TOOGAB - Daily Google Android News, Reviews and More

Ok I confess. I love Colorware. I love what they do, and after having put my hands on a few of the end results… I can certainly say the finished product is top-notch.

Colorware have announced that they are taking orders for T-Mobile G1 customization. If you’re bored with your black, white or bronze G1, Colorware offers you the option to pimp out your G1. You can send in your own device starting at just over $200, or purchase a T-Mobile G1 from Colorware (no contract) and have them customize it for you starting at $755. A bit costly, but pimpin’ ain’t cheap. The finished product will ship in 2 to 3 weeks.

For full details head on over to Colorware. Make sure you play with the customization tool while you’re there. Tons o’ fun!

Opera Browser in the Android Platform

Opera has been working on a mobile release of their popular web browsing software for the Android platform. They released a Beta in April to show how great the software looked on the G-1, but it was not ready for full roll-out.

Today the application was released in the Android Marketplace and available for download on your G-1.

The mobile client features some of the great features available on the full desktop browser, like a speed dial for your most viewed pages and also the ability to change skins for ultimate customization. Anyone out there tried it out yet? We’d love to hear hwo it works and how it looks. Shoot us a comment to share with the rest of the community here.

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All the audiophiles rejoiced today as we find out that the T-Mobile G-1 is now shipping with a 3.5mm headphone adapter.  The first wave of shipments included a miniUSB headset with a microphone.  Those of you that were crossing their arms in the corner and pouting, saying ‘I’m not buying that until I can have 3.5mm,’ can now go buy a G-1!  Now you just have to worry about the battery life. Short post, I know, but there isn’t much to say about a headphone jack.

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Gizmodo has found evidence that there may be hidden multi-touch on the HTC G-1. Readers have re-activated some code that was commented out in the software that allows for multi-touch. This find could allow for developers to take advantage of multi-touch in their applications. But don’t get too excited, you can’t just flick a switch and enable the use of multi-touch. Even though this is a cool feature, it was obviously hidden for a reason, so if you find the way to enable it, do it at your own risk!

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Dream G2

Why so soon, you ask? Well it’s not exactly what you think. This is the Dream G2 that is set to release in November by Sciphone in China. This is no beauty like the G-1 but it does come with the Android platform. The company states that the phone will have EDGE, Wi-Fi, QVGA display, FM radio, etc. and was slated for a November 28th release date.  But there is one thing no one can find, the keyboard.  There is no mention of a physical keyboard, so maybe my dreams of controlling my phone with my mind is finally coming true! I guess we will have to wait for the launch to see if there actually is a keyboard, or maybe there is talk to text. Okay I give up, I guess I have to wait like everyone else. Although I’m not too excited with the Dream G2, design looks horrible.

Fusion Voicemail Plus is an application from PhoneFusion that will bring visual voicemail to the G1 and the Andoid OS. The free application will allow users to view their voicemail boxes and see various details such as who they have voicemail from and when it was received. The application will also allow users to listen to voicemail directly from their handset.

Louis Lubin, Cheif Executive of PhoneFusion said:

“Our Fusion Voicemail Plus application is tremendously popular with our existing customers who wanted iPhone-type functionality on their favorite devices,” said Louis Libin, chief executive officer, PhoneFusion. “With the launch of T-Mobile’s G1, the first Android-powered smartphone, people have been looking for an innovative visual voicemail app that runs on this breakthrough device. We believe Fusion Voicemail Plus fills this gap, giving the Android community a better way to stay connected when it matters most. We expect this application will quickly become one of the favorites on Android Market.”

The application very much resembles the visual voicemail application built-in to the iPhone. Although it doesn’t look the same, it features pretty much the same functionality.

Fusion Voicemail Plus is expected to hit the Android Market at the end of this year.

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On October 30th the long awaited G1 with Android OS hit the UK. Those of you who are in the UK with a G1 will be pleased to hear there is a new update available for the handset. The RC8 update is reported to combine both the RC29 and RC30 updates that the US users have received.

Many users with the new firmware have reported the text entry bug has been squished and the G1 runs with a much cooler temperature.

If you’re in the UK and you’ve got the new RC8 firmware, let us know what your experience has been and what changes it’s made to your G1 by leaving us a comment!

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A Nokia roadmap leaked by an anonymous source had been passed on to Engadget Mobile who have published the details on their site.

It seems that Nokia could be planning to release a handset with the Android OS in 2009 and some of the features will include:

• Full QWERTY keyboard
• 3.5-inch 640×350 display
• 8GB ROM
• microSD slot
• Touch sensitive UI
• 5MP camera
• Integrated compass, accelerometer, proximity sensor and FM transmitter

The device is nicknamed on the Nokia roadmap as ‘Eitri’. Although it isn’t stated anywhere that this will be an Android device, it is believed by Talk Android that these are very ‘Android favouring features’.

Are you a die hard Nokia user who would love to see them release an Android handset? Leave a comment and let us know!

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A very strange Android bug has been discovered in firmware RC29 and below which takes all text entered in to the phone as a system command. For example, if you were to type the word ‘reboot’ in to your G1, the phone should reboot, as it did for one user who spoke out about the issue — “I was in the middle of a text conversation with my girl when she asked why I hadn’t responded. I had just rebooted my phone and the first thing I typed was a response to her text which simply stated ‘reboot’, which, to my surprise, rebooted the phone.”

If you’re worried your phone might be effected, check out your build number. This can be found by going from the home screen to Menu -> Settings -> About Phone. If you see this: kila-user 1.0 TC4-RC29 115247 ota-rel-keys,release-keys then you need to update your firmware — your firmware must be above RC29 to be fixed of this issue.

Google are currently rolling out firmware update RC30 which will fix this issue and a few others. If you’ve encountered any strange Android happenings when typing in text, leave a comment and let us know!

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Two weeks ago today I ordered the HTC G-1 on the T-Mobile network. I have used the phone for almost two weeks and have had the chance to try out the features. The QWERTY keyboard is very sturdy and easy to type on and also easy to get used to. The slide on the other hand, well its still sturdy, but after a week of texting it has started to squeak like a door. So whenever I walk around and the screen shifts it sounds like there’s a mouse in my pocket.  Now the interface is stellar, Google went all out with the Android platform. The menus are clean and easy to use and the scrolling wallpaper is simply stunning. The camera is not as great as I expected, it doesn’t have a built-in flash, or video capabilities, but it works and that’s all that matters right?

I guess the main problem of this phone, which changed my whole opinion on it, is the battery. The first day I tested the phone after fully charging it and leaving all the features on, it lasted 4 or so hours.  After the disappointment I phoned T-Mobile to ask what the problem was and the representative told me to turn off the Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, e-mail Sync, etc. and that should help improve the life. Well after turning of the functionality of the full-featured phone, the battery life improved and the phone became boring. Without all of those features it became a glorified text message phone. I never got the chance to try the 3G speed and the battery life with the 3G because T-Mobile screwed up my order and didn’t activate the data service.

In conclusion, this phone is sorta well built, the Android OS is outstanding, but the battery will cause this phone to sink.  With all the features that come in the box, not being able to use them really makes me upset.  Why buy a full-featured phone if you can’t use the features.  I enjoyed the two weeks I had with the phone, but sadly I must send it back and wait for the next Android phone to come around.  If I were to rate the phone I would give it 2.5 stars (or for the blog, 2.5 Android bots)