Google Smartphone – Nexus One
Google just unveiled its own smartphone, the Nexus One, upping the stakes once again in the smartphone arena. Unveiled at Google headquarters in Mountain View California, The Nexus One is powered with Android 2.1 (Google’s operating system for smartphones) which means it offers full support for services like Gmail and is ready to tie in with social networking services like Facebook and Twitter.
The hardware has been designed by Taiwanese handset maker HTC, and as was widely expected, is now selling them unlocked via the company's Web site. The price of an unlocked Nexus One smartphone? $529.
The fact that Google itself is selling the phone, and with the option to buy one without ties to a wireless carrier, marks a departure from the way in which cell phones are generally sold in the U.S. The phone also can be purchased for $179 with a two-year wireless contract with T-Mobile.
This spring, the Nexus One will be available at a discounted price with a Verizon contract. And Vodafone will subsidize the phone in Europe, Google said.
On the hardware front, the Nexus One sports a speedy 1 GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm and a large 3.7-inch, 800 by 480-pixel AMOLED display, along with a 5 megapixel video-capable camera with an LED flash. For navigation, the Nexus One sports a trackball for navigating the interface and menus, and the trackball doubles as a notification light, shining different colors (blue or white) when calls, notifications, and messages come in.
The Nexus One sports a full bank of proximity, light, and motion sensors, along with an integrated assisted GPS receiver and a compass, plus two microphones (front and back) to support active noise cancellation technology. The camera can capture video in MPEG4 format, ideal for uploading to Google services like Picassa and YouTube, in addition to 3G connectivity, sports 802.11b/g/n WiFi and stereo Bluetooth wireless technology. The device has 512 MB of flash storage and supports microSD cards for storage.
Still too early for me to get my hands on one these, but if anyone has a Nexus One please drop a comment here and let the rest of us poor slobs know how you like it.
