If anyone wishes to get an idea of how competitive the smartphone industry is, just consider the following:  1) The much-anticipated and hyped Palm Pre is launching June 6th on Sprint; 2) Not to be outdone, Apple is poised to announce it’s new iPhone(s) in a matter of days. Now, a representative for T-Mobile emailed us with a few tidbits of their own.

T-Mobile has sold over 1 million Android-based G1 phones to customers in the U.S. and points out that there are now over 4,900 apps available for download from the Android Market. Also, T-Mobile will soon announce a new Android-based device to early this summer with the promise of more details later this month. These are exciting times indeed! So how many of you are grabbing a new iPhone, snagging a Pre, picking up the next T-Mobile Android device, or just adding all three to your stable?

Source: Thanks, Lori!

The HTC Hero has a great-looking Android ROM with gorgeous skins, and if you are rolling with your G1 and wish it were the HTC Hero, there’s a way to make it happen. We are by no means encouraging you to hack your G1 and we take no responsibility whatsoever if you end up bricking your phone, but the clever folks at xda-developers got their mitts on the HTC Hero’sAndroid ROM and have successfully ported it to a G1, complete with all kinds of customizations and enhancements not before found on the G1.  Accomplishing this feat requires flashing your device and a myriad of other steps, so be EXTREMELY careful that you get it right, or get someone more tech savvy that can get it right for you. When it’s all said and done, you could very well have a G1 with a new lease on life.

Source: Engadget Mobile

T-Mobile Germany has posted on its G1 web page that a software upgrade will be coming in May for users of the device on its network. Among the features that will be added to the handset is a virtual keyboard, video capture and playback, stereo Bluetooth support and what appears to be an accelerometer (translated copy from German to English reads “Automatic Adjustment of the touchscreen when the G1 is horizontal or vertical hold”).

As far as a similar offering for all of those hungry U.S. G1 owners waiting for a cupcake of their own, we still have no idea of a date when it will happen, but with the apparent May release in Germany, the U.S. upgrade shouldn’t be too far away.

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The first Android powered handset has surely made a mark in the cellular world. In the half year that the G1 has been available, 1 million units have been bought in the U.S. While a strong showing, the device trails behind the iPhone 3G which had domestic sales of 1.6 million in the last three month quarter for AT&T. The G1 does dominate T-Mobile’s relatively new 3G pipeline in the U.S. where 2 out of every 3 phones sending voice and data over the network is that model. When the G1 was first released, T-Mobile restricted sales to stores in locations where the carrier had 3G presence which amounted to just 21 markets, although customers could buy anywhere using the web site. Since then, the restrictions have been lifted and the company’s 3G network now covers as much as a third of the U.S. population.

The next cellphone using Google’s open source OS could be heading T-Mobile’s way. We recently showed you pictures of a HTC Magic passing through the FCC with the T-Mobile logo branded on the casing. As we reported, European carrier Vodafone plans on shipping the Magic on May 5th to those placing pre-orders. No word on if and when the device will be available in the States.

source: TelephonyOnline via electronista, EngadgetMobile

Who said Cupcake is not released yet? Okay, it isn’t, but there is now a completely reliable way to get all those much-wanted goodies, such as an on-screen QWERTY, video recording, updated browser and more. The story is that a user, nicknamed haykuro, has managed to port the HTC Magic’s software, version 1.5, to the G1. Side by side with the folks at XDA forums, the advancement of the project continues with more bug fixes.

Here’s the moment to introduce you the two available versions of the port: the G line (meaning Google-sourced) and the H line (from HTC-sourced). What’s the difference? The biggest difference by now is the fact that Google has actually blocked the access to Android Market for the G ROMs. One theory is that the company has done this, because a G1 with the Android 1.5 version has been detected as an HTC Magic phone, so it wanted to limit such devices until the Magic has been officially released. Or… the other possibility that comes to our minds – the companies want to keep sales up. As the users have become tired of waiting for the promised Cupcake update, they have thought of their own ways to get the features, even push it one step further!

Then how come Google’s bunch of contributing developers was unable to deliver the much-needed features in such a long period of time? If these guys are so slow every time an update is needed, then this whole open-source initiative is totally senseless. Maybe we are just missing the idea – the companies might be as well holding Cupcake’s release until the Magic is finally on the market. Why? Well, what does the Magic have that the G1 doesn’t? On-screen QWERTY, video recording, updated browser… Exactly, the Magic will not offer almost anything new in terms of hardware. Even the QWERTY keyboard has been removed. That is why Google has decided to cut the access to Android Market for “rooted” G1s after a few days of usage – in order to give you a reason to buy the Magic. Users report that it is still possible to use the storefront with the H builds, so just go ahead and don’t forget that we would like to know what you guys are thinking on the matter.

You can download the latest version of the port here.

source: Haykuro’s Blog, xda-developers via BGR

T-Mobile has been trying to breathe life into the G1 with a new TV campaign. The carrier also released some statistics that you might find interesting. About 1 of every 2 G1 owners traded up to the first Android powered device from a featurephone (we would say dumbphones, but we do not want to insult innocent devices). 80% of G1 owners surf the web daily and over half are using Facebook and YouTube at least once a week with the same percentage connecting daily to Wi-Fi. Now we can admit that this information might be useful to T-Mobile when it comes to marketing future phones, but the one stat that is indicative of money coming into the carrier’s vault right now is that the average G1 customer has downloaded 40 apps from the Android Market and 4 out of 5 download apps at least once per week. What we want to know is if that 4 out of 5 are chewing Trident while shopping for apps.

You can watch the funny ads here.

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