Android in Video: G1’s First Ad and Google Devs Pick Their Fav Features
Did you know T-Mobile’s G1 will make you “smarterer,” “more connecteder” and grammatically stupider? T-Mobile’s first commercial for the Android-powered G1 phone is out, and it promises to be “the most exciting phone in the history of phones.” We’ll see about that. Check out the commercial:
Google’s Android Developer blog is also posting short videos featuring Google programmers and their favorite built-in Android features.
Some of our favorite videos demonstrating cool things we haven’t really seen before are available after the jump. A lot of the favorites are things we’ve been able to do for a while — Googlers, you’re telling me customizing your home screen, taking pictures and fast scrolling are your favorite new features? Maybe pickens were slim.
Check out our favorite of the favorite features in video form after the break.
Home Screen Customization
Home screen customization lets you include gadgets — a clock is included, so is the ability to litter your desktop with pictures.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Switching between programs. A new button dedicated to search is included on the keyboard. Pressing the button plus the first letter of the application you want takes you directly to a list of matching applications.
Calendar
The calendar application is Ugly (with a capital U), but it is automatically integrated with your online Google Calendar.
Contacts
What isn’t new with contacts is groups and a starred favorite tab of contacts. What is new is the ability of your favorite tab to sort your contacts by those you contact most often, a feature I really like about Google Talk.
Media in the Browser
Play YouTube videos directly from web pages. Goes to YouTube app, just like iPhone. Save photos to the phone. Multitasking — downloads in the background. Listen to mp3 streaming.
Reader and Photos
Keep up with friends with Twitter. Window feature to choose which window you want to be in. Reader works the same as iPhone.
Copy photos via SD card, no way to sync automatically although there would be a stage to do this through Picasa.
GPS Pictures and Copy and Paste
Yup, GPS information is attached to the camera, and a feature Apple just can’t seem to figure out: Copy and Paste.
