The REAL Google Phone

By Joel Feder | December 15, 2009

Google Phone- Nexus One

Rumors have been circulating around that Google wants an actual “Google Phone”. The dream is hitting reality next month. When the G1 launched on T-Mobile, it was the first Android phone. It had Google’s name on the back and was said to be developed in partnership with Google. People called it the Google phone. We give it credit for being the first Android device.

Up until today, the concept of Android has been similar in execution to Windows Mobile. Now, before you grab your pitch forks and flame throwers let me explain. Google set out saying (against rumors) that they did not want to be in the business of selling phones. They wanted to be software developers of the Android platform. This would leave carriers and phone manufactures to come up with designs and then incorporate the Android operating system onto the device. Google has been fairly involved in this process and has been helping manufactures with optimizing Android for devices.

Late last week Google gave all their employees a new smart phone dubbed Nexus One, aka, “Google Phone”. News spread quickly via social media and Twitter in specific. Photos of the smart phone were taken and posted. It wasn’t long before bloggers put the bits and pieces together and started posting about the Nexus One.

Here is what we have heard:

The phone will be sold unlocked through Google online.
It will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s 3G networks.
Nexus One is running a newer version of Android than any other device (2.1).
It will have an OLED screen and a snap dragon processor. This is the fastest phone processor currently made and only a few devices have this. The OLED screen is also a newer trend. This type of screen is vibrant and bright yet uses less power than a typical screen. The OLED screen can also be viewed from more angles then a regular screen.
The phone will have swappable batteries.
Rumors say that the phone will be lower-priced if you sign up for a T-Mobile account or renew, which sounds like a regular phone subsidy.
Nothing has been mentioned about AT&T and agreements.

The phone is rumored to go on sale the week of January 5. This is right on top of Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Naturally, Google is looking to take the spotlight at the show with the new phone.

What does all this mean? Well, as I mentioned above, Google previously indicated that they had no interest in being in the business of selling phones. Now that they are coming out with a phone that will be sold through them with the newest version Android this could mean a shift. On an even deeper level, this could also mean a whole new shift in the way Google wants to operate. The shift seems to be drawing further away from the manner Microsoft operates its Windows Mobile business and closer to the way Apple operates its iPhone.

Time will show how closed off Android becomes but this could hurt relations with the Open Handset Alliance that Google is part of. Google is now competing with other manufactures that make phones, even though they aren’t actually making the phone. The Nexus One is being produced by HTC. The majority of Android handsets are created by HTC which makes it all the more interesting to see how the chips fall in (or out of) place.