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The Google Nexus One is here!

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That was pretty fast, don’t you think? Just a few short weeks ago, there came out rumors that Google has been giving its employees a mysterious phone that they were supposed to test out over the holidays. Then we see Google employees praising the phone to high heavens over on their Twitter accounts. Heck, after Google’s initial announcement, I was expecting the Nexus One to be released around March to June.

So imagine my surprise to see that the Nexus One is already out, but there’s a review already on TechCrunch! Michael Arrington himself gives his two cents on the Nexus One.

Basically, the phone is everything people loved about Android, and then some. The Voice Keyboard has been retooled so that every single text field in the device is now voice-activated. It has a great camera, a (as of yet vaporware) cloud backup service, and loads of eye candy:

Google has added a lot of nice graphical touches, including 3D scrolling of apps, and a new way of viewing photos using the CoolIris technology. Photos dip into the plane as it there is depth. Tipping the phone trips the accelerometer and the photos dip in the same way.

Unfortunately, the Nexus One’s microphone seems to be placed in an awkward position. If you cradle the phone between your head and shoulder when you’re not using your hands, your voice gets muted. This means you have to bring your headsets all the time. Battery life seems to have taken a hit with all the eye candy Nexus One packed into it too.
But still, the Nexus One looks like a pretty solid phone.

Will it pose a serious threat on the iPhone? What do you guys think?

The Google Nexus One Phone: specifications revealed

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It looks like Google’s not going to let news about their Nexus One die, because specs of the much-awaited Google Phone have come out. I’m guessing this is meant to stem the steady stream of questions about the phone’s guts. I mean, how the heck are we all supposed to know if the Nexus One is going to be good if we don’t know a single thing about its hardware specs?

The good news is that the guys from Engadget have been able to get their hands on a Nexus One, and darn it’s good. The highlights of the Nexus One specs are as follows: 1GHz Qualcomm QSD (Snapdragon) 8250 processor, 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touch screen (currently non-multi-touch), quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz) GSM/EDGE and tri-band (900, 1700, 2100MHz) HSDPA support, a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, an included 4GB microSD card with support up to 32GB, 5MP camera with mechanical autofocus and LED flash, Android v2.1, and a very svelte 0.45-inch thick body.

It’s also possible that it’s going to work on T-Mobile 3g and not (the much-ranted about) AT&T 3G. That’s good.

One more thing: it’s going to be available come January 5. Yes, that soon! But it’s going to be available only for limited “invite-only” retail sales. That means you have to look far and wide into the bowels of eBay (heh) to get your hands on a Nexus One if you’re not invited.

There isn’t any word on pricing yet, but it looks like the Nexus One is indeed coming much sooner than we thought.

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