Android.
What is it? Android is now the world's most used mobile platform. Android was created by Android Inc. and acquired by Google Inc. in 2005.
Warning: This is a really long post where I tell you about all 12 of my Android devices, from 2009 to 2013, as well as my wife's 5 Android Devices. For TL;DR, please skip to the summary at the bottom.When I first heard about the Android Operating System back in 2007, I knew it was going to be something I wanted to use. Most of you didn't even know about Android when I started using it, and wouldn't have believed the future success of the platform that can be seen today.
When the HTC Dream (also know as the T-Mobile G1 in the United States) arrived in stores in 2008, I immediately wanted to buy one to replace my current "smartphone", which is in no way a 'smart' phone by today's standards. I remember looking around many shops in Western Sydney at the time, although I was only able to find one shop with the handset - but at a not so decent price.
The HTC Dream was soon after released on the Optus network, but I decided to hold off as I had heard rumours that the HTC Magic was coming soon. The HTC Magic had a much nicer form factor (in my opinion), had an ugly little bump at the bottom that I thought was cool and unique at the time, and now had an on-screen keyboard, rather than a physical one like the previous HTC Dream.
In Australia, Vodafone launched the HTC Magic with most people still not having heard of either Android or HTC. The prices remained high to purchase the HTC Magic outright, so I decided to purchase one (new) from eBay as there were quiet a few people who had received the device as part of a contract upgrade but were in no way interested in the actual device. I drove out west to pick up the HTC Magic, I remember feeling very uneasy about handing over that much money (I think it was $350) to a complete stranger for a mobile phone in an area that's well known for criminal activity.
I soon became a 'developer' on XDA-Developers, trying to help people be able build the Android System for the HTC Magic from the Android Open Source Project. I stopped participating as much after I had achieved my goal.
Little known fact: Google gave away a rebranded HTC Magic designed for developers at a Google I/O conference. This device was known as the Google ION (it may have been a prototype for the Nexus series).
After I started using my new HTC Magic, I fell in love with Android (version 1.5; Cupcake). It was not like anything I had used before, although the Android Market (now Google Play Store) did not nearly compare to Apple's App Store which had many of the apps I needed wanted. I soon received an update to Android 1.6 (Donut). My wife had seen how much I liked my phone, and started to play with it often. She soon decided that she wanted one for her birthday in December, 2009. I took the hint and managed to negotiate a great price with an eBay seller (around $110 including postage costs) located in Adelaide, South Australia. She was very happy with her new phone, except that she found some videos of (we presume) the eBay seller - Masturbating. I reset the device and cleared all of the external memory, but I still felt like a really crappy husband. We did notice that one of the buttons was initially stuck and I just hoped that the stuck button wasn't related to the un-deleted video we found on the device. The button soon became un-stuck and started working as expected, but later stopped working completely.
After keeping my eye on the Android scene over at XDA, I had decided that my next device would either be a HTC Nexus One or a HTC Desire. Both devices were very similar in specifications, but I chose the HTC Desire because it had an optical trackball, rather than the physical ball found in the Nexus One (and the HTC Magic I already owned).
When the HTC Desire launched in Australia, I decided to get one on the first day. The device launched on the Telstra network, which mostly limited me to calling Telstra and JB-HiFi retail outlets. I managed to bring the price down a little, to something like $700. (I really don't remember)
After that, my wife had decided it was her turn for a new phone, and that she wanted the 'cute' HTC Legend. In my opinion, the HTC Legend is still one of the best built phones that I've ever seen. This time it was Vodafone that had launched the device in Australia. I started to call around a few stores for a release date, most stores told me that Vodafone was not getting the HTC Legend (they obviously hadn't read their e-mails) and a few stores incorrectly quoted the price at $549 rather than $599 due to difference in prices between two systems. I manage to find a store that had actually received stock just before I called, and obviously wasn't aware that it was a few days before the official release date. I quickly went to the store, and asked for the cheaper price that was on one of their systems. My wife loved knowing that she possibly had the first publicly sold HTC Legend in Australia, and she managed to convince her sister and brother-in-law to buy one. My wife later sold her HTC Legend to a friend, and he recently passed it on to another friend. The HTC Legend lives on.
I then decided that I should updated my HTC Desire to the newly released HTC Desire HD. I was a little disappointed that the device had not been permanently 'rooted' yet, as HTC had implemented a new mechanism to protect the device from writing to the system partition. I liked having full root access on my device, and since my initial HTC Magic, I had always had root access and an unlocked bootloader. As soon as I had purchased the HTC Desire HD, I started looking for progress on unlocking the device. One night while I was monitoring an IRC Chatroom named #g2root, I started to notice progress on the unlocking of the HTC Desire Z (also known as the T-Mobile G2 in the United States). It wasn't long before a linux kernel mod was posted by a developer, and whilst they were trying it on the Desire Z, I thought I would try it on the HTC Desire HD and it worked! I also managed to convince some guys that were known at the time for their modified bootloaders to modify the HTC Desire HD bootloader so that it wasn't locked. I now not only had the first permanently rooted Desire HD, but also the first S-OFF Desire HD. It wasn't long until everyone else had it (less than 24 hours), but that's my claim to fame.
Soon after, I managed to 'brick' (turn a device into something as useful as a brick) my Desire HD due to a silly mistake. I quickly (that same day) obtained another one.
Later I had to replace my HTC Desire HD (which was fortunately under warranty) due to a hardware fault. It was sorted out within hours at Vodafone's Parramatta repair centre.
I purchased a HTC Sensation when it was released by Telstra in Australia. I immediately started to have issues with the device, and after having issues with the replacement device, I returned the device for a full refund. I went back to using my HTC Desire HD.
While I was in Hong Kong in October 2011, I had shopped around for a new phone since the prices were much cheaper than in Australia. I finally decided to buy a HTC Sensation XE whilst in the airport when I was leaving Hong Kong. The HTC Sensation XE was identical hardware to the HTC Sensation I had previously owned, contained a new red/black colour scheme, and came with 'Beatz' by 'Dr. Dre' earphones and Beatz audio customisation.
The one thing I couldn't understand when I went to purchase the Sensation XE, is why the seller wanted more money than I had seen it for outside of Hong Kong airport. I asked him why it was more expensive in the 'duty free' area than it was outside of the airport which included tax. He looked at me like I was a complete idiot and told me "There is no tax anywhere in Hong Kong". I wasn't feeling real smart right then, but that did manage to get him to bring the price down below what I had seen at other retailers in Hong Kong. I remember being worried about being sold a brick (literally a brick) after reading some online scam reports, so I checked that the device was there and working after I had bought the phone, but before I had left the shop. Later in October, when I returned to Australia, the device hadn't yet been released - and when it was released, it was much more than I had paid in Hong Kong.
The next phone I purchased was a Samsung Galaxy Nexus - while I wasn't too impressed with the build quality, it was available to buy from multiple networks in Australia - which meant cheaper prices for me. I had secretly been an admirer of the Nexus series since back when I had bought my HTC Desire, as it offered both the 'stock android' look and feel, and the fastest updates available on the market. I later bought myself a new one when back in Hong Kong in August 2013, this phone was now considered 'old' in Hong Kong, which meant low prices and I was now able to give my wife one of them (she got my original one, I like new toys).
The ASUS Nexus 7 - This isn't even a phone! The Nexus 7 was Google's first Android powered tablet, and I knew I had to have one. With more cores than the number in it's name, it was a real beast, and the 16GB variant (they only had WiFi back then) was available for only $318! While I was quickly able to get the price down to $298 to match Google's online price, I then asked the store to charge me an extra $2 so that I was able to claim a tax refund when I took the device out of Australia.
The device had quickly sold out, but luckily I had already obtained three. One for +Matthew Vickers, one for +Liz Davison, and one for myself. It was so new to the market that we weren't even able to obtain any accessories for the device in Asia, except a few generic ones. There were many requests to 'take a look' at the Nexus 7 when I was in Hong Kong, as most of them had not yet even heard of them. I now mostly use the Nexus 7 for the development of +PumpCount [link to PumpCount website]
Which brings me to my final device, the LG Nexus 4. This is Google's latest Nexus phone, and was released alongside the Nexus 10 (Google's 10 inch tablet). When the device arrived on the Google Play Store, it was quickly sold out again and again, until production stepped up. In Australia, retailer Harvey Norman had an exclusive on the device and was charging $100 more than Google online. Unfortunately, as they had an exclusive on the device, and Google Play Store was constantly sold out, they were easily able to sell out of them at the more expensive price. +Liz Davison was able to get my Nexus 4 as an early birthday present for me - several days before the official release date in Australia, but she had to pay a premium (Harvey Norman's price) for that. Within a week or two, I had managed to shatter the glass on the rear of the device somehow (I have no idea how, it wasn't dropped or anything), but was able to obtain a replacement, and I have been happy with it ever since. The Nexus 4 will probably be the next phone that I buy the wife.
What's Next? My guess is that it will be a Nexus device, but I don't know when or what Google plans on releasing. There have been suggestions of many devices, but none have shown up just yet.
Summary of my Android Devices:
- HTC Magic
- HTC Desire
- HTC Desire HD (x3)
- HTC Sensation
- HTC Sensation XE
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus (x2)
- ASUS Nexus 7
- LG Nexus 4 (x2)
- HTC Magic
- HTC Legend
- HTC Evo 3D
- ASUS Nexus 7
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus
P.S. There are a few things I haven't included, such as both of my children have an Android handset (Huawei), and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that was donated by +Normann Aguilar.
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