If you had asked me these questions a couple of months back, i would have said the following:

Thanks Shekhar for prompt reply. But apart from ability to play with the entire OS of the phone what does it help for a third party application developer like me?

Android updates from 1.1 to 1.6 were available for ADP1, quite quickly, after their release. Whereas T-Mobile users had to wait longer. This means you have earlier access to test/develop your apps on the latest and the greatest.

Being able to flash the ADP1 with compatible firmware – even one from another cellphone manufacturer is a plus. You may then test your apps with customizations done by different manufacturers.

As said above, even though Android 2.0 may not be available officially, its possible that 2.0 is released (though nothing so far) by someone like Cyanogenmod http://www.cyanogenmod.com/ Such releases are likely to support ADP1, if not other phones. Henceforth you can test your app with the latest features which will run on upcoming or latest phones.

Lastly, you will get more developers’ support on ADP1 via forums etc.

how am I going to distribute such application to end users?

Android apps are distributed (to any and all phones) via Android Market http://www.android.com/market/

The non-availability of the Android 2.0 update for ADP1 is a real minus which should affect your buying decision. But you may (if you can) wait for a month to see any update on this.

Also suppose if I make some app which I develop and test on the ADP1 device with some tweaks on the OS, how am I going to distribute such application to end users?

I mean if to make something unusual which required me to tweak into the OS itself, My application wont work on end users Android devices untill they also install the same tweaked OS that I have on ADP1.

And because I’m going to develop third party apps for end users and not just for me, I believe I could also test the app on some other Android device (Which I wont have to import from other country like US) and would work the same if it comply with Android OS versions produced by google not me.

I might be wrong, but surely not getting any compelling reason to get the ADP1 imported from US while I can buy some HTC Android based phones right here in India.

I would appreciate your kind suggestions, please help me understand the need of ADP1 device for developing third party applications meant to run on any Android device world over.

Thanks again.

Regards,
Sameer.

1. ADP1 is hardware unlocked (besides network unlocked). This means you can change the entire OS or Firmware of the phone with your own ROM. Think about changing the text of the splash screen (when the phone boots) from Android to your name

2. ADP1 is shipped rooted. This means when you switch on the phone, you have root access to the phone’s hardware. This means you can easily test and install apps which modify the underlying OS (Linux). A classic example is the Andorid tethering app: http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/

I’m new to Android development and have a very basic question before I make this decision of whether to buy ADP1 or Buy some HTC Android devices here in India right away. So Can any one of you please help me understand why should one go for Android Dev Phone 1 and not the HTC phones based on Android platform right away?

Thanks,
Sameer.

You may like to refer to http://developer.htc.com/adp.html for upgrades

The customs and shipping costs seem to have come down drastically since the time you ordered it. The total cost to me was $506.

I’ve written more details about my own ordering experience here:

http://www.biskoot.com/2009/10/ordering-the-android-dev-phone-in-india/

- Ketan

How did you order for this phone – i mean thru website or phone.

Thru Website. Please refer to one of my earlier blog post named Was about to buy an Android for the details.

How did you make the payment- Wsa it thru credit card

Credit card

Our company wants to buy the phone and hence wanted to know the process for the same

This blog post and the earlier one – Was about to buy an Android – should give an overview of the buying process. All the best!

How did you make the payment- Wsa it thru credit card

Our company wants to buy the phone and hence wanted to know the process for the same