It wasn’t supposed to exist. “The” Google Phone. Then we (and others) heard otherwise. And now, Google isn’t just handing this “sexy beast” out to employees, they’re going to sell it directly. Everything has changed. Here’s what we know. More »
This little tidbit just popped up on the Wall Street Journal. They’re saying that the Google Phone will be called the Nexus One, unlike the Passion name that’s been thrown around all day. Other than that, they’re confirming what we’ve been hearing: It’s built by HTC, Google had a huge part in designing everything including tweaking the interface, they’ll sell the phone direct online and you’ll BYO service plan. [WSJ]
A post on the Official Google Blog confirms the company is currently “dogfooding” a “mobile lab”. Beyond that, we’re still in the dark, but it all falls in line with what we heard before. Updated. More »
Talk about an android phone made by Google died down after the release of Android, but it seems that you just can’t keep a good rumour down. According to TechCrunch, an Android made by Google may actually become a reality based on two new bits of information–the first being a quote in a Mediaweek interview with Google head honchos Larry Page, Sergei Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt. The reporter noted that “The trio of Google execs also used the opportunity to talk about the inroads the company is making with its own branded mobile phone as a replacement for the iPhone.” The second being that Techcrunch claims a company called the Ammunition Group may be behind the design.
You might already know that Google bought Android for US$50 million in 2005 after Danger co-founder Andy Rubin just asked them for an endorsement of it. But did you know that Google feared Windows Mobile? Yep, that one, Wired’s massive top-to-bottom Android feature (with awesome art) reveals. Google thought Microsoft had beat it to mobile–it had a quickly growing platform, tied to Microsoft’s ends. Google, on the other hand, was having its apps, like mobile Picasa, shot down by carriers who wanted to extort users to do the same thing Google offered for free.
Gary Krakow of TheStreet (formerly of MSNBC) is claiming that Google’s own “GPhone” will be delayed until 2009. One question here. How can something that hasn’t even been announced—Google’s own hardware version of their Android operating system—be delayed?
Here’s a video of Andy Rubin, the Android head honcho at Google, showing off a build of the new mobile OS on a touchscreen phone to the BBCs Darren waters. It’s interesting, with things like DoomQuake and Google Maps Street View looking pretty great, especially on a phone running at 300 Mhz (half of the iPhone’s processing power). It’s not perfect, but it’s also not ready for prime time, so we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on some of the janky-looking elements of the OS. Thoughts? [BBC via BB Gadgets]
While the rumour that Dell’s working on an Android phone isn’t new—it was sorta smashed, even—this is a slightly different (and maybe more promising) spin on it. An Alienware-designed Android phone. I’m not sure it makes a whole lot of sense, or hell, even looks that good, but it’s definitely more striking than anything Dell would probably come up with. Would you carry this thing, especially with the much-improved look of the new Android SDK? [Dialaphone via /.]
newVideoPlayer("android_new_ui_4.flv", 463, 387,"");The first iteration of Android wasn’t the prettiest phone OS by a longshot. However, today’s release of the refreshed Android SDK shows a UI that has more than a bit of polish. We took screens, but you should also check out the details, like this video showing smooth, animated transitions. Good on them: Some have speculated that’s where most of the iPhone’s charm comes from. See for yourself.
Just two days after we played with the latest build, the new Android SDK is out with improvements to the overall OS. Like last time, you can download it and play with it, but in the mean time, here are the updates, which include better file support (OGG, for one), better animations, and a better UI. We’ll update this post as we try the included emulator first hand. UPDATE: Screenshots included and the UI looks a lot better than the original, complete with screen animations.
