Well, here we have it, straight from Spain. One of the first Google Phone (Goophone, G-Phone, whatever the nom du jour is) prototypes. This particular unit was built by ARM (a chip maker out of Britain), and was, as you can see, given the catchy brand name “HT723G700457″. Thrice. I’m not sure why they felt it advantageous to imprint that little gem three times. I guess it’s a brand they really want to imprint on people.
Anyway, it sounds like a pretty cool little gadget. It runs Gmail for email, Google Maps for navigation, and of course the default home page for the browser is, you guessed it, Google. I wonder if any manufacturers plan on building free GPS nav functionality into their phones using Google Maps. I’d even be happy with the pseudo-gps cell phone tower nav people have been talking about lately. I hope so. That would be a killer app, if you ask me.
These Android-based phones are supposedly going to be available later this year, and some are saying they will collectively snag some 2% of the US cell phone market by December. Seems optimistic to me. We’ll see.
Everyone’s making comparisons between the Google phones and the iPhone, but it’s not really a 1:1 association. The iPhone is a proprietary gadget completely controlled, soup to nuts, hardware to firmware to software, by a single company. A Google Phone is any phone that uses a certain family of software. We have yet to see how exciting Android really is, at that. One thing the phones do have in common is that they are both manifestations of an intriguing trend.
There are some rumblings of change in the industry. A lot of people hailed the iPhone as a cool little gadget, but the really canny ones recongnized the deeper significance of the iPhone. It was a chink in armor of the wireless service provider industry. For the first time, control of the functionality of a given device was wrested from the carrier, and granted to the hardware manufacturer. Apple flexed an awful lot of muscle getting that done, and now it’s Google’s turn to take a shot at it. They’re doing something very different, but in pushing an open OS for mobiles, Google is forcing the crack open a bit more. It seems to me that within a few more years we’ll be looking at a very different wireless industry. Hopefully a much more open, less restrictive one.
¡Viva la revolución!
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16 Users Responded In This Post
The image you put in your post of the supposedly gPhone. Looks doctored.
Can you confirm that this is real?
- Dwayne Charrington.
http://www.dwaynecharrington.com
Sounds like a cool device. I heard that google was coming out with a phone. I just hope its a bit more stylish than this. Its okay but I would like something with a bit more style to match all the nice features.
This is the first time I’ve seen what a Google phone looks like. I agree with Joshua in the sense that as compared to the iphone it definitely does not have as much of an aesthetic appeal. I think what will be most interesting, however, is to see how it does up against the highly popular iphone. It will definitely be quite difficult to lure people away from has enough intrigue among consumers it may do very well!
Is this real? it’s the first I’ve seen of it.
There is such fierce competition in the cell industry, I have a hard time seeing google even making a dent.
Did you read the article in Wired about the iphone? Your comments about the big shake ups that it has made reminded me of it.
Wow, i can’t wait for this, like you said this is definately going to shake things up a bit!!
This phone seems to be absolutely brilliant. Free GPS facility, Android software and other things really will make Google a frontrunner in mobile segment as well!
google is making everything…
The buzz over a Google phone is reaching a fever pitch. gPhone or No … That is the question? If Google does build a phone it will likely be “low-to-no cost” for the hardware. gPhone price will likely be subsidized by Google ads delivered to the gPhone. This is a trade-off that many users will accept for an inexpensive phone (low-cost not low-featured) and possibly a discounted plan. We’ll have to wait and see.
congratulations mate for this good written article, there is good info in it
Google is really pushing along the creativity of the applications available on Android.
When the handsets are finally released, I think the 3rd party applications are what’s going to drive the want for an Android-based handset, and not the base software itself.
I think the phone will be expensive,it looks cool ideal for business persons.
I will buy this phone when it will be cheaper.
I really want to get my hands on that
seems to b a stylish handset.. m exciting to have this handset bt it must be expensive,,
Wow, i can’t wait for this. I heard that google was coming out with a phone. I just hope its a bit more stylish than this.
This (in your picture) is a prototype. The real Google G1 phone comes with a slide-out qwerty keyboard. I just feel that neither the prototype nor the real G1 has the edge design-wise. Technologically (I mean all this Android stuff) it is great but, hey, the way it looks. It’s just not right. I hope the next model will be much cooler!
I agree with Joshua in the sense that as compared to the iphone it definitely does not have as much of an aesthetic appeal. I think what will be most interesting, however, is to see how it does up against the highly popular iphone. It will definitely be quite difficult to lure people away from has enough intrigue among consumers it may do very well!
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