The Google Phone Finally Arrives as The Nexus One
To virtually no one’s surprise, Google unveiled its new Android-powered Nexus One smartphone. Oh, excuse me… superphone. Looking similar to the touchscreen Droid Eris (also manufactured by HTC), the Nexus One is a bit slimmer and features a powerful under-the-hood engine in the form of a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Other top line specs include a 3.7-inch touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking, Bluetooth stereo capabilities.
It also runs the Android 2.1 operating system, which, according to Pocket-lint, adds “a few attractive UI changes including a choice of Live Wallpapers, with which you can interact; a change to a five screen homepage with short cuts; the removal of the slideout app menu for a rolling 3D interface and a more responsive on-screen keyboard.”
Of course, being a superphone, it runs on 3G networks–but not AT&T’s. The cellular radio inside the Nexus One is geared toward T-Mobile’s AWS-specific frequencies as well as 900/2100 MHz frequencies found outside the U.S. Thusly, while the GSM Nexus One will run on AT&T, it can only connect to the dial-up-like speeds of its EDGE data network. And the current unlocked version will not work currently on either Verizon Wireless or Sprint in the U.S.
Google will be selling the phone unlocked through its own portal for $530 (where you can add some personalized engraving to the back; see image at right) and it will also be available as a subsidized phone through T-Mobile first for $180. It will be added later in the spring to Verizon Wireless in the U.S. (via a special CDMA version of the Nexus One) as well as Vodafone in Europe (specific launch dates and pricing were not announced today). Of course, for those Verizon customers who can’t wait for the latest in Android goodness, there’s always the Motorola Droid, which will be getting an update to the 2.1 operating system soon.
Walt Mossberg has had his hands on a Nexus One for a couple weeks now, and he posts his first positive impressions over at All Things Digital:
The Nexus One finally has the right combination of hardware and software to give Android a champion that might attract more people away from their iconic iPhones and BlackBerrys. It has a larger screen than Apple’s phone, and is a bit thinner, narrower and lighter—if a tad longer. And it boasts a better camera and longer talk time between battery charges.
Also, because it will be available on the large, well-regarded Verizon 3G network, the Nexus One could tempt American iPhone users, tired of problems with AT&T, to switch.
A side note: While it’s true that I’m an Apple guy to the core (to the point where I get quite chuffed hearing my toddler announce that “the iPhone wins the race” in his imagined gadget races), there’s something to be said for Apple’s secrecy-fueled flair for the dramatic and its stagecraft when presenting new releases. I followed this morning’s official rollout of the Google Nexus One smartphone via Gizmodo and others, and was rather surprised at how lo-fi their presentation looked.
–Agen G.N. Schmitz