Here is the image for proof courtesy of Stericson:

Multitouch, rooted apps, maybe even some custom ROMs (Sense UI or Rachael UI anyone?), here we go!

Oh and yes, we are working on the How To for you as we speak

Source

So Gizmodo got information regarding the price of the Nexus One Google phone.

Seem to be almost exactly what we thought it would be; $530 without a contract (unsubsidized in other words) and $180 with a 2 year T-Mobile contract.

Other news regarding the Nexus One:

• You MUST choose the $39.99 Even More Plan with Unlimited Text and Unlimited Data plan for $79.99/month in total (this is also mandatory for existing customers too apparently)
• You can only buy 5 Nexus One Google Phones per Google account (sounds familiar, ehem, iPhone)
• You can buy the phone when it comes out at Google.com/phone
• You agree not to ship the phone overseas when you purchase it AND if you cancel the contract on a subsidized device under 120 days you have to pay the difference of the price between no contract and contract price ($350). This is all obviously to stop black market sales just like the iPhone even still goes through to this day. And I’d say that last one sure fixes buying the phone with contract, selling it then cancelling:
  • Which if they wouldn’t have done this would have meant you could have gotten the phone for $460 without a contract: $180 (initial cost) + $80 (first months bill if they required you to pay it) + $200 (cancellation fee). Smart of Google.

So now that the price is also very typical HTC, anyone change their opinion on this phone? Still a nice phone in my opinion, just got hyped a bit too much I think, you?

Source via NexusOneBlog

So as we all pretty much knew, Google is going to be selling Nexus One directly to buyers. What we didn’t know was that it seems T-Mobile USA and HTC will be supporting the device. So if you have issues with the phone, you can call Google or HTC for help and if you have issues with service, billing, etc you can call T-Mobile USA.

Which makes me wonder, does that mean they are selling it unlocked but they are preferring you buy it on T-Mobile? This would coincide with the report about how the Nexus One has T-Mobile 3G built in and NOT AT&T 3G.

There is also a rumor that T-Mobile might be subsidizing the phone on a contract or payment plan as well.

So my question is, what is the difference between this and just letting T-Mobile sell it?

I mean the only thing I can see here would be the fact that Google would have control over updates etc and wouldn’t have to load T-Mobile proprietary software etc. Which is great and all, but I think we all expected something more…

What do you guys think? And anyone switching to T-Mobile for the Nexus One?

Source

Most of this we were already aware of but take a close look at the 3G frequencies… don’t see it?

Well it says UMTS bands 1/4/8 or in other words, Band I, Band IV, and Band VIII.
Well, Band I of UMTS is 2100mhz and Band VIII is 900mhz. These are pretty standard in any HTC device, but Band IV is the interesting one to have in there. Why? Well, Band IV is 1700mhz. And unlike the other two that have multiple carriers that use them, 1700mhz is ONLY used by one company in the world; T-Mobile USA. (Oh, and the new Wind Mobile in Canada that just launched…)

Now, who knows how this will end up but as it stands now, the Nexus One will have T-Mobile USA 3G built in and will NOT support AT&T 3G.
Wonder why? Anyone?

PS Another interesting feature I just noticed is N AND A Wireless support under WiFi on the spec sheet. They want to make sure you can access any WiFi hotspot around, eh?

Source

So the latest gossip is that it is a rebranded HTC Passion* (which we suspected it would be. Essentially an HTC Bravo with no HTC branding on it).
*Thanks for the correction guys,I meant the Passion

The specs are as follows (for now):

• 3.7″ AMOLED Capacitive Screen
• Android 2.1
• 5.0MP Camera
• 1GHz SnapDragon processor

Here are some of the leaked pics (in case you haven’t seen them floating around the internet yet):

Here is the leaked video:

So while all the employees are calling it the Google Phone, we’re not sure if this is the Google branded phone we heard about or if this is just an HTC Bravo (or even if those two phones might be one in the same).

But regardless of what phone this is, we’re positive of one thing. It’s coming soon

Source via EngadgetMobile

Ok, so we now have confirmation via some reliable sources that Google is indeed going to be manufacturing and selling their own branded handset. This is not Android on an HTC, LG, or whoever device, it will be Android running on a Google branded device (which might be made by one of the mentioned manufacturers but will have no manufacturer’s logos and be licensed to Google as made by Google).

So before we begin, just want to refer you to a post we did back in July about How Google Could Revolutionize the Wireless Industry. Go take a look and come back, we’ll wait…

So it seems that that has been Google’s plan all along. At least to some extent.

Google seems to be creating their own phone that will take a SIM card (in all likelihood) and will have major Google Voice integration that will allow you to make all of your calls through Google Voice as VoIP calls, there by only using data and no voice or text messaging rates need to be incurred.

So there are two ways to implement this, one would be to become their own MVNO and use say T-Mobile’s or AT&T’s (or a combination of the both) towers and sell their own service through it and brand it as Google the phone company etc.

The other way (and the way I would believe they would do it) would be to sell the phone by itself and allow people the option to use it on any carrier they want (might even have CDMA and GSM built in so all the carriers are options). Then you would just choose a Data only plan from that carrier and Google’s services would be free (with some ad placement at some point I’m sure). This way Google doesn’t upset the current Wireless Industry since the carriers are still making their money on their data plans, you the consumer get a $50 or less unlimited everything plan, and Google gets a huge audience for their ads, statistics mining and the like (plus revenue from the phone sales of course).

I would think they would then do as they like to do and grab some wireless spectrum (which they have been eyeing in the past) and after a while put up their own towers and have their own separate phone company and send all the others crying to the FCC. Now, that would cause a huge uproar and lawsuits galore, so they might stay away from that for a while, but with Google its still a possibility.

The only issues I have with this concept, is the fact that generally Voice over IP (your phone calls over the data connection) needs at least a 3G connection and can still occasionally be crappy quality at that speed too. So if you HAD to have 3G to make a phone call, would it be worth saving the $30 or so from having an unlimited everything plan with say T-Mobile? Now of course, who knows if Google has come up with some proprietary way of compressing packets and making the VoIP work over EDGE as well, solving this issue.

Another issue, is the fact that unlimited everything plans are getting cheaper and cheaper naturally, and data plans themselves aren’t. So again if you could get unlimited everything now using say T-Mobile for $79.99 would you get a VoIP unlimited plan to save $30 or so (since most unlimited data only plans are $50 and keep in mind that most have a 5GB data cap on them as well)?

Last issue they would have to address is customer service. Google is not one for customer service, not that they give bad customer service, they just do give customer service. They really don’t like talking to the end consumer (no phone numbers for support of any kind on 99% of their products) so that would pose a whole new cost for them, they’d have to hire a support center to handle their wireless support if they chose to go that route and have their own company.

So what do you guys think about the concept, think there’s more to it? Will you switch? Have any other info on the Google phone?