GPhone Rumor "Confirmed" Again

The 'yes it's here', 'no it isn't', 'yes it is' tennis match of rumors about a Google-powered mobile phone have been entertaining to watch, as yet another source swears on the immaculate souls of Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn souls that the GPhone is alive and on the way.

GPhone Rumor "Confirmed" Again

As each Google Phone rumor makes the rounds, you can't help but think Elvis and JFK will show up on the front of the Wall Street Journal texting each other with them.

The latest absolute stone-cold GPhone rumor appeared on the blog of Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins, who says what he's got comes from an inside source at the impenetrable Googleplex, where staffers physically assault photographers trying to take picture of people playing Twister at a party on their campus:

I talked to one of my inside sources at Google today. He spoke on conditions of anonymity, but the guy is someone I trust implicitly. He said that he was baffled at Google's apparent internal confusion on the GPhone issue - that they've actually demo'ed the thing in public before.

He said that the Google (applications) Suite is going to play a huge role in the usability of the GPhone, and the thought process behind it's functionality is less about beating the iPhone and more about beating the $100 Laptop, which provides a huge clue behind what will be the pricing structure on this.

Hopkins has received some flack in his blog comments from people who aren't convinced of his post's veracity. We're much more interested in a Google network that would back a Google phone, rather than the hardware, but for now we're happy to mention another story about the GPhone.

Google Phone Prototypes, Software, Project Costing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

Valleywag realizes that Google will not likely do phone hardware themselves. Whatever. As long as it supports the software, hopefully some shiny Mobile Google OS, we're interested. Either way, this is what the WSJ and Reuters said today:
•"Now it is drafting specifications for phones that can display all of Google's mobile applications at their best, and it is developing new software to run on them. The company is conducting much of the development work at a facility in Boston, and is working on a sophisticated new Web browser for cellphones."
•Google has invested hundreds of millions on the project.
•Google has also developed prototype phones, with partners like LG Electronics.

• "ads in the mobile phone is that they are twice as profitable or more than the nonmobile phone ads because they're more personal" says Eric Schmidt (from AllthingsD)
•In Europe, T-Mobile and Orange are believed to be partners. Verizon rejected their plans in the US because they wanted to share ad revenue.
•Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp to design a Linux software-based phone for launch in the first quarter of 2008

Regardless of the reputations of both the WSJ and Reuters, take all of this with a grain of salt.

Source: gizmodo.com

Google Phone Buzz

The Google phone

We are an e-civilization and gizmos our new tools for communication, for pleasure and perhaps more. The lustre of Apple's iPhone has barely faded and there are now talks about a Google Phone, christened by some as Goophone and GPhone by others.

According to Andy Goldberg in Bangkok Post "If the speculation about Google's planned mobile phone is even half true, the GooPhone will have iPhone users dropping their expensive devices as quickly as hot bricks."

The pros

Andy does have a point if the fact is considered that Google does have a strong presence in handsets as far as browsing platforms are concerned. Google reportedly also have partnerships with Vodafone, Samsung and LG. Besides that mobility has been high on Google agenda for a long time.

Another noteworthy factor is Google's bread and butter is advertising. The next wave of advertising is likely to be on the mobile. Besides with the web and mobile merging Google could be seeing it as the next big thing for its advertising platform (read bread and butter for Google). Consider the following case. It's dinner time. Google Phone knows exactly where you are and at the appropriate time suggests you a restaurant down the road. For Google it means revenues. Revenue is the ammunition Google needs in its battle with Microsoft, someone it has attacked right in its heart. And the defender happens to be the biggest company in the world!

The cons

The telephony market is much more complex than the market Google is in currently. It hasn't really been a cake walk for even somebody of Steve Jobs stature whose hyped iPhone has been getting mixed reviews. The presence of the world's biggest companies further makes it complex. Another factor is that a project of this scale requires tons of money. Does Google have the money or the right partners?

Google's corporate communication

The good or bad part, depending on the side you are on, about Google corporate communication is that it neither denies nor confirms such rumours. In fact it would not be wrong to say Google thrives on it. Probably the adage "any publicity is good publicity" works for Google perfectly well. Noteworthy is Google not just thrives on such publicity it probably flames it further through its informal communication channel on its Google Blog. It happened with Gmail, it happened with YouTube and throughout the same pattern has been observed.

This time again Google as usual has neither confirmed nor denied the rumours. The Google spokesperson on being contacted said "Mobile is an important area for Google and we remain focused on creating applications and establishing and growing partnerships with industry leaders to develop innovative services for users worldwide. However, we have nothing further to announce."

The last word

Andy may have a point considering Google's intellectual think tank and the launch of some superb applications from Google labs in the recent years. On the other hand it is noteworthy that the mobile phone market has some of the biggest giants in the corporate world. The market has immensely matured feature wise over the last few years. Google Phone isn't going to find it easy for sure.

Puneet Mehrotra is a web strategist at www.cyberzest.com and edits www.thebusinessedition.com you can email him on puneet@cyberzest.com

Google Patent - The Phone Can Predict What You're Searching For

More details on a possible Google phone are surfacing as each day passes by. People aren't impressed by Nokia, Sony Ericsson or other such phones anymore, at least not easily impressed.
That's why, if Google is actually planning a phone, especially after the unveiling of the iPhone, it better be impressive in some way. Well, it looks like Google has also filed for a patent that might give a clue on what applications they might include in such a phone.

The patent filing details an application that can predict what a user wants to find or type in a text message, by analyzing the user's location, previous searches and messaging history.

It also includes information regarding how data is stored on Google's servers and how queries are sent each time the user searches for something or types a message. The idea is pretty exciting seeing as the phone would practically anticipate what you are thinking and adapt to your needs.

Here's some of the information from the patent filing: "In one implementation, providing the dictionary data to the remote device may include transmitting the data to a mobile phone. The system may also receive user preferences that are used in searching based on the search results. The generating of the dictionary data may also include producing data related to the information indicative of the user location.

The generated dictionary data may be associated with places near the user location. Also, the generated dictionary data may be associated with common query data from users near the user location, and may be provided to the remote device in response to a request from the remote device. The dictionary data may also be compressed before it is provided to the remote device, and the data may include supplemental data for addition to a preexisting dictionary on the remote device. "

Google phone - it's for real

A Google executive has confirmed the existence of one of its best-kept secrets. The advertising giant is designing a mobile phone, according to the company's Iberian chief.

Spanish IT site Noticias quotes Isabel Aguilera, Google's chief for Spain and Portugal, as explaining the move as a way of extending the "information society" (translation: Google's advertising business) into less developed countries.

As the personal project of co-founder Larry Page, Google's phone is also one of its best-protected secrets. When a report surfaced in the New York Times discussing the possibility of a mobile phone project, the famously grumpy Page threw a hissy fit, and the suspected leakers took the bullet.

We've been making enquiries too, and a picture is beginning to take shape. In August 2005 Google acquired a stealth-mode startup called Android, founded by Andy Rubin. Rubin was a veteran of Apple and General Magic, but is best known for leading WebTV and subsequently Danger Inc. Danger produced one of the most-photographed phones of recent years, thanks to Paris Hilton: its Hiptop was marketed by T-Mobile as the Sidekick.

According to sources, Android takes a similar design approach as the Sidekick, drawing on lessons learnt at Danger. A tiny real-time operating system runs the signalling stacks and a Java Virtual Machine, with a Java based application suite.

(The industry has seen several similar efforts. Sun Microsystems' own JavaOS for embedded devices didn't see out the 1990s, and the much-trumpeted SavaJe, which received investment from Vodafone and Orange after it emerged in 2002, expired last year.)

So Android was described as "SavaJe done right". Earlier this month VC Simeon Simeonov suggested that Rubin had a 100-strong team working on the Google Phone.

But plans have become more ambitious, as the recruitment of Apple veteran Mike Reed and Canadian mobile app company Reqwireless suggests. Graphics expert Reed worked on the ill-fated QuickDraw GX and on font technology at Apple. Google acquired his start-up Skia, which produced a vector graphics suite for resource constrained devices.

Reqwireless, based in Waterloo, Canada, has the job of providing the applications. Google already offers a number of online office applications, which it bundles with its Gmail service and online storage space and sells to SMEs for $50 per seat per year (Google already offers a well-received, Java-based email client for mobiles, and a similar application for Google Maps). Google's mobile centre in London has already recruited an impressive roster of engineering talent from, among other companies, Symbian.

Why, then, employ a graphics expert for a JavaOS? We'll have to wait and see, but such technology questions are secondary to the main objective, which is to expand Google's advertising franchise.

A handheld referral system

(Google has announced some fairly conventional advertising programs recently, including "dead media" such as print.)

Mobile advertising placement offers marketeers all kinds of incentives for punters to visit a store. Rather than taking a cut from the click throughs, Google could bargain for a slice of the transaction. So, you search for "coffee", find a cafe, and redeem a virtual coupon. And the marketer has a relationship with the customer.

This is a familiar, almost ancient scenario, and it's failed to take off for several reasons. But not least the retailer (in this case, our cafe) is reluctant to cede control to the referrer (in this case, Google). Google has already experimented with coupons for people who find a store using its regular Maps service. But that's not specifically mobile.

Google's phone is unlikely to generate the media hype induced by the iPhone - which outside the style-starved USA looks like a toy in search of a wealthy fool. But if Google can strike the right commercial balance, it may well prove to have a far deeper and longer lasting significance for commerce.

Source: theregister.co.uk

Who wants a free Google phone?

Can you hear me now? It's Friday's IT Blogwatch: in which the oft-rumored Google phone gets closer, perhaps. Not to mention a recursive comic-strip...

Ben Ames reports:

Google Inc. has developed a prototype cell phone that could reach markets within a year, and plans to offer consumers free subscriptions ... Google is showing the prototype to cell phone manufacturers and network operators as it continues to hone the technical specifications that will allow the phone to offer a better mobile Web browsing experience than current products.
...
Google declined to comment on the report of the prototype, but confirmed that it is working with partners to expand its software applications from the traditional Internet to mobile devices ... The move would echo another recent product launched by a phone industry outsider, Apple Inc.'s iPhone. But Google's product would draw its revenue from a sharply different source, relying on commercial advertising dollars instead of the sticker price of at least $499 for an iPhone and $60 per month for the AT&T Inc. service plan.
...
Industry watchers have long heard rumors that Google was designing its own mobile phone. Google added fuel to that speculation in July when it announced it was willing to spend $4.6 billion to buy wireless spectrum in a U.S. Federal Communications Commission auction. [more]

Mike Magee has a gross, a subtle and a supreme meaning:

Google ... is chatting up network operators with an eye on flogging a phone with all its favourite bits and bobs on - search, webmail and, quite possibly, its own browser. The [WSJ] says the Google has already invested a small fortune in developing the gadget and has a bunch of prototypes which it has been showing off to the likes of T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.

Google phones won't be go on sale before next year, says the paper, citing no-one in particular but it never used to make stuff up, as far as we know. Maybe times have changed. [more]

Ken Fisher has more on the auction:

Google is not ready to become a cellular provider just yet. Even if the company succeeds at the 700MHz spectrum auction, it will be a long time before it can compete with the likes of Verizon or AT&T as a carrier. Infrastructure can't be built overnight.

Instead, Google's approach is two-pronged, in that the company is working on its own devices, but is also working on a set of technical specifications and applications to be shared by multiple mobile devices. Google will allow manufacturers to use their prototype designs or make their own. Google's chief interest, clearly, is getting its applications on phones. Mobile device versions of Google Maps, Google Talk, and even Gmail are already popular, and the company is working on a web browser as well.
...
Third-party search results can't be manipulated by wireless carriers to promote their own offerings by privileging them in searches and other search-based services. The wireless industry thrives on monetizing what many would consider typical behavior on any IP network, and handing over the keys to Google makes them understandably nervous about their own futures. They might also be a bit bitter when Google turns around and uses its own services to cross-promote its other offerings, which it can do for free. [more]

Owen Thomas bursts the bubble:

Attention, credulous gadget-seekers: There is no such thing as a GooglePhone. There never will be. Google executives are, shareholders should hope, way too smart to get into the hardware business, with its razor-thin margins. Sure, the search giant of Mountain View may be developing prototypes to help persuade carriers to feature its search engine and carry its mobile ads ... But just as Google decided not to start making PCs, it's not going to start making cell phones, either ... Any PC can access Google on the Web. And so it will be with cell phones, too. Check in your pocket or your purse. Your GooglePhone's right there. [more]

But Brian Lam shrugs like a surly teenager at Mr. Thomas:

Whatever. As long as it supports the software, hopefully some shiny Mobile Google OS, we're interested ... Google has invested hundreds of millions on the project. Google has also developed prototype phones, with partners like LG Electronics ... In Europe, T-Mobile and Orange are believed to be partners. Verizon rejected their plans in the US because they wanted to share ad revenue. Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp to design a Linux software-based phone for launch in the first quarter of 2008

Regardless of the reputations of both the WSJ and Reuters, take all of this with a grain of salt.. [more]

Jim Goldman alchemizes:

Here we go again ... we've already reported the myriad possibilities and puzzle pieces pointing to a possible cell-phone market entry by the search giant. More than a hundred engineers dedicated to the mobile market; the hiring of Danger Inc. co-founder and T-Mobile Sidekick developer Andy Rubin; the acquisition of wireless and net upstart Grand Central; the lead role the company took in laying down the ground rules of the upcoming FCC wireless spectrum auction; its cozy partnership with Apple and its iPhone, with Google CEO Eric Schmidt sitting on Apple's board.
...
There's a lot going on here. Seems like everyone recognizes the importance of wireless as the key catalyst in tech. Nokia released earnings today and the company announces that it sold 100 million handsets over the last quarter alone. That's a staggering figure, and with BlackBerry's continued success even in the face of the buzz iPhone still generates, the wireless market might be so hot that Google won't be able to afford to ignore it. [more]

MG Siegler drives off, in a haze of Castrol R:

Okay, so Google wants to get into the cellphone business - huge news, but not even the biggest. Word is that they hope to offer their phone for free - including the service! Google would be taking a page from their own book hereby opting to make their money off of serving customer's ads on their phone just like they do currently in applications like Gmail
...
One thing is for certain: between the iPhone and now Google's "gPhone" - the cellular carriers are in big trouble. After years of raking America over the coals with their ridiculously closed and expensive policies, they're getting schooled by the big boys in the computer and Internet industries. The shift to the phone makers having the power is on. [more]

Jon Fortt looks north:

In the long-term, Research In Motion (RIMM) could face competition from Google, too. Though Google is likely to focus early phone efforts on the mass market, the company has already shown that it wants to push paid versions of its free software (including Gmail, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and Google Earth) into the enterprise. Google is already trying to get companies to run their e-mail through its Gmail service – it’s not hard to imagine the company extending that strategy into the mobile space. [more]

Ephraim Schwartz is worried:

A cell phone is no longer a "nice to have" device. It is the most important lifeline and communications tool we have. Google makes a big mistake if it doesn't give it the respect and deference it deserves.

I think this time Google may be biting off more than it can chew. Yes, what it's after is more platforms on which to sell advertising. After all, it's Google's main -- at this point, only -- revenue stream. But consumers, believe it or not, have their limits, and I think they will draw the line at commercials on their mobile. [more]

Lisa Barone crystallizes our love/hate relationship with Google:

as a user, I’m paranoid about the idea of letting Google invade my phone. Don’t get me wrong, if I’m going to send an email, do a search or map something out via my phone, I’m going to use Google 80 percent of the time (Ask’s maps rock), but even I like the illusion that using Google is a choice that I have made out of my own free will. Even if it’s not true, and my Google barcode is showing, please just let me go on thinking that, okay? [more]

Source: computerworld.com

Google Phone to Look Like a Blackberry

Several rumors regarding a possible Google phone spread around the Internet, at first claiming that Google and Orange were in a partnership to provide a mobile phone manufactured by HTC and running Windows Mobile.

After that, leaked photos of the Google Switch showed up. Google's announcing that it is going to provide mobile services on select Samsung handsets was enough to make everyone believe that Google and Samsung actually built the Switch together.

At once, the Google/Orange/HTC idea was dropped and the Switch, made by Samsung was the actual thing. Since then, other rumors have also surfaced.

Reportedly, Andy Rubin, the founder of Danger, has a team of people at Google that is currently working on the Google Phone. And according to recent information, the Google phone will be a Blackberry-like, slick device, including many services like VoIP, vector-based presentation with Skia's technology, optimized Java running on the C++ core.

Also, the mobile phone with it's own OS is said to come with ad support and be extremely low cost or even free and it looks like it will end up being offered by multiple carriers instead of just one, since Google is said to be planning distribution relationships with several carriers by allowing them to minimize subscription and marketing costs.

Frankly, I'd rather believe the Google Switch version, since a big touchscreen phone is much more interesting than a low cost Blackberry look-alike. But the chances of the Switch coming to life are very slim, and if there's to be a Google phone, it will most likely be much more basic than that, and kind of like the device described here. With so many rumors showing up once in a while, in a short time, things are bound to become clearer.

Analysis: Why America Needs a Google Phone

In terms of compatibility with your existing businesses, Google building a phone would be like Chrysler starting an ISP. But rumors about Google building a phone reveal plenty about the frustrations and desires of the American technorati.

It's almost pointless to describe what the mythical Google phone will look like and do because, like the iPhone before it, it's a template for pundits to staple their wish lists. So let's boil the Google phone rumor mill – and the iPhone mill before it – down to its most primordial ooze and explain what the rumors really mean.

Internet access on phones is awful.

Media playback on phones is awful.

Modern cell phones have the power of little PCs, but they can't realize that power.

Google isn't a hardware manufacturer. They're a software company. They make insanely great Web-based solutions. Diving into hardware, for them, would be a last-ditch effort to remake cell phones into a mobile platform for great software and Web services.

Read PC Magazine's review of a probable Google phone app: Google Maps for Mobile.

I can see the frustration even within Google: they have fabulous software ideas, but the fragmented operating systems, lousy Java implementations, hideous carrier restrictions and byzantine UIs on phones prevent users from getting to them. Yahoo! is feeling the same rage. Heck, any Internet company worth their salt is feeling it.

Apple was definitely feeling it when they developed the iPhone, which in Apple's mind solves the media-on-cell-phones problem. Apple's super-strong brand and market power let them get past the miserable conservatism of the wireless carrier oligarchs who control cell phone software. Yet even Apple found itself a little hamstrung by the strong and greedy carriers: only Cingular users will be able to own that device.

Google's strong brand could help in a similar way, but I see even more conflicts between Google and carriers. Wireless carriers are often hostile to the open Internet; they see Web-based services as a security threat, and as something they can't necessarily nickel-and-dime you on. Google may find that to get any air time for their "Google Phone" in the US – if they are creating one – they'll need to cripple it in ways that would make it decidedly un-Googlish.

Partnering with an existing cell phone manufacturer at first looks like a more sensible solution than diving into an entirely new business realm without any of the existing relationships that make cell-phone manufacturers successful. But both Google and Apple tried that, and the result was less than thrilling.

Apple's collaboration with Motorola produced the awful ROKR and RAZR V3i, slow, unpleasant to use devices. Google also announced a collaboration with Motorola in 2006; it says something that I haven't yet seen a phone showing any evidence of that alliance.

Someone in the cell phone industry needs to truly think different, break all the rules, and reinvent the handheld computer (because that's what it is) from the ground up. Apple got frustrated enough to try – and I'm eagerly looking forward to see what they add to the conversation. Apple promises a new era of media playback, but their one-carrier-only, no-third-party-software policy doesn't bring an open Internet mentality to phones.

Can Google do this? I have no idea. But they're more than welcome to try, because somebody needs to.

Sascha Segan is PC Magazine's mobile phone analyst.

Source: pcmag.com

Google Phone Prototypes to Manufacturers; To Offer Free Service?

Google apparently has an issue with charging consumers money. Let’s face it, the world’s largest search giant isn’t a search engine, it’s an ad machine. A perfectly targeted one, at that: you tell it what you’re looking for, it offers up commercial options for your perusal. It’s a great idea.

And the word is coming down the grapevine that if or when the Google Phone launches, that the model will be similar. You’ll get free service on your handset, though it’ll be tinged with Google ads.

Not bad, really. And more rumors say that the Goog is shopping it’s prototype around the manufacturers to try to get a sweet production deal. If the handset is cheap enough, and the service is free, who wouldn’t jump ship?

And it’s not just about the calls: the iPhone sounds like crap, but people lust after it for it’s other features. Fair enough, but it proves the point that as we continue on with wireless data, voice calls will take the backseat for many users to data apps, and that’s wonderful for us nerds.

Fake Google Phone About As Real As Joan Rivers’ Face

Yesterday, I called out Engadget Mobile for reporting about an insanely fake Gucci Phone. Well today it seems I have to bash The Giz/MobileBurn for doing some terrible fabricating. See this “Google Phone” that was found on a “survey site”? Totally fake. Look at the “glare” going on here. Last I checked, glares don’t like someone Bryce would draw up for our little buddy on the Daily Crunch. Plus, that QWERTY keypad doesn’t even have any writing on it! Just a few vague white dots. Lame. But did that stop The Giz from reporting it?

Of course not. They’ll talk about anything. So they went the extra step and treated it as a real phone, listing a bunch of fake ass specs and everything. “manufactured by Samsung”? “3G, WiFi, 2MP camera”? That doesn’t just seem a little over-the-top? To top it off, they had the nerve to even state some BS plan the phone will come with. An “internet monthy flat fee with a 3-month discount” is about as fake as it gets in my book. Rumor diminished, move on people. No Google phone is coming anytime soon and until Google sends us, you, or someone else some specs, it’s all fake

Source: crunchgear.com

The Real Google Phone?

This image leaked by Engadget possibly shows some rendition of the Google Phone

Venture capitalist Simeon Simeonov has made a post on his VC blog High Contrast that he claims to be an insider tip on the hotly anticipated, yet still speculative, Google Phone. According to Simeonov, Google has charged Andy Rubin with the task of creating the G-Phone.

Rubin, the founder of Sidekick maker Danger, arrived at Google when the search giant acquired Android, his wireless software startup. Under Rubin works a team of about 100 people reportedly slaving away on the device. Simeonov believes that Rubin is working directly on the OS of the device.

He goes on to cite Google’s acquisitions of Reqwireless and Skia as definite indications that it is working on creating its own handset. Reqwireless creates mobile applications and, before getting bought, Skia had developed a vector-based presentation engine capable of rendering “state-of-the-art” 2D graphics on mobile phones.

Semeonov sees these acquisitions as evidence of G-Phone rumblings at the Google lab. He also claims that, in contrast to the Google Orange HTC phone rumors, the new device is being developed in conjunction with Samsung (citing this press release) and the Switch codename is once again being bandied about.

The new device is said to be similar to a similar to a Blackberry in design. It will be coded on a C++ core with an OS bootstrap. Like the Sidekicks, Java will be optimized to run on the device. And it will include a multitude of services like G-Talk and such.

He does present a rather compelling case and truly seems to have considered many intricate details surrounding the G-Phone. So is it valid?

I’m going to go out on a generously solid limb here and agree with Mr. Simeonov. It’s not a stretch to believe that Google would indeed be working on such a device. Distributing content, like targeted ads, wirelessly would be a hell of a lot cheaper than than pushing it through pipes. Plus it’s hardly controversial these days to claim that wireless is the future.

The world is going untethered as quickly as technology permits. It should come as no surprise that the Internet’s largest and fastest growing company would be continuously looking for ways to proliferate.

LG locates Google phone in Europe

It's here, it's the Google phone. Yes, LG's KU-580 handset, which incorporates Google Search, Google Mail and Google Maps - watch out, iPhone - has come to Europe.

LG's KU-580: Google'n'Chocolate

The device sports a red-on-black color scheme not unlike LG's popular Chocolate phone, but it's larger, sporting a 2in widescreen LCD, the better to view Google's web properties, accessed through a fast 3G connection.

The KU-580 has an FM radio and an MP3 player - controlled with dedicated playback keys - along with Bluetooth stereo and 3D sound enhancement. LG even said it has a song-writing app for budding musos. There's a two-megapixel camera on the back and a smaller snapper on the front for video calls.

LG's KU-580: 3G-speed searching

The Google phone is now available in Italy and France, LG indicated, with Germany and other European countries to follow shortly. From the pics, the KU-580 is going to be available on the Vodafone network.

New pictures of the Google Phone

There is absolutely no way of telling if this story is true, but a poster on the mobileburn forum was sent a survey to complete through equip-surveys.com about a "Google Phone". The poster recalls seeing the specs, but says he forgot to take a screenshot of them.

I'm signed up to a paid-survey website and well i received this the other day as part of the survey that i was participating in basically it was a survey about a google phone, which was designed by samsung, but running what seemed to be a google interface, i totally forgot to take a screen shot of the specs but they seemed decent, not mind blowing had the usual in par of 3g/wifi etc, had a camera 2megapixal from what i recall, feel really stupid for now taking a screenshot of the specs not lol

The picture, which is probably photoshopped (even if it's a real product), looks pretty good — nothing too crazy though. It has a concealed qwerty keyboard under the display, and a couple standard buttons that look a bit like Google Talk icons. The screen appears to switch between portrait and landscape view like the iPhone — probably using an accelerometer.

The screenshot taken by the poster contains a few more details that may be of interest:

Google makes relevant information and communication tools easily accessible wherever you are

The Google Phone brings the power of the internet in your pocket, in a simple and intuitive device. It combines the traditional voice and SMS capabilities of phones with all the exciting Google services from the PC such as Search, Gmail, Maps, Blogger…

The Google Phone, designed by Samsung, is a very thing and stylish handset with a large screen and a QWERTY keypad so that it provides a real internet experience.

All these internet services will be available under a simple Internet monthly flat fee, comparable to PC Broadband products, giving you transparency and control over your mobile bill. Thanks to simple, relevant advertising, Google will even give you a 3 month discount on your mobile Internet monthly flat fee.

Source: blogs.zdnet.com

Google Phone Review, Google Phone Support, Google Phone Tools, Google Phone news, Gphone

Google Phone Review, Google Phone Support, Google Phone Tools, Google Phone news, Gphone

Google Phone?

The Observer reports that Google is in talks with Orange "about a multi-billion-dollar partnership to create a 'Google phone' which makes it easy to search the web wherever you are".

A Google-branded phone could include a browser that uses Google's transcoder to optimize web pages for the phone, easy to access Google search, maps, Gmail, Blogger and maybe more.

"The device would not be revolutionary: manufactured by HTC, a Taiwanese firm specializing in smart phones and Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), it might have a screen similar to a video iPod."

Last month, Eric Schmidt said: "Your mobile phone should be free. It just makes sense that subsidies should increase"

While a Google Phone is just a rumor for the moment, you can't deny it's an interesting idea.

Forget iPhone, Think Google Phone

The Observer of London is reporting that Google might be working with HTC and mobile/telecom giant Orange to build a Google Mobile Phone, which could possibly have Google software inside the device, and would be able to do many of the web tasks smartly. The device, article speculates, could go on sale in 2008. (Of course, we would all have forgotten by then… if it doesn’t happen.) Orange and Google, both declined to comment.

Their plans centre on a branded Google phone, which would probably also carry Orange’s logo. The device would not be revolutionary: manufactured by HTC, a Taiwanese firm specialising in smart phones and Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), it might have a screen similar to a video iPod. But it would have built-in Google software which would dramatically improve on the slow and cumbersome experience of surfing the web from a mobile handset.

It would be interesting to see if this comes to fruition. Google, in recent months has become increasingly aggressive about its mobile ambitions, and is pushing into the carrier space, though there have been some snags.

Google Phone, if you think about it is a reasonable speculation. Google has been aggressive in developing location based services, has amp-ed up its local search and mapping services. In addition, it has also been mobilizing its applications such as GTalk and GMail. YouTube, the video arm of Google, is beginning to embrace the mobile ecosystem.

Normally, one would not spend too much energy on this bit of news. However, presence of Andy Rubin on Google campus gives us a reason to pause.

Who is Rubin? He was one of the co-founders of Danger, the company that makes the Sidekick devices. He sold his last company, Android to Google for an undisclosed amount of money, and he has been holed up in Mountain View, California campus of Google, doing something.

No one knows what, but since Android was focusing on mobile, it is safe to assume that he just might be involved in Android. Danger, as you might know has become a multimillion dollar business based off the “compress web and take it mobile” technology developed by Rubin and others. Businessweek had reported that Android was working on a cell phone operating system.

One source familiar with the company says Android had at one point been working on a software operating system for cell phones. … In a 2003 interview with BusinessWeek, just two months before incorporating Android, Rubin said there was tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner’s location and preferences. “If people are smart, that information starts getting aggregated into consumer products,” said Rubin.

For Orange, this could be a valuable asset in its triple play ambitions. The company owns broadband businesses across Europe, and has access to 3G networks, and is owned by France Telecom. It could use Google’s web expertise to take on its rivals, by offering web-mobile hybrid phones, and at the same time get a slice of mobile advertising revenues. I know, sounds far fetched, but not out of the real of possiblity.

Your thoughts?

Google exec confirms phone in the labs

Google exec confirms phone in the labs

So it seems that the oft-rumored handset from Google has taken that final leap into the "confirmed" column, though it may not be quite the be-all, end-all device we were expecting. Isabel Aguilera, Google's chief executive in Spain and Portugal, has admitted that the searchmeisters have some mobile goodness in the works but appeared to play down the project, noting that the phone is just one of 18 R&D initiatives the company currently has underway. Furthermore, she mentioned that Google's mobile skunkworks were designed to make their way into developing countries, suggesting that this may not be the Samsung sourced, iPhone-killing monster we'd been getting an earful about as of late. But hey, if Apple intends to turn the iPhone into a multi-device franchise, Google's entitled to do the same, is it not?