They reveal the prototype of what could have been the first Android cell phone

The co-founder of Android Rich Miner has revealed the look of the prototype of what could have been the first Android smartphone, Google G1, which had a physical keyboard integrated below the touch screen and several external buttons on the bottom.

The company’s manager has clarified an article recently published in Business Insider in which it is pointed out that Meta, a company owned by Mark Zuckerberg, would be following in the footsteps of Google with Android in the past.

Specifically, this article indicates that Zuckerberg’s attempt to gain a competitive advantage over Apple is reminiscent of the strategy carried out by Google against the iPhone manufacturer when developing Android.

LOOK: How to know what is the IP address of your cell phone, PC and Laptop?

To deny this movement that Google allegedly carried out to compete against Apple, Miner has explained through a thread on his Twitter account that Google did not create Android, but rather acquired it in 2005.

The manager has insisted that this purchase was made “years before any hint of iPhone”a device that the American manufacturer presented in 2007, with the iPhone model A1203, which arrived exclusively in the United States after being presented at the MacWorld event in San Francisco.

Miner has indicated that initially Google and, mainly one of its creators, Larry Page, were convinced “that mobile phones would become small pocket computers, expanding access and enriching their services with location”.

SEE ALSO: Chaos in the largest iPhone factory in the world: it is closed due to an outbreak of COVID-19 and workers escape by jumping the fences

However, Android justified that approach would not be recommended for “either party would control such a pervasive platform” and that your concern in its beginnings “It wasn’t Apple, it was Microsoft”.

By then, the tech giant had released Windows Mobile, a compact mobile operating system designed for use on smartphones and other mobile devices. In response to this product, Android started working on a similar mobile bet.

In this way, Miner has recalled that the company was working on two Sooner phones, one of them with references to Blackberry and the other to Dream, based on a touch screen. However, when the iPhone launched, it chose to focus on the second of these devices, which it called the Google G1.

LOOK: Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Explorer, the smartphone that promises to bring the fastest charge on the market (100% battery in 9 minutes)

“Its design changed little from this rendering, made five months before the iPhone’s launch”, Miner commented, revealing what the first prototype Android smartphone would look like. It is a compact terminal in black and lime green, with physical buttons on the bottom and a sliding screen on the keyboard.

In addition to the button to pick up calls and hang up, as well as another that includes the Home icon to access the home page and a back arrow, this mobile had a touch control ring or wheel on the right side, which it could be used for functions such as text selection.

The manager has suggested that this prototype shared similar characteristics to the first iPhone and that Apple CEO Steve Jobs “I wasn’t happy with Android”. Because it was then “an important partner”, Android had to make modifications to its device before its launch.

SEE ALSO: One UI 5 and Android 13: when and to which devices will the Samsung update arrive?

So, he opted for a new design that “it developed at the same time with no flow of information” and whose similarities responded to the technology and the limitations of the moment. Furthermore, he has indicated that when his first modified device, the HTC Dream, was launched, Android did not think “that smartphones would represent 30 percent of the market” and that “nobody imagined them replacing most other mobiles”.

With that, The manager has recalled another important aspect regarding the presumed intention of Android to obtain a competitive advantage over Apple. “Android announced our application marketplace and development platform in November 2007, followed by Apple in June 2008. The availability and growth of third-party applications was key to the success of the platform marketplace and eventual revenue generation”he added, urging Meta to take this move into account to rethink its strategy around the metaverse.

Finally, it has concluded that the growth of smartphones “it was key” and that it cannot be extrapolated to the increase in sales of the mixed reality viewers developed by Meta. In addition, he has indicated that “a company that controls the platform” from the metaverse “would be negative”.

Source: Elcomercio

James

I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years and have written for various news outlets. I currently work as an author at 24 News Recorder, mostly covering entertainment news. I have a keen interest in the industry and enjoy writing about the latest news and gossip. I am also a member of the National Association of Journalists.