Srcasm

So you’ve got your Android Phone (your G1 for now) and you are showing it off to all of your friends and all of a sudden someone with an iPhone walks up and starts showing off their on-screen keyboard.  Does that make you depressed?  I hope not because your phone rocks anyway!  But seriously, below are a few applications that give you an on-screen keyboard for your G1 pre-Google releasing the ability for OSKs to be integrated system-wide.

• For SMS
  • ChompSMS - This application is one of the best designed apps I’ve used on the G1.  It offers a clean SMS interface (almost identical to the iPhone app), takes over for the integrated app and offers large-font support for ease of reading.  One downside is it does not currently flip to landscape mode.  But still, definitely worth a look.
  • SoftKey/A7 SMS - While I love Chomp, A7 was first and so it needs a place on the list.  Many people have complained about A7 not working properly although when it was first released it worked fine for me.  The keyboard is awkward to type on and when I used it, it was landscape only.  This kind of defeated the purpose of the OSK for me.
• For the Web
  • QSearch - This app can be hard to find on the web, a search in the Android market can bring you to it.  It’s a cleanly designed app that enables an OSK that can launch Maps, YouTube, Google, Amazon, a dictionary search and allows a URL to be entered.  These are all helpful while trying to use the G1 with the keyboard closed.  The problem is, these have to be launched from within QSearch, not the normal browser or applications.  For frequent searching, it should be in the G1 owners must-have toolkit.
  • Steel for Android - I’ve wrote about Steel on my blog before.  It’s a replacement to the built-in web browser and it’s fantastic.  It’s fast, supports landscape and portrait mode and now supports tabbed browsing.  In addition, searching from the address bar and adding bookmarks right from there makes Steel look more like a mobile version of Chrome.  Very nice.
• For the Phone
  • SpellDial - SpellDial can be a replacement to the current dialer/contact application.  It allows dialing and locating of names through a T9 input method.  Simply tap the key that corresponds to the name once and you’re off to the races.  If you have a large number of contacts on your G1, SpellDial can be a lifesaver.

I don’t know about all of you but I’ve been a Blackberry, full QWERTY fan for a long time.  Over the last four or five years, I’ve been through 8700s, 8100s, 8800 series and even the older 7290s on the Blackberry platform and I loved them all…  Then I got hold of the TMobile G1 with Android.  I found another phone that not only fit the bill but the OS took the cake as it was simple, expandable and open source (all three of which, I love).

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I had to share this with all of you G1 lovers out there. Steel is a new browser being put out by Kolbysoft.com and it is probably one of the slickest mobile browsers I have seen.  For starters, here are a few of the great features that Steel offers to G1 users:

• Full screen support - This includes getting rid of the notification bar, hiding the address bar and the navigational buttons while browsing the web.
• On-screen keyboard - The on-screen keyboard included in Steel is quick, multi directional and offers a “vibrate on touch” feature to let you know that you’ve hit a key.  Sure, it’s not as great as the iPhone keyboard yet, but it’s a fantastic start.
• Landscape/Portrait mode - By turning the screen sideways, the browser seamlessly flips the web site from portrait to landscape and back again.  This can allow for a much larger viewing area as well as an easier read.
• Changable Agents - Trying to browse an iPhone only website and it just won’t let you?  Now you can choose the agent that is sent to the web.  Switch between Android, a deaktop browser and iPhone.

These are just some of the great features that Steel currently offers and it’s only at version 0.0.5 as I write this.  Only great things can come of this application.  Go ahead and search the Market for “Steel” and you’ll be up and running in no time.  Happy browsing!

Some say it’s easy to turn a trick but that’s not always so when it comes to technology (see what I did there?).  Sometimes the architecture of an OS and software applications are too locked down (ahem, Verizon comes to mind) but that’s not the case with the G1.

After having the phone for a little over a month and spending countless hours poking and prodding away at the device, these are the top 5 tricks I’ve come up with.  Share some of your if you got ‘em, please.

1. Free Wifi - Many people know of the free wifi that comes with the G1 data plan.  This means that anywhere there is a TMobile hot spot but something neat I learned was to install the HotSpot Locator app from the Market.  It automatically connects to any TMobile hot spot that it sees and no login necessary!
2. Task switching saves time and your “Home” button - The application, Task Switcher, in the Market allows you to press the Camera button to switch between applications instead of going to the home screen.  In addition, I put a Camera icon on the home screen so I can still snap pictures of my kitty.  In addition to this, hold down the “Home” button for a couple seconds and see the 6 most recent apps listed.
3. Email from multiple accounts - I wanted to be able to send email from multiple from addresses and the built in GMail client doesn’t allow this.  So I installed K-9 and set them up so they wouldn’t auto-retrieve my email.  This way when I want to send email from the work account, I just tap that name and hit Compose.
4. What’s next on your schedule? - I find this out the easy way with the Background Calendar application from the Market.  It posts your upcoming agenda onto your wallpaper of the phone.  It would be nice if I could customize what screen it shows on since I leave my third screen (the one to the right) blank so I can always see what’s next.
5. Use your phone as a modem - Tetherbot was written for Android and the G1 to let you use it as a modem (of sorts).  Once the application is configured and your computer is setup, you should be able to browse the web with a USB cable to the phone — FOR FREE.

I know I sound like a broken record recently but I wanted to share yet another story about how customer service should work and does work with TMobile.

When I signed up for my account, I asked to have my Rohm and Haas corporate discount added.  I wasn’t sure it actually got done during the sign up process so I went online in search of the answer.

I looked at their My T-Moble site (which can be a bit confusing at times) and couldn’t locate the information.  I then went on and attempted to send them an email.  To my surprise, the site offered Live Chat with a rep.  I wish this would have popped up before I wrote them an email but that’s okay.

After a quick chat with the online representative, they gave me the number to the Personal Corporate Discount Migrations Department (their number is 877-453-8824 in case you were wondering).  There were no menu options and I got right through to Elizabeth H.  Within 10 minutes (most of which was spent talking about TMobile’s terms and conditions) she had added the discount, refunded my activation fees and credited me a $5 good-faith credit since I had to call in to have it added!

I know, $5 isn’t much but it’s the attention to detail and helpful nature of all the staff I’ve talked to that will keep me coming back for more.

P.S. - As a side note, I’m still loving the G1.  It’s handy, fast and just works.  Thanks Google, HTC and TMobile.  I would however liked to have waiting till Nov 19th where they are now offering free companion flight tickets to new sign ups.  It’s a neat promotion.