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Getting a Dream - An Australian Newbie

Lionheart

Newbie
Nov 13, 2009
16
1
Hey guys, Long time reader, First Time Poster.

I currently have a nokia n95 but I'm looking into getting a HTC Dream (g1) on an optus plan.

I have a couple of questions..

Is battery life really THAT shocking? I mean, I'll only really be using it for an hour in the afternoon, an hour at lunch and two hours of a morning, but that will be with 3g and msn.

Is the dream compatible with msn on it's native australian IM client, or if not is there and app that is?

The plan I'm looking at has 500mb of data a month, although i plan to only really browse the web at school or when I'm near a WiFi network, will 2 hours of Instant messaging a day chew this up?

Does Rooting the device void my warranty?

Are custom themes available without rooting it?


Thanks for the help guys, I hope to be part of this community moreso when I finally get my dream..



Alex
 
Hi Alex and Welcome to the Forums! :D

1) I can't imagine any phone battery being that bad it should last you the day with MSn etc.

2) MSN is not compatible with the Native IM but their are alternatives on the Market including Nimbuzz and eBuddy. You can even talk with your facebook, AIM etc. contacts etc at the same time.

3) 500 MB seems like enough and you'll sometime be using WiFi anyway

4) Yes I beleive Rooting does void your warranty but why would you want to ROOT?

5) Yep plenty of themes out their & Hope replacement apps without Root including aHome , Openhome , Pandahome {free + I use this}

If theirs any more questions just ask!

Carl :)
 
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Hiya - I am also using a HTC Dream (aka the G1) on Optus.

I actually found it hard to get a Dream with Optus here in Townsville where I am, so spent the money and bought one outright after reading lots of reviews and forums and ditched my iPhone :D

I think you will void your warranty if you flash a cooked rom since Optus have their own 'branded' firmware rubbish. You might want to ask on an Australian forum like Whirlpool to be sure though.

I am running the 1G a month plan, with the only wifi close is a drive to Macca's..lol or when I am at home. Battery for me lasts about the same as my iPhone did, thats to say I get just over 1 day out of a charge. I use it as my work phone so several calls in and out a day, email, IM via GTK (as I have Cyanogens ROM I also have the US IM client that is not available on Aussie provider ROMS) so I get Yahoo, MSN and AIM by default.

I tend to turn off 3G when I am out unless I need to download an attachment via email, that helps, I also have wifi scanning off and only turn it on when needed.

Optus do some funny things when it comes to their version of Android, so don't expect access to paid apps unless you download them from the internet via the developers site directly, Optus for some unknown reason don't allow access to paid apps on the Marketplace - although Vodafone do. (I use a $5 Voda prepaid sim and download any paid apps via wifi as a workaround as Optus have no idea about why they should allow access to paid apps!)

Unfortunately you wont be able to do that with a locked phone.

Otherwise, the Dream works really really well, I don't really listen when people start saying its old, and until another qwerty model phone running Android over here is available its a prefectly good phone (I despise on screen keyboards, hence the move from iPhone amongst other reasons!) - besides according a tweet from Cyanogen last night the G1 WILL get 2.0 Eclair!, guess that means he is going to tweak it hehehe
 
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Thankyou both for your help!

I'm currently on a contract with optus with 12 months left, does anyone know if they'll let me upgrade it? or is this the kind of thing thats worked out on a situation by situation basis?

Also, with the IM thing - does sending IM's come under data usage and 3g? my thoughts tell me yes but I have other people telling me it will come under sms usage and that IM's get sent as SMS', is the this case?

Oh and - Is the white dream available in Australia or would I have to get one in from overseas?

Thanks

Alex
 
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Thankyou both for your help!

I'm currently on a contract with optus with 12 months left, does anyone know if they'll let me upgrade it? or is this the kind of thing thats worked out on a situation by situation basis?

Cant really help you there - you might want to talk to Optus themselves. I went from a month to month cap (not prepaid though) and went into the store and signed onto the same cap for 2 years and walked out with a free (no handset repayments) N97 - which ended up dying so I bought my G1 outright ;)

Also, with the IM thing - does sending IM's come under data usage and 3g? my thoughts tell me yes but I have other people telling me it will come under sms usage and that IM's get sent as SMS', is the this case?

Nope IM's are sent as data only.

Oh and - Is the white dream available in Australia or would I have to get one in from overseas?

Thanks

Alex

I think you will be sourcing it from overseas, then you have the issue with it being 'A-Tick' compliant to work on our GSM network here, a lack of manufacturers warranty (usually provided by the online store you buy it from), and that it can have foreign carrier branding on it (T-Mobile G1 handsets have T-Mobile printed on the case - personally I would rather something with HTC warranty and no carrier branding ;) )

But at the end of the day, thats your call :)
 
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Again, Thankyou for the help =)

One last thing - I've found a android dev phone on eBay for a reasonable price - and from what I've read it's sim unlocked completely - does anyone know if it works on an Australian network? If it does, I'll just put it onto my current plan, and sell my nokia to cover the costs..

Also, Does this mean I can load the latest version of android (2.0, or 1.6 if the g1 can't handle it) onto the phone because of the root access?


Thanks for everything guys, hopefully I'll have my g1 soon =)

Alex
 
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Again, Thankyou for the help =)

One last thing - I've found a android dev phone on eBay for a reasonable price - and from what I've read it's sim unlocked completely - does anyone know if it works on an Australian network? If it does, I'll just put it onto my current plan, and sell my nokia to cover the costs..

All the G1's will work here on either Optus or Vodafone, just not Telstra's NextG (850Mhz)

Also, Does this mean I can load the latest version of android (2.0, or 1.6 if the g1 can't handle it) onto the phone because of the root access?

If its rooted sure! There are plenty of ROM's out there, currently the G1 is only running v1.6, but the Cyanogen dev's are already looking into getting v2.0 running on the G1 :D (Google only released the source code for 2.0 the other day)

Thanks for everything guys, hopefully I'll have my g1 soon =)

Alex

Your welcome, thats what forums are for :)

Look forwards to seeing posts about your new G1 :D
 
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Sorry for the super late reply, and thanks again.

A couple of last things,

The Dev phone was "root access" does this mean flashing a custom mod onto it will be easier?

You mentioned that running cyanogen's mod you could get the US im client, does this mean I can use MSN/WLM protocol - also, I've heard people saying (specifically on U.S forums) that this client sends it out as text messages - have you personally found this to be true or is it still sent as data?

Thanks again for the help - You've really helped clear up alot of things =)
 
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Sorry for the super late reply, and thanks again.

A couple of last things,

The Dev phone was "root access" does this mean flashing a custom mod onto it will be easier?

If the phone already has root access then it just means you don't have to worry about using something such as the 'one-click' root method, still need to follow all the other steps regarding flashing a custom rom.

You mentioned that running cyanogen's mod you could get the US im client, does this mean I can use MSN/WLM protocol - also, I've heard people saying (specifically on U.S forums) that this client sends it out as text messages - have you personally found this to be true or is it still sent as data?
No text messages, all mine have ever used are data. I use the original IM client for AIM and it just uses GPRS/HSDPA - no SMS, to be honest though I wouldn't know 100 percent or have an issue as my plan has unlimited SMS!

Thanks again for the help - You've really helped clear up alot of things =)
No worries :D
 
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