On November 3, I believe most people know that the first Android phone is HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, which was launched a year later than the first generation iPhone, but the rendering of what could have been the first Android phone was made five months before the first generation iPhone was launched.
Rich Miner, the co-founder of Android, took to Twitter to reveal the above details and share a render of the first Android phone.
The image above shows a black and neon-colored phone that looks somewhat similar to the HTC Dream, with a horizontal slider design and a full-sized physical keyboard that’s still all neon, though the HTC Dream didn’t quite end up with that design.
The renders show the phone with a tap wheel for page navigation, while the HTC Dream chose to use a trackball in the end. The render also shows the phone with more buttons, including physical buttons for email and the @” symbol, and buttons for an answer, hang up, home and back at the bottom of the phone. In contrast, the HTC Dream has only five buttons.
According to Miner, they were working on two phones, a BlackBerry-like device codenamed “Sooner” and a phone codenamed “Dream,” which the company abandoned after the launch of the iPhone to focus on the Dream. After the launch of the iPhone, the company abandoned the Sooner and focused on the Dream, which was later launched as the HTC Dream.
