Google Phone is confirmed, employees already have them in hand

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/12/google-phone-unlocked-confirmed/

by anderzole • 17 years ago

93 62 17 years ago

techcrunch.com

hristov• 17 years ago

I like the idea of using a second mike to eliminate background noise.

chaosprophet• 17 years ago

It's one of those head-smacking why-didn't-anyone-think-of-this-before kinda ideas.

joezydeco3• 17 years ago

Cost ($0.50 over 10 million phones adds up) and CPU/DSP power to perform the cancellation.

mbrubeck3• 17 years ago

It's a fairly common feature, for example there are several bluetooth headsets on the market with dual mics for noise reduction.

camccann• 17 years ago

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control

The basic idea of dual microphones to filter background from signal is pretty common.

msg• 17 years ago

Sorry hristov. I meant to upmod but my giant thumb hit the down arrow on my mobile by mistake. Unfortunately there is no way to undo my erroneous vote.

theschwa• 17 years ago

I hope this could also be used when filming to have the mic directed at the target instead of the person holding the phone.

mbrubeck3• 17 years ago

I'm still guessing that this is just another developer device, like the Android Dev Phone 1 and Android Dev Phone 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Dev_Phone

Just like the current mystery device, both of those handsets:

- are made by HTC,

- are unlocked GSM handsets,

- are sold directly to individuals by Google,

- and have been given out to Google employees at all-hands meetings.

And Google was directly involved in the design of the HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1 / Android Dev Phone 1). For example, they pushed for the debut Android phone to have a five-row keyboard: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10387677-265.html

So none of the concrete facts here (even the rumored ones) are unprecedented. I don't see how Google selling a yet another unlocked handset is a big deal. It certainly won't have a noticeable impact on the US market, competing with subsidized hardware sold by carriers. Just like the ADP1 (T-Mobile G1) and ADP2 (T-Mobile myTouch 3G), carriers will probably have locked version of the exact same phone but at subsidized prices. The ADP is nice for some techies, but for most mainstream US consumers it doesn't make sense to pay for an unlocked phone.

danh• 17 years ago

I think you're right. This seems to be what Google calls its "mobile lab":

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/12/android-dogfood-die...

dmytton• 17 years ago

If they were planning to release an unlocked handset then it might be more interesting if they released it for free.

biafra• 17 years ago

Subsidized phones do not need to be locked to one carrier. In most of Europe most of the phones (with contracts) are not. The subsidy is protected by the contract period.

This seems to be different in the USA.

nakkal• 17 years ago

Selling the phone unlocked will likely lead to a high upfront cost.

IF the carriers come up with a reasonable data only plan for it, we can save by not paying for less used voice plan.

orangecat• 17 years ago

Selling the phone unlocked will likely lead to a high upfront cost.

Maybe not that bad. Apple can sell the iPod touch at a profit for $200, and the phone hardware can't add that much. It's a long shot, but if Google does this right they could break the stranglehold that the carriers have on the market. That's what I was hoping the iPhone would do until Apple decided it was more profitable to serve AT&T instead of its customers.

netcan• 17 years ago

It may be the devil, or it may be the lord..

dkokelley• 17 years ago

The thing with cell phone plans that really bugs me is the fact that they are inflated to cover the costs of subsidizing the phones. I think selling the phones separately could lead to lower monthly costs since you're not paying for your plan AND the rest of the phone. Unfortunately consumers won't see any significant decrease with just one phone unless a lot of people buy it.

jsz03• 17 years ago

I figure a SmartPhone that is sold subsidized at $199 with a two year contract works out to about 10-15% of your monthly bill but it depends on the actual cost the carrier pays for the phone and the monthly package costs. So it would translate into a modest savings if the carriers actually discounted the packages on non-subsidized phones. They do not. So you're paying that extra 10-15% either way. Doesn't seem fair to me.

The added competition of customers not being locked into contracts is defeated by competing standards. Many GSM phones won't work on T-Mobile's 3G network and most of the handsets engineered specifically for T-Mobile don't work on AT&T's 3G. An unlocked CDMA phone would fair better since you would have legitimate choice between Sprint & Verizon. What we really need is an unlocked GSM/CDMA hybrid and we might see some real competition.

physcab• 17 years ago

Does anyone have an HTC and enjoy it? I use an IPhone but I've had to opportunity to use both the Droid and an HTC phone and I only liked the Droid. The HTC seemed super cheap, almost as if it were designed for kids.

chengas123• 17 years ago

I've owned and used two HTC phones and liked both. However, they were extremely different from each other, so just saying do you like an HTC is very broad. From what you've said, I expect you might not like the G1 which is lightweight (though I personally love it because of the physical keyboard), but would feel very differently about the other HTC I owned because it has much more weight to it and feels more substantial.

jraines• 17 years ago

I actually like my G1 better than my sister's Droid. The keyboard is better and I like the physical buttons rather than the touch ones for Menu, Back, & calls. The droid seemed slightly laggy when flipping screens, and I also like that the HTC only goes to landscape when you push out the screen.

I thought the same thing about the "feel" of the phone, at first, but 13 months later, the slider action and buttons and overall function of the phone are as good as when I bought it.

My next phone will hopefully be another HTC with a keyboard that runs Android 2.0 with no visible lagginess.

Malus• 17 years ago

The update to 2.0.1 on the Droid fixed a lot of the lag problems (well, at least for me anyway).

albemuth• 17 years ago

I love my ADP1, but just feels so slow...

jsz03• 17 years ago

HTC makes a lot of handsets so it's hard to judge them all by one model. I'm guessing you used the Eris which is indeed one of their cheapest models. I have the Sprint HTC Hero and it's a very well made phone. It feels very solid. I've had it about 2 months now in my pocket with no case and it still looks brand new. The oliphobic (?) coating on the screen does a good job keeping finger prints and smudges to a minimum. The back case has a soft somewhat rubberized coating that feels very durable. It's probably the best sounding phone I've ever owned. Instead of using a little pin-hole speaker it uses a ~1" wide strip. Not sure if this is all speaker or just a little chamber to direct the sound. Either way it sounds great.

Overall it's a really well built phone somewhat lacking compared to the faster models on the market these days. I definitely sticking with HTC for my next phone unless we happen to see a CDMA 4th gen iPhone on Sprint.

tpearson• 17 years ago

The Droid Eris and the HTC Hero are the same phone - the only difference is the case design.

pkulak3• 17 years ago

I just returned a pair of Erises and went back to the iPhone. It just wasn't snappy. For example, in the iPhone browser it really feels like there is a physical web page under that screen that you are dragging around with your finger. With Android, it's more like you are scrolling on a trackpad off screen. Buttons won't give feedback when the system bogs down, and the UI is really inconsistant. Some windows scroll past their borders like the iPhone, but settings windows don't. And since your always waiting for the phone to stop responding, when a window hits the bottom then stops on a pixel, it feels like a freeze, not the end. It's all fixable, of course, but I'm going to wait until it's more mature.

jacoblyles5• 17 years ago

I've been waiting for an Android phone without a physical keyboard. It needs a platform that's sleek and sexy to compete with the iPhone in the general consumer marketplace. People say they want a physical keyboard, but then they go out and buy 20 million iPhones.

mbrubeck3• 17 years ago

There are a few Android phones without keyboards already (e.g. the HTC Hero, HTC Magic, and Samsung Galaxy) but I agree none of them has the build quality or polish of the iPhone.

jacoblyles5• 17 years ago

Haven't heard much about them. The only ones that have gotten press are the G1 and Droid, both of which are bricks.

I'll have to check those out. I'm writing some Android software currently, but my phone is an iPhone. I would love to switch (or not switch, if iPhone starts allowing background processes).

ZeroGravitas• 17 years ago

You missed a step:

People say they want a physical keyboard.

Desperate iPhone competitors latch onto any competitive advantage they can find, even if that means embracing design features that the iPhone has actively avoided, and given solid reasons for avoiding.

People buy 20 million iPhones.

You could also add: and the geeks who didn't buy the iPhone find that their battery cover falls off if they look at it funny.

(According to an ifixit teardown, 1/4 of the weight of the Palm Pre was due to the physical keyboard. I'd imagine it had similar impact on volume.)

robk• 17 years ago

It's exciting they're giving it out to 20,000+ employees. This is a pretty big deal as many of them aren't technical as readers here and demand a more usable experience than just a dev phone.

pmorici• 17 years ago

It doesn't say they gave it to every Google employee just that it was given out at an al hands meeting. Given then you can't fit 20,000 people into one room this article seems like hyperbole.

timcederman• 17 years ago

It's every employee.

marcell• 17 years ago

The iPhone/gPhone/Android contest aside, this strikes me as a strange move on Google's part.

Suppose you are Motorola. You just developed the "Droid" and partnered with Verizon for a well funded marketing campaign. You dumped Windows Mobile in favor of Android, and tied yourself closely to Android OS by calling your phone the "Droid." The Droid is your flagship product.

So, as Motorola, how do you feel about Google developing an official "Google Phone"? How do you feel about the fact that they are doing this with your competitor, HTC? How do you feel about plastering Google logos all over your phone and it's software? How do you feel about the fact that the Droid runs Android 2.0, and the Google Phone will run Android 2.1?

Moreover, if you are LG, or Samsung, will this affect whether you want to partner with Google? If you are Nokia, will you start taking a closer look at Symbian again?

And finally, if you are an average consumer that doesn't read TechCrunch or HN, do you have the faintest idea of the difference between the Droid running Android with Google, the Droid Eris running Android with Google, and the Google Phone running Android?

coderdude2• 17 years ago

My Droid just updated it's firmware to 2.1 a few days ago.

bockris• 17 years ago

Don't you mean 2.0.1?

mhartl• 17 years ago

Dear parent and parent-parent comments: your content is good, but please s/it's/its/

jsz03• 17 years ago

Google should stay away from subsidized carrier agreements and there won't be much conflict. Samsung, LG, HTC, etc don't seem to have any interest in selling unsubsidized/unlocked phones on their own.

joezydeco3• 17 years ago

Well, Motorola can just go back to writing their own operating systems for mobile pho....um, never mind.

josefresco• 17 years ago

Well put, Moto both earned and lost the ability to do battle in this arena. The big cell phone providers of the early 00's were caught sleeping by the iPhone and now have to play catch up. A well played move by Apple, and now Google.

davidu• 17 years ago

Played with it last night. Still can't hold a candle to the iPhone and you'd think they would at least be able to match it since they have it right in front of them to copy.

pkulak3• 17 years ago

Well, don't be a tease. Why is the iPhone better?

ramrod• 17 years ago

Sorry but you're the CTO at open DNS and Google is a direct competitor to you now. I would rather hold out for information from a more unbiased source.

mahmud• 17 years ago

By that logic, a good chunk of software experts would be barred from commenting on Google since they're in everyone's market in some capacity.

SwellJoe• 17 years ago

The only person I know who has one has just retired her iPhone. The ability to say "tacos" and have it bring back the nearest places to get tacos, and the ability to take pictures of things and have them explained (Goggles), a much better GPS than the iPhone or any other phone I'm aware of, and an extremely high res screen, pretty much had her convinced within minutes of firing it up for the first time.

It is a very nice device. I'm now waffling on whether to get this or the Droid as my upgrade from the G1; kinda leaning toward this because of the unlocked nature of it.

c00p3r• 17 years ago

If they could manage good distribution and spend money on promotion under it own brand across the world, they could get a serious market share, because device is unlocked. Google is a much bigger brand than Apple outside US.

sriram_sun• 17 years ago

I've heard rumours in the past about Google trying to build their own fiber optic / wireless network. What if they sell the device and voice/data plans?

mattmcknight• 17 years ago

I made mistake of clicking on this...it so inefficient to find any information within their self-aggrandizing bleating. It's not even a half scoop. Bah. "Very trustworthy sources who have seen the phone say that it is the Google Phone we first wrote about last month (despite the uninformed saying we were dreaming). It will be branded Google and sold by Google as an unlocked phone, which could change everything. As we wrote in our original post:"

sachinag2• 17 years ago

I was going to buy an iPhone 3GS on AT&T this Christmas break (so I could get on a family plan with my siblings). If I'm reading this right, I can go ahead and get that iPhone and if the Nexus One is that great, I can buy it in January (as it will only be sold unlocked and unsubsidized) and just throw my SIM card in there. My best guess is that AT&T won't have a problem with that. Am I missing something here?

spot2• 17 years ago

that will get you edge but not 3G data speeds due to radio frequency incompatibility.

pkulak3• 17 years ago

We don't know what frequencies this is going to support, do we? For all we know, it could be an AT&T phone, or they could be be making two versions, or a single one that supports all frequencies.

Google Phone is confirmed, employees already have them in hand

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