2007's pre-M3 version of Android; the Google Sooner

When Google first showed off Android, they showed it running on a device very similar to Blackberries or Nokia E-class devices of the time. This device was the Google Sooner - an OMAP850 device built by HTC, with no touchscreen or WiFi. This was the Android reference device, the device they originally built the OS on.




Recently, I got access to a Google Sooner running a very early version of Android. With all the recent information coming out of the Oracle vs Google trial, I thought it would be interesting to take you on a brief tour of the OS. The build of Android this is running was built on May 15th 2007 - four months after the iPhone was announced; the first M3 version of Android was announced in November 2007, and Android 1.0 didn't come 'till a year later.


Hardware

The Google Sooner, aka the HTC EXCA 300, runs on an OMAP850 with 64MB RAM, and comes in two colors: black, and white. It has a 320x240 LCD screen (non touch) and a 1.3 megapixel camera sensor on the back, which supports video recording. Its curvy profile is surprisingly light and has a certain quality to it. It has a full QWERTY keyboard, a four-way d-pad, four system buttons (menu, back, home, and favourites) and call/end call buttons. Inside is a 2G radio, which is capable of EDGE speeds, but no WiFi or 3G. It has a mini-SD slot (not micro-SD), and a mini-USB port.







Software

This device runs build htc-2065.0.8.0.0, and was built on May 15th of 2007. This means it's much earlier than any previous look we've had at Android to date - a good six months before the milestone 3 (M3) version of Android, the initial release, was announced.

Home Screen

This is the primary interface to Android. You get a handful of Gadgets (a Clock, for example, and applications can provide their own), and a Google Search bar (that pops up when you hit the down arrow). There is no conventional homescreen with widgets - this is literally all you get when you turn on the device. It was an OS designed to search Google from the very start.




Apps

Hit the Home button and a drawer of apps shows up. This appears to be the shortcuts bar - any time you're inside an app you can hit the menu key and add the app to this. You can also add specific activities in an app to the favorites bar - for example Bluetooth settings, similar to those allowed on Windows Phone 7. You can also access your notifications and Cell/Battery settings from the shortcuts bar.



Hit the down arrow and the shortcuts bar expands to show all applications installed on the system. This acts just as you'd expect from a 2006-era non-touch device. There are no sorting or view options; what you see is what you get. The applications drawer appears as an overlay, so you can access it from any app without navigating back to a home screen.


Funnily enough, there's a second 'All Applications' screen, this time housed inside an app. It has a slightly different look and feel, but works exactly the same.

Future home screen

If you remember the M3 version of Android, as shown in the original announcement video, it had a very different home screen. This homescreen actually exists on this Sooner's build of the OS, but as an app. I imagine it wasn't finished yet, and as they prototyped this new homescreen they just left it as an app you can launch (similar to how you can have multiple launchers on Android today). Here you have the shortcut dock across the bottom of the home screen. Eventually, by the time Android was released, this became the traditional homescreen we know today.


Browser

The browser on the Sooner is based on WebKit [ Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh ; U; Intel Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/522+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/419.3 ] and seems to pretend to be a Mac (perhaps to help mask itself, since this is many months before Android was announced). Browsing is a painful and slow experience, even though rendering isn't too bad.




Gmail

A rudimentary Gmail app is included, with basic access to your email. This is a far cry from Gmail on Android today.





Google Talk

Google Talk is present and seems to work great (if you like green…).




Other Apps

Here are just a few of the included apps. Some work, some don't, and some work partially. All are very rudimentary at this stage. I'm not sure if this was before or after The Astonishing Tribe [re]designed Android, but I'm betting before. Although Maps, YouTube and Google Earth come on this device, I wasn't able to get any of them working to show you (Maps and YouTube launch, but neither seem to be able to access content. It's quite possible that the server endpoints they used for testing no longer resolve.

Note Pad


Address Book


Calculator


Calendar

This doesn't quite work in my build, but here is what the error looks like.


Camera



Text Messages



Wrap-up

It's quite clear that Android was being designed to a completely different target before the iPhone was released. What we see here would have fitted in perfectly with the world of Symbian and BlackBerry. This early build of Android is in fact even less capable and mature than the 2004 release of Symbian Series 90 (Hildon), the OS that runs on the Nokia 7700 and 7710 - Nokia's first, and only, pre-iPhone touchscreen smartphones. It's not hard to see that iPhone really changed the thinking across the entire industry, and caused everybody to start from scratch. Android, webOS, Windows Phone 7, Windows 8, BlackBerry 10 - all of these exist because of the iPhone, and standing on its shoulders they have made some amazing and unique contributions to the ecosystem.

As I mentioned in my Úll talk last week, the moment we saw the iPhone for the first time it was so clear that everything beyond this point would be completely different - it wasn't just about smartphones, it was about the future of computing. We live in a world that would have seemed distantly futuristic only 5 years ago, thanks to all these OSes. It's amazing how far we've come in such a short time, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

40 comments:

  1. I'm surprised to see that this is actually a direct ancestor to Android. That app crash screen with the Activity and Context and Java is the only thing that gives it away though.

    I also think something like this wouldn't be all too bad on BlackBerry-like dumbphones right now. Samsung and Nokia's proprietary OS' both seem a lot less interesting than this to me.

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  2. Who or what apps got that $10million?

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  3. That's one badass looking calendar app :D

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  4. Although I'm a huge Android fan I've to admit Google sucks at ui design, and it's in its gene. Even now ice cream sandwich is not as intuitive as IOS, and look at its Google tv, it's so ugly to even look at it and its remote is a disaster....although it's a great idea Google can never nail it with its horrible design.

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    1. Given that my first hands on experience with an IOS device started with the new 3rd generation iPad my opinion might not be valid, but I have to disagree with your point about ICS.

      I have an ICS tablet and the iPad and much prefer the android experience to that on the iPad. The iPad is a amazing piece of hardware and software, but I don't think think that it can be said that the ICS is inferior to that of the iPad. I'm also frequent user of multiple google services and the integration on Android is significantly better than on IOS (as would be expected).

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    2. I have to agree with, I own a Asus Slider, Samsung 8.9" and a iPad 3. Though iOS is very attractive, ICS is much more heavy on the features side. That and I feel like I'm caged in a little with iOS. There is no filemanager, codec support is very limited, you must use a music player to manipulate files and no way to mount as a normal drive. Not to mention no MiniSD or externel HD support. The applications on the iOS might outnumbered Androids but most of the important and popular ones are available so it's not a problem.

      It all comes down to the persons preferences, myself perfer ICS now as it's more like a standard OS and not just a media consumption device.

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    3. @Charlie

      If you would read the comment properly, you would notice he's talking about the desing, not about built-in software features.

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    4. @Charlie - More features does not make something better, especially if those features are either poorly done or useless for most people.

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    5. "Even now ice cream sandwich is not as intuitive as IOS"
      that's why i am still using my pre2.
      just cannot find anything that flows like webOS.
      i know, its sad.

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  5. Fortunately, this version isnt released or iOS won't have rival :)

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  6. Well that explains why fans of Windows Mobile (myself included) made the transition to Android so easily... we were practically using it by the time "Android" hit the big time!

    http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/htc-snap-sprint/4505-6452_7-33574775.html

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  7. The name Android was always meant to mean that the OS would run on a variety of phone devices, from different manufacturers with different form factors and different capabilities. It would be interesting to dive further into the OS APIs and look whether there is code present to deal with screen input. I always have the feeling that the early hardware devices just don't have touch screens because they would be easier to make.

    > "all of these exist because of the iPhone, and standing on its shoulders"

    Definitely, but let's not forget the PalmPilot, which used the screen as main input device in 1996, 11 years before the iPhone (and had apps in 1996, 12 years before the iPhone). Standing on other giant's shoulders is something that all modern electronics have in common.

    (because of course, continuing up the shoulder-ladder, the Newton and and Psion predated the PalmPilot by almost another decade, but I mention the PalmPilot because I had one and feel that my phone interaction today still is basically the same as I used on my PalmPilot in 2000, minus the stylus)

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    1. Right, but if you're talking about Palm, remember Apple's Newton predated the PalmPilot by several years and coined the 'PDA' category.

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    2. Hence my mention of the Newton in my comment above...

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    3. Actually it was Psion, not Apple, that invented the PDA.

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    4. While Psion had small organizers in the late 80s, it was actually then Apple CEO John Scully who was the first person to use the term PDA and did so talking about the Newton in Jan. 1992 at CES.

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    5. @Drew the impression I'm trying to correct here is that Apple created the PDA category with the Newton. They didn't. Psion's series 3 for example, released in 1991, was much more than just an organizer.

      You are right that they were the first to use the word 'PDA' to describe their entry into a category of device that already existed.

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  8. Wait, how did you get these screenshots?

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    1. Using the M3 SDK; DDMS takes screenshots

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    2. Cool. If only there was an SDK version with this older OS version. :(

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    3. I was thinking the same thing. Wouldn't it be cool to code for this version of android? Just for the nostalgia.

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    4. I have a couple of these and spent some time trying to build a newer version of android which would run on this hardware. If you build an app of any version, even pre 1.0 m3, it will crash on this sooner build. I actually got far enough to load my custom build and be able to recover the original build, but somewhere in the kernel boot it likely has a problem. If I had a serial port I could likely get it to work. Unfortunately no such info exists for this phone, I tried the google android message boards but received no replies...

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    5. @whiplash it might be worth chatting. Hit up the email address on highcaffeinecontent.com

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  9. This just helps prove Jobs was right when he said that Android was "stolen product". It's clear that Eric Schmitt betrayed Apple when he was on Apple's board of directors. Clearly, Android made a 180 degree turn and Google couldn't possibly have the time to develop the current Android overnight without first ripping off others intellectual property.

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    1. It wasn't a 180 degree turn. Google just took a different route to move forward. If you're a developer, you would realize that what changed here is just the interface design coupled with touch screen interaction - the core of it is still what it was then. If you could recall Android 1.0 doesn't even look like iPhone 2G, it was fugly and a far different experience.

      Innovation is good. It benefits us end users. Apple introduced the capacitive screen era. And thats about it. To not tap into the new trend means to not move forward. (i.e. Apple realized Android notification system is practical). Technology need to be explored to advance. Competition and innovation helps.

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    2. Totally agree with what you said my friend, could not have said it better.

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    3. Yes, good post thank you. I can't count how many posts have said that Google ripped Apple off. This couldn't be farthest from the truth.

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    4. That logic is flawed. I believe that Android is inspired by iOS, no doubt, but calling it a theft is irresponsible. Are BMW and Mercedes STEALING from each other? Both have 4 wheels, heated leather seats, infotament systems, and powerful engines, but neither accuses each other of ripping them off. They don't sue each other over every single similarity. What did Jobs expect, that he would make a device and no other company would make a single similar feature forever?

      iOS and the iPhone itself has evolved since it was released, taking on features that were innovated by other companies and we're all the better for it. Yes, Apple took the first big leap by making a phone/PDA combo that was designed around a finger input instead of a stylus. That single change in mindset made the platform possible, it worked, they figured it out (similar to Halo on Xbox. First Person Shooters on consoles were terrible because of the control schemes, but Bungie figured it out and now the FPS is the dominant console genre. There were FPSes before it like Goldeneye, but that control scheme changed the mindset of all the developers, changed the way they approached a console shooter), they made it possible for EVERYONE to get a lot more advanced than where they were. It was like discovering fire, or the jet engine, or the warp drive...err...not yet on that one.

      This kind of talk just bugs me, we're all brought up from an early age thinking that all of our ideas are ours and only ours and if anyone uses them then they're stealing from us. Our works should be used to elevate others who's works can be used to elevate others and us again. I'm not anti patent either, I feel that the way it was originally written is how it should work today. It was intended to grant an inventor or innovator a TEMPORARY monopoly on a SPECIFIC process so that costs can be recouped and finance future invention and innovation. Computer related patents should be short, no more than a year I feel. And they can't be as broad as they've become lately. There's is no way that patents on broad ideas filed back in the 80s and 90s should be stifling the advancement and growth of smartphones today. It just doesn't make any sense.

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    5. That's a fanboy myth. Jobs never claimed that Schmidt stole anything while on the Apple board. Probably because Jobs invited him there so they could spy on Android.

      What Jobs was mad about was that he thought Google copied Apple _after_ the iPhone was show off publicly.

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  10. Just a stupid question: How did you acquire this phone?

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  11. Just my opinion, the iPhone and Android were 2 different animals from 2 different companies. Android was originally created by Andy Rubin before it was acquired by Google. At the same, Steve Jobs had an idea about touch screen phone after having a prototype of iPad about 3 years before iPhone was released.

    The original android had 2 versions, one for non-touch screen and another for touch screen. They were focusing on the non-touch screen, but after Apple introduced iPhone in 2007, they scrapped the non-touch and focusing their energy to the touch screen version.

    Though I agree that a lot of Android's features are similar to those iPhone's counterpart, I can't agree that people say Android copies iPhone. As Steve Jobs said, Apple steps on giant's shoulder, Android does too. It puts most of usable feature from iOS and enhance those that are less usable (e.g. central notification feature, copy and paste, etc).

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  12. I don't know where you got that Android was totally different back then. To me, it looks like nearly all the features that you just showed are integral parts of Android. Apps. Widgets. Search. Notification and info on top. An app drawer. A dock, with favorite apps. A homescreen thats separate from the app drawer. integration with google services. Sure the prototype looked kinda ugly. But all software improve over time.

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  13. Like Isaac Newton said, Stand on the shoulders of giants to achieve greatness.

    And that's what these products are, continual evoulution of other peoples ideas.

    And if you read Steve Job's biography a large number of his ideas from iTunes to the iPhone were refinements of existing products.

    The trick is to identify what trend is going to take off. Google saw iPhone as a winner whereas Microsoft famously scoffed at the idea of a phone without a keypad and then ended up loosing all their market share.

    Really want to see where this tech war will end, it just keeps getting hotter...

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  14. That device looks 100% like an Excalibur (T-Mobile Dash) inside (as the EXCA300 indicates, Exca200 was HTC S620 or T-Mobile Dash including WiFi, while Exca210 was w/o WiFi). All the relevant parts are at the same location (switches, Speaker, Port). For that reason also the card-support is micro-SD and not mini as listed in the blog.
    Would be interesting to see if the build could be loaded on any other stock Excalibur to play with it...

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  15. Seems like this particular phone was a lowest end model. Probably good for initial app development. If it works on this thing, it'll work on any Android device. I'm glad they scrapped the non-touch version, seems like it would only hinder the platform.

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  16. Not one, but two mobile OSes were formed from one company. Danger Inc. The company behind the ill fated Sidekick/Hiptop smartphones. Danger Inc. underwent a serious transformation when the company was acquired by Microsoft.

    A selection of developers were tasked with 'Project Pink', crafting the Zune Firmware into something that resembled an iPhone competitor. The KIN phones were the outcome of this, running a watered down version of the later released Windows Phone 7.

    Android was founded by ex-danger members who left during the Microsoft Acquisition.
    The Android startup was sucked up by Google not long after its inception. I'm not suprised that the is the interface they came out with. None of the sidekick devices had been touch centric, so why would android? Google started lobbying AT&T and Verizon to launch a 'Google Phone' which was keyboard only and featured a similar interface. At that time the project was seen as 'too ambitious'. (Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile all held sizable chunks of marketshare at the time.) So android went back to the drawing board.
    This device is simply a re-imagined version of that early Google phone.

    The interface is only marginally different however.

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  17. The OS looks like a revamped version Palm Os

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  18. I am surprised to see almost very important features are included in pre-M3 version of Android. Which I liked most Google talk, Apps, browser and camera functionality.

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  19. Seems Google had plenty of time to "create" a new "Future" home screen. They could see the future was one pains takingly crafted by Apple, Google came in and stole it.

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  20. A slight correction. Nokia 7700 and 7710 were probably Nokia's first, but not the only, pre-iPhone touchscreen smartphones. There was also the Nokia 6708 based on Symbian UIQ.

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