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Google Nexus One Unboxing, Hands-On and First Impressions

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With a couple of days to go before the much awaited Google Event on January 5, where Google is about to launch its highly anticipated Nexus One phone, the lucky folks at Engadget got hold of the phone and are now running full unboxing photos, first impressions and a nice video demo.

Just by looking at the photos alone, you’d see that the Nexus One certainly looks pretty cool, not too industrial looking as some HTC smartphones are and yet not too classicly artsy than the iPhone. I dunno about you, but I still prefer the shiny and glossy back finish of the iPhone.

Still, the Nexus One is a class of its one. And if looks do not really matter that much to you, you’d certainly love the phone’s overall appearance.

Technically speaking of course, the Nexus One stand out on its own with Android 2.1 OS, 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 3.7-inch touchscreen display, 512 MB ROM, 512MB of RAM, 4GB microSD card plus proximity sensor, accelerometer, light sensor, 5MP camera with LED flash.

The Nexus On also has this live wallpaper that interacts with what you are doing with the Phone. While this may be annoying but still a nice “new” touch on touchscreen phone features.

Finally Engadget noted that while the Nexus One is a pretty good Android phone, it still is not as fast as they would expect it to be.

Now, I can’t wait for January 5 to know when this Google phone is really coming out.

Originally posted on January 2, 2010 @ 8:57 pm

Google to Hold Big Android Press Event on Jan. 5

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googleandroidpressinvite

Alright folks, this is it. The rumors, info leaks, and increasing anticipation over Google’s own mobile phone, tentatively named “Nexus One” maybe finally come to an end. Google was reportedly sending out invitation to media for “an Android press gathering.”

And then the invitation also mentioned something about the first Android-powered device that was launched last year, obviously referring to the HTC Android phone as just the beginning of what’s possible.

With the growing anticipation over what was previously reported that Google was handing out the Google Phone to its employees for testing, the said invitation could only confirm one thing – the Google Phone, or Nexus One may be opt for launch during the said Android event.

Adding excitement to this Android event was TMoNews’ reporting that T-Mobile will be supporting the new Google Phone.  By support meaning – billing, coverage, features and rate plans. T-Mobile will not be dealing with technical and troubleshooting support as this will be handled directly by Google and HTC.

So, there. Something to watch out for as early as the first few days of 2010. Thank you Google for ushering in a more exciting tech scene for the new year. Can’t wait to find out what Google has in store for Nexus One.

Originally posted on December 29, 2009 @ 9:00 pm

The Real Google Phone, Nexus One Pictured and Leaked via a Tweet

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googlephone

It was certainly not a quiet weekend in tech land as rumors about a Google phone spread out like fire the moment the Google Mobile blog posted something about the company handing out a “mysterious” device to employees to get feedback and all.  Then the buzz about Google coming out with its own Google-branded Android phone grew loud. Everybody jumped on to the story.

A few hours later, actual photos of the “real” Google phone was posted via Twitpic by a certain San Francisco blogger. Then the Wall Street Journal put up a piece about the Google phone as well and the article even has a name for the Google phone – Nexus One.

So, what’s the deal? Is there really a Google phone? Are we finally seeing the real deal? The one Google phone that will give the iPhone finally a run for its money? Nothing is certain at this point. Unless Google comes out with an official press release this week, we will remain to be adamant about it.

Alright, here’s what we’ve gathered so far about this so called Google Phone:

  • it will be an unlocked GSM phone running on Android 2.1
  • it will be powered by Snapdragon processor
  • it will have a large OLED touchscreen
  • it will have no keyboard
  • it will have dual mics
  • it will have enhanced voice-to-text functionality
  • it will be sold by Google online
  • it has HTC for manufacturer

And most importantly it is supposed to come out in January 2010!

Alright folks, enjoy looking at the photo of the Nexus One and watch out for more information this week as I’m pretty sure big news such as this doesn’t die easily.

Originally posted on December 13, 2009 @ 6:07 pm

Google’s Two-Pronged Mobile Strategy and the Future of Chrome OS

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Nexus One

When the unlocked, Google-branded Nexus One handset hits the market next year, Google unleashes a two-pronged attack on the Apple iPhone. On one hand, normal people will continue to buy subsidized but locked Android handsets provided by the cellular service carriers. That’s the space the iPhone plays in right now.

On the other hand, hardware geeks will buy expensive but unlocked Google phones provided by the Mountain View powerhouse itself. Thanks to Steve Jobs’ five-year dark bargain with AT&T, that’s a space in which the iPhone simply will not compete.

Thus, Google’s mobile platform allows third parties to maintain walled gardens (carrier-branded handsets with contracts) while maintaining a completely open playground (unlocked handsets). They take on two imporant market segments simultaneously: the common consumers who flock to the walled gardens, and the early adopters in the playground who influence the common consumers. Time will tell if such outflanking will make a dent in the iPhone’s market share.

In the meantime, you have to wonder what the Nexus One bodes for the direction of Google’s upcoming browser-based operating system, the Google Chrome OS, slated for release almost a year after the Nexus One. The potential parallels are certainly intriguing.

Chrome OS will come bundled as an OEM release with very specifically-designed SSD netbooks from various computer manufacturers. Those machines would directly parallel the carrier-locked Android handsets provided by various cellphone manufacturers. If the parallelism holds, could Google release its own hardware for the Chrome OS, the same way it’s now releasing its own hardware for the Android mobile OS? As demonstrated by the Psystar case, Apple is willing to do the latter (provide its own hardware), but not the former (allow branding from third-party manufacturers). The Mountain View geniuses would outflank the Cupertino tyrants once more. Could Google’s two-pronged mobile OS strategy serve as a miniature version (no pun intended) of its future two-pronged desktop OS strategy?

Either way, the current geek hullabaloo over the Nexus One undeniably proves one thing: the existence of a strong demand for Google-branded consumer hardware among the influential blogging-and-twittering digerati. Google can leverage that demand in future consumer hardware projects. We can still expect the bulk of Google Android’s market penetration to come from the carrier-locked handsets, but the geeks will continue to generate buzz about the Google-branded handsets. That’s why T-Mobile and Verizon, who both carry Android handsets, aren’t freaking out right now: the buzz around the expensive Nexus One will help drum up sales for the subsidized G1 and Droid.

Though the actual manufacturing of the Nexus One has been contracted to HTC, there is absolutely no HTC branding on the Nexus One. It’s a Google-branded phone, through and through. High-end hardware manufacturing as word-of-mouth marketing is not a new concept. Though not traditionally a hardware provider, perhaps Google will become the next industry titan to apply that concept — for both Android and Chrome OS.

(The photo above is courtesy of Engadget.)

Originally posted on December 14, 2009 @ 4:50 am