[dancingmatt]

Hi all

I'm going to place an order with T-mobile tomorrow and get a new G2 on Tuesday. What are the very first things I should do with it?

Should I use it out of the box or charge it first, and if charge it should I run it overnight? I know batteries have improved since the old days but I've read mixed reports of the best way to get a battery off to a good start.

Will a new G2 on T-mobile (UK) need flashing with the latest firmware? How can I tell what's installed? I know it won't be Android 1.6 or 2.0 yet but I do want it to have that firmware release which deals with the lag and so on.

I gather one of the first things when it's on is to give it Gmail account details and so on because it's difficult to add them later. My Gmail Contacts haven't been sorted and tidied yet, there are hundreds of email addresses I've only emailed once. Will the whole contacts book get downloaded to the phone, so should I sort it out first?

Anything else?

Cheers all, very excited with a hint of trepidation as to using a solely touch-screen device...

DM

[scuderia]

You can start using it straightaway if the battery has any charge, my understanding is that modern batteries need a couple of charge/discharge cycles until they reach their optimum.

You will need to flash the firmware as I believe I read somewhere that t-mobile have said that all phones until mid/late december at the earliest will not come with the latest firmware.

Enjoy the phone its brilliant, I found the keyboard took abit of getting used to, the predicitve text thing is brilliant because if you're fat fingered like I am you don't even need to hit the right key for it to pick up what you were trying to type.

It might be best to sort out the contacts first, but since your data allowance with t-mobile is quite high it doesn't matter if you don't do it. The beauty of the syncing is that you just need to sort it you in one place (the pc is easiest of course) and the changes will be available pretty quickly. The other thing you could do is switch of the contact synching if you want to before you fix up the contacts.

[Tomo71]

There are only 2 updates on the HTC Site, one for generic Hero's and one for Orange (although I have just looked and they both seem to of been pulled?) Maybe you will have to wait for T-Mobile to approve the new update. (this is just an update to the SenseUI not the android OS)

Hero or G2 wont be getting 1.6, HTC have confirmed that, they will however get 2.0, probably before Christmas.

It has been reported that the inbuilt messaging application has a bug in it. Once you send a text from it, the application stops the CPU going to sleep, thus using battery even though the screen etc is off. This will be seen by an Awake time of 100% in the phone status.

So, what to do is to disable the inbuilt message app (turn off the Notifications sounds etc) and download a new app from the market. I use Handcent and is brilliant, customisable to the n'th degree. Once thats installed, reboot the phone and DONT go into the old message app.

There are a few android forums that have sections for the Hero/G2 so have a nose through them.

The phone does have a few shortcomings but nothing serious and to be honest, will probably be sorted in future upgrades. They certainly no worse than any Nokia that has been released in the past few years!!

Steve

[Hrochnick]

Originally Posted by Tomo71

There are only 2 updates on the HTC Site, one for generic Hero's and one for Orange (although I have just looked and they both seem to of been pulled?) Maybe you will have to wait for T-Mobile to approve the new update. (this is just an update to the SenseUI not the android OS)

Look they they are still there to me... and the T-mobile update is here (3rd tab - G2 ROM Update):
T-Mobile - Help & Support

[Tomo71]

Yup, your right, apologies.... must of been an issue with my browser!!

Steve

[Hrochnick]

Damn that was quick Tomo!

Actually I checked when I read your comment cos I got all excited, thinking maybe they had taken them down in readiness to put up the new ones with Android 2.0... there's always hope eh!

[dancingmatt]

Thanks for everyone's help so far. The order is in so its definitely coming tomorrow, hopefully early enough for me to charge it through the day and take it out with me in the evening.

So Android 2.0 before Xmas - where did you hear that? That's exciting! I know the SDK is out so maybe it's not far off, but didn't T-mob take ages to give out their firmware update, much later than HTC released it? Can't we expect a similar delay when 2.0 is out?

This Google contacts thing, does it sync every contact in "All contacts", which includes all the email addresses ever used once, or does it only sync what's in "My contacts"?

Cheers

DM

[Hrochnick]

Originally Posted by dancingmatt

Thanks for everyone's help so far. The order is in so its definitely coming tomorrow, hopefully early enough for me to charge it through the day and take it out with me in the evening.

When I bought mine the battery had a full charge (despite the manual saying it would be empty) but it really didn't last very long. Either because A - it needs a few charges to get up to speed or B - because I didn't put it down for about 6 hours. Maybe a bit of both Have fun.

[TH1882FC]

Originally Posted by dancingmatt

Thanks for everyone's help so far. The order is in so its definitely coming tomorrow, hopefully early enough for me to charge it through the day and take it out with me in the evening.

Can i ask what contract you got?

Looking at getting one on an upgrade so wondering what deals are about.

[dancingmatt]

Phone's here and charging! Now, here's a query that's come to mind, based on the concern I've always had with syncing -

Say I sync with Gmail and all the contacts come down. Then at some point I update the firmware (the T-mobile update now but this will happen again with Android 2.0) and this wipes the phone. The way I see it, the next time I start the phone again and sync, Gmail may well go "all the contacts have gone, he's deleted them" and delete them too.

How do you avoid this happening?

Cheers

DM

[dancingmatt]

Originally Posted by TH1882FC

Can i ask what contract you got?

Looking at getting one on an upgrade so wondering what deals are about.

Sorry, meant to come back to this earlier - I certainly don't mind you asking, but you might not like it coming from an upgrade...

I've got an EXCEPTIONAL deal, just £20 + VAT a month for 24 months and free G2/Hero too but only on a business contract:

1000 mins any network any time, includes calls to US, Canada and Europe;
Unlimited texts
Unlimited internet
Unlimited email
Free calls to landlines 01 02 03
Free voicemail
Free itemised billing
2 years warranty and next day service
£25 credit plus some more for porting a number over


I have a contact within T-mobile Business who sorted this for me and if anyone else needs a business contract, is self-employed or a Sole Trader, I can get you the same tariff if you PM me. You can also have a Blackberry, Nokia (like the E71), Sony Ericsson (like the W995) or others.

And if you need a second line and second handset you can get that too, it's possible to share the mins.


PM me with an email address, ideal handset and I'll see what I can do

DM

[Merago]

Originally Posted by dancingmatt

Hi all

I'm going to place an order with T-mobile tomorrow and get a new G2 on Tuesday. What are the very first things I should do with it?

DM

Hey there, welcome to the Hero club!

First thing to do is get a task killer (Advanced Task Killer or Taskiller are good)- it'll help preserve your battery and keep your phone flying along merrily. It's also worth getting a file management app such as Astro so that you can browse to and manipulate files easily.
There's a list of stuff that's handy for new users to know here, and there's a good guide to helping improve battery performance on the phone here.
Other than that, there are a handful of must-have apps that would be worth your time downloading - I heartily recommend checking out Beebplayer, Layar, Google SkyMap and the Barcode Reader.
Enjoy your new phone!

[Hrochnick]

Originally Posted by Merago

...there's a good guide to helping improve battery performance on the phone here.

Regarding the point in that link about disabling wireless network usage for positioning purposes - presumably if we do that but opt to keep the auto weather updates and set the location as 'current', it'll never actually know where we are?! Or does it work a different way?

[RobM]

Originally Posted by dancingmatt

Phone's here and charging! Now, here's a query that's come to mind, based on the concern I've always had with syncing -

Say I sync with Gmail and all the contacts come down. Then at some point I update the firmware (the T-mobile update now but this will happen again with Android 2.0) and this wipes the phone. The way I see it, the next time I start the phone again and sync, Gmail may well go "all the contacts have gone, he's deleted them" and delete them too.

How do you avoid this happening?

Cheers

DM

Your example wont happen

If you do a firmware upgrade, the phone will not know it has previously been synchronised and will effectively be a new Sync partner of Google Mobile Sync. Therefore it will only receive from Google as it has never Sync'd before.

[dancingmatt]

Thought I'd revisit my old thread to say I really, really like the Hero/G2 and am really, really impressed with it.

To answer some of my old questions so it's helpful to anyone thinking of joining our happy owners club:

Not scientifically proven by T-mob and others suggested 3 hours charge before using it, run it down, charge it and drain it a couple of times. I know there are widely differing opinions on the usefulness of this, but I did anyway and it's fine.

Flash the phone's firmware before you add contacts etc.

Stick Gmail account details in at the beginning, hard to add them later.

Your phone will sync both ways, and download all your contacts from Gmail if you use it, unless you go to Groups under People and specify only to sync with "My Contacts". Very helpful, not easy to spot!

I had no problems whatsoever with my worry about wiping my account. I should say, though, that the syncing of contacts is a 95% accurate - I've had changes not copied over, duplicated contacts, etc. You can set it to sync automatically, in the background, or on demand, separately for mail, calendar and contacts.

Am using Advanced Task Killer occasionally when it feels a little slow, but not often. Battery life, well, as to be expected. Google Maps is brilliant and the GPS is astonishingly quick and very accurate. I used to have an N95 and would have to wait ages to get a lock, it's basically instant on the Hero and I mean instant, astonishing.

Am extremely impressed and urge anyone to get one...

DM

[DaveR1682]

I just got a G2/Hero from T-Mobile yesterday and like it so far but there have been some annoying instances of lag.

The build no states 1.76.110.6. Is the update on t-mobiles support site the upgrade I need to boost performance and get rid of the lag?

[dancingmatt]

Yep, follow the instructions on T-mob's site, you want the Android updates - October ROM upgrade. It's very easy. Took less than 5 mins for me rather than the 10 they suggested too.

[DaveR1682]

Thanks Matt. I've heard good things about the update.

At the moment, the phone can get pretty bogged down quite quickly as it is, and thats with only a few things going on.

I'll get the update later tonight.

[Telemaddad]

Originally Posted by DaveR1682

Thanks Matt. I've heard good things about the update.

At the moment, the phone can get pretty bogged down quite quickly as it is, and thats with only a few things going on.

I'll get the update later tonight.

Looking at getting one of these soon. Just wondering if the update made a difference to performance?

[Telemaddad]

Originally Posted by dancingmatt

Sorry, meant to come back to this earlier - I certainly don't mind you asking, but you might not like it coming from an upgrade...

I've got an EXCEPTIONAL deal, just £20 + VAT a month for 24 months and free G2/Hero too but only on a business contract:

1000 mins any network any time, includes calls to US, Canada and Europe;
Unlimited texts
Unlimited internet
Unlimited email
Free calls to landlines 01 02 03
Free voicemail
Free itemised billing
2 years warranty and next day service
£25 credit plus some more for porting a number over


I have a contact within T-mobile Business who sorted this for me and if anyone else needs a business contract, is self-employed or a Sole Trader, I can get you the same tariff if you PM me. You can also have a Blackberry, Nokia (like the E71), Sony Ericsson (like the W995) or others.

And if you need a second line and second handset you can get that too, it's possible to share the mins.


PM me with an email address, ideal handset and I'll see what I can do

DM

Hey DM. Thanks for the info, sounds like a great deal you got

What does PM mean I could be interested.

TMD

[Singh400]

Originally Posted by Telemaddad

Hey DM. Thanks for the info, sounds like a great deal you got

What does PM mean I could be interested.

TMD

PM = Private Message.

Click on the members name you would like to send a PM to, and from the drop down menu select "Send Private Message".

[fearce]

Do TMOB offer free unlock on the G2?

[dancingmatt]

Originally Posted by Singh400

PM = Private Message.

Click on the members name you would like to send a PM to, and from the drop down menu select "Send Private Message".

Thanks for that Singh400, I hadn't been getting notifications that this thread has updated so I wouldn't have seen it.

I don't have a link to post on here because it's not an advertised T-mobile offer, it's discounted by someone within T-mobile. Still available though: £20+VAT for free G2/Hero, 1000 mins inc USA, Canada, Europe and all landlines, unlimited texts, email and internet, 24 months. You have to be eligible for a business tariff though.

For obvious reasons I can't post my guy's email address here (spam, people who aren't serious trying it on, etc.) Already sent on Telemaddad's, if anyone else is eligible for one then PM me an email address I can pass on

Cheers

DM

[fearce]

Originally Posted by Telemaddad

Looking at getting one of these soon. Just wondering if the update made a difference to performance?

Was wondering if someone can answer this question as I also interested.

Ta...

[dancingmatt]

Can't honestly say because I installed it straightaway, so didn't use Hero without it!

BUT everything I have read says it's worth doing and lots of other reports are that it made a difference to the lag. And nothing has said it was a problem. Took me 5 mins, not even the 10 the installer said. But it will wipe your phone so I absolutely recommend doing it first.

Android 2.1 is coming soon too but has to go via HTC and then via T-mob before we get it.

[fearce]

thats IF tmob release it.

So with your current phone in in its state - is there any lag with the new update - or its perfect?

I am in two minds about getting it...

[dancingmatt]

Originally Posted by fearce

thats IF tmob release it.

So with your current phone in in its state - is there any lag with the new update - or its perfect?

I am in two minds about getting it...

Can't see why they wouldn't. It's bringing Google's new free sat nav guidance software which is going to be a massive selling tool for them.

It was faster when I first got it, now it has lagged from time to time, going into the People book, opening Handcent SMS seems a little slow. But not enough to bother me, although if it gets slower then it might.

If you're thinking of the reviews of it when it came out, they all reported huge lag on it. Like I said, never used it without the update, but it's definitely not lagging like it was reviewed and many review sites have revised their comments since.

[DaveR1682]

Originally Posted by fearce

Was wondering if someone can answer this question as I also interested.

Ta...

Sorry for the delay in answering this, I've been away from these forums for a while.

The update did make a big big difference to the performance and stability of the phone.

At first, before the update I hadn't set up the widgets I wanted so there were some home screens that were blank (so not a great deal going on) and it did lag quite badly from time to time. I used the phone like this for a day or so before applying the update.

After the update, the vast majority of these problems have gone away. It really does make a big difference.

Some things still don't run 100% smoothly all the time though - sometimes my drawer/list of applications doesn't scroll smoothly, or the notification drag thing lags a little but its doesn't happen often enough to be an issue really.

If you have taskiller or an equivalent, you can kill apps you don't need in the background, and this will free some memory.

[fearce]

Two questions/points:

Point 1: My G2 came with the latest firmware...so they are now shipping with it already in.

QUESTION: What is the best taskkiller - there are quite a few. Some of the comments on the market for some are not very promising...