T-Mobile G1: Don't type 'reboot'

By Andrew Lim on 10 November 2008, 12:38pm

A recent T-Mobile G1 update has caused a peculiar side-effect that's proving rather embarrassing for Google. RC29, as the update is known, causes certain text entered into the G1 to run commands.

There's a thread on the Google Code site by user 'jdhorvat' that explains what happens. "Funny story behind finding this. I was in the middle of a text conversation with my girl when she asked why I hadn't responded. I had just rebooted my phone and the first thing I typed was a response to her text which simply stated 'Reboot' -- which, to my surprise, rebooted my phone."

Not exactly the end of the world, but an indicator that things over at Android HQ are still in the early phases. Apparently a Google fix is on its way soon and because it's all done over the air, it should be rolled out fairly easily.

Flaws such as these obviously open up the question about G1 having more security issues than other platforms. Because it's new, open and from a high-profile company, Android will be subject to certain risks. G1 users may find themselves having to download antivirus software to avoid getting hacked by malicious apps. Only time will tell how secure the Android really is.