T-Mobile G1 Celebrates Its 4th Birthday (That’s 80 In Smartphone Years)
The T-Mobile G1 may not have been the beginning of your Android journey, but for those that that were some of the first people to experience the pure wonderment of the first device running the open Android operating system, it will always hold a special place in your heart. Which, I’ll admit — is a weird thing to say about an inanimate object like a smartphone.
The G1 may only be 4 years old, but it seems like a lifetime ago we were getting our chonies in a bunch over all new features like the software keyboard introduced in the first firmware update, Android 1.5 Cupcake.
Of course, the device’s claim to fame was its full 5-row QWERTY keyboard that was enough to make even a Sidekick blush. A far cry from the superphones you and I take for granted today, the HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 also featured a meager 528MHz Qualcomm processor, 3.2-inch display, 192MB of RAM, 256MB of internal memory and a 1,150 mAh battery. Battery life was lacking, multitasking was a chore, and I can’t say I ever remember the phone ever being “fast.”
I, myself, didn’t happen upon the “Google Phone” until little more than a year after it was released (I wanted to wait for the Android Market to build up a strong catalog of apps), but once I did, it was all downhill from there. Didn’t take long for me to get caught up in the rooting/modding scene, where I attempted to shoehorn “Hero” ROMs (Sense) onto the device. It was fun, but hard life of dealing with swap partitions, and random bootloops — but it was so worth it. About a year and a half after owning the device (the longest smartphone relationship I’ve ever had), I finally laid her to rest, finding a new life with the HTC EVO 4G on Sprint.
I’m sure most of you have your own stories to share about the G1, the 1st Avenger Android phone. Just for fun, here’s a video from Phandroid’s own Rob Jackson getting his first hands-on ever with the T-Mobile G1 (pre-HD days). But before we go we just want to say, happy birthday, G1 — we’ll always remember you.
Anyone out there still have a G1 in their possession that’s currently in operation today? How’s she holding up. Tell her… I miss her.