Brier Dudley's Blog

Brier Dudley offers a critical look at technology and business issues affecting the Northwest.

February 3, 2009 11:35 AM

T-Mobile updating G1: Fixes glitches, adds "spam tapper"

T-Mobile's issuing a big update to its G1 mobile phone, fixing a few unpleasant glitches in the Android firmware and adding a couple of features.

The update (1.1 RC33) began streaming automatically to customers this week. All G1 users should have it within a few weeks.

One of the new features stands out - the ability to mark obnoxious comments in its Market service as spam, by tapping the screen.

Every computing device should have a "spam tapper" like this, although it may test the strength and durability of their displays.

Here's a screenshot T-Mobile shared on its G1 support forum:

Other new features, and the fixes for the G1, include:

New Features (as listed on the forum):

- Voice Search, a searching feature developed by Google
- The ability to save pictures received as MMS
- Support for "Check for Upgrades" - enabling the device to check for system upgrades.

(The last two seem like they should have been there from the start ...)

Glitches being fixed, as described on the forum:

Comcast fails to download more than 1 email
Symptom: No error message but it stays on "Load More Messages" without ever pulling another email.

"Messages" Stability Issue
Symptom: When trying to send a message or exit the "Messaging" application you receive a pop up message that reads "Sorry! Activity Messaging (in application Messaging) is not responding. Force Close Wait."

WiFi forcing a logout of IM
Symptom: While using the IM clients on the G1 if you turn on or off WiFi the sessions are terminated and you will need to sign back in.

No reminders for calendar items.
Symptom: Missing appointments due to the lack of a reminder.

G1 hanging at the G1 Screen
Symptom: A small number of G1 devices hanging at the G1 screen during the initial power up.

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