That's not the only bit of levity to be found on the phone. The G1 comes with a text-only scrolling video listing contributors and offering special thanks. After a pause, at the very end, Google assures us that "no robots were harmed in the making of this product."

While the contributors video refers to the Open Handset Alliance -- the group of companies backing Android -- without naming all the members, it thanks contributors that many industry observers may not have known were involved in the creation of Android.

Andy Missan and Jason von Nieda are the only people called out by name under the special thanks section. According to Missan's Web site, he has worked as legal counsel for MobiTV, ReplayTV and WebTV. He also worked for Danger, the company recently acquired by Microsoft and founded by Andy Rubin, who later started a mobile software company called Android that Google acquired.

On his Web site, von Nieda describes himself as a Seattle-based "computer programmer, systems administrator, network engineer and all around good guy."

Other companies listed as contributors or given special thanks include Swedish software technology and design company The Astonishing Tribe; Swiss engineering company Noser Engineering; media player developers Hooked Wireless; Indian consultancy Satyam; mobile software and services providers Core Mobility; and designers Mike and Maaike.