To enable E-mail notifications, login into Google Wave. Move your mouse over Inbox (on the left). Click on the Arrow (pointing downwards) and select Notifications.

Google Wave: E-mail Notification Feature

You can opt to get notified about new and updated Waves immediately (as it happens), hourly or weekly. The notifications are sent to the E-mail address associated with your Google Wave. This will be the GMail or Google Apps (in my case) E-mail address at which you got the Google Wave invite.

I tested it with “immediately” option and found that Google Wave sends an E-mail when

• A new Wave is created and you are added as a participant
• A new Blip (message) is created in a Wave in which you are a participant
• When an existing Blip is updated in the Wave in which you are participating

Google Wave will not send a notification when:

• It has already sent you notification for a new or updated Wave. It will not send any further notification for any update in that particular Wave, till you log into Google Wave and click on the new or updated Wave.

A new Wave E-mail Notification sent by Google Wave

Issues/Bugs:

• The notifications are sent even when you are using Google Wave – logged into it and seeing the Waves. Why a notification when I can see a new Wave(s) being created and updated in front of me ? So what if I choose to click on them after sometime. Ideally the notifications should be sent after I have closed the Google Wave window on my Web Browser. I said “closed” and not logged out because logging out of Google Wave may mean to log out from other Google apps too.
• The “Immediately” notification is not so immediate. Few notifications were delayed by as long as 14 minutes! Though at times I have received the notification within a minute. This does not fit well with a real time app like Google Wave. Immediate notifications must be “immediate”, as it happens and within seconds.
• The notification settings link in the E-mail (notification) just opens Google Wave and does not show the Window or popup to change the settings. Note that this bug is a known issue as per the Google Wave blog.

Good to have in the next version:

1. There should be a provision to send notifications to any E-mail address and not only to the associated Gmail or Google Apps E-mail address.
2. The notification settings, besides being system wide and applicable to all Waves, should be present for individual Waves too. The notification settings for individual Waves should override the system wide settings. This way one can subscribe to notifications only for the Wave in which he/she is interested.
3. If point 2 is implemented, there should be an exclusive option to get notified about New Waves created by others – where you are added as a participant.

I was wanting this feature so much that last year I wrote a Robot for my own use (with a hard coded E-mail address) to send me notifications for updates in Waves. I add this Robot to the Waves of my interest. I even wrote an article in PCQuest magazine about this Robot. For those who are interested in the code, refer to this link at the PCQuest forums to download the article with the code intact. If Google Wave could bring the Notification settings to individual Waves, I would no longer need to use my Robot.

I supply my Google Apps credentials each time I wipe off (hard reset) the phone. Though optional, I wipe off the phone’s data whenever I update my phone with a new ROM. Following the official and non official upgrades, I’m currently running CyanogenMod 4.2.14.1 on my ADP1.

Then came a day when I did not want to wipe off the data but only wanted to change the Google Account associated with the phone.This was the day when I wanted to play with Google Buzz which requires a GMail or non Google Apps account. I googled around and found solutions suggesting:

• Clear data for Gmail and Gmail storage under Manage Applications
• Clear data for Google Apps and you will see a message in the Android’s notification bar to setup a new Google account.

None of these worked for me. What worked for me is as follows:

• Goto Home (by clicking on the Home hardware button).
• Click on Menu (hardware button)
• Click/touch on Settings>Applications>Manage Applications.
• Click on Google Apps.
• Click on the button labelled “Clear data”
• When prompted with “All information you’ve saved in this application will be deleted permanently”, click on OK
• Subsequently, click on back button thrice and then click on “Data synchronization”. Alternatively, click on Home>Menu>Settings>Data synchronizaion.
• This will start the wizard which will prompt for a new Google account. This wizard is the same that you would have seen when you first (after you bought it) powered on the phone or whenever you wipe off the phone’s data.

This is what helped me in testing out Google Buzz on Google Maps on my Android phone. In your case, this may simply help you in changing the Google Account without hard resetting your Android.

Update (February 14, 2009): After following the above procedure, I noticed that though my E-mails were syncing, I could not search my E-mails. Whenever I typed in a search keyword in the GMail app and clicked on the search button, I saw a message saying something as “E-mails will sync shortly”. This can be fixed as follows. Goto Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>Gmail. Click on “Clear data” button.

I guessed that it would require a Google Maps upgrade on the phone. Instantly fired Android Market on my Android Dev Phone 1 (a.k.a. ADP1), clicked on the Downloads tab and was greeted by an available upgrade to Google Maps – Google Maps version 4.0.0. Opted to install the upgrade hoping to spot the Buzz on the maps but alas – it wasn’t a smooth sail. After the upgrade, I fired the Google Maps app on my ADP1. clicked on Menu>Layers>Buzz and spotted a new icon  on the maps. Clicking on the icon showed me a screen where I could post a new Buzz (a message).

Post a Google Buzz using Maps on Android

Along with typing a text message, this screen also allowed me to upload a new photo that I could click via the phone’s camera or select an existing picture from the Android phone’s Gallery. Once I posted a Buzz, I could see a new speech bubble on the map at my current location – determined via GPS or Cell location (without GPS).  Over time, I realized, I could see only my Buzzes. Was no one else buzzing?

Buzz is not for Google Apps
Later during the day, I realized that my friends, using their GMail account, could see other’s Buzzes on their Nokia phones. Also they could not see my Buzzes.

I instantly suspected that it could be all because of using a Google Apps (not GMail) credentials on my Android phone. My Android phone is tied up with a Google Apps Standard Edition account which is not a regular GMail/Google account. That’s when I got onto the Net and  this blog post confirmed my suspicion. But the confusion remained for a while. How could I post a Buzz (as said above) but not see other’s Buzzes?

So I spent the remaining day (of 10th February) and 11th February ensuring that Google Buzz indeed does not work with an Android using Google Apps account. I changed my ADP1’s Google account from Apps to a regular GMail account as explained in this blog post – Android: How to change the Google Account without a hard reset. Subsequently,  I changed it back from GMail to Apps. Kept flipping the accounts several times. Witnessed a few erratic and confusing behaviour – call it caching. Eventually, I concluded the following:

• Google Buzz on maps in Android works with a regular GMail account and not with a Google Apps account.
• If you are switching from a Google Apps account to a GMail account on Android after installing Google Maps 4.0, refer to the following:
  1. Launch Android Market
  2. Click on the Downloads tab
  3. Select Google Maps
  4. Click on the button “Uninstall updates”. This will downgrade Google Maps.
  5. Subsequently, reinstall/update to Google Maps 4.0.0
  6. Now, launch Google Maps and click on Menu>Layers>Buzz
  7. And voila, you should be able to see what others are Buzzing on the map.
     

     Google Buzz on Maps in Android on February 10

• Buzz should work, if you have switched from a Google Apps account to a GMail account before installing Google Maps 4.0.0

Clicking on a bubble shows the Buzz with Photo (if any)

A few other observations and notes:

• Buzz on Google Maps for Mobile has no privacy settings. All your Buzzes along with photos will be visible to everyone.
• As per my friends, Google Buzz seem to work equally well on Google Maps in Nokia and Windows Mobile. Nokia and Windows mobile users can goto http://m.google.com/maps to install/upgrade Google Maps to version 4.0.0.
• As reported by friends using Nokia, the Buzzes may disappear at times. In this case, removing and adding the Buzz layer on Google Maps will show the Buzzes again.
• Seems that the “speech bubbles” for Buzzes, older than a day, disappear from the map.
  

  A list of all the Buzz at a location, along with comments

While I have been playing with Buzz on my Android for the last two days, I may soon switch back to my Google Apps account. I can’t sacrifice my official E-mails on Android for the Buzz. Hope, Google Buzz for Google Apps is released soon. In the meanwhile I will play with Google Buzz on my Gmail account

A blog post using Google Wave for content and comments

This became possible, recently, with the introduction of the read-only access feature. I created a blog post with a Wave talking about the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Google Wave and a blank (to start with) Wave for comments. Click here to see this blog post. This was achieved as follows:

• Logged into Google Wave and created a new Wave about Frequently Asked Questions about Google Wave, as showed in the screenshot.
  

  A Wave about frequently asked questions about Google Wave

• Added the Public participant to this Wave. This can be done as follows:
  • Click on the + button on the bottom right pane titled Contacts to add a new contact
  • For Address type in public@a.gwave.com
  • Add this new contact by clicking on the Submit button.
  • Next add this contact to the Wave, which you want to make public. For this click on the + button on the top of the Wave.
  • On the Add Participants pop-up, search/browse, and click to add the contact named Public.
  • You will see a notification on the top of the Wave saying “You gave everyone access”.
• I gave Read-Only access to the Public contact/participant. Refer to this blog post on how to assign read-only access.
• Next I created another Wave, for comments, with just one blip or message which says: Wave your comments about the FAQs on Google Wave.
• Added the Public contact to this Wave but did not setup read-only access this time. That means, anyone (with a Google Wave account) can add/edit/delete blips/messages on this Wave. That’s what commenting is all about, right?
• To embed Google Waves in this blog post, I installed and activated the Wavr plugin for WordPress. You can download this plugin from here
• With Wavr plugin you can embed any Google Wave in a blog post using the following syntax:[ wave id = "<Google-Wave-ID> ]
  Please note that, unlike shown above, there should be no space between the opening/left square bracket and the text “wave id”.
• To find out the Wave ID of a Google Wave, Click on the Wave. Copy the URL (shown in your web browser) from googlewave.com upto the . (dot) or upto the end. Exclude the dot. Replace %252B with+ (plus). For example, in my case, the Wave IDs for the content and comments Waves are googlewave.com!w+3413MFFlD and googlewave.com!w+53bOqvqzB
• Next I created a new blog post in WordPress and embedded the Waves as follows:
  [ wave id = "googlewave.com!w+3413MFFlD" ]
  [ wave id = "googlewave.com!w+53bOqvqzB" ]
• You can change the default colors of the embedded Waves from the WordPress admin panel – Settings>Wavr. I changed the default background color and default color to #FFFFFF (white) and #000000 (black) respectively. I also set the height to 700px. Note that , you can set these options on a per Wave basis too. You can find more about it, at the Wavr’s download page.
• Last, since I wanted to encourage comments via the Google Wave only, I disabled comments to the blog post. This can be done while writing or editing the post. Click on the Discussions panel (at the bottom of the editor) and untick “Allow Comments”.

The output of the above efforts can be seen here. Be ready to catch me, in real time, when and while I update the FAQ wave. Though it is more likely that I may catch you while you are writing a comment and could reply instantaneously. After all I pledged to keep Google Wave always open in my web browser.

Update June 12, 2010: You no longer need to login into Google/Google Wave to view the Waves.

Refer to this post on how to use Google Wave for blog posts and comments on your own WordPress powered blog.

I fired Android Market on my phone, searched for “wordpress” and the official app was right at the top, proudly named as WordPress, just WordPress. Yea, that’s indeed the official app!After installation, I launched the app. It prompted me for Blog URL, for which I supplied http://www.shekhargovindarajan.com. For the username and password, I typed in the admin’s username and password, since I blog using the admin account. Subsequently, it allows me to manage comments, the blog posts and the pages on my blog. After playing with it for a couple of hours, I noticed the following pros and cons in the WordPress app for Android:

Pros:

• New comment(s) notification on the phone’s notification bar. You can set the app to check for comments every 5 mins to every 24 hours.
• Ability to reply to comments
• Comments moderation – approve, unapprove, mark spam
• Nice tabbed interface with readable font. Big, touch friendly buttons
• Ability to add images to the blog post from the phone’s gallery
• Ability to compose a blog post on the phone, set it’s status to publish but publish it later on the blog site via “Upload Draft to Blog”.  Useful feature, when at times, we don’t have an active data connection on the phone.
• Categories, once downloaded from the blog, are cached.
• Ability to manage more than one WordPress based blogs.

Cons

• No audio alert with the new comment alert
• Limited editor options - bold, underline, italics, link and blockquote
• The editor is not a rich text editor – the HTML tags show in the post’s text, which looks messy
• Limited options to place the images – either at the top or at the bottom of a post
• No option to delete a post once it is published, if by mistake
• No option to insert a “read more” tag

I found the WordPress app limiting when it comes to composing a blog post. This is because I like to use HTML lists (<ul>, <ol> and <li>) and I like to place images in between the post’s text. I may use the comment features – notification, moderation and reply. Someday, with upgrades and more features, the WordPress app may make it to my list of must-have Android apps.

But hell broke loose, when I made the Wave “public”. While it was thrilling to see the comments of the participants, the Wave no longer looked like an organized list of questions and answers. Thanks to the blips (messages) from others inserted in between. What I wanted then, is launched now by Google – Read-only participants.Here is how it works. After adding a participant to a Wave, click on the participant’s photo (at the top of the Wave). On the pop-up window, select “Read only” from the dropdown (at the bottom right). Click on the close link (x) on the top right.  Henceforth, the participant will not be able to write or edit a blip. But the participant will be able to see the blips as before and, as they are typed.

Use Cases
Following are some possible use cases for read-only Waves:

• To share final or published documents
• Collaborative editing to start with, read-only access after finalization of a document
• To segregate participants into logical roles – collaborators and consumers.
• Embed (on a Web page) a read-only Wave with content, followed by a full access Wave for comments. This would give a blog like look-n-feel

What’s Next
Having tasted this feature, I wish I can have the following facilities too, in the near future:

• Access control at Blip level (overriding the Wave’s access control)
• Besides read-only, permissions to “Create Blips” and “Edit Blips”. Good to have would be a separate permission to “Delete Blips”

Note that, alongside the read-only feature, Google has also launched a feature to restore Wave from Playback. For more, refer to this blog post.

Each time, I upgrade my phone, I wipe off its data. This is because I took the upgrades as an opportunity to wipe off applications which I install, but do not use or use occasionally. But, following is the list of Android applications which I crave to install after each wipe off. These applications are my must-haves on my Android phone.

1. android-wifi-tether
A computer or PC/Laptop can be connected to a phone via USB, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to use the phone’s Internet connection – typically GPRS/EDGE/3G. This kind of connection sharing (with the phone) is called tethering. ADP1 does not ship with tethering capabilities. But thanks to the android-wifi-tether app which can be found here. Don’t go by the “Wifi” in the app’s name. It supports tethering through Bluetooth too. I have used tethering via Wifi, till I switched to CyanogenMod (see below). Once installed, it turns your phone into a Wi-Fi ad-hoc point! Think about it as a Wireless Access Point. Therefore, no hassle of downloading drivers to connect to it from a laptop.

android-wifi-tether app for phone's Internet connection sharing via Wifi/Bluetooth

Features:

• Tethering through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Access control based on MAC address. Notification, about connecting clients, on the phone’s notification bar – with sound.
• 128-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

Pros:

• Behaves as a Wi-Fi ad-hoc point. This means, typically, no configuration/driver hassles on a PC/Laptop.
• MAC address based access control.
• Lots of configuration options for Wi-Fi, like SSID, channel, IP range etc.

Cons:

• Requires ROM update (a kernel update)

Go to Settings>Wireless controls and check Internet tethering. Works with CyanogenMod Android ROMs

I no longer use android-wifi-tether – after flashing my phone with  CyanogenMod. With Cyanogen ROMs, the capability to tether via USB is built-in. USB tethering works both on Linux and Windows – I have it working on Fedora 12 Linux and Windows 7. android-wifi-tether works with the CyanogenMod (version 4.2.13, as of this wiring) without requiring the kernel update. But you will need to download and install the app from here. With android-wifi-tether and CyanogenMod, you may like to enjoy the flexibility of tethering through USB, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth! Though, I’m my happy self with USB tethering.

2. BlueRSS
Once I discovered this free RSS reader named BlueRSS, from the Android Market, I never felt the need to look for an alternative. Lots of features, yet fast and responsive. This is what sets this app apart, for my daily routine, to check out the tech world through RSS feeds. I’m using version 3.0.1 of BlueRSS, as of this writing.

BlueRSS: A fast and feature rich RSS reader for Android phones

Features:

• Discover RSS feeds on Websites or using keywords
• Exports feeds to OPML, opens GMail (or the default mail client) with the OPML file attached, to send.
• Automatic background update
• Ability to refresh all feeds as well as individual feeds
• Add feed items to Favourites
• Full screen mode

Pros:

• Fast and responsive. Don’t remember if I ever had to “Force Close” it
• Import from Google reader

Cons:

• No feed categories
• The feed item’s description/summary does not open in landscape mode.

3. Twidroid (free version)
This app does not require an introduction to Android users. It is undoubtedly the best Twitter client for Android. I started with using Twidroid as the Twitter client on my Android phone. I switched to numerous other Twitter apps to check out the alternatives. I tried Swift, Seesmic, Twidgit and TwitterRide (now called TweetsRide). But I kept coming back to Twidroid and have settled down to it. Twidroid is available from the Android Market and I’m using version 3.0.9.

Twidroid: The feature-rich Twitter client for Andorid

Features

• Supports Twitter lists and the new Retweet feature (or API) of Twitter
• Ability to upload photos
• Twitter Trends, Search and Favorites
• Built it browser to open URLs
• Options to choose a preferred URL shortening service and image upload service
• Built-in profile browser with option to follow/unfollow
• Autocomplete of Twitter usernames while Reply-ing or Direct Message
• Share Tweets via Email, SMS and Bluetooth
• Stores data on the SD card

Pros

• Fast and responsive UI
• One touch access to most functions like Reply, Direct Message and Retweet
• New tweets notification, with the Tweets’ text, in the Notification bar of the phone.
• Automatically shortens the URLs
• Remembers the scroll position with an option to jump to the latest Tweet
• Frequent new releases.

Cons

• Features like widgets, video and multiple accounts available only in the Pro version

4. Nav4All
I have been living in New Delhi, India for 31 years. But Connaught Place a.k.a. CP is a place where I always lose my way to the destination and back home. Thanks to the large number of roundabouts. I recall driving for more than a hour in CP to figure out my way. That’s when I desperately started looking for a navigation app for my GPS capable Android phone. Nav4All is what I got and what I use. It works great for the Delhi roads. Nav4All is available in the Android Market and I’m using version 9.0.25. To be true, I haven’t used all its features. Yet following is the jot down of the features that I see on the application’s screen:

Nav4All: A simple and free app that works for turn-by-turn voice based navigation

Features

• A huge list of countries
• Option of large number of voices (for turn-by-turn navigation)
• Can pick addresses from the phone’s contacts
• View route to destination with turn by turn textual instructions and on the map
• Details like distance, driving speed and journey time
• “Start follow me” feature to trace your current route
• Alternate routes

Pros

• Free
• Precise, numbered, exit points on roundabouts
• Works in New Delhi, India
• Narrows down to the building name!

Cons

• Bad user interface, looks like wireframes
• Buggy with the hardware keyboard of ADP1
• Address search asks for too many details
• Not so good looking map

I haven’t been able to use the address search for Nav4All. It asks for too many details – upto the house number. The best way I use Nav4All is to record the destination coordinates – when I somehow reach the destination for the first time. On the contrary, Nav4All amazed me by telling the name of a client’s office building – located in the midest of a large number of houses.

Note that the Nav4All website hints that the app will remain free until 1st Jan 2010. But I have been using it for free, on my Android phone, till now. Hope it continues to remain free.

5. Car Mode
How many times it has happened, that, while driving you get a phone call. You, then, struggle to put the phone on the speaker phone mode. Car Mode is a nifty app which when clicked, places itself on the phone’s notification bar. Subsequently, it automatically enables the speaker phone for subsequent calls. Car Mode can be disabled by clicking on its icon on the notification bar. It can be downloaded from the Android Market. I’m using version 1.2.0 of this app.

Pros

• A simple and free app which works!

Cons

• It’s encourages to attend phone calls which driving

That’s all folks. Five must have Android apps that I live with. Note that this list does not include the built-in apps – like GMail, Calendar, Contacts, etc – else GMail will Gmail Push (instant push E-mail) is my most used app. Will keep this blog post updated with any future must-have apps which I get used to.

Update (February 2, 2010): I said above that Nav4All may become paid, but the latest update is worse. Got an E-mail announcing that  Nav4All will be discontinued.  Following is the exact copy of the E-mail as sent by CEO of Nav4All:

Subject: Nav4All navigation shut down by Navteq

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 28-01-2010 16:30 GMT+1

Subject: Nav4All navigation shut down by Navteq

Letter to 27,625,631 Nav4All navigation customers

Dear Customers,

It is with the deepest regret that we hereby notify you that the
global navigation of Nav4All and the Tracking & Tracing will go
offline in 3 days. The reason for the same is that the data licence
agreement with Navteq (a 100% Nokia subsidiary) was not extended, in
a totally unexpected manner. It is not possible to implement data
from another supplier in our Nav4All systems within the short term.
The Nav4All navigation system was developed for Navteq data. Nav4All
has therefore been constrained to stop.

We greatly regret the fact that we have to suspend the operation of
our service. With your help, we have developed Nav4All into a global
product with 27.5 million users in 56 languages, in 5 years. This has
made Nav4All the largest navigation supplier. This large number of
users also has to do with the fact that Nav4All works on hundreds of
different mobile telephones of many makes such as Blackberry, Sony
Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, Android, HTC, Nokia, LG, Iphone, Ipod
etc.

After 5 years of testing and market development, we witnessed rapid -
in fact, exponential - growth during the last two years. That growth
was reported in the licence reports to Navteq. In mid-December 2009,
the global coverage was extended to include the Philippines, Morocco
and Kenya.

Please contact the Nav4All support desk in case you have any
questions: www.nav4all.com/support. If there is any further
information from Nav4All concerning the subject of this letter, the
same will be published on our website: www.nav4all.com. For reasons
of privacy, Nav4All does not have the email addresses of all its
customers, and we therefore request you to forward this email to the
maximum extent possible, in order to ensure that everyone is
informed.

Kind Regards,

Hennie J.M. Groot Koerkamp (CEO)

Nav4All BV

Keizersgracht 62-64

1015 CS Amsterdam NL

I thought it would be a good idea to share the ordering and shipping experience with others – especially those who are wanting to get hold of an ADP1 in India. Instead of writing the entire experience chronologically, I thought I would  jot it as a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). Following were a few questions that bothered me while ordering the phone, while the phone was being shipped and when I got to unbox it:

Frequently Asked Questions on shipping Android Dev Phone 1 to India

1. What is the total cost ?
   $571.71 (USD)
2. Why do I have to pay so much ?
   This cost includes the shipping and the duty. Following is the bifurcation :
   Cost of the device: $399.00
   Tax/Duties: $125.21
   Shipping and Handling: $47.50
3. Can I reduce the cost by opting for an alternate shipping option, even if it takes longer to ship ?
   No alternate shipping option is offered for shipping to India.
4. Does the shipping option offer tracking ?
   Yes. See FAQ 12
5. Is there any hidden cost ?
   No.
   Note But you must know that to buy the phone you will need to register at Android Market for which you will have to pay around $25. Refer to my post “Was about to buy an Android“
6. What is the mode of payment ?
   Credit Card
7. Can I pay through Paypal ?
   No.
   Note: I too wanted to pay through Paypal since I had some balance there. But could not find an option
8. How much time does it take to ship the phone to India ?
   3 days
   Note: I ordered the phone on 16th March and got it on 18th. It was a Monday evening when I ordered and got the phone on Thursday afternoon. Note that the phone was shipping during business days. If holidays or weekends fall in between, the shipping may be delayed.
9. Will  I be notified about the order and the shipping status ?
   You will get notified by two  E-mails sent from noreply at brightstarcorp dot com. The first E-mail is sent after a successful order with the order details. The second E-mail is sent as soon as the phone is dispatched for shipping and includes the tracking number to track the device in transit.
10. How much time does it to dispatch the phone for shipping after a successful order ?
    About 24 hours
11. Whom/how do I contact for queries on shipping etc. ?
    Send an E-mail to “android at brightstarcorp dot com”
    Note: I sent an E-mail asking how can I track the order and got a reply in less than 8 hours
12. How can I track my shipping ?
    Go to the URL http://www.ups.com/WebTracking/track?loc=en_US, type in the tracking number and click on track.
13. How do I find the “tacking number”?
    Refer to one of the following:
    • Refer to the second E-mail sent from “noreply at brightstarcorp dot com” with the subject as “Your Order Has Been Shipped”.
    • Login to Android Market and goto the URL http://android.brightstarcorp.com/trackorder.php
      
14. I got my phone but I’m not able to find the microSD card
    It comes inserted in the phone
15. I got my phone but I’m not able to find any stylus to use the touch screen
    The package does not include a stylus. Android is meant to be operated using fingers, just like iPhone. For best results use your thumbs.

Hope this helps my countrymen in going ahead and bringing home one the most wonderful phones – The Android Dev Phone 1.

Disclaimer: The above FAQ is strickly my personal buying experince and any or all information may be different in your case.

Photo of Android Dev Phone 1 from Android Market

Note that the Dev Phone is meant for developers which just means there will be no support by any company (which includes Google, T-Mobile or HTC). Still it costs as much as a consumer phone (as mentioned later).

I instantly decided to go for it. Took the first step which was to register at the Android Market place by paying $25 (Rs. 1237 approx.).

After registering, on my home page (@ Android Market), I spotted an enticing link saying:

As a registered developer, you can purchase an unlocked phone. Buy Now>>

The cost of the phone is $399 (Rs. 19,750 approx.). So far I assumed that I will be paying 1237 (for registration) + 19750 = Rs. 21,000 (approx.) for the phone. Not “so” bad. My current Windows Mobile phone costed me about Rs. 27,000.

First Stumbling Block – “Buy Now” did not work:
Clicking on “Buy Now” loaded up the same page (home page) again and again. Googled around for sometime to see if there is something specific to Firefox or India (I obviously specified my location as India). The news item said clearly that the phone can be shipped to India too.

Fortunately, when I tried again, after a couple of minutes, I was greeted by the phone’s page.

Second Stumbling Block – No GPS ?:
The buy now link which showed me the page on “Android Dev Phone 1″ mentioned the following specs of the phone:

• Touch screen
• Trackball
• 3.2 Megapixel camera with auto focus
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth v2.0
  • Handsfree profile v1.5
  • Headset profile v1.0
• 3G WCDMA (1700/2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• QWERTY slider keyboard
• Includes 1GB MicroSD card (Can be replaced with up to 16GB card)
• Included in the box
  • HTC Android Dev Phone 1
  • USB Cable
  • AC Adapter (with US plug)
  • Stereo Hands-Free Headset
  • Battery
  • Getting Starting Guide
  • 1G Micro SD Card (inserted into Device)

Note the missing GPS. Googled again and read that the Dev Phone 1 is the same hardware as T-Mobile G1, which has built-in GPS. So I half heartedly assumed that the Dev Phone will have GPS and the page would have not mentioned it by mistake.

Third and last Stumbling Block – Shipping @ $224.60!
Yes, the sheer shipping cost of the phone was $224 (Rs. 11,100 approx). This means to grab the phone I will end up spending 1237 (for registration) + 19750 (phone’s cost) + 11000 (shipping) = Rs. 32,000 (approx.). That’s where I gave it up – buying a 32K phone with no support and maybe no GPS.

Anyone on their way back from US ?

Besides being network unlocked, I was excited to read: “Hardware unlocked – Rebuild the Android operating system, and load it onto the device”. This means I can customize – may be logos, boot up screen, text (here and there) of the core operating system, build it and load it on the phone. But this excitement MAY NOT ( still thinking ) be worth @ 32K.

Update (Mar 19, 2009): It took me 3 months to decide to go for it because now I have bricked my Windows Mobile phone (I-Mate 8502). Called up home and found that Android Dev Phone 1 has arrived! I ordered the phone on March 16, 2009 (at about 2130 hrs IST) and got it today (March 19). That is, it shipped within 3 days of the order, to New Delhi, India. I paid $571.71 (inclusive of everything) for this phone, which is yet to be unpacked. Hoping to undress (only the packaging ) it tonight. More on this deserves a new blog post.