Internet giant's employees road-test new Nexus One touchscreen 'iPhone-killer'
Google is to launch its own mobile phone handset in in the New Year, a bid to take on Apple's iPhone.
The 'Nexus One' will feature Google's own Android 2.1 software and will be manufactured by Taiwan-based manufacturer HTC.
The internet giant is planning to sell the handset directly to customers via its website.
Crucially, the phone will be sold unlocked - which means Google can avoid having to tie itself to any particular carrier.
This picture of the Nexus One was one of many that have appeared on Twitter over the weekend
In Britain, iPhones were originally only available to 02 customers. The handsets are now also available on the Orange network.
Google decided to road-test the device by handing them to its own employees over the weekend.
Technology blog Engadget reported that device boasts microSD expansion, WiFi and Bluetooth.
The company's mobile phone blog cryptically admitted a phone had been produced with a posting over the weekend.
The Google phone will come loaded with Google Navigation and Google Goggles according to Engadget
It said: 'We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with
'Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.'
The phone is thinner than an iPhone and features a similar touch-screen configuration but with the addition of a Blackberry-style track ball.
Google has created two other 'Googlephones' in the past: the so-called 'Dev Phone 1', which was an unlocked phone the company sold online; and the Ion.
Both were 'Google' handsets, both were given out to employees early on and both were built by HTC.
The internet firm's Android operating system has also been installed on phones manufactured by Motorola and Sony Ericsson.
Customers would still need to have a contract or pay-as-you-go agreement to use it.
Ben Schachter, an analyst at San Francisco-based Broadpoint AmTech Inc, said: ?If all of a sudden everyone is getting on the internet via their mobile device, Google needs to make sure it has an influence on that.
?They need to make sure they have influence on how the mobile web will develop.?
Experts believe aim of the launch is to gain access to valuable consumer data that can be used to sell ads at premium prices, rather than to make money from direct hardware sales.
Google said that it had given out handsets for staff to test, so they could ?experiment with new mobile features and capabilities? and give quick feedback on the new technology.
Mario Querioz, Google?s London-based vice president of product management, wrote in his blog on Saturday:
?At Google, we are constantly experimenting with new products and technologies, and often ask employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements.
?We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities.'
Rumours of a so-called 'Googlephone' have appeared regularly ever since the internet company bought a Californian mobile software startup company, also called Android, in 2005.
Elsewhere, researchers have found that problems on the iPhone with downloading data and with voice calls are caused by the handset and not by failings of the phone's carrier, AT&T.
Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, told the New York Times that the iPhone?s 'air interface', the electronics in the phone that connect it to the network, had shortcomings that 'affect both voice and data'.
He added that as far as users are concerned 'the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it?s AT&T?s fault'.
AT&T does not publicly defend itself because it will not criticise Apple, he added.
Google is to launch its own mobile phone handset in in the New Year, a bid to take on Apple's iPhone.
The 'Nexus One' will feature Google's own Android 2.1 software and will be manufactured by Taiwan-based manufacturer HTC.
The internet giant is planning to sell the handset directly to customers via its website.
Crucially, the phone will be sold unlocked - which means Google can avoid having to tie itself to any particular carrier.
This picture of the Nexus One was one of many that have appeared on Twitter over the weekendIn Britain, iPhones were originally only available to 02 customers. The handsets are now also available on the Orange network.
Google decided to road-test the device by handing them to its own employees over the weekend.
Technology blog Engadget reported that device boasts microSD expansion, WiFi and Bluetooth.
The company's mobile phone blog cryptically admitted a phone had been produced with a posting over the weekend.
The Google phone will come loaded with Google Navigation and Google Goggles according to EngadgetIt said: 'We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with
'Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.'
The phone is thinner than an iPhone and features a similar touch-screen configuration but with the addition of a Blackberry-style track ball.
Google has created two other 'Googlephones' in the past: the so-called 'Dev Phone 1', which was an unlocked phone the company sold online; and the Ion.
Both were 'Google' handsets, both were given out to employees early on and both were built by HTC.
The internet firm's Android operating system has also been installed on phones manufactured by Motorola and Sony Ericsson.
Customers would still need to have a contract or pay-as-you-go agreement to use it.
Ben Schachter, an analyst at San Francisco-based Broadpoint AmTech Inc, said: ?If all of a sudden everyone is getting on the internet via their mobile device, Google needs to make sure it has an influence on that.
?They need to make sure they have influence on how the mobile web will develop.?
Experts believe aim of the launch is to gain access to valuable consumer data that can be used to sell ads at premium prices, rather than to make money from direct hardware sales.
Google said that it had given out handsets for staff to test, so they could ?experiment with new mobile features and capabilities? and give quick feedback on the new technology.
Mario Querioz, Google?s London-based vice president of product management, wrote in his blog on Saturday:
?At Google, we are constantly experimenting with new products and technologies, and often ask employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements.
?We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities.'
Rumours of a so-called 'Googlephone' have appeared regularly ever since the internet company bought a Californian mobile software startup company, also called Android, in 2005.
Elsewhere, researchers have found that problems on the iPhone with downloading data and with voice calls are caused by the handset and not by failings of the phone's carrier, AT&T.
Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, told the New York Times that the iPhone?s 'air interface', the electronics in the phone that connect it to the network, had shortcomings that 'affect both voice and data'.
He added that as far as users are concerned 'the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it?s AT&T?s fault'.
AT&T does not publicly defend itself because it will not criticise Apple, he added.
