The first official Android-powered phone, the HTC Dream, was far from perfect. With several modifications ranging from hardware to flashing the firmware, the G1, is one powerful underrated device. Over the course of my ownership of the G1, I’ve made several powerful tweaks myself, which I think you should try out.

Battery Expansion

One of the biggest disappointments of the G1 is the short battery life. Only armed with a 1200mAh battery, the HTC Dream can barely last a day if you are using basic internet apps such as “Last.fm” (see Android App Review here). By paying less than twenty dollars, you can upgrade your battery to 2200mAh that seems to last for almost a week without charging (to get it, go here). The only problem is that you will have a larger G1, due to the battery’s size.

Headphone Jack Adapter

Another big disappointment of the G1 is the lack of a headphone jack. With a simple adapter that you can purchase for few dollars on amazon (for the adapter, click here), you will have an available headphone jack and a port that can be used for charging, USB connection, etc.

Rooting Your Phone

How to Root your G1 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=442480)

By gaining root access of your G1, you can install a custom ROM (preferably Cyanogen ROM, to get it, go here) and the amount of features that you unlock are amazing. The list below is the amount of features with the Cyanogen Rom, including my favorite: FLAC support.

(from XDA Developers)

* UNIVERSAL! Runs on both Dream and Magic 32B
* Based on Android 1.6, many bugfixes and enhancements from AOSP, XDA, and me
* Highly optimized kernel with many extra modules
* Enhanced ramdisk which uses optimal mount options and smart startup
* Includes E2FSProgs for checking and converting Ext filesystems
* Apps2SD is automatic! All you need is a second partition (ext).
* Launcher with 5 screens and auto-orientation and compact drawer layout
* Clean filesystem shutdown at poweroff/reboot, and fsck at boot (no FS corruption!)
* Includes Amazon MP3 store, and Work Email (MS Exchange support)
* Does not require “DangerSPL”
* Includes a massive APN list
* Maximum CPU scaling frequency set to 528MHz with latency tweaks
* Various enhancements to the Settings app including extra partition space
* Phone app enhancements by cytown
* MMS enhancements from rgv151
* FLAC audio support thanks to kroot
* Bluetooth OBEX support from Erin Yueh
* Contacts app enhancements by ChainsDD and Wysie
* USB tethering support (kernel code ported by Zinx)
* Commandline extras: powertop, htop, nano, busybox, openvpn
* Ability to lock home app in memory (control in Spare Parts app)
* Eclair graphics, apps, and other guts
* Multitouch browser and gallery
* Music and DeskClock apps from Eclair

With all these awesome tweaks, you can fully enable your G1 to its maximum potential.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

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