HTC G1.

  Update: My wish has been granted from an unlikely direction: see the Tricorder discussion on the apps page.

• VOIP. Preferably to Asterisk on my house server, but since I haven't invested the time to set that up, I'll need to use a commercial provider. I tried this about two years ago on the Nokia 770 but the provider had codec mismatch problems with the carrier serving my major chat partners (landlines) so it didn't work out. Android for the HTC G1 definitely has a Skype client (in the Android Market), and appears to have additional VOIP capability, presumably an open source SIP client.

  Update: There are now two Skype clients on the Android Market, but generic VOIP was considered by the carriers to be a death pill, so they pressured Google to remove it from the distro.

• Bluetooth A2DP so a wireless stereo headphone can be used. I don't like so many wires. My headphone can switch to HSP to take VOIP calls. In the initial release of Android the Bluetooth support is not the way they want to finally present it, because of a recent API change in the open source Bluetooth package, and in particular there is no A2DP support. But this likely is one of their high priority items.

  Update: Starting with Android v1.5 Cupcake, A2DP is working nicely.

Hardware Features

These are important features not covered above which the N810 has.

• Field replaceable battery. Lithium ion batteries degrade with time and have to be replaced after one to two years depending on ambient temperature and usage patterns. iPods and some digital cameras are notorious because you have to return them to the repair depot to get a new battery. On a long flight it's essential for me to bring along a spare, charged battery if I want to be entertained the whole way. The HTC G1 does have a replaceable battery. See accessories for getting additional batteries.

• Screen protector. Dirt on the stylus or the user's finger is a fact of life and scratches up the screen. These are available for the HTC G1 from T-Mobile's online store, among other sources.

• Transflective screen. I really appreciate the N810's screen because I can use it in direct sunlight; I do not have to find a shaded spot.

• FM radio. The Nokia N800 had this as an unplanned freebie, but the feature was not propagated to the N810. It also isn't described on the HTC G1.

Two Reviews of the HTC G1

Here's a summary of a review of the G1 in Gizmodo by Jason Chen dated 2008-10-16. It is one of the longer and more two-sided reviews, but others have generally similar comments (good or bad depending on the review's slant).

Chen likes the quality and surface feel of the G1. But the buttons, trackball and USB connector (if running on line power) are on the right side, and they get in (his) way when he types. Jimc likes to hold the N810 in his left hand and work the arrow keys on that side, while eating with his right. Chen likes the trackball, and Jimc also found it to be pretty good. The G1 has a capacitive touch screen which worked well for Chen.

Chen gets a full day of use from a full battery. Jimc gets similar performance on the N810. Of course the more you use the machine the more battery charge will be used. The specifications say 6 hours 26 minutes of talk time and 13 days standby, of course with the lamp off and not doing anything except cellphone chatter.

Chen finds that the WiFi range is similar to other smart phones he's tested. In his test the 3G data rate was 433 kbps (presumably bytes per second).

There is no 3.5mm jack for a wired headphone; instead there is an 11-pin proprietary connector that interfaces to audio and USB. Chen does not give details whether you get a 3.5mm female extension to plug in your headphone, but HTC's specification implies that's how it works. (Jimc says: T-Mobile's website says the sales package includes a wired headphone; it isn't clear what format.)

The Android operating system was rock solid; Chen used it heavily for a week and never made it hang or needed to reboot. (Jimc points out that Maemo on N810 and OpenMoko on FIC Freerunner do not do so well.) The browser knows to clear its memory cache when the OS signals memory pressure. The user interface has some inconsistencies that irritated Chen, particularly in use of the long click (hold down the finger).

Micro-summaries of Chen's comments about specific applications:

• Making a cellphone call works well; audio quality is good.
• The SMS reader organizes messages nicely.
• The contact list syncs smoothly with Gmail (of course).
• Of the two mail readers Chen prefers the features of the one for pure Gmail.
• The instant message client, which Chen likes, supports Google Talk (XMPP), AIM, MSN, and Yahoo.
• Both Chen and Jimc like the Webkit-based browser. There is no Shockwave (Adobe) Flash support, but YouTube videos in SWF format can be played by the provided plugin.
• There is a viewer for Google Maps. GPS is off by default (to save power and for privacy concerns).
• The music player software does the job decently, but Chen likes other players better.
• Chen says all portable music players should have Bluetooth A2DP for wireless stereo audio, and he criticizes Android on the G1 for not including A2DP [in the initial release].

Here is a discussion in Business Week of the HTC G1 by Stephen Wildstrom dated 2008-10-16. In summary:

If you buy a subsidized T-Mobile phone you are allowed to unlock it 90 days after purchase; ask T-Mobile and they will give you the unlock code. But a comment poster says that T-Mobile does not give out unlock codes for phones that are exclusive to T-Mobile. (Jimc has not further investigated T-Mobile's policy on unlocking. Caveat emptor.)

In Europe and most countries using GSM, voice and 2G data are in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands; 3G is on 2100MHz. In the US, T-Mobile 3G transmits on 2100MHz and receives on 1700MHz. AT&T runs 2G on 850MHz and 3G on 1900MHz. The HTC G1 can do 2G (and voice) on 850, 900, 1800 and 1900MHz but 3G only on 1700MHz and 2100MHz. Thus an unlocked HTC G1 cannot do 3G on AT&T's network. It can, however, do 2G data. (Jimc reports the same issue with the Nokia 6126.)

Says Jimc: According to the FAQ for the G1 on T-Mobile's website, it will work on the international GSM net. But they don't specifically discuss international use of 3G data.

How Much Does It Cost

How much will an HTC G1 cost? That depends on your relation with T-Mobile. (This data is from Winter 2008, but prices and terms in Spring 2009 are similar.)

2-Year Contract

According to T-Mobile's website, a two-year contract is required including both a voice plan (Individual Basic at $30/month, and up) and data ($25/month and up), and the phone itself costs $179 (subsidized). If you remain within the carrier's clutches for two years you are committing to a total of USD $1500 excluding taxes. To break the contract costs you an early termination fee of $200. There are services which can come up with the unlock code for any phone, including the G1, for a fee of around $20, but you still need to pay for your contract or else pay the early termination fee.

Taking the 2-year contract route to an unlocked phone, I would have to pay:

Phone	$180
Contract 1st month	55
Early termination fee	200
Unlock service	20
Total	455

Flex Pay

Similar to the contract pricing, you need a voice plan (Indivdual Basic at $30/month, and up) and data ($25/month and up), but there is no contract and the phone itself therefore costs $400. Some users say that after 90 days you can obtain the unlock code from T-Mobile, while others say that T-Mobile does not allow unlocking phones that are exclusive to T-Mobile. Jimc has not personally evaluated the unlocking policy -- caveat emptor.

If I broke the Flex Pay agreement in the first month and refused to wait 90 days for unlocking, I would have to pay:

Phone	$400
Contract 1st month	55
Unlock service	20
Total	475

Gray Market

I have seen price quotes for an unlocked G1 on eBay, Craigslist and flea market types of vendors, ranging from US $300 to $650. Again, caveat emptor. I particularly worry about stolen goods, and about warranty claims.

Google Developer Network

I came across an article in LinuxDevices.com announcing a source for a true unlocked HTC G1: Google itself. According to Google's Devices for Developers page, if you register as a developer ($25) you may buy one G1 phone for USD $400. The offered product is not labelled as a G1 but its hardware specifications appear identical. The sales program is available in a number of countries in addition to the USA. The offered product has these features:

• MicroSD removeable memory provided: 1Gb (can accomodate up to 16Gb).
• No SIM, no carrier contract provided.
• Preloaded with unlocked booter. The one on retail devices enforces signed system images.
• Preloaded with Android 1.0 system image; can be overwritten with a custom build.

Specifications of the HTC G1

From the G1 product page on the HTC website:

Idiots! Some very important and attractive features are nowhere mentioned either in the specifications or in HTC's or T-Mobile's product pages:

Evaluating Features

In which features is the HTC G1 superior to the Nokia N810 with a cellphone connected by Bluetooth?

• The web browser of the HTC G1 is better than the Osso branded browser on the N810. I spend more time using the browser than any other activity.

• The cellphone and ancillary features, such as the contact list, are integrated seamlessly into the whole G1 package.

• The HTC G1 is smaller and lighter than the N810, and particularly, is more pocket-friendly than the N810 and the separate cellphone as a team. Quantitatively: 3/4 the mass and 3/4 the surface area of the N810.

• I have several objections to the Maemo distro and desktop environment on the Nokia N810. While Android must have its own annoying and nasty quirks, I trust I won't be seeing these with Android:

  • The Maemo Launcher is a unique design feature, but it has a disastrous memory leak, and I find the N810 needs a propylactic reboot daily or the UI will freeze solid.

  • During a reboot the clock is mis-set by 120 to 200 seconds. In a normal operating system the kernel clock is loaded from the hardware clock at boot time; it is synchronized with global servers using NTP; and it is written back to the hardware clock upon a normal shutdown. Maemo omits that latter step, and NTP has to be obtained from outside the distro.

  • There is a content scanner which upon boot indexes all your multimedia files. With a large (2Gb) removable memory card it seriously slows down UI response, enough that often it misses the watchdog timer criterion and the machine reboots.

  • The GPS software is very slow to locate satellites, much slower than competitors, and half the time it fails to get a quorum and gives up. It works fine once it has found satellites, but it can be expected to fail to start up. (See the GPS discussion on the network page; Android has similar issues but not so severe, and a forum post says you need to use the system so a record of satellites' orbits can be saved.)

• I got a chance to use the HTC G1's keyboard only a little, but it seemed reasonable, and actually better than the one on the N810. (Update: This opinion is confirmed after more extensive use.) The on-screen keyboard of the Nokia 770 and N810 takes up too much screen space, but I find the tactile response of the N810's physical keyboard makes it hard for me to use, so I almost always revert to the on-screen keyboard. I also have a folding Bluetooth keyboard for taking notes extensively.

In which features is the HTC G1 a step down from the equipment I have now?

• The big minus for the HTC G1 is the display: 40% of the pixels and 60% of the area compared to the N810. When reading my journal article I found that the text was noticeably less crisp than on the N810 -- though it was readable. However, the transflective technology of the G1's screen is better than on the N810.

• Android does not have an Ogg Vorbis codec (or at least it is not mentioned anywhere official); all my music is in this format. However, this notice mentions an Ogg Vorbis codec as of 2008-02-14, as does another early notice. Possibly the codec is there but the provided media player doesn't know about it. (Update: the player knows but the web browser doesn't.)

• The (presently) available games on Android don't strike me as particularly interesting. I may need to package something myself. (Update: there are lots more games in Spring 2009, some of which I like. See the games list.)

• Android does not have Bluetooth A2DP (stereo audio at 22kHz), so only a wired headphone can be used for music. But the same is true for Maemo on the N810. The Android release notes say that A2DP did not get into the current release because of an upstream API change that prevented timely certification, so likely it will appear soon. (Update: it's in Android v1.5 Cupcake, and works well.)

• To develop for Android I would need to learn Java. On the other hand, I had to learn Python to develop and hack Maemo for N810. The new language could actually be considered a plus.

Which important features of the HTC G1 are uncertain, in that they probably cannot be evaluated until I actually get the phone?

• Flat file editor. There must be one, but I don't know what it is despite some searching. I'm going to be using this editor daily. In Maemo for the N810 there is a notes application but it turned out to be useless for my needs, so I downloaded three different editors for different purposes (maemopad, pygtkeditor, and vim). It looks like I'll have to do the same thing in Android. Here is a list of editors written in Java:

  • jEdit: For writing code, as well as generic flat file editing.

  • Java Outline Editor: appears to have a multi-document interface.

  • Java Image Editor: This isn't for text files but may be worth installing anyway.

  • Update: Textedit is what I'm looking for.

• E-mail reader. Remember that I had to package my own preferred mail reader, Pine, for Maemo on the N810. (Update: see how email turned out.)

• Instant messages. Likely the UI will be perfectly fine, but the issue is, can it do generic XMPP to my house server? I'm going to assume that if their client is capable of doing XMPP for Google Talk, it can also do XMPP to a generic server. However, they do not provide a GUI to configure such a server. (Update: see Jabiru.)

• Are there political issues with the close entanglement between Android and Google? Are there hidden privacy violations? Conspiracy theorists have already had a field day with Android, but my analysis is that Android gives a head start to development that uses the services of its sponsor, Google, but Android does not freeze out generic or open source content and services. To me this is fair use for a sponsor.

The Judgment

When in doubt, temporize. I am favorably inclined for this phone, but I think I will delay a final decision until I see progress in these areas:

• The distribution channel and price for unlocked phones needs to stabilize.

• I want to see the Ogg Vorbis codec (or music player support) and A2DP.

• I want to know more about the flat file editor.

With luck, the HTC G1 can be my Christmas present this year.

Appendix A: Wish List

If I were designing a handheld computer, what features would I put in it? Here's a short summary:

• Display: 800x480px transflective, sized as on the Nokia N810 but using the light valve technology found on the G1. The direct sunlight capability is very important.

• Display: The sub-pixel drivers distributed on the screen should be latched, so the CPU and graphics processor can be put to sleep and the image will stay fully visible (in reflective mode), as long as DC power is supplied to the screen, which takes almost zero power because the only current is leakage.

• The case should be sealed so as to resist spilled coffee, and cleanup. A big plus is floating (and surviving) if dropped in seawater. The HTC G1 has a density of 0.7 gram/cc (modeling it by its bounding box), so it should float, temporarily, but it appears to be leaky and would not survive either coffee or seawater immersion.

• The cellular modem should be on a daughter card, interchangeable in the field for different incompatible carriers, particularly including CDMA. Think mini-PCI, though a USB interface would make better use of off-the-shelf controller chips.

• The input method (equivalent of the keyboard) is a big challenge on a small handheld device. We need some real creativity in this area.

• It needs a fingerprint reader, particularly for online banking and for payments authorized through SAP.

Appendix B: Android Market

The Android Market has been open only a few weeks, but the following third-party software has already been posted there. Likely more will appear as time goes on. I'm hoping to see these items show up: Ogg Vorbis codec; VLC media player; complete GStreamer-010 libraries and codec suite. Many of the programs depend on the generic GPS and mapping support in Android. Update: As of September 2009 the Android Market is vibrantly active and is filled with applications of varying usefulness. Most are free, some are not. The following list, from November 2008, should be taken as a small sample from the full collection.

General Software

• BreadCrumbz -- Make a slideshow keyed to a map route.

• Ecorio -- Track your carbon footprint, so you can reduce it.

• imeem -- Personalized radio: free streaming music from your favorite artists.

• iSkoot -- Skype client, rape your terms of service by doing VOIP on 3G.

• Locale -- Settings (e.g. ringer on/off) changing with your physical location, time of day, etc.

• Maverick -- Google Talk client plus photos, scribbles, audio, map locations.

• PicSay -- Image editor for adding talk balloons, titles, stock imageoids.

• SplashPlay -- Guitar trainer.

Custom User Interfaces

These are clients for central sites that offer various services, most of which are not free.

• Amazon MP3 -- Custom UI for Amazon, buy music, download to your phone.

• cab4me-light -- Take an address from a map or your contact list, and it will call a taxicab company.

• College Football Live -- Stats, game slideshow, etc. (also Pro Football Live)

• Compare Everywhere -- Scan a barcode, get price comparisons and reviews with stores indexed on a local map.

• Cooking Capsules -- Online recipe service with custom displayer UI.

• E-ventr -- Custom UI for organizing social events, parties, etc.

• iMap Weather -- Custom UI to show weather radar images, forecasts, etc.

• iSafe -- Voice alerts when you enter high crime areas, severe weather, etc.

• LifeAware -- Locate friends and family; it gives an alert when you or they enter or leave predefined areas.

• Marvin -- Publish and browse user-generated content keyed by location etc.

• Mobile Banking -- Custom UI for Bank of America account management, including a map display of ATM and branch locations.

• MyCloset -- Custom UI for a database of clothes, with photos.

• MySpace -- Custom UI for this social network site.

• ShopSavvy -- Scan a barcode, see price comparisons.

• Wertago -- Up to the second info on hot venues; share content with friends . . .

• WikiMobile -- Custom UI for Wikipedia, much lower network bandwidth than using a web browser.

• Wikitude -- Camera view is overlaid with Wikipedia text on points of interest.

Games

• Bonsai Blast -- not sure what it does

• Bubble Bash -- pop descending bubbles?

• JOYity -- not sure what it does but it involves realspace mobility and mapping.

• PAC-MAN -- the traditional arcade game.

Revision history:

• 2009-09-06: Sidekick port 80 blocked; update status of Android Market
• 2009-03-30: Migrate to become a page in the HTC G1 writeup
• 2009-01-03: Add Google Developer Phone
• 2008-11-24: Add T-Mobile FlexPay and Sidekick plans; reorg Maemo complaints.
• 2008-11-13: Recognize transflective screen, vibrator, and keyboard.
• 2008-11-10: Initially posted.