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You bought the latest and the hottest gadget in the market, the Android powered T-Mobile G1 with high hopes. But, you found that there are many things, some very essential and basic functions like taking screenshot, which you cannot perform? If the answer to the question is “YES”, then you have landed at the right place.

All you need to do, is follow some steps carefully and root your device to reveal the true potential of the great device. But, perform these steps at YOUR OWN RISK, as a slightest mistake could brick your device forever.

You need to have firmware version RC 29 (for the US users) or RC 7 (for the UK users). If you have RC 8 or higher (for the UK users
) or RC 30 or higher (for the US users), you need to downgrade to firmware version RC 7 or RC 29 before proceeding to gain root access. To know how to downgrade your firmware version, click here.

The steps that need to be followed are :

1. Download recovery.img and Hard SPL to the root of your SD card. Click here to download recovery.img and click here to download Hard SPL.
2. Restart your device. Then, press Enter twice, and type “telnetd” and press Enter again.
3. Download and install a Telnet application on your device.
4. Type the following commands into the application :

• mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
• cd sdcard
• flash_image recovery recovery.img
• cat recovery.img > /system/recovery.img

Congratulations !! now you have root access on your T-Mobile G1.

Some time back, we had reported that Dell is planning to launch an Android powered mobile phone soon. So, this news might not be new to you. But, the surprise element is that this device will be a MID (Mobile Internet Device) and not a mobile phone.

Supposedly, this will be a internet device, much like Apple’s iPod Touch, which does not include a phone module. The name of the device is not known yet. But it is expected to release in the second half of 2009.

Is Dell launching this device as a competition to Apple’s iPod Touch ? Will it have the same features as the iPod Touch ? The answers to these questions are unknown yet. We are even unsure about the price of the device. But, the device seems to be quite promising, as Dell has already produced many internet devices in the past, without a phone module. And, most of them have been quite popular in the market.

[via cnet]

There are many occasions when one needs to downgrade/upgrade the firmware version on his/her T-Mobile G1. For example, to get root access on your G1, you need to have RC 29 (for the US version) or RC 7(for the UK version). But, if you have a device with a higher firmware, you need to downgrade to RC 29 or RC 7.

Here are the steps that you need to follow. But, perform these steps at YOUR OWN RISK, because if something goes wrong, your phone can be bricked forever.

1. Use a micro SD card, that has been formatted with FAT 32 mode.
2. Download the firmware version you wish to install. Rename the downloaded zip file to update.zip. Place the file in the root folder of your micro SD card, and put the card in your device.
3. Turn the device power off.
4. Keep the Home+End button pressed until you see the T-Mobile G1 logo.
5. Now, press Alt+L on your keyboard.
6. Now, press Alt+S to begin the update process on your device.
7. Carefully follow the instructions on your screen. Then, press Home+Backspace button to finish the process.
8. Your device will reboot a few times, to completely flash your device with the new firmware.

To check, if your new firmware has been flashed, go to Menu > Settings > About Phone. Scroll down to the Build Number. If it reads the firmware you just flashed, then the update has been performed correctly.

Nokia, one of the major cell-phone manufacturers, is planning to enter the Android arena. This may not sound amusing. But the interesting part is that, it is planning to launch an Android netbook, and not an Android powered cell-phone. If this news is to be believed, this would be one of the first netbooks to be launched by the manufacturer.

Lazard Capital Markets analyst, Mr.Daniel Amir said “In our conversations with ODMs, we have confirmed that Nokia is planning to enter the netbook market with a Google Android, ARM-based netbook that would be sold at carriers. Considering this market is dominated by the PC players, we believe Nokia could face an uphill battle to succeed in this market.”

This is a really big move by the mobile phone biggie. The main reason could be the availability of the open source OS for free, whereas Microsoft charges a fortune for its Windows OS. Also, Android will prove to be a great fast-boot netbook.

[via androidarena]