JaypeeOnline

About three weeks ago, I shared with you some of the leaked photos of the rumored Google Phone aka Nexus One that were circulated on Twitter and some exclusive photos from Engadget. Yesterday, in a private press-only event Google officially unveiled the Nexus One touchscreen “superphone”.

“The Nexus One is where web meets phone,”. “It’s an exemplar of what’s possible on mobile phones. It belongs in an emerging category of devices which we call superphones.” – Google vice president of Android project management Mario Queiroz, pictured above.

Technical Specifications:

• Operating System: Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)
• Processor: Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz
• Display: 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 800 x 480 pixels
• Camera: 5 megapixels, 2X digital zoom
• Video: 720×480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher
• Band: UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900), HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 2Mbps, GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• Wireless: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, A2DP stereo Bluetooth
• Capacity: 512MB Flash, 512MB RAM, 4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)
• Dimensions: 119mm x 59.8mm (HxW)
• Weight: 130 grams w/battery, 100g w/o battery

An unlocked Nexus One can be purchased for $530, while a subsidized version would cost you only $180 but will require a 2-year contract with T-Mobile. It’s already available for shipping and can be purchased from Google’s new online store. If you’re not on T-Mobile and/or don’t want to open a contract with them, then you can wait til spring when the Nexus One will be made available on Verizon and Vodaphone networks.

Not only does it compete with the iPhone or Palm Pre and other smartphones, the Nexus One is interestingly in direct competition with other Android-powered smartphones/devices like the T-Mobile G1 or the recent Motorola Droid and also against other members of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). A recent article from PC World entitled – Six Reasons to Not Like Google’s Nexus One mentions about it. This is a very tricky and risky situation and could cause some problems for Google if things don’t work out as planned.

I agree with some of the points mentioned/pointed out in the PC World article that I mentioned earlier. The Nexus One is an awesome phone but if you don’t use much of the Google apps or not really into the Google “cloud” thing then this phone might not be for you.

What do you think about the Google Nexus One? For other iPhone users, would you consider switching to a Nexus One?

[image: Robert Galbraith/Reuters]