Android

Google has come a long way since the early days when it struggled to convince the world that its greenish andy could match Apple's iPhone revolution. The first Android phone, T-Mobile G1 made by HTC was not much to look at when it was introduced in October 2008, with its trough for a keyboard and its bizarrely jutting chin. HTC was hardly a known brand, and we were not even sure if we were getting a single Google phone or an entire operating system. Still the humble G1, with its ugly design and few apps, kicked off an Android avalanche just the same.

Now in 2015, Android and iOS both rule the smartphone market. And both operating systems have received significant makeovers in recent years with new versions bringing fresh designs. Android is now almost 7 years old, and in that time it's gone from a quirky piece of mobile software to a full-fledged Linux driven operating system and powerful brand. The big cell phone companies leave their mark on Android by altering the design of Google's mobile operating system - Stock Android or "pure Android" or "vanilla Android," - just as mother Android did builing on Linux.