For those of us that pay attention to tech news, it’s almost impossible to have missed all of the hype about the ‘Google phone’ in the past few days. Is this hype due to trendy and artistic commercials on the antiquated video delivery system known as TV? Has Google been making use of their Adwords/Adsense network and blasting us with various keyword-based tidbits on why their phone is better than the other “Jesus Phone” (not trying to be sacrilegious lol). No! All that we’ve been privy to see here are some tweets and a few pics thrown up on photo sharing/management websites by Google employees that were given a new Dev Phone.

Yes, I admit, the supposed specs are pretty decent- 1ghz Snapdragon processor, 5mp camera, and a microphone on the back of the phone that helps eliminate interference.. everything that you would expect the next generation of HTC handsets to have (and yes, this is all HTC hardware.. Google is still just a brand added on). To be perfectly honest, the processor and OLED screen meet some of the criteria for my “Ultimate Smartphone” design list, but the lack of hardware keyboard and the software limitations inherent with any (current) version of Android will keep this from becoming my next “must-have” device.

Now, I have nothing against Android. It is a very robust [mobile] operating system, but still comes with many of the limitations prevalent in most smartphone designs. Even though you may have gigabytes upon gigabytes worth of storage space, all of the nifty ‘apps’ that you download have to fit within less than a gigabyte worth of “Application Memory”. In many, perhaps even most old-gen Android handsets, this is limited to around 128mb-256mb. This was perfectly fine back when even the largest apps were around a megabyte.. but what about today, when mobile phones are now mobile computing and gaming platforms? This wasn’t all that important of an issue prior to the release of the original iPhone.

When it came out, and offered 4GB of Application/Music/Photo/Anything memory, the entire game changed. As an example- my Blackberry Bold “only” comes with 128Mb of user/application memory. This means that ALL of my contact data, calendar, ToDo list, AND Applications have to fit within this tiny confine of memory. Blackberry users are used to the constant hassles of managing user memory.. there’s even an App for that! This problem should have been fixed in ALL of the smartphone platforms the month after Apple unveiled their concept and design.

Anyways, I’m going off on a tangent, and any tech-geek/nerd worth his salt is starting to say the magic word- Fanboy. No, I am not an Apple fanboy. I had the original iPhone until the screen shattered into a million pieces, and I was told it would cost me $510 to replace it, after I paid $600 for the phone itself. I used a Mac for approx. a year and a half, until I had to replace two hard drives (and lost a ton of photos and personal info in the process) because of a faulty motherboard that Apple refused to fix. At the moment, I am once again a Crackberry user, and am writing this on my Gateway 7805u lappy running Windows 7 (limited edition). Do I miss certain features of Apple products? Sure. Do I think that Apple is the epitome of tech design and innovation? Of course not, although I give them props for how far they’ve come from the brink of destruction oh so many years ago.

Ok.. back to the topic at hand. The “Google Phone” has been given the monicker of “Nexus One”. I personally think that “Google Phone” would have had more ‘zing’ to it, but I can understand using a different name (thanks to the failure of the G1, which was supposed to be the first “Google Phone/iPhone K1ll3r”). Apparently, it’s coming out in early Q1 2010 (possible as early as the first half of January). Google, much like Apple, is choosing to say that they will be ‘pioneering’ or ‘innovating’ something that has been done for who knows how long.

Rather than tie it down to a specific carrier, there are additional rumors that Google will be (at least initially) selling the phone unlocked for multiple carriers. By multiple carriers, I meant T-Mobile and AT&T here in the states. This method of selling handsets unlocked is standard around the world, and is done by Nokia and other manufacturers here in the US. This is in no way innovative, unless Google decides to put their own spin on things by focusing on Google Voice and using the carriers simply as a delivery method for cellular (non-WiFi) access. Will they do it? I’m sure that they want to try. Will the carriers let them do it? It’s Google – if they really wanted to they could outright BUY the carriers and make them.

All of this speculation, and over a Phone (yes, it is still just a phone) that hasn’t been announced yet, has no firm hardware specs, and not many people have actually been able to use or review. This is a classic example of the power of the Blogosphere- the ultimate hype engine. Does Google want you to talk about their phone? Of course! Did they give out thousands of the units to Google employees just to build the hype that it’s gotten? You decide. Is this the ultimate iPhone Killer that we keep hearing about but never arrives? Nope. Will I quit asking redundant questions that no one really cares about and go on with my morning? Yes.

I may recant all of this come January. You’ll know if I have, because I’ll be putting up a “I’m writing this from my new Google Phone/Nexus One!!!!!!” post as we techies usually do when we get a new toy. If they release the phone for a modest amount, unlocked, with no carrier restrictions, then I will probably be buying it just to use as an Android development platform for my occasional programming urges. If I will have to sign away another two years of my Cellular freedoms, then I’ll undoubtedly just go ahead and wait for the “Next-gen” iPhone rumors to solidify.

No matter who you are or what you think about this or any upcoming handset, it’s going to be a good year for Mobile innovation (and us Techies

Btw- thanks to TechCrunch’s great article for (some) of the specs used in this post, along with the great leaked images. If you want to read more about the NexusOne, visit their page, or the various “OMG OMG OMG” posts on Gizmodo and Engadget.

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The Nokia N900 has since dropped off of my must-have list. Nokia is now backpedalling more than I am comfortable with, mentioning in press releases and interviews that Maemo 6 will ‘fix’ the issues of Maemo 5, that they will only be releasing one Maemo unit in 2010, and that Symbian will still be their primary focus. These setbacks will keep the Maemo platform from going mainstream, and will limit it to a developer or ‘geek’ oriented OS. As far as Symbian, I understand that they do not want to throw the years of development they put into the OS down the drain. There are still many Symbian developers, and it is still one of the most proliferated smartphone operating systems in international markets. If you want my two cents, they shouldn’t have made the jump into Maemo without being sure that it was a direction they were going to focus on. Releasing one handset and relying on the development community to carry the software end is not the solution that the largest handset producer in the world should be accepting. Nokia is losing market share faster than any other major player in the wireless sector, especially now that Motorola is back on the top of their game with the Droid (and upcoming Sholes).

With regards to the HTC HD2 – it has some major competition hot on the young phone’s heals. There are rumors in the wind of a new handset (Codename HTC Bravo, Dragon, Passion etc) that will have similar hardware but will run on the Android OS and have a more manageable screen size (3.7 AMOLED Display). To me the unit doesn’t look as aesthetically pleasing as the HD2, but the new hardware combined with the great OS should make things VERY interesting.

Sony Ericsson has been out of the upper-tier smartphone game for the last couple of cycles, but their newest handset shows that they’ve been paying attention. The Xperia X10 sports a 4 inch Capacitive display, the impressive 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, and a revamped Android skin simply named “Rachel”. Videos of the demo (running early Pre-prod software) unit show the OS to be very laggy, but the implications and possibilities can clearly be seen. The intuitive and customizable interface would bring most other smartphones to their knees, but the Snapdragon-running hardware should keep things running smoothly. The impressive 8.1 megapixel camera will also be interesting to play with. Yeah, yeah I know- more megapixels doesn’t necessarily mean better photos (especially in smart phones). Higher numbers do, however, indicate a positive upward trend in hardware, which is always a good thing for a tech junkie!

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA™ X10 at a glance

Camera

• 8.1 megapixel camera
• Up to 16x digital zoom
• Auto focus
• Intelligent face recognition features
• Geo tagging
• Image and video stabilizer
• Photo and video light
• Send to web (photo and video upload)
• Smile detection
• Touch focus
• Video recording
• Recent shot tray

Music

• Album art
• Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
• Media player
• Music tones (MP3/AAC)
• PlayNow™
• TrackID™

Web

• Bookmarks
• Google™ search (from standby)
• Web feeds
• WebKit web browser

Communication

• Sony Ericsson Timescape™
• Speakerphone
• Vibrating alert

Messaging

• Conversations
• Email
• Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
• Picture messaging (MMS)
• Predictive text input
• Text messaging (SMS)

Design

• Auto rotate
• Gesture control
• Picture wallpaper
• Touchscreen

Entertainment

• 3D games
• Media browser
• Infinite button
• Video streaming
• Video viewing
• YouTube™

Organiser

• Alarm clock
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Flight mode
• Infinite button
• Office suite
• Phone book with dialer
• World clock

Location-based services

• A-GPS
• Google Maps™
• Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation* (free trial version)

• *The service may not be available in every market. For more information, go to www.sonyericsson.wisepilot.com

Connectivity

• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Bluetooth™ technology
• Micro USB connector
• Synchronisation
• USB support
• Wi-Fi™

Preloaded applications

• Sony Ericsson Timescape™
• Sony Ericsson Mediascape
• Sony Ericsson Home with clock widget
• Sony Ericsson Sync
• Android Market™ Client
• Gmail™
• Google Calendar™
• Google Maps™ with Street View
• Google Media Uploader
• Google phone-top search
• Google search widget
• Google Talk™
• Google Voice Search™
• Network Location Provider
• Set-up Wizard
• YouTube™

Screen

• 65,536 colour TFT Touchscreen
• 4.0 inches
• 480 x 854 pixels (WVGA)
• Scratch-resistant

Accessories
In-Box:

• XPERIA™ X10
• Battery
• Stereo portable handsfree
• 8 GB microSD™ card
• Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
• User documentation

Optional:

• Hi-Fi Wireless Headset with FM Radio MW600
• Car Charger AN300
• Screen Protector ET902

Facts 1)2)

• Size: 119 x 63 x 13 mm
• Weight: 135 grams

• Phone memory: Up to 1 GB

• Memory card support: microSD™

• Memory card included: 8 GB

• Operating system: Google™ Android Donut, version 1.6
• Processor: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ QSD8250

Availability and versions

• Networks

• UMTS HSPA 900/1700/2100
• GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

• UMTS HSPA 800/1900/2100
• GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

• Available in selected markets in Q1 2010

Colors

• Sensuous Black
• Luster White

The only numbers that don’t seem to be going up is battery life. There are all kinds of theoretical advances in the field of energy retention, but not many practical ones that apply to mobile tech. What good is a phone if you have to keep it tied to an outlet? Kind-of makes it lose that whole ‘mobile’ moniker. I understand that 3.5”+ screens and touchscreen technology are notorious battery drainers, but to get me to drop completely out of the Crackberry club, they’re going to have to do better than 8-12 hr. standby times.

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