Google Makes Nexus One Official

Details from today's Google's Android press gathering really came as little surprise as most the tech world already speculated that the event was going to be little more than the company's official announcement of the new Nexus one smartphone. But that didn't stop the blogoshpere from going crazy over the shiny new gadget.

Features
Manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One features a large 3.7" OLED with a 100,000:1 typical contrast ratio spanning 800 x 480 pixels. Powering the phone is the Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz Snapdragon chip and 512MB RAM. For an OS the Nexus One is running on Android 2.1, the newest version of Eclair, the software includes innovations like a voice-enabled keyboard so you can speak into any text field, fun Live Wallpapers, a 3D photo gallery for richer media experiences and lots more. Of course, it also comes with a host of popular Google applications, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation.

Pricing
For now there are only two option when buying your Nexus One. Either you can buy the unlocked version for $530 or you can opt for a discounted price of $180 with a 2-year contract on T-Mobile's network. If a consumer buys the phone unlocked the customer can use the phone on AT&T's network, but without access to the high-speed 3G network. Due to radio frequency limitations the phone can't currently be used on Verizon Wireless' or Sprint's network.

“Google Phone” doesn't live up to the hype
Not so surprising is the fact that many detractors are saying the Nexus One doesn't live up to all the hype. In fact many in the tech arena feel today's announcement fell a bit flat, with most people hoping that Google would "wow" us with a great price or some hot innovative way of getting past overly excessive network fees.

The truth is the phone really lacks that much anticipated wow factor that we've come to expect from Google. We still see no tethering option, no mulitouch and an extremely limited set of networks. Short of a faster processor, better screen and updated software you are looking at nothing more than a better version of the Droid! In other-words nothing that would blow any other phone out of the water.

Why the phone itself might be a tad of a let down it wasn't the only aspect of the Android gathering that we felt fell flat. Many thought that Google might have chosen to subsidize the Nexus One so it was half the price of an iPhone, instead we see a phone that comes in at the same price.We don't see any major changes to carrier contracts or incentives, nothing really that "frees" us from carrier suppression.

More to come
The real news at Google's event this morning indeed might not have been surrounded around the Nexus One but the new Google online storefront that, if successful, could free users from the stymied US carrier model and result in faster, cheaper, more flexible service for mobile users.

The Nexus One is only the first if what might be several Google branded products to be sold in the new web store. In fact Google is promising to not only sell phones but "a series of products" from several operator and hardware partners. Google says it wants to provide a place where consumers can go to easily shop for smartphones and service plans, and get support on setting up and using new phones.

Related Articles

Wired.com: Analysis: Yawn, Google Introduces iPhone Clone
ComputerWorld.com: What Google's Nexus One isn't
Ars Technica: Google's biggest announcement was not a phone, but a URL
NetworkWorld: Google Nexus One vs. Motorola Droid: Breaking down the basics

To learn more about Nexus One, visit google.com/phone. Google also has plenty of Nexus One action to satisfy your Android fix, head over to the official Nexus One YouTube page for tons of videos showing off the phones features.