Android before it was even shown to the public

[0000757]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/06/early-android-build-walkthrough-google-sooner-pre-m3/

No, that's not a QWERTY feature phone you're looking at -- it's Google's earliest Android development device, the Sooner. While the HTC-sourced phone itself hasn't been a secret, the build of Android on this particular specimen, obtained by Steven Troughton-Smith, is something few eyes outside of Mountain View have seen. As Mr. Smith notes, this isn't the first public build of Android that was detailed in November 2007 (M3), but rather an earlier version from May of that same year. The non-touch UI is almost totally unlike what eventually shipped with the touch-friendly HTC Dream, aside from obviously housing Android's basic framework and apps including G Talk and the like.

The link to the blog post by Steven Troughton-Smith can be found on the Engadget website linked above.


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I personally REALLY like the way the OS works and would be PERFECT to replace those awful ugly dumbphones.

 

[kdarling]

The Android team was clearly targeting Windows Mobile (not Blackberrys like some people who are relatively new to smartphones erronously think), which has both touch and non-touch versions.

The non-touch version was worked on first. The HTC development phone looks very close to the best-selling Moto Q and Samsung Blackjack of that time period.

 

[smithrh]

The Motorola Q was a god-awful product. It's a fantastic example of a design committee pursuing a feature checklist. It never even came close to even meeting that feature checklist. Hell, it hardly worked at all.

Samsung ("Same-sung") slavishly copied the Q and the result is the Blackjack.

Then, miracle of miracles, the iPhone comes out and we see the result. Motorola Droids are now full-face touch screen devices, as are the Samsung devices.

Only with something to copy was Google able to produce something halfway decent, and only by riding Google's back has Samesung been able to keep in the game.