Earlier this afternoon, we gave the newest build a try and can say that it’s a great first build. We did run into a few issues with various apps not downloading properly from the Android Market and have had our G1 freeze and restart a few times as well. However, we can say that CM6 is definitely faster than CM5 thanks to the new JIT compiler from Froyo. While there are a few things that still need to be ironed out, the team behind CyanogenMod have released a great ROM which is definitely ready for day to day use for people who simply have to have the latest build of Android running on their phone.

Top 10 U.S. smartphones from AdMob.

A quick look at the top smartphones from the latest AdMob report shows the most popular three Android phones are the Motorola Droid, G1 (HTC Dream), and the Motorola CLIQ. Each phone has its own appeal, but they all share similar slide-out keyboards. The majority of Android owners have no clue what firmware their device is running and make their buying decision solely on looks.

I find it most interesting that the Motorola CLIQ appears to have out sold the myTouch 3G. T-Mobile launched the myTouch 3G first, heavily promoted it, and upgraded it to Android 1.6. The CLIQ went on sale several months later and only included Android 1.5, but it looks like more customers are choosing it based entirely on the form factor.

T-Mobile recognizes keyboards are still hot and it makes sense they are gearing up to make the myTouch 3G Slide one of their flagship phones this summer. Outside of that, there are not many options for new Android phones with keyboards coming to the U.S. LG might produce a Snapdragon slider later this year, but nothing official has been announced for the U.S. at this time.

I personally switched to the Nexus One earlier this year and I have adjusted to the virtual keypad quite well, but I still wish a physical keyboard was an option. Out of all the Android devices I’ve used over the last few years, the G1 still has the best keyboard layout in my opinion (5-row, big buttons, nice feedback). If someone releases a high-powered phone with a keyboard this year, that is likely my next purchase.

Which form factor do you prefer? Physical or virtual keyboard? If you have used multiple Android phones with keyboards, which did you like the most so far?

The details of the upgrade process are as follows:

• Current Rogers customers who activated a new Rogers HTC Dream through Dec. 31, 2009 – either through upgrade or a new activation – may upgrade that device to an HTC Magic for a limited time.
• Upgrades must be done through Customer Care (1-888-Rogers1) or through Rogers.com (existing 3yr data plan required for online upgrades, instructions below). This special upgrade offer does not apply at retail.
• This limited-time upgrade is available between January 12 and January 26 only.
• The $79 upgrade cost of the device, plus the $35 administration fee are being waived. Customers who choose to take advantage of this offer get a $599 phone for $0 with the renewal of a three-year term from the date of the upgrade (For most customers, this will represent a contract extension of seven months or less).
• The upgrade is completely optional. Customers who choose to can stick with their HTC Dreams and remain in their current contracts.

If you run into any problems with this upgrade, please contact the @RogersHelps team.

Why is Rogers doing this upgrade? Simply put, we’re committed to our Android phones and Android customers. Although we pushed HTC to provide a 2.1 OS upgrade for the Magic, they could not do so for the Dream device due to memory limitations. We knew we had to help our customers with this one-time limited-time offer.Mary PretottoRogers Wireless

We are still waiting to find out the fate of T-Mobile G1 owners. The G1 is the same phone as the Rogers HTC Dream and contains the same memory limitations. The G1 and myTouch 3G were both ‘Google Experience’ devices and we have been told that Google is responsible for their updates.

If you purchased a G1 from T-Mobile, would you be interested in upgrading to a myTouch 3G? What do you think of the offer Rogers has made their customers.

In a surprise move, Rogers will allow customers who purchased a Dream to upgrade to a new phone, the HTC Magic.

“It’s great to hear that everyone is pleased by HTC’s agreement to upgrade Magic to 2.1. We pushed hard on your behalf and are pleased with that part. When it comes to Dream, we share in your frustration that the device does not have the required on-board memory for an upgrade. We’ve reviewed this internally and believe that Dream users should be able to have the same HTC Android experience as those who purchased the Magic. So, we are offering our HTC Dream customers a limited time opportunity to upgrade from their current HTC Dream device to the HTC Magic.

We’re working on finalizing the details of that promotion now but wanted to let you know the great news as soon as possible. Please be patient as this is not yet available in-store, online or through customer care. I will be back next week to provide you with more information.”Mary PretottoRogers Wireles

As you can see from the quote, the Dream will not be upgraded due to its limited on-board memory. We have been speculating since August that this would happen and it looks like we were right.

The HTC Dream is the same phone as the T-Mobile G1 and we are still awaiting a response from T-Mobile on their upgrade path. I recently asked HTC about the G1 receiving Android 2.x and they pointed the finger at Google since it is a ‘Google experience’ device.

I doubt I will ever move to Canada (quite happy with Texas), but you have to commend Rogers Wireless for how they handled this situation. They have personally reached out to this site several times since we first brought attention to the upgrade issue. If you are looking to sign a contract with a wireless carrier, it is nice to know they will listen to feedback and respond in a timely manner.

Rogers has demonstrated they pay attention to the Android community and they take care of their customers.

P.S. Hey T-Mobile, I know you read this site too. How much longer will G1 owners be kept in the dark?

For starters, Rogers never allowed customers to purchase paid applications from the Android Market and now we learn they are not planning any future updates for their first Android phones.

Android 1.5 is stable, reliable, and outdated.

HTC has updated their support page for the Rogers Dream and Magic to inform users that Android 1.6 will not be available. They state that the update was only made available for “Google” branded phones and that their Android 1.5 is a stable and reliable release.

We know both phones can be easily hacked to run Android 1.6 so it is confusing why the carrier would not request an update from HTC. My guess is it has something to do with money and lawyers. This means that Rogers customers who purchased the Dream and Magic will be unable to enjoy recent Google releases like Maps Navigation, Goggles, and the new Android Market because they all require Android 1.6.

As much as this decision disappoints us, at least they were willing to go on record and state that no updates are planned. T-Mobile customers with the same HTC Dream and Magic phones are happy they got Android 1.6, but all are left wondering if their handsets will be updated to Android 2.x.

If you are a Rogers customer, how do you feel about purchasing a smartphone that now has no planned upgrades?

Thankfully, I was wrong and T-Mobile rolled out Android 1.6 to the G1. Google was able to optimize their code and squeeze the update into the limited space of the G1.

Unfortunately, the problematic storage issues of the G1 remain (and they are not going away). I know I’m going to take some more heat for this, but I want to make sure our readers are informed and fully understand the matter at hand.

The numbers don’t lie

I will try and keep this short and simple. If you are interested in the back story you can find my original posts here and here.

• G1 system partition: 69120K
• T-Mobile Android 1.5: 68780k
• T-Mobile Android 1.6: 68800k

The G1 has about 70 MB available for the operating system to be installed. Android 1.5 used 99.5% of that space and Android 1.6 was no different.

• Emulator Android 1.6: 61216k
• T-Mobile Android 1.6: 68800k
• Emulator Android 2.0: 70964k
• T-Mobile Android 2.0: ???

Above you can see the difference between the vanilla Android size and the T-Mobile Android size. The vanilla Android that you can get from the SDK and run with the emulator does not include the Google apps, T-Mobile apps, or all the ringtones and notification sizes.

Android 2.0 running in the emulator already goes over the G1 system partition limit. The T-Mobile version will likely be 7-8 MB larger. For those of you who are curious, the myTouch 3G (and most other Android phones) feature a 90 MB system partition and will have no problem with Android 2.0.

What happens next

T-Mobile is committed to supporting the G1 with future software updates. They told us so when we posted our last story on this issue.

We plan to continue working with Google to introduce future software updates to the T-Mobile G1. Reports to the contrary are inaccurate. -T-Mobile USA

With that being said, there are still huge obstacles ahead for T-Mobile. Check out this old quote from an Android engineer.

“Where the situation is really tricky is that the system partition on the US G1 was already filled to the brim with cupcake, and we were routinely flirting with build sizes that were a few dozen kB under the limit (or several MB over…), which means that even small changes to the core platform could very easily push the system size over the limit and staying under the limit took some effort”. -Jean-Baptiste Queru

As the Android operating system continues to evolve, the code base will continue to grow. The G1′s days are limited because its storage space is already maxed out.

Will Google find a way to make Android 2.0 fit on the G1? I honestly don’t know. I hope I’m wrong again, but there is no denying that Google and T-Mobile have some major hurdles in front of them to make this work.

A special note to the hackers

Yes, I know you can hack the G1 and load whatever the heck you want on it. Chances are you will be running Android 2.0 sometime next week. I know it is possible to change the partition sizes by loading a new SPL, but there is no way in hell it is extremely unlikely that T-Mobile will attempt this over the air. Flashing a new SPL also presents new problems because it erases all data on the device (which is a big no-no when it comes to everyday customers).

Here is a confession: I am a smart phone addict. My job as a writer requires me to be in constant contact with a large group of people. Being out of contact for more than a half a day is simply not an option. The G1 has performed beautifully. By setting up my Gmail account to poll other email accounts, I get email messages very shortly after they were sent. The G1′s email interface and full keyboard(I was a Pearl user) are superb.

As a writer, research is a big part of my job. Android’s browser simply works. With the exception of Flash based sites, the browser is fast and very functional. Researching on the train or on a park bench is now a reality. T-Mobile’s 3G network is faster than AT&T and side by side tests with iPhones consistently favor the G1. With the improvements to the browser in Cupcake, I believe that the G1 is simply one of the best hand-held web browsing solutions available.

For people who enjoy customizing the look of their phone, the available after market home screen replacements are incredible. The themes available for aHome, dxTop, and Open Home are fantastic. With the addition of downloadable font and icon packs, the possibilities are endless.

The Open Source nature of the G1 also is appealing. I run a rooted G1 with Jesusfreke’s Android 1.5. This won’t appeal to everyone, but the ability to control the OS version is very appealing to me. By rooting my phone and moving various caches to the SD card, I’ve not only improved the overall performance of the phone, I’ve opened up more space for apps.

Now for the bad. The Android Market isn’t as complete as the marketplace for the iPhone. I’ve managed to find most of the tools I need. When I couldn’t, the app somehow managed to appear at a later date. As Android captures more of the market, the financial incentive for developers to write apps for Android increases. We will see far more apps for the G1 in the near future.

Even though there are fewer apps for Android than iPhone, there are still an incredible array of apps. After two months, I’ve found everything I need. I’ve even found things that I didn’t know I needed until after I’d installed them.

Do I recommend the G1 to people who are interested in a smart-phone? Absolutely. As the Android operating system matures and is used on newer hardware platforms, a strong contender will simply become stronger. Although I still like my BlackBerry, the person I gave it to is simply envious of the G1 that replaced it. Even my wife, a dedicated Luddite, is thinking about swapping her BlackBerry for a G2.

Still don’t have an Android phone?  Amazon has the G1 on sale for $97.99…

T-Mobile G1. My dream phone.

[Photo via Flickr]