Although sluggish, slow and in need of further refinement, the industrious folks over at XDA-Developers have ported Android 2.0 to a T-Mobile G1. The G1 is underpowered to handle this Eclair goodness and should really stick to a Donut diet, but it’s fun and interesting to see what can be done with a little ROM cooking. The fact it’s running at all on the G1 provides a glimmer of hope that XDA-Developers may be able to refine it enough to have Android 2.0 running on a G1/Dream and even the myTouch 3G/Magic on a daily basis. We won’t hold our collective breath, but take a look at the video and see for yourself.
If you’re up in Canada and want some screaming deals for some hot Android handsets, Rogers has a barn-burner deal going on with their HTC Dream and Magic phones. At this time, Rogers is selling the Dream (T-Mobile G1) and Magic (T-Mobile myTouch 3G) for only $79.99 CAD. There’s a catch, of course – if you want the $79.99 price, then get ready to marry Rogers for three years. If you don’t have a problem with this kind of commitment, then strike while the iron is hot and get a sweet Android handset for a pauper’s price. We can only hope that this kind of pricing makes it’s way south of the border.
Due to licensing issues and a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo, the fabulous and greatly-hoped-for HTC Sense UI will not… I repeat, NOT… be available for any Google-branded phones. Essentially, both the G1 and myTouch 3G on T-Mobile are Google-branded and are disqualified from the HTC Sense experience, so if you want HTC Sense on your Android phone, it appears that hackery the Dream and Magic are your best options.
If you do somehow manage to get the HTC Sense experience on your phone, let us know how it is for you!