We’re not going to travel too far back in time for this week’s installation of Throwback Thursday, but we think our selection is very appropriate. With this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in full gear, we’re seeing an unfathomable number of Android phones and tablets announced by dozens of electronics manufacturers. So here at BGR, we thought it would be appropriate to take a short moment to pay homage to the little handset that started it all. We’re talking about T-Mobile’s G1, also known as the HTC Dream.
Released on October 30, 2008 in the United States by GSM carrier T-Mobile, the G1 was the first smartphone to be marketed with Google’s new Android mobile operating system. The G1 — which retailed for $129.99 on-contract and $399.99 full retail — was a horizontal-sliding, full-QWERTY handset with a unique hinge. The G1 paired its keyboard with a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, micro-SD card slot, and navigation trackball. The handsets Achilles heel was, undoubtedly, the humble 1150mAh battery — which proved to be inadequate for the device’s hardware. In April of 2009, T-Mobile officially announced that that it had sold 1 million G1s.
This week, as you see Android devices of all shapes and sizes announced, take some time to pour one out for the device that started it all… the G1.
BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.
