(Free-Press-Release.com) December 17, 2009 –
Google said in a corporate blog on Saturday that it has developed a phone based on its Android mobile operating system and distributed it to employees to try out. Soon after, pictures of the phone surfaced on the Twitter feeds of employees and outside bloggers with details that the device would be launched next month and sold directly to consumers. The new phone would be capable of operating on any network, according to a source close to the company who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The Google phone will use what is probably the fastest smartphone chip on the planet and become the first non-Windows smartphone to tap into this kind of processing power. Conspicious among the Google phone’s leaked specifications is the Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm. Snapdragon is the first gigahertz-class ARM-based processor to be used in smartphones. (In current implementations, Snapdragon runs at 1GHz.)

This is clearly now the “flagship” Android device; it’s no longer the Motorola “Droid.” In many ways the Droid is clunky and awkward by comparison. It even appears to be faster than the iPhone 3GS.

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Press Release here.

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eWEEK has read some of the 1,400-plus Nexus One reports and cherry-picked some points for you to enjoy, here are some of them:

1. Nexus One Named for Blade Runner Robots
Daring Fireball noted the name Nexus One appears to be a nod to the line of replicant cyborgs from late sci-fi author Philip K. Dicks “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” upon which the 1982 film Blade Runner was based. The New York Times went deeper, speaking to Dick’s daughter, who claimed Google did not consult her family about using the Nexus One name. I smell a handsome payout in the Dick family’s future. One other note: Things didn’t turn out so well for the replicants. Superstitious, anyone?

3. The Nexus One Is Just Another Android Phone
Slate.com’s Farhad Manjoo noted: “For the Google Phone to be truly stellar, Google would have to imbue it with exclusive features—violating the core Google principle of platform independence. I just don’t see that happening; it’s not in the company’s DNA to make software that works on one device alone.” So every phone will be a Google Phone. That may be the single best argument against a Google Phone boasting exclusivity.

6. Nexus One for Consumers? You Must Be Crazy
Industry analyst Jack Gold has a markedly different theory: “Despite the widespread conjecture of the past few days, it is highly unlikely that this phone will ever be offered to the general consumer, let alone sold by Google directly to end users.” Gold sees the Nexus One as a test bed for several thousand Google workers and developers. “Testing is the path that Google has chosen for this device, and not the path of competing with its customers.” The company wouldn’t alienate Motorola, Samsung and the carriers.

7. Then Again
With Apple’s iPhone dominating the smartphone space, Google may believe that it must roll out and subsidize the Nexus One — a drastic, bold move by any measure — to gain serious headway in the mobile market. It’s not so much about the devices as it is about the mobile searches and the ads Google wants to show along with THEM. Sure, Google serves ads on Google searches executed through the iPhone now, but who is to say Apple won’t shut Google out for a better deal with Bing?

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