It's official: Google launches the Nexus One

Just minutes ago, Google officially christened the Nexus One with a list of the phone's features. The Nexus One is the company's first foray into the Android hardware market, and Google is hailing its handset — which it built with HTC — as the "next evolution of Android," and is categorizing it as a "superphone." Up front, we'd say the craziest thing the Nexus One has going for it is the fact that Google has enabled voice control for any text field. That means, if you want, you could forgo the virtual keyboard for a 'voice keyboard,' which will allow you to dictate to the phone, perform searches and give commands.

The Nexus One has an 3.7-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels (which is plenty crisp for a screen of that size), a speedy 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 5MP camera with an LED flash and it's got two mics: one on the front and another on the back, which work together to eliminate background noise. It's also got plenty of bells and whistles under the hood that app developers will be able to take advantage of, such as light and proximity sensors, a compass, GPS and an accelerometer.

It's running Eclair, Android 2.1, the latest version of the mobile OS, so it'll be able to take advantage of all the apps and widgets you'd enjoy on another handset such as the Droid. Google has beefed up the phone's interface, though. You'll control it with a multicolor virtual trackpad, and the Nexus One will offer 3D, interactive wallpapers and an improved app store interface. Google Earth is also on the phone — and compatible with the voice search functionality — and thanks to the Nexus One's 3D framework, you can perform fly-arounds, as if you're flying over the three-dimensional terrain.

So is it an iPhone-killer as Google hopes? Only sales will tell. Here's something Google has on Apple, however: you can buy a $530 unlocked Nexus One straight from Google's new webstore, which the company plans to expand to include other Android handsets. Or you can get the Nexus One for $180 with a T-Mobile contract today, with Verizon and Vodafone planning to carry the phone later this spring.

[DVICE via Nexus One, via Gizmodo and Engadget]

Nexus One support site at Google is up, sorta [Nexus One]

On a daily test of the GPhone support site at Google I just noticed something changed. It's not the same as yesterAny, it's not nice looking as well. I guess Nexus One is officially starting to start today.

Go to http://www.google.com/support/phone to see for yourselves. The Logo links to a not yet implemented Android site.

Google Nexus One docs get leaked: $530 unsubsidized, $180 with plan

Further details about the Nexus One have emerged since we reported about its exclusivity with Google this morning. It will be apparently be sold by Google for $530 unsubsidized, and $180 with a T-Mobile plan. If you do sign up for a plan and cancel within 120 days of purchase, you’ll have to cough up the remainder of the total cost of the phone — $350, or return the phone to Google. The leaked docs also offer the following tidbits:

• Yeah, it’s $530 unsubsidized. Google’s not going to be selling the phone at cost, like so many people considered. They’re not going to save us from the “making money off of hardware” culture we’ve got right now, so this is basically just another Android handset, albeit a really good one
• If you want it subsidized, you’ll have to sign up for a 2 year mandatory contract
• There’s only one rate plan: $39.99 Even More + Text + Web for $79.99 total
• Existing customers cannot keep their plan if they want a subsidized phone; they have to change to the one plan, and this only applies to accounts with one single line
• If that doesn’t fly with you, you have to buy the $530 unlocked version—this actually might save you money over two years if you already have a cheap plan
• Family plans, Flexpay, SmartAccess and KidConnect subscribers must buy the phone unlocked and unsubsidized for $530
• You can only buy five Nexus One phones per Google account
• There is language in the agreement of shipping outside the US
• Google will sell it at google.com/phone, which explains what they were doing with that page a few weeks ago
• Google will still call it the Nexus One apparently, and not the Google Phone

Anyone getting excited yet for what Giz has essentially pegged as a DROID killer? Stay tuned next week for more details from Google’s official announcement at its Mountain View campus… We’ll be there live-blogging the event.
[BGR]

Another Day, Another Nexus One Video [Nexus One]

We don’t know how it happens, but the Nexus One appears to be landing in the hands of seemingly random users. How or why this phone comes into the possession of this guys escapes us, but we don’t really care. Today finds another 5 minutes of blurry and jittery arriving online. Is it that hard to get this phone in front of a steady camera with someone who knows how to put it through the proper paces? The sad part is, we sat through this entire video and would gladly watch another.


Take it from this guy – This is the best, best Android ever.
[AndroidGuys]

REVEALED: Full Specs of Google Nexus One

You want Google Nexus One details, you got it. Yesterday, we posted a Nexus One Android 2.1 walkthrough video, and today Engadget has managed to score a full spec sheet for the phone, as well as some details about its release date.
According to Engadget’s source, the phone will initially be available by “invitation only.” It looks like Google will be deciding who gets invites (hey, Google, call me), but the specifications also indicate that T-Mobile will be able to sell the phone directly to the customers in the future.

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The Breakdown

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Here are some highlights from the screenshots that Engadget posted:

• 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, included 4GB microSD card, expandable to 32GB
• 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and mechanical autofocus
• 3.7″ WVGA AMOLED screen — in other words, as big as the Droid and brighter
• Worldwide GSM/EDGE, but 3G only on T-Mobile in the US (supports 2100, 1700 and 900 frequencies, meaning Europe should be covered)
• 1GHz Qualcomm chip — if accurate, that would make the Nexus One one of the fastest -  if not the fastest — smartphones on the market.
• Wi-Fi A/B//G/N
• Bluetooth 2.1
• GPS
• Accelerometer

The specs look solid, the phone matches or beats every competing Android phone on the market (aside from having no physical keyboard) and also compares quite favorably to the iPhone (faster processor, nicer screen, wireless-N).
The only caveat for potential U.S. buyers is that, barring some sort of firmware upgrade (assuming the 1900 band is just disabled), this phone will only work in 3G in T-Mobile’s network. If you live in a large city, that might not be a problem, but T-Mobile does have the smallest 3G footprint of any of the major U.S. wireless carriers.
For international users, this is really enticing, because the phone should be compatible with all UMTS bands in Europe, Asia, South America and Australia/New Zealand.
Now all we need is a solid release date and a price. My friend Dan is ready to buy this sight-unseen. What about you? What do you think of the Nexus One?
[Mashable via Engadget]

Wanna See the Nexus One Boot Animation? [Startup]

Of course you do.


[AndroidGuys, via Benjamin]

Couple new Google Phone Nexus One photos

Ah, crisp, high resolution display.

Thin is in, compared to what seems like the G1.

[BGR]

LEAK: The Google Phone "Is a Certainty" [Rumors]

According to a trusted source who's seen it with their own eyes, the Google Phone 'is a certainty.'
And by 'Google Phone' we don't simply mean another Android headset. We're talking about Google-branded hardware running a version of Android we haven't yet seen.
Over the next few weeks, Google Phones (most probably in early, prototype form) will flood the Mountain View campus. They'll don large LCDs while running a new version of Android—either Flan or the version of Android beyond it—which our source spotted running on Google's handset as well as a laptop. (Whatever the software was, it most certainly wasn't Chrome OS, we were assured.)
But maybe the most intriguing bit is what someone said to our source offhandedly, that the current Android, the we all know and love, is not the 'real' Android. So what makes for a 'real' version of Android?
Our best guess is an Android OS with Google Voice at its heart.
[Gizmodo]