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.

iPod Shuffle (Silver)

My first Apple software product was Quicktime (when I desperately wanted to play .mov files) followed by iTunes  which was for testing the Podcast feed on a Website which I was involved in.

iPod Shuffle is not a new/latest device. Hence would refrain from writing a review. In a nutshell, I found it nifty and compact – in fact, it is the nirvana of compactness. The sound quality is amazing even at higher volume. The volume in turn was high enough, at its maximum.

I don’t regret it not having a display. I’m the sorts who can do away with looking at songs if I can hear them It clips on my belt tightly and I don’t fear it falling off (unlike my PDA).

Shuffle with Linux

Next, came the tricky part. How do I sync it with my laptop running Linux? I had some answers before I bought it. But obviously they were not tried and tested by me. What worked for me nicely was gtkpod. Installation was simple on my Fedora 9 desktop – “yum install gtkpod”.

I plugged in the Shuffle via the small(est) USB docking station. Fedora detected it and created a mountpoint and an icon for it on the desktop. But copying MP3 files straight to the mount point (or the device) did not play them.

Hence I fired gtkpod from Applications>Sound & Video>GtkPod. Gtkpod, very cryptically, started asking about my iPod model. Well, I know it is an iPod Shuffle but had no clue about its generation!. It gave me the option to select from first, second and third generation, along with the capacity (storage) and the color. After referring  to this Wikipedia article, I decided that, mine was definitely not the first generation which was a USB dongle shaped device.

Googling convinced me that the difference between the second and the third generation was some color options. I, finally, opted for Shuffle (3rd. Gen) > 1 GB Shuffle (Silver) (xB225).

The device started showing on the left pane of gtkpod. I selected the device and clicked on the menu File>Add Folder. Selected the directory which had my MP3s and then clicked on Save Changes (on the top). Right clicked on the device and selected Eject device. Warning Warning:  This, though expected, did not unmount the iPod Shuffle. Also the Orange light on the Shuffle kept blinking in the same way as it have been, ever since I plugged it to the USB. The Shuffle’s manual clearly says not to disconnect the device when the Orange light is blinking.

Hence, I right clicked on the desktop icon (mount point) and selected Eject. The blinking Orange light turned Green to tell me that now I can unplug the Shuffle and start listening to the MP3s.

I repeat again, the sound quality is amazing!