Google Phone rumors

[WhereTheHellIsJames?]

I have a NexusOne in possession, in use for about a week. Not a G1, not a Droid... a NexusOne. One word: Awesome. Can't give out details now, but as soon as the NDA permits, I'll gladly spill the beans. I'll re-read the NDA in a bit, and will update this post with what information I am at leisure to provide.


Edit:

Just read re-read the NDA, and I'm sorry to say that I can't really talk about the phone online until its public launch in the near future. The NDA specifically states that I cannot "tweet or blog about the phone" or "post pictures of the phone." However, I can let other people play with it, so if you live close and are just dying to know what it's all about, feel free to get in touch.

 

[haven]

James, you tease us unmercifully!

Rumors are that Google will announce the Nexus One at a meeting next Tuesday, January 5th. Then James can fill us in on his experiences!

Gizmodo says the new phone will be available for purchase without a
cell phone company contract for $530. This phone will be unlocked, so it can be used with an existing contract with a compatible cell service. It looks like the phone will work with T-Mobile in USA, and probably not with Verizon.

Or you will be able to purchase the phone for $180 plus a two-year subscription to T-Mobile for $80 a month. If there's a 30-day money-back trial offered by T-Mobile, I'm in.

If the reports are true, Google will start selling the phone at http://www.google.com/phone on Jan 5.

http://gizmodo.com/5436673/leaked-nexus-one-documents-530-unlocked-180-with-t+mobile

 

[haven]

Verizon may have turned down the Google Nexus One because they already sell the Motorola Droid. Both run the Android operating system, and both can download applications from the Google Market app store. Both phones have GPS, an accelerometer, and a magnetometer, so they should work equally well for navigation

There are significant differences between the Nexus One and Droid. For example, the Droid has a slide-out keyboard, while the Nexus One uses an on-screen keyboard only. The Droid uses a 550 MHz processor, and the Nexus One is likely to have a 1 Ghz processor. We'll have to wait to see if the faster processor has a significant impact on battery life.

 

[Corey]

Time to overclock my Droid
I am well versed at overclocking PCs, maybe all I need to do is mount a giant 5" fan on the back of the Droid to handle the heat

 

[alosix]

Time to overclock my Droid
I am well versed at overclocking PCs, maybe all I need to do is mount a giant 5" fan on the back of the Droid to handle the heat

The droid is already a 1 ghz snapdragon.

Been hearing rumors about this for a few weeks now. I know there's at least one at work (our new head of product was pretty high up on the google mobile team).

Maybe I need to stop by building 44b monday or tuesday.

I need to get my google IO pass, hope they are handing these out this year .. would be a nice upgrade for my ion.

Jason

 

[Corey]

Nope, the Droid is only 1/2 that.
550MHz
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/dr-wreck-does-the-droid-teardown-droid-20091112/

I have read the specs elsewhere too.

 

[esh]

The droid is already a 1 ghz snapdragon.

The Droid runs an Arm A8 550MHz processor.The cheaper/older Android phones generally run 528Mhz A11s. Wikipedia has a chart of current and future devices with specs on device pages.


The Nexus One is desirable because it has the 1Ghz snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM, and an OLED display. The display should help with battery life while the cpu and RAM should help performance.



For speed, modded ROMs (when they get stable for the newer phones out) make a great difference in performance. I'm running a few versions old Cyanogen ROM on my G1 that allows apps to be stored on flash and has tuned kernal and is noticeably faster than the stock image.

 

[alosix]

The Droid runs an Arm A8 550MHz processor.The cheaper/older Android phones generally run 528Mhz A11s. Wikipedia has a chart of current and future devices with specs on device pages.

Ugh... Guess I should do a little more research eh . I've been looking mostly at the newer snapdragon stuff for another phone whenever I get around to it...

The nexus does sound decent though.

The one thing that's been nice about the HTC phones is them putting out the changes they make to android to have it run on the phone. Makes it much easier to create custom roms for them.

Been running a fairly stock version of 1.6 on my ION with netfilter back in the kernel so that tethering works. That's been very helpful on a few occasions.

 

[java]

i may just have to replace my g1 at some point with a nexus, im running apps to sd and a dream rom and its over clocked but its still slow as mud comprared to a 1gHz

 

[haven]

Engadget now has its collective hands on a Nexus One. Read their initial impressions here
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/02/exclusive-google-nexus-one-hands-on-video-and-first-impressio/

Overall, the report is that the Nexus One is a little faster than the Droid, and the phone is quite slim. The rumor of a 1 GHz processor is confirmed. There are a few tweaks to the Android user interface. But nothing jumped out at the reviewer to indicate this was a quantum leap forward in technology or capability.

A more complete review will be posted at Engadget shortly.

 

[rugbier]

James,

On the same token of the NDA, if you are allowed to let other people play with it, you wouldn't be on breach if THOSE PEOPLE who played with it, SPEAK OUT, or even shoot a pic .

I have a NexusOne in possession, in use for about a week. Not a G1, not a Droid... a NexusOne. One word: Awesome. Can't give out details now, but as soon as the NDA permits, I'll gladly spill the beans. I'll re-read the NDA in a bit, and will update this post with what information I am at leisure to provide.


Edit:

Just read re-read the NDA, and I'm sorry to say that I can't really talk about the phone online until its public launch in the near future. The NDA specifically states that I cannot "tweet or blog about the phone" or "post pictures of the phone." However, I can let other people play with it, so if you live close and are just dying to know what it's all about, feel free to get in touch.

 

[WhereTheHellIsJames?]

James,

On the same token of the NDA, if you are allowed to let other people play with it, you wouldn't be on breach if THOSE PEOPLE who played with it, SPEAK OUT, or even shoot a pic .

That is correct.

The NDA states that I myself cannot blog about it, nor can I take pictures of it or share any details of the phone. However, it does allow me to let other people play with the phone, which means that theoretically, those people who have played with my phone could blog about it all they want, and I would not be in breach of contract.

 

[haven]

The Engadget full review of the Google Phone aka Nexus One is now available
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/04/nexus-one-review/

Short version of the review: Nexus One is a very good Android phone, but not an earth shaking new development. The 1 Ghz processor is welcome. The lack of a physical keyboard (like the Droid has) is a limitation. The lack of multi-touch in the screen is a drawback. The voice to text application worked part of the time. The AMOLED screen is very hard to see in direct sunlight, and showed reds and oranges with too much intensity.

At $180 plus a 2 year contract, the price of the Nexus One is high. You can get a Droid for $120 from Verizon.

 

[Corey]

Prices on the Moto Droid have come down that much?
I paid $300 for mine, then got a $100 rebate card in the mail last week.

Or is this the other Droid they carry?

I did see a commercial if you buy the Moto Droid right now, you can get the other brand for free.
HTC I think is the other brand?

 

[cnynrat]

Prices on the Moto Droid have come down that much?
I paid $300 for mine, then got a $100 rebate card in the mail last week.

Or is this the other Droid they carry?

I did see a commercial if you buy the Moto Droid right now, you can get the other brand for free.
HTC I think is the other brand?

I think the standard deal on the Motorola Droid now is $149 after all the rebates, and you do get a free HTC Droid with the purchase of the Moto Droid. We just took advantage of this offer last week. Maybe you can get the Droid price down to $120, but I haven't seen that advertised anywhere.

The HTC Droid has a form factor more like the iPhone, runs an older version of Android (for now, an upgrade is planned soon) and is limited to a 16GB micro-flash memory card. Although it has a touch screen like the Moto Droid, it also has a trackball like the Blackberries.