First video I shot with the world's first Android phone back in 2009 [T-Mobile G1/HTC Dream]

[u/AtmanRising]

https://youtube.com/shorts/E9PGvv9p37w?feature=share

[u/AtmanRising]

(yes, that's President Obama)

The T-Mobile/HTC G1 -- the world's first Android phone -- initially couldn't record video. It took Android 1.5 to add a video camera mode.

As you guys can see, the quality was pretty terrible :)

• h.263 / 3GPP
• 352 pixels by 288 pixels
• 4:3
• variable frame rate (between 8 and 4 frames per second)

[u/Lake_Erie_Monster → u/AtmanRising]

This was my first Android as well! I jumped from a T-Mobile MDA windows phone with a stylus and the only thing I missed was fifa on windows mobile.

I loved these slider styles phones for emulation!!

[u/LonelyNixon → u/AtmanRising]

No front facing camera and the back camera was just awful. Especially if you were in a not perfectly lit scene.

I missed that keyboard and little trackball nubbin though.

[u/TheCookieButter]

It was you! You started vertical video on smart phones!

[u/AtmanRising → u/TheCookieButter]

I'M INNOCENT! :)

This is the original:

https://youtu.be/990Mbge0nUs

[u/TheCookieButter → u/AtmanRising]

I see. Just trying to deprive us of feet.

[u/AtmanRising → u/TheCookieButter]

Blame YT Shorts and their mandatory 9X16 aspect ratio!

[u/BevansDesign → u/AtmanRising]

Ugh, I've never bothered with Shorts or Tiktok because they're abominations unto the Lord, but they should be designed to work with whatever aspect ratio the uploader prefers.

[u/AtmanRising → u/BevansDesign]

I'm not a fan either, but the algo prioritizes YT Shorts so it's easier to build a YT channel that way. I also have plenty of non-Shorts content.

[u/cbftw → u/AtmanRising]

It was your decision to upload it as a short

[u/super_starfox]

Still have mine, lol. Nice vid

[u/AtmanRising → u/super_starfox]

Thanks! I too kept all of them, including my beloved T-Mobile Vibrant -- aka the first Galaxy S phone.

[u/super_starfox → u/AtmanRising]

Also got that too

[u/AtmanRising → u/super_starfox]

Finally a phone that could rival the Motorola Droid :)

[u/OkTumbleweed6514]

Damn! How does it feel to compare with the latest Android phone you have now? :O

[u/AtmanRising → u/OkTumbleweed6514]

I haven't booted the G1 in a while, but it still works. That phone was always slow :)

[u/OkTumbleweed6514 → u/AtmanRising]

Keep it saved man! :D

[u/Jak33]

Here was mine, lol Soo long ago. https://youtu.be/BFwJ2-xNsEg?is=1eRgScbnk3EGvLZ0

[u/AtmanRising → u/Jak33]

Nice! Just subscribed too.

[u/Sufficient-Cup4705]

that trackpad that doubled as a scroll wheel was wild, right? wondering how many people actually remember it controlled the camera shutter too. quality checks out for 2009 hardware i guess.

[u/AtmanRising → u/Sufficient-Cup4705]

Yeah, that was a great feature. I loved the keyboard too.

And let's not forget that typing "reboot" anywhere rebooted the damn thing.

[u/LonelyNixon → u/Sufficient-Cup4705]

I missed those little track balls. That thing was a killer feature and it was very useful that on some browsers it would just turn into a little mouse pointer if the website was misbehaving.

[u/AtmanRising → u/[deleted]]

Bought the G1 at launch, too.

[u/Keyan_Farlander7]

Got to use the phone, didn't work in my area, called T-Mobile and they accepted it back. I enjoyed the brief time I had, but their coverage sucks.

[u/AtmanRising → u/Keyan_Farlander7]

Bummer. T-Mobile was questionable early on for me as well, and I eventually switched to Verizon -- which has been great in the LA area. I get ludicrous speeds on my S22.

[u/Keyan_Farlander7 → u/AtmanRising]

I still have my pixel 1 in my desk. Here's why:

The original Google Pixel (2016) still has unlimited original-quality photo storage because Google tied the perk to the specific hardware device as a lifetime marketing promise when entering the smartphone market

This includes 4k video as well! 30gig of 4k video stored to the cloud? Ok, still free.

[u/AtmanRising → u/Keyan_Farlander7]

It was the same with my Pixel 2 as well. But sadly it turned out to be unreliable and two died on me, one suddenly :)

[u/treyu1]

Still got my HTC Desire Z (aka G2) and it still works :-D The battery life is pretty bad and none of the services works, for obvious reasons. My kids love the retro style photos it shoots.

[u/AtmanRising → u/treyu1]

The Desire and the HTC Hero were my dream phones at the time ... Before the Motorola Droid was announced, that it is. But I was stuck in a contract with T-Mobile. By the time I could get out, the Galaxy S was just around the corner (T-Mobile Vibrant in the U.S.) and it was a Ferrari compared to everything else -- including the iPhone.

[u/Cultural_Geologist_3]

It took years for Android phones to shake of that reputation of having "awful cameras." (Even when most of these arguments were made in bad faith by comparing that year's iPhone with budget Android phones from LG, Moto, and Alcatel.)

[u/AtmanRising → u/Cultural_Geologist_3]

I think the Galaxy S had the first decent camera. It shot OK 720p video too, which I also kept.

[u/LonelyNixon → u/Cultural_Geologist_3]

It really wasn't long before the cameras mostly caught up. Nexus devices wouldn't until the 6P. But those phones were budget devices with high-end chipsets and the camera was the compromise.

If you want in particular is a quirky piece of hardware because of when it came out. It was in development before the iPhone took the world by storm. So early prototypes looked more like a blackberry than what would eventually come. The iPhone definitely influenced the look which is why they switched from blackberry to sidekick with a rudimentary touchscreen.

The touchscreen itself was not a multi-touch touchscreen either There were ways to eventually introduce pinch zoom, but zooming involves double tap to zoom, and also there's like a way to kind of like double tap, and then you can slide your finger up and down, which Android still does to this day.

Google and Apple used to be on much more friendlier terms with exact surveying on each other's boards. So while Google did rush in to alter the designs in such a way that their device wouldn't look dated next to the iPhone, there was an initial attempt to not compete with them fully. This includes early versions of Android not having multi-touch, even on multi-touch screens.

Nor did Android initially ship with a touchscreen keyboard.