Did You Know that the First Android Phone was an HTC?

Mobile phones have come a long way and the first of their kinds were produced by Bell System for car use only. The first mobile phones were nicknamed “the brick” as they weighed 0.9 kilograms and cost a whopping 3,995 US dollars.

As is the norm, before an invention makes it to the acceptable cost factor for both the customer and the producer, it takes a lot of time. And while the early mobile networks were patchy and phones were bulky and expensive, decades later we saw even better phones – the Android phones.

The Symbian Operating System (OS) might have enjoyed a seemingly perpetual functionality and performance, but when Android, Inc was established in 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White, the phones were phased out.

Google bought Android, Inc in 2005 and the first Linux-based OS was released in 2007. The reception of the operating system was appalling. Fast forward to 2012, Android was boasting 1.5 million activations a day!

There are lots of Android apps available today. In 2020, 142.9 billion apps and games were downloaded.

The introduction of Android was the smartest move ever and many phones running the OS have been manufactured. However, do you remember the first phone running Android OS?

HTC Dream was the world’s first ever Android phone. It was first sold in October 2008 for 179 dollars in the US as the T-Mobile G1.

Back then, HTC was a force to reckon with. Initially, the company was a white label manufacturer and it used to make phones for other companies to sell under their own names.

Although the company still makes phones for other companies, it began manufacturing and selling phones under its own HTC brand. The company also enjoys an amazing relationship with Google and it was the one that manufactured Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Nexus One.

HTC’s first Android phone, the HTC Dream ran Android 1.6 – Donut – had a RAM of 192 MB, internal storage of 256 MB and an external storage of up to 16 GB.

The battery was an 1150 mAh Lithium-ion, while its processor was the 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7201A ARM11.

The device came with a 3.15-megapixel rear camera with auto-focus feature and was equipped with a 3.2 inches capacitive touchscreen.

In terms of applications, HTC Dream came with Gmail, Google Maps, Search, Google Talk, and YouTube. Other regular apps like Alarm, Calendar, Contacts among others were available.

Although the phone was a milestone for the company, it still faced stiff competition from Nokia’s Symbian, iOS, and Blackberry. But its heavy integration with Google services made it stand out.

Soon after, updates for the HTC Dream followed and the company made other notable phones as well. It was also the first phone company to manufacture a Windows phone and a 4G smartphone.