I Got Google’s SECRET Android Prototype!

[@MatiMape]

Fun fact: When Rubin worked at Apple in the 1980s / 1990s, he was given the nickname "Android". So basically Apple named Android.

[@Russeljrjs]

Technically, it wasn’t Apple who officially named him “Android.” Instead, it was his co-workers at Apple who playfully gave him that nickname due to his fascination with robots.

[@Dada228822]

@@Russeljrjsso Apple employees- Apple

[@Russeljrjs]

@@Dada228822 fair enough

[@gauravpande]

@@Dada228822 Not at all. Friends.

[@erebostd]

@@gauravpandedon’t argue with apple fanboys. They rejected reality and substitute the things apple (and other Apple users) feeds them. Basically like many Americans… 😉

[@ThisIsTechToday]

Yay!! So glad you were able to make this video with it.

[@snazzy]

Thanks a BILLION for sending it my way! Such an amazing little piece of history.

[@OhSoTiredMan]

Here I was wondering how he got his hands on it.

[@nikitasnosis2695]

@@OhSoTiredMan 3:47

[@reluttr2]

Any idea what the "self destruct" option does in the test menu application? Is it a Easter egg, or does it actually break the OS?

[@paulbarnett227]

@@reluttr2 I guess it's a factory reset.

[@valramos2003]

Can’t unsee the duck face at the top of the phone.

[@snazzy]

•-•

[@keksimus__maximus]

👁️👄👁️

[@TheUnderMasked]

🐥

[@StephenSLG]

I didn't notice it, until you said it. Now I cannot and see it. Thank you for that.

[@15725867905]

That hardware is genuinely gorgeous.

[@ZiggityZeke]

When phones were fun...

[@wilkgr]

@@ZiggityZeke hello fellow MrMobile enjoyer lol

[@yerabbit]

Yes, I would buy in a second. I really think there is a market for phones like this nowadays

[@hugevibez]

Looks like it was made by HTC, they were the coolest manufacturer for sure. A real shame they fell off like that.

[@wilkgr]

@@hugevibez they didn't so much fall off as they were just bought out by Google lol

[@bigmackrel7740]

you not playing quake on it is the only bad part of this video lol

[@mrluciferlucerna]

right? i was so pissed

[@Formulka]

seriously, what gives?

[@john_unforsaken]

He replied to another comment that it was broke and missing files. So sadly not working.

[@Mainyehc]

@@john_unforsakenmaybe it could be made to work by adding them to an SD card? 🤔

[@0v3rm1nd3d]

This, this so much

[@andrewyouv]

Y U NO PLAY QUAKE

[@snazzy]

We cut it out but it brokey! Was missing config files 😢

[@tedroddy]

​@@snazzyit was your duty to show us

[@pauleckert4321]

Should have said something you just skip it over. Was a weird edit.

[@zynix27]

To be frank, @snazzy comes off like an Apple guy. Maybe it was too hard for them to set it up.

[@tedroddy]

@@zynix27 all he had to do was click the icon and show us what happened, even if it didn’t work, even if it required more setup. it didn’t have to work, but it also didn’t have to be a mysterious icon visible through the video that never gets addressed

[@WhatTheAlva]

I'm getting kinda annoyed at how snappy it is. I've had phones in the last couple of years that feel straight up broken.

[@snazzy]

Haha fair

[@Tim70theYawner]

what fixes this for me on android to some extent is upping the animation speed

[@dfgdfg_]

​@@Tim70theYawner yeah developer options and set to 0.5x iirc

[@JustinDuijn]

Go custom rom, bare Google…

[@SharpSpoonProduction]

I would unironically carry a phone like this today if someone brought back that form factor, I miss when phones were more simple. Tired of gazing into the nightmare rectangle.

[@yoshikinanami7434]

That prototype is actually better than every modern “dumbphone”. I just want a good dumbphone that just works and has multi day battery life

[@georgewashington6171]

@@yoshikinanami7434 I want a good dumphone that isnt made out of garbage and runs some shit like kaios, bring me drop shadows and no bloat god damn it!

[@SharpSpoonProduction]

@@yoshikinanami7434 Honestly though, give me a phone like that with at least maps and I'll be perfectly fine.

[@ZorroFox2001]

not to shill but i've been seeing this one called the minimal phone that's been getting crowdfunding lately i'm intrigued but after ouya i'm waiting until the reviews come out to get my hands on one

[@aquaponieee]

@@yoshikinanami7434y'know in this video how he explained how there were 3 types of phones back then: ultrabasic feature phones like nokia 1100/moto razr, business nerd PDA phones, and then the in-between category dominated by palm? current dumbphones are basically zombie versions of those ultrabasic feature phones, they run on kind of the same hardware and software, except they're extremely obsolete now, and since noone knows how to make software for these their software has lost many features and is way worse than it was back then. unisoc makes the only 4G LTE enabled feature phone hardware and those really suck. we all want that lost in-between category to return, but i guess noone will do that. i think the last ones like that was the Nokia Asha series. i also think phones with KaiOS or with a stripped down Android version are kinda close? eh. oh fun fact! google planned to make an android version for feature phones, but they killed that project before it saw the light of day, there are some prototypes you can see videos of, not sure if it was called Nokia 300 or Nokia 235 (not the 2024 phone)... and KaiOS also supported QWERTY form factors, but only one phone ever released with it in one country and i think blackberry holds some weird patents preventing everyone from making qwerty phones? yeah. whatever. current dumbphones do calls and text, and they're pretty good at their job and have tons of battery life, and at least HMD makes nice looking ones with a software skin that doesn't look horrible, so there's that. plus in the US you still have KaiOS 3.x flip phones which have WiFi, GPS, better-than-usual cameras, USB-C, group chats+emojis and access to the modern Web while still being kinda dumbphones.

[@GrackAlaciN]

As a European it's kinda funny to see how the US market worked. I think we had a few attempts at carrier branded phones in my country, but mostly phones were just sim locked to a specific carrier if you bought them with a subscription. I wouldn't mind a phone like the Sooner today, provided that it gets OS/software updates which really is one of the big issues when it comes to smaller Android phone manufacturers.

[@Banditxam4]

Here in Asia - india we never had carrier locked phone... You only go for carrier locked phone when you are spending less than $100

[@owenprosser]

I came here to make a similar comment before I saw yours. I had a few pre-iPhone phones (in the UK) which had a small carrier brand on the back but never as egregious as those in the US 🦅🦅🦅

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@owenprosseryeah, I mainly remember Orange trying it. They (and still are, now in their EE form) were the most aggressive about carrier locking. Everyone else basically just shrugged their shoulders, maybe put a decal, and either didn’t lock it or was very easy to unlock that SIM.

[@TopiasSalakka]

For the longest time i didn't even realize other phone manufacturers besides Nokia existed, they were that ubiquitous here in Finland. I remember when my grandma bought a Sony Ericsson and i was like wait what now?

[@some_dude7]

So carrier branding directly on the outside of the phone was mostly specific to the US then?

[@Mystic9820]

Fun fact. T-mobile's EDGE Network is still up

[@NationalGamer24x]

I thought they shut it down not to long ago?

[@crd7876]

Gyatt damn

[@FurrySergal]

it's still up and i'm using it to send this

[@imhazard0uz]

I was about to comment this lol

[@IshayuG]

Fun fact: In Denmark EDGE is still up all over the country, even in Copenhagen. I connect to it every day simply because some places still aren't covered by 5G, notably in a few tunnels near the central station.

[@ThisIsTechToday]

11:58 The “Jack” ringtone is the one from the show 24!

[@macnugget]

Originally from the AT&T Merlin phone system

[@ralliredgts]

CTU, Almeda

[@macnugget]

Based on the software build date from the device info shown on screen (August 29 2007), 24 had just finished up season 6 when the firmware was built. Season 7 wouldn’t air until the January 2009.

[@mikeporet5655]

I came to comment this! Definitely a 24 reference

[@peterfconley]

DAMMIT CHLOE WE DON’T HAVE TIME!!

[@Mikeonut]

20:44 evil Snazzy Labs

[@RileySullivan]

I don’t believe you

[@snazzy]

This better be the last time you ever doubt me.

[@RileySullivan]

@@snazzy we’re good for now. 🍔

[@joshuanguyen9526]

@@RileySullivanwe’ll see about that……

[@xFactoryUSA]

​@@snazzyok sir/ daddy ❤

[@xbrun3356]

​@@snazzyDoubtful

[@mixedbyDarylHarkin]

Those Jack ringtones are the CTU phones from 24. The Jack is Jack Bauer, I'm guessing.

[@arunroy6094]

Such an amazing video. Loved it. History and Tech coming together so seamlessly.

[@TwistedD85]

Ohhh, skeuomorphism, now I have a name for it! I loved when UI on computers just made a virtual version of something. Somehow it feels more futuristic than just flipping through menus. 'It's a desk... but in the digital reeealm!"

[@SEMIA123]

Just noticed it has rounded screen corners. What was old is new again.

[@siloPIRATE]

6:04 here in the UK, phones had manufacturers and network branding. The networks might put their logo somewhere on the phone or theme the OS in their colours but that was about it. Then the networks stopped doing that, locked phones disappeared and then locking phones became a banned practice. Most phones were unlocked from the start though so if you didn’t like your network you could just leave. If your phone was locked, £10 and up to an hour of your time and it’s unlocked. They did always push the device brand and model though. The network was pretty irrelevant

[@me2olive]

That was true later, and for feature phones, but not for smartphones in the mid 2000's. Carrier branding was still dominant, in the UK too. Speaking of HTC, the manufacturer of the device in the video, they also made the "HTC Universal", a pretty popular top tier Windows Mobile phone released in 2005. You couldn't even buy a Universal with HTC branding. They were all sold with carrier-specific names, like the "XDA Exec", the "Vodafone 1640" or the "SPV M5000". It was really that "middle" tier of "not quite" smartphones like the Nokias or the various Blackberries that retained their manufacturer branding, at least until 2007.

[@FakeDadRealFriend]

Seeing a Palm Centro on-screen brought back so many memories...

[@NewtGQ]

having carrier branding plastered all over the phone is such a 2000s thing. Not sure how they couldnt tell how tacky it looked

[@snazzy]

Oh they could tell. They just didn’t care lol

[@jsteezy80]

@@snazzy Exactly. You are still gonna buy the phone and it's free advertising

[@celebrityrog]

The ring tone that’s familiar is from Cisco PBX phones. It’s also heavily featured in the hit tv series “24” as the phone ring that all CTU counter terrorism unit uses on their phones

[@jsteezy80]

Yeah that ring tone could be set on my phone at a previous employer and often was

[@TheDataArchitect]

5:09 here it is...

[@Kallaghanmusic]

My team made the sound design and ringtones for the dream, we were working for an awesome French company called “New Wave labs” - what a blast from the past ! The ram and rom we had to work with was so small Hahahaha awesome video!

[@some_dude7]

Were they all mono and very low bit rate?

[@stevenjlovelace]

The notepad is skeumorphic! It's just a bit subtle with the word "hello" on the notepad binding, and the subtly shaded alternating lines. Also, I can't wait for skeumorphism to come back into style!

[@snazzy]

Skeuomorphism forever.

[@richardhunter9779]

As a developer, I wish it doesn't. It is very difficult to do right, because designers can't communicate, and neither can programmers.

[@d2d2505]

That branding convention you mentioned is mostly a North American thing. Operators weren't as aggressive in branding mobiles in Europe (they still aren't).

[@Shackleford_Rusty]

I miss these Wild West days of the phone OS, every android change seemed like a huge deal

[@WilliamHaisch]

16:43 “El Barto” 😂

[@LelandHasGames]

Did quake just not work? How could you not launch that and show it to us?!

[@suspedal]

Well I know where *I* recognize that ringtone at 11:58, that’s the default tone for the Avaya One-X desk phone I had working my call center jobs. So thank you Quinn for activating my flight or fight response lmao

[@eUploads]

I'm almost willing to bet a sealed iPhone 2G that at least half of the people watching this video are too young and don't remember when the first iPhone was launched.

[@snazzy]

My main audience demo is 34-45 haha but even so, it has been battered into the brains of everybody in every tech retrospective video about phones lol

[@DaBomber4]

i wasnt even born yet...

[@chuuisinsane]

i was born like 16 days after it unveiled

[@chriskalkman3815]

I was 10 when the iPhone was announced. I DO remember when the iPhone 4 came out, and most importantly, the 5. I was thinking "FINALLY, A LARGER SCREEN!". Then the 6 came out, and WOW! they redesigned it! I also remember one of my teachers in Middle school showing off her shiny new 1st gen iPad when it first came out. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world! ⁰

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@chriskalkman3815the 5 looked the best. Those chamfered edges, the dark colour scheme, unintrusive camera… 🤤

[@chudchadanstud]

>Sees QUAKE >ignores QUAKE

[@vitaminalm]

I still have my OG Blackberry Bold, doesn't have a working battery, but man does this video make me miss typing on that thing. Thumbs of fury.

[@sargera1]

Try cortex brand got some old one for IP 4-6

[@majdeldeen6700]

This is my first time seeing a video of it working, and it looks rather simple but absolutely adorable. Idk what it is, but I'm really liking it.

[@lexd0g]

the sooner is such a cool device. i saw one being sold on ebay like a year ago and one of my friends promptly bought it and ive been kinda jealous ever since. she actually wants to figure out the sdk to develop an app for it which i think would be very cool

[@badcatalex]

WHAT

[@the_mariocrafter]

What build does the friend’s version run

[@lexd0g]

@@the_mariocrafter htc-29386.0.9.0.0. idk if any other builds came with the sooner bc there's three dumps on the internet archive (one is my friend's) and they're all the same build number

[@lexd0g]

@@the_mariocrafter youtube keeps deleting my comment for some reason :/ i think there was only one build available for it, build 29386, there's three dumps of it and they're all the same version

[@sargera1]

Is the dpad a haptic or normal press one Looked like a dpad but haptic on each corner

[@CompleteMisc]

I’m the 0.001% who would love to see physical keys make a comeback. The on screen keyboards just suck and even after 15+ years typing on them, I still can rarely type a sentence that doesn’t need me to stop and make corrections.

[@xirxes]

I have always felt confident that this prototype was based on the HTC Excalibur/T-Mobile Dash. I had one back in the day and it was such a good phone, once you flashed a custom Windows Mobile build on it. IIRC the prototype is the same SOC, the TI Omap. Actually, seeing it with the battery door off it even says so! That model number, EXCA300, Excalibur is right there! Thanks for satisfying a old question.

[@sargera1]

Nahh the excal was a bit too tight fit like a Casio fx calc

[@IkesTechTalk]

Another banger from Snazzy 🔥

[@snazzy]

Thanks!

[@orparag6525]

You made me laugh so hard in the beginning with the "I said we know it!" Wow... Just for that, an immediate sub

[@secretlycanine]

0:07 THANK YOU

[@cometsshiv]

☠️😂

[@Harsha04120]

Huh 😭

[@secretlycanine]

@@Harsha04120 I was glad he abbreviated that. So many people play long excerpts of that keynote, it has become a cliché.

[@Harsha04120]

@@secretlycanine fair

[@notreallyworried]

I love your movie, the interview. You were great Seth.

[@UnbanMeNowOfficial]

Appreciate the deep dive into the history of Android, particularly the Sooner's influence over what we see now. Interesting to learn about the user interaction methods it brought to the series.

[@myrmeko]

Do a full nand dump. The first version of Android needs to be preserved.

[@Rfunn]

Fun fact, that ring that you thought sounded familiar was from 24. It was all of their desk phones ring 😂

[@bonespiel]

Nice walk down memory lane. Remembering where we came from is fascinating. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.

[@AmadeusAlmighty]

This is one of your best videos so far. It was fun to geek out with you on this device. I wish they would have kept the double dock UI, that is so dope and I've not seen that in any other operating system I know of. And I thought it was gospel that Android changed direction specifically because of the iPhone, I'm glad you added some perspective on that.

[@snazzy]

Thanks so much!

[@Sajingu]

I really these types of videos that look back on the history of different tech (from both software and hardware). There's just something about seeing how things started out to where they are now is interesting

[@arsenebrosseau-thiffault3698]

Both ''Jack'' ringtones are from the serie 24 with Kiefer Sutherland AKA Jack Bauer.

[@Mikri90]

You dropping that cine lens just to demonstrate the pillow got me nervous for a bit :D

[@Entertainment-]

My favorite Mormon creator dropped a new video

[@MrOrtmeier]

The touchscreen was a mega improvement but it wasn't invented by Apple. It was invented in Universities if I'm not mistaken. Steve probably saw a demo and realised they was the solution to get rid of buttons and capacitive displays

[@ppmolcar2828]

Great sponsorship :) I have purchased that cutting-edge pillow for myself. It looks really comfy..

[@snazzy]

Hope you like it!

[@iMac9991]

Quinn, always love these tech history videos. Keep em up!

[@ColdSkyy]

Hey! almost didnt notice it was a snazzy labs vid from the thumbnail

[@A_guan]

11:58 reminds me of the McDonald's alarm for whatever it's going on in the back 😂

[@dfgdfg_]

BEEP boop, BEEP boop. I eat too much fast food 😔

[@pikeyMcBarkin]

I really enjoy your deep dives into where technology came from. Thank you.

[@Meowwentthedino]

Honestly the first time I saw the prototype I was in love with it, it's such a clean os and truly I wish we could have phones like this again, I'd love to have the disconnect! I could imagine one for this generation that is similar with the keyboard (which i really want again) but with WIFI and tethering functionality, then I could have a DAP/touchscreen audio player for my streaming needs.

[@thelakeman2538]

5:38 in US I suppose, but not in many other parts of the world. Carrier locked devices and carrier contracts were and still are rare here in India, so phone makers always put their branding on their devices, I'd assume it'd be the same in Europe and most of Asia given the ubiquity of brands like Nokia.

[@LiamMcBride]

Phones in the US were always carrier branded devices until recently, I always thought that was weird as the carrier and the device should be sold separately

[@BlessBeNice]

7:30i thought it was ugly although its a WOW. Imma subscribed i think i liked it

[@JRChuxx]

Having the Verizon logo was a flex back in the days, especially with their OD prices😂

[@UKCheeseFarmer]

We were provided with Sony Ericsson P800's in a sponsorship deal in around 2002. Were a great device at the time. You seem to have neglected to mention this device so thought I'd bring it up...

[@MikoYotsuya292]

Was using Nokia Xpressmusic until 2011 before getting my first android phone. Miss good ol' symbian phones.

[@TheGamesPlayr]

Great to see the prototype android device fully such a cool device. I owned a G1 back in the day, miss that era of smartphones. Seeing the emulated version of Android makes me realise how much I'd love to have the same sort of UI/icons but that fits modern Android say on my Pixel 8.

[@SirCruxr]

I loved my Sidekick and G1 so much. I miss that era of phone.

[@maxmouse3]

Thanks for the great video! What is really cool is that the phone is fast, apps open fast - I know that they are very simple but it's impressive nonetheless

[@kaseyb283]

You had me at Quake in the App menu. haha

[@BrianNaylor17]

Thanks for this little bit of history! It's really cool to look back at this time and know that I lived in this period of history. Loved the days where every phone that came out seemed to push the boundaries of what was possible. I remember leaving for college in '09 and I really wanted an iPhone/smartphone but couldn't convince my mom that it was worth paying that much and getting data on our plan. I ended finding a phone that had a wifi chip in it that was cheap but still decent, the Nokia E63. First unlocked phone I ever bought. I loved that thing and thought I was so cool that I could finally browse the web from my phone. It unlocked so much for me.

[@thorsong1]

I had an HTC Hero. I kind of miss having a couple buttons and a trackball. I had custom software on it and overclocked the processor back when you could do that on a phone.

[@TheSimArchitect]

I LOVED my Palm Treo keyboard. It was tiny but very well designed. Felt more comfortable to type in than larger sliding models and much better than any touch screen. I like speeding up my texting with voice on the go, but it's still lacking a bit on basic things like punctuation and context to select the right words. I liked my Note 2 as well, second place, because I could use a built in pen to type, plus the software implementation was much better and smarter. They dropped many intelligent features since then to push "search results" as much as possible, sadly.

[@cbenson513]

Am I old school if I remember rdp'ing into servers on my SE P910 when out of the office? SE+Symbian was the shiznit back, back, back in the day.

[@JRChuxx]

7:08...how come your hands look fake😂😂😂😂

[@johnzoid74]

[@solitivity]

You gotta admit the phone looks absolutely beautiful in white. Kinda wish I could get (or possibly make) a reproduction that runs on modern internals with Android and a touch screen.

[@linuxducky]

I remember this prototype being all over KZbin back in the early days

[@NoobixCube]

Forget KZbin, I remember seeing grainy Realplayer and QuickTime video of this on various tech news sites! KZbin existed, sure, but not everyone could be relied on to have an internet connection with the raw bandwidth to stream, and a PC with the grunt to play a 240p video in the flash player it also had to stream! Local media players, even for streaming media files, were still king of the castle for a few more years yet. I’d say 2008/9 might be when I finally stopped installing Realplayer and QuickTime in windows just in case a video came up, because by then, KZbin had taken over completely.

[@morrrtem]

i deadass zoned out and this came on and i came back thinking everybody loves raymond was playing +1 sub

[@SteltekOne]

11:55 "Jack 2" sounds familiar because it was heavily featured in the show "24" where it was used as a ringtone for all the "CTU" Cisco IP phones. (The main character was called "Jack Bauer" so it's possibly named after him.)

[@NandoCalrissiann]

We really need a video of you and Mr Mobile nerding over phines

[@JamesR624]

It's interesting how BBM showed that even in 2004 or so, there was a HUGE market for something like iMessage, at least in the US.

[@sargera1]

Sidekick did earlier and that's on a YM

[@TheGloriousLeader]

RIP Dave’s cell phone

[@snazzy]

Haha

[@ChrissehCat]

Ok, I actually kind of love the idea of the Sooner. I had one of those little blackberry-style phones and while it was still a nice little budget smart phone, android on that form factor looks SO SLEEK.

[@IsaMasih]

This video made think of my old HTC MDA I had from T-Mobile back in 2006. That phone was so awesome for it's time and HTC was the reason why I went and got the G1 and then the Hero. I never looked back. I became a Google Phone nerd and stuck with HTC up until the HTC M10. Been with Pixel for the last few years but I still miss HTC and HTC Sense UI.

[@savagemadman2054]

This is probably the most in depth look I've ever had with an Android device. Speaking as who stuck with Symbian all the way from a used Nokia 7650 in 2003 through to leaving the platform with a Nokia E7 in 2012 in favour of iPhone. As a diehard Mac user since highschool in the late '90s, I never payed any attention to Android over the years. There are still capabilities that my later Symbian devices had that I wish were in iOS today - biggest ones left being a real file browser, access to network shares, and always on notifications.

[@dunngunkadoid]

I'd suggest looking into Android, there could be a lot of things you've been looking for that the platform may have. All three of your examples are things Android has had for several years.

[@RodrigoFerreira-bs6hd]

Why not consider android then?

[@LordVarkson]

@@dunngunkadoid Android is regressing, iOS is progressing.

[@dunngunkadoid]

@@LordVarkson 😂

[@jamesoloughlin]

Wow, I didn’t some of this history. Great video as usual.

[@robodude-oh1mq]

Videos cool and all, but how is the pillow for side sleeping? Halfway tempted to spend way too much money on it.

[@dan9700]

Amazing video as always

[@fytghggyungf7601]

5:51 “The Razr famously launched on Verizon” That’s not true at all. The Razr launched on Cingular and they had like a 6 month exclusivity on it.

[@delbomb3131]

I thought that was a weird statement as i had us cellular at the time and got it really early. One of the only phones to this day that I got early in the sales cycle

[@sammyslaughter83]

The razr launched on cingular not verizon

[@macgyvermac2344]

I was just about to say that the phone with the keyboard the middle part would be at the bottom and the rest of the screen was a touch screen, but you pull it up pretty accurately, you did your research

[@Themsnger]

That phone was actually available for purchase in Canada. It wasn’t on shelves for very long. But it was for sale. HTC was the manufacturer. I can remember seeing them at Best Buy stores. Didn’t do well because people were so very into BlackBerrys at the time.

[@LacayoDe]

‪Hey Quinn ! When you selected the Jack 2 ringtone and you said “this one actually sounds familiar “‬.. ‪That’s beacause it’s the Jack Bauer ringtone from the series called 24! It was immensely popular in the early 2000s! I got that exact ringtone on my iPhone but as CouterTerrorist‬Unit 24.

[@Chris0291]

I miss phones with slideout keyboards. My first android phone was the Motorola Milestone. I loved this phone... Wish they had a modern version of it.

[@TheRenoReviews]

The sound "Jack 2" is the sound that the CTU phones made in the show 24, so the name probably comes from Jack Bauer - love that detail!

[@rbus]

I have a General Magic PDA! It was so neat yet slooooow, and occasionally froze to do it's garbage-collection. Got mine at Montgomery Ward on discount, then Good Guys stores were heavily discounting accessories so I went store to store from Ventura to Anaheim picking up whatever I could find, so I have a few accessories for mine.

[@johnathanblade1]

I love this! I still have my working MyTouch 3G, which was functionally the G1 without a keyboard.

[@ffsireallydontcare]

5:31 Oh look, an easily replaceable battery! What a novel concept Apple, Google, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, HTC, TCL, Xiaomi, OPPO...

[@BG4life13]

Sony... fucking sony. 😂

[@ffsireallydontcare]

@@BG4life13 I'll add them to the list ;-)

[@COSコス]

@@BG4life13 I was looking for this comment!

[@frstwhsprs]

600 brands later...

[@ffsireallydontcare]

@@frstwhsprs Yep, and we can thank Apple for our glued together, disposable technology landscape... coming to an EV near you!

[@admzrndy]

"this didn't come to the iPhone for freaking forever.. wait- until iOS 18?" lmao

[@smc1377]

Back during this time, I somehow got into a focus group at Sprint HQ to go in and test new phones. They basically gave me tasks to complete and just recorded me figuring out how to complete the tasks. I distinctly remember a smartphone like design where the home screens were on what they specifically called a "cube". As you swiped left and right, the cube would rotate to another side full of apps. Of course this was all animated, it wasn't an actual cube.

[@EmpathVibe]

I had an N1 or Nexus 1, along with the G1 and eventual G2 later on. I loved those early phones so damn much. I still have two of them.

[@ASuperUser]

11:47 Loving how, even with this first prototype, they picked a marine creature for the codename, a tradition they kept up til 2020

[@MrOrtmeier]

First impression watching your navigate the UI: it's actually very fast and slick. I want expecting that

[@snazzy]

It really is!

[@laptop_1]

00:20 not prior But 2½ years later

[@ThomasWSmith-wm5xn]

the g1 was incredible. I loooved that phone