Google’s upcoming Tuesday press conference is likely to mark the debut of the Nexus One, the search company’s own Android-based smartphone.
Nexus One should showcase the latest generation of the Linux-based open source Android operating system. It’s also the first phone that is expected to be directly marketed by Google, setting higher expectations for the phone.
Here’s what we know about the phone so far.
Hardware
The Nexus One was designed by HTC, which has a close relationship with Google. HTC created the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, and has released at least five Android handsets since the operating system launched in October 2008.
Though packed in a big, white box with the Google logo printed prominently, the Nexus One clearly shows the stamp of HTC’s design sensibilities. Photos show a device similar to the HTC Droid Eris phone with its trackball and four buttons at the bottom of the phone.
The Nexus One has a 1-GHz Snapdragon CPU, a 3.7-inch 480 x 800 display, 512 MB of of RAM and an expandable 4-GB microSD card, says Engadget. The 1-GHz processor alone should make the Nexus one of the fastest smartphones available currently.
By contrast, the Palm Pre has a 600-MHz Texas Instruments OMAP3430 processor and the Motorola Droid runs a 550-MHz Arm Cortex A8 processor.
The Nexus One doesn’t lack in the bells and whistles either. It has a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi connectivity, accelerometer, compass and proximity sensors. The phone is also reportedly extremely thin — slimmer than the iPhone and HTC’s Droid Eris.
Operating System
Nexus One will run Android 2.1, the latest version of the operating system. That is a step up from the Droid’s Android 2.0.
Android 2.1 will likely be snappier and have an improved user interface. Among the enhancements are a new widget for weather and news, a power control widget and a redesigned media gallery, says HTC Source, an unofficial site that tracks HTC news. It also includes support for multitouch, but that’s a feature that’s reportedly missing in the Nexus One.
Still the 2.1 version has largely consisted of “bug fixes.” At this point, we hope there’s more to the latest version of the OS than what we know so far.
Pricing
The Nexus One will be available on the T-Mobile network. Leaked documents suggest that the device will retail for $530 unlocked (though according to Engadget, it will not work on AT&T’s 3G network). The subsidized price of the Nexus phone will be $180 and customers will have to commit to a two-year contract. T-Mobile is expected to offer just one monthly plan for the phone — $80 for 500 minutes, free weekend and in-network calls and unlimited text messages and data.
The phone could start retailing as early as Tuesday through either T-Mobile or the Google website.
Overall, the Nexus One seems underwhelming. Sure, the phone is likely to be sleeker and faster than its peers, but there’s little to suggest that it will set a new standard for smartphones. Unless Google has a few surprises up in its sleeve — either in pricing or device capability — the Nexus One could get lost in the flood of Android devices currently hitting the market.
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Photo: Cory O’Brien
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