I received the T-Mobile G1 running Android yesterday and played with it essentially all evening. A few thoughts below, for those who care. (Sorry regular readers, this is a post for those who find this blog from Google…)

• I thought I would be downloading games, but interestingly enough I haven’t even touched those yet. In fact, the application I’ve spent the most time so far is “Settings”
• This is the first time I’ve had a data plan on a phone. While the possibilities are endless, I wonder how much value I will actually get out of it over time. I bike to/from work and don’t travel much, so I don’t get a lot of the entertainment value that others might. We’ll see how I feel in a month
• I would love to start writing apps for this thing, but unfortunately my old laptop has only USB 1.1, which is unsupported

More specific stuff:

• As is well documented, the POP/IMAP email client is a train wreck
• I keep pressing “Menu” when I mean “Back”.
• Task switching is annoying. I would love part of the Notification bar to be a list of open apps.
• The included headphones and USB-to-headphone extension are really really annoying! The combination is massive, with overly long cables, and the included headphones sound tinny and get tangled in everything.
• SSH and FTP seems straightforward (ConnectionBot and AndFTP). Nice touch to be able to log into any of my servers from my phone. However, there is an annoying ConnectionBot bug – all of my private keys need to be in the root directory of my SD card
• New version called “Cupcake” coming out soon. On-screen vertical-orientation keyboard seems like a good thing. Hopefully it also fixes email
• Google Voice Search seems like a gimmick. First, it doesn’t really work well (I said “Chocolate Grape” and got back “Chocolate Cake“). Second, to use it I have to 1.) Enter my password, 2.) Bring up the applications menu, 3.) Scroll down, 4.) Press “Voice Search”. Too much effort.

Peter Rakos from Gamasutra managed to create a rudimentary 3D graphics engine in Excel.
Look at the video clip below.

Reshma had open a NYTimes.com article about the Ironman Triathlon when I opened the laptop today. Accidentally, I double clicked on the word “surgeon” that appeared in the article. The site popped up a new window with the definition of the word that I had double clicked on! The new page had only the definition, but I see the possibility of including articles related to that keyword, or even cross-promotional opportunities.

Effectively, every word in the article is now a subtle link. Now THAT’s context-sensitive hyperlinking!

Apple has patented a new method of stopping a thief from using your iPhone. Each time the device is plugged into the computer, a code buried deep within the iPhone is compared to a code downloaded from Apple via iTunes. If the codes don’t match up, (i.e. you called in a lost iPhone and Apple/AT&T changes the code), the iPhone then prevents itself from being charged again.

It is a fascinating idea for mobile device theft deterrence. Most devices use a password system to attempt to accomplish the same thing. For example, my Blackberry requires me to enter a password each time I use it. Not only is this horribly annoying, it results in me setting the easiest password I can to minimize my pain.

(Granted, the Blackberry is not trying to only prevent someone from using it as a phone long-term, they are trying to deter someone from looking at sensitive information immediately.)

However, I see a few problems with this security method.

1. It requires the use of iTunes. Hackers have already managed to change the iPhone into a web server that can serve web pages (yes, for the hell of it, this is what most hackers do with new devices). I am certain they can bypass the use of iTunes on the iPhone, as many hackers I know of hate iTunes.
2. It requires me to plug the phone into a computer. What if I just plug it into a wall outlet and never into a computer? Unless the code can be sent wirelessly, you have just circumvented the security system.
3. Sensitive documents can still be accessed at the time of theft.
4. Eventually, someone will figure out how to bypass the circuitry that prevents the phone from being charged and find a workaround. This may take weeks or years, but it will be done – “hiding” security in a system almost never works to prevent unauthorized access.

(Are there other problems that I have forgotten?)

As we depend more on mobile devices, theft will affect us in more substantial ways. While this solution may have issues, at least Apple is thinking of ways to solve the problem.