With the Nexus One unlocked phones go mainstream
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)So now we know the full story of the Nexus One. After the newest Google Android device was sighted last month, Google formally released the handset to the world Tuesday morning.
Though the Nexus One's specs are promising--particularly the Snapdragon processor and the enhanced voice control capabilities--it's not necessarily the best Android phone yet. Indeed, the real story of the Nexus One is not its design or features, but how it is being sold.
As my colleague Tom Krazit points out, Google is changing the way cell phones are sold in the United States. Google alone will sell the Nexus One, even if you're buying it with T-Mobile service and a two-year contract. That marks quite a shift in how the control freak carriers sell phones now.
But just as important, both Nexus Ones will be unlocked. Even if you buy a handset at the subsidized price that requires a T-Mobile contract, that handset will not be locked to T-Mobile service. That's customer friendly, convenient and pretty cool.
Sure, you'll be shelling out money to T-Mobile for two years, but you'll be able you use the Nexus One with any GSM carrier you like. That's great news when your T-Mobile contract ends, you ditch your contract early, or if you want to use a prepaid SIM card while traveling internationally. You won't need to pay for an unlock code or beg T-Mobile to unlock the phone for you.
The promise of unlocked phones is nothing new, but up until now we haven't been able to purchase them with a carrier subsidy (remember that even the contract-free iPhone still comes locked to AT&T). Now you can do both, and I like that.
(Credit:
YouTube)
Google won't officially unveil its Nexus One smartphone until Tuesday, when it has scheduled an Android Press Gathering. There are plenty of descriptions and images of the phone floating around the Web, though--a result of Google's decision to "dogfood" the device with employees.
And now, some video. Wednesday, a 10-minute clip of what appears to be someone taking the phone through its paces popped up on the Web. There's no sound, and the device appears to be configured for French speakers, so if you're an American with a short attention span, I'm not sure what the appeal would be. But some of you are going to want to watch it, anyway.
This normally would be the place where I'd embed the relevant YouTube video. But this is one video Google doesn't want on its video site, and the company is pulling the footage down as quickly as it can. (This is where I imagine the Viacom guys chortling and rubbing their hands).
That said, you can find the clip without much effort, particularly if you search other video sites not owned by Google. Have at it, if that floats your boat.
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Thanks to a clandestine meeting with a source, I got a chance to play with and try out the Nexus One. It's basically, from my time with it, Google's Droid killer. It's thin, it's fast, it's better in every way.
My source was very firm about no photography, and I didn't want to jeopardize anything on my source's end, so there are no photos, hence these photos are ones we've already shown you. But, based on all the leaked shots this week, plus the very pretty and very clear one last week from Boy Genius, everyone knows what the phone looks like already. Hell, there's even a complete UI walkthrough today that's on YouTube. So I'm going to focus on the experience, and how it compares to the Droid and the iPhone 3GS.
... Read MoreBonnie Cha, senior editor for cell phones, joins the show today to fill in for Justin Yu. It's one of the few days Wilson and Jeff aren't worried about losing their jobs for something they shouldn't have said. And no, she is NOT Nicole Lee. What better day to have Ms. Cha on the show than following the weekend that the actual Google phone leaks!
The Google phone has been rumored for the last three or four years, and since the release of Google's Android operating system, the hoopla has died down considerably for an actual Google-branded phone. In typical Google fare, the company has decided on screwing its partners like Verizon and Motorola over by releasing an unsubsidized GSM phone called the Nexus One. No word yet on how much the unit will cost, but we do know that HTC designed the device. And that Google employees got the units over the weekend. Word on the street is that the device runs Android OS 2.1.
The mobile space is where all the spice is these days, and today is no different. News comes out that the venerable institution that is Playboy is jumping into the iPhone app fray with its own app. Because of Steve Jobs' no-porn rule, however, the app won't come with any outright nude pics. It will come with some scantily clad ladies and their interests. Per usual, it's all about the articles, not the pics.
(Credit:
Playboy)
In videogaming news, the Pentagon is buying up 2,200 PlayStation 3s. No, they aren't using it to train soldiers with "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", while it may be a lot of fun. The military wants to use the gaming consoles to run simulations because the $299 machines can calculate 150 GFLOPS. At The 404, we really have no idea what that means, but it sounds impressive.
Finally, Green Day comes to Rock Band. The Beatles have come already, and while we're generally excited to have one of the best modern bands, we're not really excited to have every dude singing "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" at every single graduation party. This could be a very, very bad thing.
EPISODE 486
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Updated at 5 p.m. PST with additional details and at 10 a.m. PST December 13 with photo of the phone.
A blog post from a Google executive on Saturday morning dropped hints that the company would release a Google Android phone of its own.
In the post, Mario Queiroz, a Google vice president of product management, said the company had developed a "mobile lab" device that "combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android." According to Queiroz, Google has distributed the device to Google employees worldwide so that they could test the new technology and help improve it.
Quieroz's announcement came only a few hours after reported sightings of the device. CNET TV Associate Producer Jason Howell, who had a very brief hands-on with the gadget Friday night and first relayed the news on Twitter, confirms that the "mobile lab" device is an HTC phone running the Android 2.1 operating system.
"I knew it was an HTC device," Howell said. "It looked like the Touch, but was a lot thinner...it was a slick-looking thing and very nice." He also spotted a trackball and four standard Android menu controls, and he said the display was "supersharp" and rivaled that on the Motorola Droid.
Howell didn't get a chance to dig into the handset's specs or detail the changes from the 2.1 update, but he noticed animated wallpapers, slight visual enhancements to the user interface, and a camera on the rear face that resembles the HTC Touch Pro 2. Curiously, Howell said he didn't see any Google logo on the handset. TechCrunch published additional, though unconfirmed, details, including a Snapdragon processor, an OLED touch screen, and a voice-to-text feature, while TheUnlockr posted leaked photos.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the handset will be called the Nexus One. Although HTC made the hardware, the software and user interface is all Google, from the applications to the "look and feel of each screen."
The Journal also said Google will begin selling the device early next year, directly to consumers, thus bypassing the traditional carrier channel. As an unlocked GSM device, the Nexus One could be used with T-Mobile or AT&T, though it's unclear which carrier's 3G bands the handset will support. During his brief tour, Howell wasn't able to test the performance, but he said that the Nexus One he handled was running on an AT&T SIM card.
Reports that Google would release its own Android phone first appeared earlier this year. The move is significant, as it could pit Google against the carriers that it so far has used to distribute existing Android phones. Also, without a carrier contract and subsequent service rebates the Nexus One could cost a few hundred dollars. For those reasons, I was a little skeptical when I first heard the rumor, so count me wrong on this one.
The Agora phone is set to launch Down Under on January 29.
(Credit: Kogan Technologies)The first mobile phone running Google's Android operating system will hit Australia next month, with a company called Kogan Technologies announcing the imminent release of an Android-based handset it calls the "Agora."
The phone, which can be ordered from Kogan's Web site, will be shipped to Australian and international customers on January 29. The price to buy the standard handset has been set at 299 Australian dollars ($193.90), with a more featured version called the Agora Pro going for 399 Australian dollars.
Standard features of the Agora include a full QWERTY keyboard with a central navigation key, a 2.5-inch touch screen, a microSD slot, and 3G connectivity. The Pro adds a 2MP camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, and GPS navigation.
There has been no news yet as to when the other Android phone, the HTC Dream, also known as the G1, will reach Australia.
Suzanne Tindal of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.
(Credit:
MySpace)
Last Friday, days before the official launch of the Google Android-based phone, the T-Mobile G1, MySpace announced the availability of its MySpace Mobile application for the phone.
The company said that the the app has been live for those who already have an Android phone and will be made "officially" available on Wednesday to all users when the device is launched.
The MySpace app for Android's features include:
* Instant photo uploading from Android to a MySpace profile
* Check out tour schedules on band profiles
* View and comment on photos, profiles, and bulletins
* Search and add new friends
* Send and read messages
* Update and view mood and status
The app is also integrated with Shazam, a music discovering engine that allows users to identify music and connect to the artist's MySpace page.
This is the third major platform that MySpace has developed applications for, apart from the Sidekick and the iPhone. The company says that it's currently developing a similar application for the Blackberry.
NEW YORK--Nearly a year after word of a "Google phone" started spreading, T-Mobile USA and the search giant are revealing the first mobile device to run on Google's Android operating system. Anticipated is a smartphone manufactured by Taiwanese electronics maker HTC called Dream. Below is CNET News' live coverage of the event here, which has concluded.
Click here for full coverage of Google Android.
10:15 a.m. ET: We're waiting for the event to start. As noted by my colleague Stephen Shankland, some photos of T-Mobile's G1 phone--also known as the HTC Dream--are emerging shortly before the official debut here.
10:30 a.m.: T-Mobile USA's chief technology and innovation officer, Cole Brodman, takes the stage and introduces everyone for the launch. Andy Rubin of Google takes the stage, as does the chief technology officer of Deutsche Telekom, Christopher Schläffer.
10:35 a.m.: Schläffer announced that Deutsche Telekom is also announcing the Android phone across the pond on T-Mobile by the end of the year. He is talking about how Deutsche Telekom has grown its data revenue by 43 percent. Traffic has grown 250 percent, and the company is ready to capitalize further.
A first official view of the G1 phone, aka the HTC Dream. Google's Android operating system, on which it runs, lets people view photos and add them as shortcuts to the phone's desktop.
(Credit: T-Mobile/CNET Networks)10:40 a.m.: Andy Rubin takes the stage and introduces Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. He starts off by congratulating everyone, from Andy Rubin to the whole T-Mobile team. We're 15 minutes into the press conference, and we still haven't seen the phone. That said, Chou described the device and called it iconic.
10:45 a.m.: Brodman says the company is going to drive change by working with third parties. No more fuzzy pictures, and no more unsubstantiated blog posts. "Here is the G1." And he reveals it. They start to play a video on the big screen. Everyone in the crowd holds up their phones and cameras to get a picture of it.
... Read More
The supposed HTC Dream
(Credit: iMobile via Engadget)Engadget managed to find really convincing photos of what appears to be the HTC Dream on a Chinese forum. It certainly seems to match the FCC documents of the premier Android device that surfaced a couple of weeks ago.
While the combination of a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard sounds nice, I can't help but think this looks a little clunky. It certainly doesn't look too revolutionary. But, of course, you can't tell just from the photos. So here's hoping we can get this device in our hands in the not too distant future to give you our own take on it.
These screen shots show the Android-phone interface to the Android Market. The software shows what applications can be downloaded and reviews of applications that people are browsing.
(Credit: Google)Arguably one of the best things to come out of the iPhone 2.0 firmware update, as well as the launch of the iPhone 3G, is the ability for the iPhone to install third-party applications directly to the phone via the App Store. Well, Google's new Android OS will also support such a service in the form of the Android Market.
As Google announced on Thursday, the Android Market is an online marketplace that will let you find, buy, download, and rate applications (which sounds eerily similar to the iPhone App Store). And, as you can see from the example screen shots, it appears that applications like a ringtone editor, a talking compass, and a barcode scanner, are already in the works.
This brings up the question of the kind of applications we would want for the Android phone. Access to Google apps like Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Reader is a given (we assume), so that leaves the door wide open for more innovative applications. We would personally love to see a multi-IM client, and an Android equivalent of the iPhone's song-identification apps like Shazam would be nice, too. One thing we would really love is turn-by-turn directions, which the iPhone currently lacks.
How about you, dear readers? What would you want to see in the Android Marketplace? What do you think would make a killer app for the Android phone? Let us know in the comments below.
