Is there any Google phone?

27th November, 2009 by adina
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There has been a long period of rumours regarding Google’s own handset and people were wandering if it still comes or not. The answer is affirmative, Google’s self-developed phone, Android-based, will exist, but it would be built by a third party, probably Samsung or LG, and not the initially preferred HTC. The phone would carry Google’s branding exclusively and is designed according to Google’s preferences and instructions only. Early 2010 is the final proposed release date, which means the phone is already delayed but, in exchange, will receive massive marketing in January next year. The device would not be one of Google’s developer phones, such as the Ion or the Dev Phone 1. Both of them were existing designs but with but with the only change of being unrestricted Android installations.

Google has publicly denied these rumours by saying it would not compete with its hardware partners. It also said that its influence on Android phones’ design, such as the T-Mobile G1, was rather detrimental than useful. There were many rumours in the past saying that Google had heavily influenced the hardware design of Motorola’s Droid.

As a matter of fact, the Android phone of Google would pit this latter more directly against Apple because it would have its own mobile operating system and its own hardware too. Not to mention the conflict of interest generated by features like Google Maps Navigation, which might get a preferential treatment compared to other similar applications.

A third phone, the rumoured HTC Dragon, has already been tested at Google for several weeks and should be ready for selling very soon. Many people expect it to be a spiritual relative of the Windows Mobile-based HD2 of HTC and to sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a large touchscreen. As there have been many rumours about new Android phones in Verizon’s network in the next weeks, one of these devices could be the Dragon.


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