I installed the Android firmware update yesterday and have had a day to play with it. Lifehacker has an in-depth rundown of the improvements and new features, but here are my quick takes:
Last year I agonized over whether to go with the G1 or with the iPhone. One of the reasons I decided on the G1 is because of the ability to cut and paste. While that function was limited to URLs, with the Android “Cupcake” update, cut and paste functionality has been extended to the text of Web sites.
So I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.
The camera on the G1 used to be pretty much useless. The update has improved the still camera dramatically and is accompanied by an acceptably functional video camera from which you can upload clips directly to YouTube, though I’ve had no success uploading thus far.
The only real problem with the video camera is that the microphone is located on the opposite side of the phone as the camera’s aperture, so the audio isn’t as good as it could be, especially if the photographer says anything.
While I’m not likely to use it much because I like the actual keyboard, the new virtual keyboard works well enough.
The built-in Gmail client has been improved with new features.
The browser, too, got an upgrade with less obtrusive zoom buttons and the addition of Most Visited and History options within bookmarks. The most useful browser function may be the addition of the ability to search a given Web page.
The Call Log got a tweak to give you the option to respond to numbers
via phone or text or to go to the contact information.
Watch this video for a walk-through of the updates:
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