text: htc dream the htc dream ( also known as the t - mobile g1 in the united states and parts of europe , and as the era g1 in poland ) is a smartphone developed by htc . first released in october 2008 , the dream was the first commercially released device to use the linux - based android operating system , which was purchased and further developed by google and the open alliance to create an open competitor to other major smartphone platforms of the time , such as symbian operating system , blackberry os , and ios . the operating system offers a customizable graphical user interface , integration with google services such as gmail , a notification system that shows a list of recent messages pushed from apps , and android market for downloading additional apps . the dream was released to mixed , but mostly positive reception . while the dream was praised for its solid and robust hardware design , the introduction of the android operating system was met with criticism for its lack of certain functionality and third - party software in comparison to more established platforms , but was still considered to be innovative due to its open nature , notifications system , and heavy integration with google 's services . history development in july 2005 , google acquired android inc . , a company led by andy rubin which was working on unspecified software for mobile devices . under the leadership of google , the team was in the process of developing a standardized , linux - based operating system for mobile phones to compete against the likes of symbian and windows mobile , which would be offered for use by individual original equipment manufacturers . initial development of what would become android was targeted towards a prototype device codenamed " sooner " ; the device was a messaging phone in the style of blackberry , with a small , non - touch screen , navigation keys , and a physical qwerty keyboard . the january 2007 unveiling of the iphone , apple 's first smartphone , and its pioneering design aspects , caught rubin off - guard and led to a change in course for the project . the operating system 's design was quickly reworked , and attention shifted to a new prototype device codenamed " dream " — a touchscreen device with a sliding , physical keyboard . the inclusion of a physical keyboard was intentional , as android developers recognized users did not like the idea of a virtual keyboard as they lacked the physical feedback that makes hardware keyboards useful . the android operating system was officially unveiled in november 2007 along with the founding of the open alliance ( oha ) ; a consortium of hardware , software , and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices . these companies included google , along with htc , a company who was at the time , one of the largest manufacturers of phones . while google indicated in 2008 that several devices were being tested in preparation for the official public launch of android , only one was to be released in the united states that year — the htc dream . plans called for the dream to be released on t - mobile usa by the end of the year ( with some reports suggesting october 2008 ) , targeting the holiday shopping season . sprint had worked with the oha , but had not yet unveiled any plans to release an android phone of its own , while verizon wireless and at & t did not have any plans for android devices yet at all . release htc officially announced the dream on 23 september 2008 . it would first be released by t - mobile as the t - mobile g1 , starting in the united states. on 20 october 2008 in its 3g - enabled markets only ( it became available in all markets on 24 january 2009 ) , followed by a british release in november 2008 , and a release in other european territories in early 2009 . on 10 march 2009 , it became available in poland as the era g1 on era . on 2 june 2009 , both the dream and its successor ( the htc magic ) were released by rogers wireless in canada . the dream was discontinued by t - mobile on 27 july 2010 . the g1 was spiritually succeeded in october 2010 by the t - mobile g2 , a new htc device which also featured stock android and a sliding keyboard , and was t - mobile usa 's first " 4g " smartphone . in canada , rogers suspended sales of the dream on 15 january 2010 due to a bug affecting the proper use of emergency calls . features hardware the dream 's exterior uses a soft , matte plastic shell , and was made available in white , black , and bronze colors . the dream 's design features a distinctive " chin " on the bottom , which houses 5 navigation buttons ( " call " , " home " , " menu " , " back " , and " end call " ) and a clickable trackball in the center which can be used for scrolling and selecting . the device uses a 3 . 2 inches ( 8 . 1 cm ) capacitive touchscreen lcd at a resolution of 320 × 480 ; the screen can be slid along a curved hinge to expose a five - row qwerty keyboard — as the first releases of android did not include a virtual keyboard , the keyboard was originally the only method of text input on the device . while supporting multitouch at the hardware level , the linux kernel in the dream 's android distribution was patched to remove multitouch support from its touchscreen drivers for undisclosed reasons . the dream does not include a traditional headphone jack , requiring an adapter for htc 's proprietary ( but mini - usb compatible ) " " port located on the bottom of the device . the rear of the device houses a 3 . 15 - megapixel rear camera with auto - focus . the dream uses a 528 mhz qualcomm system on a chip with 192 mb of ram , and comes with 256 mb of internal storage , which can be expanded by up to 16 gb using a micro sd card slot . for network connectivity , the dream supports quad - band gsm 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 mhz and gprs / edge , plus dual band umts bands i and iv ( 1700 & 2100 mhz ) and hsdpa / ( in us / europe ) at 7 . 2 / 2 mbit / s . the device also supports standalone gps and a - gps . software the htc dream was the first ever smartphone to ship with the android operating system . the operating system heavily integrates with , and provides apps for various google services , such as gmail ( with push email support ) , maps , search , talk , and youtube , while the contacts and calendar apps can sync with the online google contacts and google calendar services respectively . the device also ships with an email app supporting other pop3 and - based mail services , an instant messaging app with support for multiple services , and a webkit - based web browser . a notification system displays icons for certain events ( such as e - mails and text messages ) on the left side of the status bar across the top of the screen ; dragging down from the top of the screen exposes a tray with more detailed information for each notification . the android market can be used to download additional apps for the device . the g1 as sold by t - mobile also shipped with an amazon mp3 app , allowing users to purchase drm - free music online , and download them straight to the device via wi - fi . the dream could also be upgraded to newer versions of android , which added new features and enhancements to the platform . the latest version of android officially made available for the dream , 1 . 6 " donut " , was released for t - mobile usa 's g1 in october 2009 . the 1 . 6 update was not released on the rogers htc dream in canada ( which stayed on 1 . 5 " cupcake " ) ; rogers claimed that the update was only being made available for " ' google ' -branded " models of the device . development and modding due to the open source nature of the android platform , the dream became a popular target for modding . shortly after the release of the dream , developers discovered a software exploit which would allow a user to gain superuser access to the phone — a process which would be referred to as " rooting " . as a parallel to " jailbreaking " on ios devices , root access would enable users to perform tweaks and other changes at the system level that cannot be performed under normal circumstances ( such as adding auto - rotation , and installing a custom kernel that restored the aforementioned multitouch support ) . after the dream 's bootloader was dumped , work began on modifying it so that it could install third - party firmware , and on converting official android update files into a format that could be installed using the modified bootloader . around the same time , google made the android dev phone 1 available for registered android developers ; the dev phone 1 was a and hardware - unlocked version of the htc dream that came pre - configured for superuser access to the internal files of the phone , allowing users to completely replace the bootloader and operating system . as a result of these developments , a dedicated community , centered on forums such as developers , emerged surrounding the creation of custom firmware ( " roms " ) built from the android source code . projects such as continued to produce ports of newer versions of android for the dream and later android devices , while adding their own features and enhancements to the operating system as well . on later android devices , where a number of factors ( including carrier practices , and custom software provided by device manufacturers that sit atop android , such as htc sense and samsung touchwiz ) led to fragmentation regarding the availability of newer versions of the os for certain devices , the development and use of custom roms ( which are usually based off the " stock " version of android ) have ultimately become an important , yet controversial aspect of the android ecosystem . in august 2012 , a group of users released an unofficial port of a later version of android , 4 . 1 " jelly bean " , for the dream as a proof of concept . however , the port lacked key functionality , and had severe performance issues due to the phone 's relatively weak hardware in comparison to the modern devices that 4 . 1 was designed for . reception critical reception the dream was released to mixed reviews . the design of the dream was considered to be solid and robust ; joshua topolsky of engadget considered its hardware design a contrast to that of the iphone , due to its numerous navigation buttons ( in comparison to just a home button ) and its " charming , retro - future look ; like a gadget in a 1970 's sci - fi movie set in the year 2038 . " the dream 's keyboard , as the only method of text input prior to android 1 . 5 's introduction of a virtual keyboard , was considered to be sufficient , although some felt that its keys were too small . its display was considered sufficient for a phone of its class , but john brandon of techradar felt that it was not good enough for watching videos due to its poor contrast and small size in comparison to the iphone . android itself was considered to still be in its infancy ( primarily due to its bare - bones functionality in certain areas , limited application catalog , lack of multitouch gestures , or syncing with certain enterprise platforms ) , but showed promise through its customizable interface , increased flexibility over ios , its notification system , ability to display security permissions when downloading apps , and its heavy integration with google services . brandon gave the dream a 4 . 5 / 5 , despite stating that it was " no apple iphone killer " , given its lower quality of its application selection and multimedia features in comparison . in conclusion , the dream was considered to be a " stellar " phone that " points to a future when a phone is as flexible and useful as the pc on your desk . " engadget felt that the dream " isn 't going to blow anyone 's mind right out of the gate " due to its hardware , but that the android platform as a whole held its own against its competitors , and that early adopters of android through the g1 were " buying into one of the most exciting developments in the mobile world in recent memory . " noted that the dream would have been " another average smart qwerty messenger " had it not been for its introduction of android ; in conclusion , the dream was considered " far from the perfect package " , but still believed that " it gets the things that matter done and gets them done right . " commercial reception in april 2009 , t - mobile announced that it had sold over a million g1 's in the united states , accounting for two thirds of the devices on its 3g network . estimated in march 2009 that android and the g1 had reached a market share of 6 % in the united states .