HP, Acer, Dell, and…Google? That’s right — Google could soon join the ranks of those netbook manufacturers. The rumor mill now suggests that a Google-branded netbook will arrive next year, in addition to the Google phone.

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington cites “multiple sources” as saying Google is working directly with at least one computer manufacturer on hardware specs, in the same way that the search giant reportedly dictated hardware and design to HTC for the Nexus One smartphone. The netbook would be branded with Google and sold directly to consumers.

Read the full story on PC World.

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Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and he had the Google Phone. Here are some of his thoughts from his blog post:

• It looked to me like a thinner Droid Eris with a larger, more impressive screen (both are made by HTC; Nexus One has no “Sense” interface)
• The screen resolution was great and crisp
• The stand-out dimension of the phone in my brief time with it was its speed; it was extremely fast (running on the T-Mobile network)
• It features the “new” version of the Android Market, which is a considerable step up from what exists now

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 appears to be faster than the iPhone 3GS but I didn’t have any side-by-side comparison opportunity. It has multi-tasking and Google Navigation, Voice Search and so on. But the iPhone still represents a more “complete” and “integrated” device in my view. Others will probably disagree. Indeed, this is probably the first Android device that is a true substitute for the iPhone. That represents danger for Apple unless it comes out from under the AT&T relationship next year; Android could blunt iPhone sales.

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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.)
And the Google phone–aka, Nexus One–will have some interesting company, though both of the rival phones that use the chip are in the Windows Mobile camp: the Toshiba TG01 and HTC HD2.
Interestingly, all of these phones have, relatively speaking, large screens: more than four inches in diagonal size. The Google phone will also add high-resolution (based on an OLED touchscreen) to that.

Read the full story on Cnet.

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It’s just about confirmed now: Google will sell its own phone, built by HTC and named the Nexus One.

It will sell the Google Phone online and unlocked, so you’ll need to buy your cellular service separately. The entire user experience is designed by Google, according to the WSJ. It may resemble the HTC Passion, pictured.

Here are the details so far:

- Software: Android 2.1

- Hardware: HTC

- Specs (according to Jason Howell): Capactive touch screen, on screen keyboard only, thin, scroll ball, and animated desktop wallpaper

- Launch date: Rumored January 2010

- Tweets describe it as “an iPhone on beautifying steroids.”

- Google designed the entire user experience

- Google will sell the phone online, unlocked

- Google is “dogfooding” the Google Phone and has given it to employees all over the world to test it.

Source: Mashable

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