Google announces first phone: Nexus One
After a lot of behind-the-scenes work, including the development of a mobile operating system and pulling the strings behind the Motorola Droid, Google has finally come to market with a product that it spear-headed itself – the Nexus One. Despite being released for sale only a few hours ago it’s already on prime time news across the World.
However, promoting the phone would be easy for Google even without the media intervention – they already possess the world’s most visited website, and are not shy to advertise their products on the front page as they did with the Droid a few months back. Add in advertisements by T-Mobile, Google’s telecomm partner in the U.S., followed by Verizon in the spring, and you can already imagine the overexposure we shall soon feel. Did we mention that Google also own the largest advertising network on the internet? Oh, that too, then.
The phone itself is also actually quite good – boasting both excellent software and hardware advantages over its rivals. To summarise an excellent review by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com, the Nexus benefits from being:
11.5 mm deep – thinner than the iPhone’s 12.3 mm.
130 grams in weight – lighter than the iPhone’s 135 grams.
Battery is removable – more removable than the iPhone’s non-removable battery.
Micro SD storage card expandable to 32 GB – more expandable than the iPhone’s non-expandable, non-existant SD storage card slot.
3.7 inch 480 x 800 OLED capacitive touchscreen display – more pixels than the iPhone’s 480 x 320.
Google Voice is deeply integrated – more deeply than it was for the iPhone, as Apple rejected it from the App store.
Two microphones, one to reduce ambient noise – more microphones than the iPhone.
A five megapixel camera with a flash – more megapixels than the iPhone.
While some might argue that this is a personal attack on the iPhone rather than a review, Arrington does have a point – if the iPhone is the best device on the market, and the Nexus does things better, then we really do have something special.
Aside from creating a great phone, another benefit of Google’s entry to the market is in their openness. Google allow anyone to see the programming source for their operating system, Android, and as such it has become the smartphone OS of choice for industry giants Samsung, HTC and Motorola. This allows people to get used to the Android system and carry that experience over to any new phone they may chose – meaning a greater array of handsets for developers to code applications for.
However, these companies haven’t made a big impact in the market, and have faired pretty poorly in comparison with Apple, RIM (the maker of Blackberry) or Nokia. Smartphones running Android make up a paltry 3.5% of the market, a fifth of Apple’s share.
Google also allows the user to install any software they want onto the device, which is the opposite approach to Apple, who have a frequently criticised and stringent selection criteria. That said, Apple also has over five times the applications as Android.
Google is also selling the Nexus One as contracted or sim-free, with the later option massively increasing the potential number of consumers.
Other news from around the web is that the 24-month ownership cost of an iPhone is 50% higher than a Nexus One and Android devices can now store apps on their SD card, allowing more apps per-phone. Finally, Google also appears to be partnering with popular existing web services, such as Cooliris, to bring their 3D Wall technology onto the device and to create a better user experience.
