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A Decade of Android!

The_Chief

The_Chief

Accept no imitations!
VIP Member
Late last year I decided to make a YouTube video comparing the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ to...
the original Motorola Droid from ten years before!

:D

Yeah, so you might be interested in how Android has changed in the decade between 2009 and 2019. And yes, there have been a few changes in hardware AND software since the OG Droid, with Android 2.0, its whopping 512 MB RAM, external storage up to 32GB, and a 3.7" WVGA screen. Hope you enjoy it!

 
The_Chief said:
Late last year I decided to make a YouTube video comparing the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ to...
the original Motorola Droid from ten years before!

biggrin.png


Yeah, so you might be interested in how Android has changed in the decade between 2009 and 2019. And yes, there have been a few changes in hardware AND software since the OG Droid, with Android 2.0, its whopping 512 MB RAM, external storage up to 32GB, and a 3.7' WVGA screen. Hope you enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yijsQLAjPIc?wmode=opaque
Click to expand...

Android is created in 2008
 
riveraadrian said:
Android is created in 2008
Click to expand...

Actually, it was created by Android, Inc which started up in 2003 and was purchased by Google in 2005. The Android OS was announced in 2007. It was initially released publicly in 2008, but became a smartphone sensation in 2009 and 2010.

So there :p

Unforgiven said:
Well hello old friend. :)
Click to expand...

Hi to you too, Old Dog (not a Pup anymore yourself)! And MoodyBlues! Wow it's good to see some familiar faces still around - and while I apologize for falling off the face of the earth, there are a few good excuses I could offer. But they're just excuses, no good reasons for not at least letting you folks know what was going on with me that diverted me from AF. I can't promise I'll be here all the time, or even a lot... but here I am in the moment! It's good to be back among friends!

:)
 
Whatever the reasons for your absence, The_Chief, it's good to see you now. I hope you're well and happy. If you can, stick around! :)

Your OP actually triggered a walk down memory lane for me, starting with Wikipedia's Android entry and branching off from there. I found out things about my Motorola Atrix 4G that shocked me! :o

WHAT fingerprint sensor, I asked out loud? It had a fingerprint sensor? Why didn't I use it? And...WTF...it could connect to Ubuntu-based computers?!: "When the phone is placed into its HD Multimedia Dock or Laptop Dock accessories, the user can access an Ubuntu-based desktop featuring access to the phone and its applications via the Mobile View application, integration of Android notifications into the desktop, multimedia playback through Entertainment Center, file management through Nautilus, and the Firefox web browser (along with support for Prism for the site-specific browsers used on Webtop mode)."

How on earth did I miss THAT? I've used Kubuntu since 2005! I'm asking my brain, where were you back then?!

I also had no idea that at the time of its release, the Atrix 4G was the "most powerful smartphone, being one of the very first with a dual-core processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, and a fingerprint sensor. It won CNET Best of CES 2011 Award in the Smartphone category,[9] and won nine awards at CES 2011."

Who knew? I only bought it because my Bravo...well, its screen got cracked...into a million little spider veins [*hilariously embarrassing story could go here*], and I needed a replacement ASAP.
 
What? You didn't know the Atrix 4G had those features? You must be the only one, then. Heck, even I knew that!

j/k not really, I didn't have a clue, either...
:p

And hi Olbriar, to you too!
 
htc hero was my first android device that i purchased in 2009. so it has been longer than a decade that i have been in the android world. i got into rooting with the htc evo 4g.....that phone was a beast for rooting purposes. the things that the rooting community could do with that phone was amazing!!!!

i'm curious to see what this decade will bring for us android users.

and by the way just wanted to give a warm welcome back to @The_Chief
 
Hi to all my old(er) friends!

In fact, I had my choice of TWO Motorola Droids to use in that video: I have the one with the flat keyboard, and a second one with the "bubble" keyboard that was in far higher demand. I remember getting the Droid November 6, 2009, and by mid-December it was rooted and running Pete's Bugless Beast - remember those days? Yeah, we were rooting to use features like tethering, so we could connect the phone to a laptop and use the phone's data for internet. Nowadays it's called "hotspot" and most people have it anyway...
 
The_Chief said:
Yeah, we were rooting
Click to expand...
Seems like a million years ago! But we had to do it to make our devices work the way we wanted. I have to say that Android's come such a long way since then, I just no longer think "how fast can I root this?!" when I get a new device.

Between Android's improvements and maturity, and a great 3rd-party launcher, I no longer feel the urge to root. It WAS fun, though! :D
 
Yeah, in many ways my prediction from 5 years ago has come true: not only will users not have to root, but in many cases we're not able to root! If we DO manage to root, many apps (like banking and payment apps) will no longer work. Since I'm quite fond of my financial apps and Samsung Pay, I have no desire for the few benefits to rooting these days. The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. Although I miss that heart-pounding adrenaline rush when I would hit "factory reset", "reboot to recovery" and "install from sd card" to flash the new ROM and hope it worked!
 
I never had to root to enable tethering. Every phone I've had has always had tethering enabled, including the Nokia Symbian phones that I had before Android.

MrJavi said:
Galaxy, root and Cyanogenmod Excellent combination .
Click to expand...

Yeh, it was Android 2.3 Gingerbread. I also had an Oppo Find F7, that was a great device for Cyanogemmod, and in fact I've still got that phone in a drawer somewhere. :)
 
I hit my decade this summer (10 years after buying the original HTC Desire). Of course I rooted that within a month and used custom ROMs for the next 7 years. I haven't rooted my current phone, but I did charge up my HTC One (M7) the other night, thinking that I might use it as a test of a wholly Google-free android device (when I can find the energy to locate a legacy microUSB connector to copy a new ROM over - the charger cable won't do it as my laptop doesn't have any UBS-A ports...).
 
Wow.. I had my Chocolate LG Touch at my sister's first date, that is around ten years ago, and now still with my Moto z2 force, with three years of keeping this number muncher, I can honestly say, I have been with Android since then..
 
My first Android phone was an LG Optimus S. I bought in December of 2010. I remember thinking to myself"WoW!!!! a little tv phone, cool" :) 2.2 Froyo
 
The Droid was released with Android Eclair, and the fastest way we could get Froyo on it was custom ROMs. Of course, with such small RAM, space was at a premium! So it was amazing that the Droid was able to do everything it did with only 512MB. And that wasn't just for the OS - all the APPS had to operate within that, too!
 
The_Chief said:
The Droid was released with Android Eclair, and the fastest way we could get Froyo on it was custom ROMs. Of course, with such small RAM, space was at a premium! So it was amazing that the Droid was able to do everything it did with only 512MB. And that wasn't just for the OS - all the APPS had to operate within that, too!
Click to expand...
That is really tiny ammount of ram :O
 
The_Chief said:
The Droid was released with Android Eclair, and the fastest way we could get Froyo on it was custom ROMs. Of course, with such small RAM, space was at a premium! So it was amazing that the Droid was able to do everything it did with only 512MB. And that wasn't just for the OS - all the APPS had to operate within that, too!
Click to expand...
My Droid still runs today. It's been running non-stop as my alarm clock. I *think* it's running a Chevy rom, but I forget. I hesitated rooting it, but finally did and loaded sapphire on it. It's how I found my way here to AF. :)
 
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