Now that the things have settled down after Cyanogen received his C&D notice from Google, I thought it was about time to switch up to his latest stable ROM release; v4.2.4 comes with numerous enhancements and bug fixes and promises to be speedier than ever.  Time to find out!

Notes:  For the purpose of this guide, I am assuming that you already have an older Cyanogen ROM installed (v4.1.99 or older) and you are using Cyanogen Recovery v1.4.  Of course following these instructions may work with other combinations but I have not tested them so if that applies to you, by all means use this as a guide but you do so at your own risk.

Before starting, assuming that you don’t want to sit with your G1 plugged into the power socket, it’s a good idea to give it a charge and ensure your battery is at least 75% charged, then when you are ready:

1. On your computer, download the Android 1.6 Recovery Image from HTC’s website.  This isn’t like one of the normal recovery images you’ll be used to running, but you’ll need it in order to ensure the Google Apps are working.  For ease, download this to your desktop so we know where to find it in later steps
2. Next, download Cyanogens’ latest v4.2.4 ROM, again saving it to your desktop
3. We now need to copy both of these images onto your G1 so connect it to your computer using a USB cable, making sure that it is still turned on.  Now, drag down the status window on the G1 and mount your phone so that it is accessible on your computer.  Navigate to the root on your G1’s SD card and copy the two ROMs from above onto the SD.  Once this has done, you can disconnect the USB cable and turn the G1 off
4. Hold down the home button on the G1 and power on, this will allow you to boot into the Recovery Mode
5. Once the Recovery Mode had loaded up, perform a Nandroid Backup [Alt+B] just in case you run into any problems in the later steps
6. Next we need to wipe the ext3 partition on the SD card so that once we have flashed the ROM, we have a nice clean system without any of the remnants of the previous ROM, enter the console [Alt+X] and type:
   mount –o rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cd /system/sd
rm –r *
recovery
7. Perform a data/factory reset [Alt+W]
8. Next, we install the first ROM which will allow you to continue to use the Google Apps once Cyanogen v4.2.4 has been flashed in the next stage.  Choose to apply any zip from the SD [Alt+A] and choose signed-dream_devphone_us but DO NOT reboot your G1 once this has been applied, instead go straight onto the next step
9. Install Cyanogen v4.2.4 ROM by again choosing to apply any zip from SD [Alt+A] and choosing update-cm-4.2.4-signed.zip
10. Now restart your G1 [Home+Back]; you may find that during the restart, you’ll be returned to the Recovery Menu as the cache is formatted.  This is not a problem so just restart using [Home+Back] once again
11. All that remains now is to go through the initial configuration of your G1 and mate it with your Google Account details however, on the initial screen check your APN details as I have found that whilst the APN lists have been updated since v4.0.4 some of them are no longer accurate (specifically the password), as in my case, the o2 payandgo APN is now slightly wrong and needs to be edited otherwise data will not work.  The following steps are o2 payandgo specific so adjust this based on your SIM provider and data plan; other APN details are discussed in a previous post
12. Click Menu and select the correct APN – o2 UK payandgo – then edit the APN details ensuring the following are entered:
    NAME:  o2 uk payandgo
APN:  payandgo.o2.co.uk
PROXY:  Not Set
Port:  Not Set
USERNAME:  Vertigo
PASSWORD:  password
SERVER:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk
MMSC:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk
MMS PROXY:  193.113.200.195
MMS PORT:  8080
MCC:  234
MNC:  10
APN TYPE:  Not Set

Notes:  I have shown you the steps to perform a clean install of the v4.2.4 ROM which is the way I choose to update, I tend not to keep much in the way of data on my device and any photos or documents etc can be copied back onto your SD card once the upgrade has been done using a USB cable.  However, you can upgrade your existing ROM instead by missing out stage 6 above; this should leave your already installed applications and data intact.  You may need to open Market afterwards though to rebuild your application database so that you continue to receive application update notifications.

Caveat:  All modifications which attempt to bypass the base system settings allowing you to install custom ROMs *could* brick your phone (and if you’re not sure what is meant by that, please don’t read any further!).  I am not responsible, this guide gives you the information you’ll need, what you choose to do with it is down to you.

As always, I make a few base customisations to the nice clean ROM once it has been installed, obviously at this stage you may choose to do the same or do something different but this is what I do:

• Cyanogens ROMs are designed for speed and efficiency so do not have all of the audio files that come with an original ROM, however this is easy to fix to ensure that you have all of the ringtones and alerts, simply download the audio zip and extract it to the root of your SD.  Restart the phone and you should now have access to them all
• I’m not a fan of desktop wallpaper, perhaps it heralds from the days when it would have an impact on system performance; perhaps it’s just because I don’t like clutter.  So, I prefer to have a simple black background which I think looks much smarter.  To do this take a picture with the camera but keep your finger firmly pressed over the lens whilst you do, then choose this ‘image’ for your desktop.  Easy.
• The first app that I always install is a battery status app which gives a much better representation of the amount of charge available than the one which comes as standard, so head to the market and install Battery Status – Free
• Finally, I upgrade to the latest version of Google Maps – v3.2 – which is far better than the version which comes with the ROM, to do this download the update file and using the same method as above, put this file onto the root of your SD card and reboot into the Recovery Mode menu and apply the update.  Once your G1 has rebooted after doing this, you should see the updates Maps icon on the home screen and have access to the latest version of maps which has layers (showing you traffic hold ups etc) amongst other things and is much faster.  Worth noting also that if and when the voice navigation feature is enabled outside of the US (currently it is not available in the UK owing to licensing restrictions on the map data), you will already have the core map application ready to go!

I hope you find this useful, enjoy.

I’ve had my G1 for a while now and so far so good with everything apart from the T-Mobile signal.  According to T-Mobile, the coverage in the village where I am living should be good but my G1 can barely muster 1-2 bars signal strength on a good day.  On a bad day it doesn’t get coverage at all.  Now this is not a new thing, previously I lived in Swindon and even there I struggled with signal even though according to their spectrum charts the signal should have been good.  Previous to the G1 I used a Nokia E71.  The E71 was even worse, where perhaps the G1 has 2 bars of strength; the E71 struggled to get anything.  I attribute this in part to the stupid notion by Nokia of putting an aerial inside a metal frame, a great idea hey?  What is interesting with both phones is that when you go outside, the signal improves significantly to the degree that it is as good as suggested by T-Mobile even 3G works!

So I have come to the conclusion that whilst I love my android, T-Mobile has to go and I’m going to use o2 again, which I know to work properly where I live.

This means that I have to unlock my G1.  According to my research, there are a couple of ways of doing this.  Firstly, I’m lead to believe that once you have been a customer of T-Mobile for around 90 days, they will give you the unlock code that you need on request, after all you may need the code for a legitimate reason such as putting a foreign SIM in temporarily if you’re travelling abroad.  I tried this approach and whilst on the face of it the answer is yes there seemed to be a lot of red tape and conditions, not really the answer I was looking for when I have already paid for the phone twice over in subscriber costs.  Secondly, there are a lot of companies advertising online that claim to be able to offer you the unlock code for a fee.  After doing a lot of research and checking out other people’s experience, I decided to use a company called www.unlock-tmobileg1.com who will supply you with the code you need within 24 hours for a fee of £15.99

Here’s the steps you’ll need to go from a T-mobile G1 to an o2 G1:

• Perform a factory reset of your android.
• Slide out the keyboard and open the left hand side notch to unlock the battery cover, then take it off.
• Insert your T-Mobile SIM if not already done so and the battery.
• Press the MENU button whilst you turn the phone on, keeping your finger on the MENU button until the phone boots, you’ll notice that it now boots up in SAFE MODE.
• Press the EMERGENCY DIAL button and dial *#06# which will give you your IMEI number, this should be 15 numerics in length.  Make a note of this as you’ll need this on the website to get your unlock code.
• Head over to www.unlock-tmobileg1.com and follow the instructions to get your unlock code, using the IMEI number you’ve just got in the above step.
• Back on your phone, return to the main screen and press the MENU button, this will pop up the APN button, press it.
• Go to the APN settings, you’ll find the APN for T-Mobile.  Press MENU again and press NEW APN.
• Use the following settings:
  O2 Pre-Pay
  NAME:  o2 uk payandgo
  APN:  payandgo.o2.co.uk
  PROXY:  Not Set
  Port:  Not Set
  USERNAME:  Vertigo
  PASSWORD:  password
  SERVER:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk
  MMSC:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk
  MMS PROXY:  193.113.200.195
  MMS PORT:  8080
  MCC:  234
  MNC:  10
  APN TYPE:  Not Set
  O2 Post-Pay
  NAME:  o2 uk postpay
  APN:  wap.o2.co.uk
  PROXY:  Not Set
  PORT:  Not Set
  USERNAME:  O2wap
  PASSWORD:  password
  SERVER:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk
  MMSC:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk
  MMS PROXY:  193.113.200.195
  MMS PORT:  8080
  MCC:  234
  MNC:  10
  APN TYPE:  Not Set
• Now switch off your phone and wait for your unlock code.
• Now you can insert your new o2 SIM card and switch the phone back on normally (for the sign up to work and to link with your Google account, make sure the SIM is data activated).
• Your G1 will now ask you for your unlock code, make sure you get this right as entering it wrong 3 times will make your phone hardware lock.
• Once unlocked, your data service will be active as per the APN settings you entered in the above steps.
• You can now customise to your choice the settings for things such as homepage etc.

I had my unlock code back within 5 hours which I thought to be a pretty good service, given the stated time is 24 hours.  One tip though, remember to check the days exchange rates before you buy.  Why? because it may be cheaper to select to pay in US$ at the checkout, OK so you will only save about £1 at best but in these troubled times every penny counts!  As a service, I’d recommend these guys, quick turn-around and they do exactly what they say on the website, no fuss, no hassle.  Easy payment too using PayPal.

You should now be able to fully enjoy your G1 again and the annoying ‘No Network Coverage’ message will be a thing of the past.

Enjoy!

____________________

I’ve now managed to get MMS to work, the settings are:

O2 Pre-Pay
NAME:  o2 uk payandgo
APN:  payandgo.o2.co.uk
PROXY:  Not Set
Port:  Not Set
USERNAME:  payandgo
PASSWORD:  password
SERVER:  Not Set
MMSC:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk:8002
MMS PROXY:  193.113.200.195
MMS PORT:  8080
MCC:  234
MNC:  10
APN TYPE:  Not Set

*UPDATES FOR OTHER NETWORKS BELOW*