Nexus One and the “Superphones”

We have had about a month of the Nexus One orgy and today is finally the day. Just minutes ago the press conference concluded and we finally now know that the Nexus One will be available on Verizon this spring. We also know that the Nexus One is just the first piece of a larger initiative by Google to bring a series of “superphones” to market by working tightly with a number of manufacturers and these devices will be released on multiple carriers in several countries. It sounds like Google was no longer content to let manufacturers coast with the status quo of Android devices and the only way to ensure that wouldn’t happen was to step in and take a more proactive role.

I like where it is taking them for now, but it does seem that Google is making the switch from kindly benefactor to benevolent dictator with this announcement. I’ll be very interested to see how much Android becomes focused on these “superphones” and whether hardware development outside of this program begins to fall by the wayside. I’m sure if that is the case the developer community will be ecstatic as it will pare down the presently wide variation in screen size, resolution and power.

Lastly I would like to just thank Verizon for finally signing on to something worthwhile and having it apparently go somewhere. After their stupid “Any Apps, Any Device” announcement seemed to yield next to nothing I was beginning to believe that they were just going to forever pay lip service to openness without ever backing it up. I would love for Verizon to take a powerful stake in Android and WebOS and just say the iPhone be damned.

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The Google Phone

Chances are you have seen that some Googlers’ were tweeting about the rumored Google Phone at their last meeting of the year. Descriptions vary from simply “beautiful” to “A sexy beast. Like an iPhone on beautifying steroids.” Beyond the vague praise the only real information among all the tweets was that the phone is made by HTC, unlocked, runs Android 2.1, has animated home screen backgrounds and is due out in January. Hmm…does that sound a bit like something else we’ve heard about?

Now unlocked means that this thing is most likely GSM and so sadly not precisely what is coming to Verizon, but if you recall from the leaked HTC codenames in the 2.1 ROM there is both a HTC Passion and a HTC PassionC. Based on some of the existing device code names with “C”s next to them it was deduced that it probably stands for CDMA. If Google is really making a play at having the top dog Android phone out there would be no reason for them to limit it to one or the other. Here’s hoping come January no one is left out in the cold on this “sexy beast”.

It sounds like more info will hit the intertubes in relatively short order so stay tuned.

Update: TechCrunch is speculating that this will be a direct sell from Google as an unlocked GSM device. That would definitely preclude Verizon from getting in on the party. I still am holding out hope that this is just a slightly spun version of the Passion and that we will be getting the same tech on Verizon. I personally think that the posting on Google Blog points to testing of a high level new device, but a similar process went on with the Droid prior to release, so I’m not entirely sold on TC’s theory yet.

HTC Passion

A few days back some news on the HTC Passion popped up again, unfortunately the news was that it won’t be available until January.

On the positive side we have this pretty new image of the rumored device to stare at longingly over the holidays. This is actually the HTC Bravo, but that is simply the European version of the Passion so we can assume this is roughly what we will be looking at stateside come January. It seems plausible that this is the polished version of the previously leaked device images. I’m sure Verizon will probably require that the buttons be squared and lined up to match more closely with the Droid and Droid Eris aesthetic, but hopefully they don’t mess with anything else as this is a slick looking device and creates a nice separation from the hard lines of the Droid.

I’ve made my peace with waiting through January before committing to anything as this is just too tantalizing to let go and presumably we will also know by then if the Motorola Sholes Tablet is just a unicorn or something that will actually find its way to Big Red.

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Motorola Sholes Tablet

I see what’s happening now, I’m clearly about to enter a 6-7 month period where I am paralytically afraid to upgrade due to the impending Best Phone Ever™ being released just a month from whenever I begin to feel slightly safe to upgrade.

I made brief reference to the Sholes Tablet in my post on the HTC Passion a couple weeks ago, but some new images have slipped out courtesy of a Boy Genius Report find that seem to confirm a few of the interesting upgrades from the existing Droid in the form of an HDMI port, an 8 megapixel camera, and finally a xenon flash. Other than going on a no keyboard diet the rest of the phone remains exactly the same as the Droid we know today.

Dropping the keyboard I don’t need, adding the HDMI port and to a lesser degree the xenon flash are the only things of interest to me here. The jump to 8 megapixels is more concerning than exciting as we’ve seen time and again that getting too far ahead in the megapixel race just leads to noisy unsatisfactory photos and video. Other than what most interpret to be a software related glitch to the Droid camera right now I’ve seen mostly positive things about it so hopefully Motorola is managing to at least maintain that standard here.

I’ve seen a few people on various forums and blogs whining that an HDMI port is unnecessary and a waste of space and I couldn’t disagree more. Obviously this isn’t the sort of thing you are likely to use every day, but with the multimedia capabilities of these phones I think a video out is an absolute no brainer and why would you hit short of an HDMI port given the choice. It would be great to just pull out the HDMI cable when visiting my family and display all the new photos and videos of my daughter’s shenanigans.

So what are we looking at here Motorola? Two months? Six months? The Droid is likely going BOGO as early as tomorrow; one would assume that means the HTC Passion is coming in the next two weeks as previously predicted. Once upon a time that would have made me think that I was safe to upgrade as nothing new would be coming down the pike for several months, sadly/thankfully those days are done.

Seeing this seemingly near production quality Sholes Tablet have anyone back in a holding pattern or is it still bring on the Passion and the Sholes Tablet can be damned to the same black hole of mystery as the oft rumored VeriPhone?

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Google Phone – WTF?

Alright seriously Google, now you’re just trying to get a rise out of me right?

I just got done coming to terms with waiting until mid-December for the HTC Passion release and now you have to go and do something like this. Like the holidays aren’t stressful enough.

Here, in no particular order, is why I’m not going to take this seriously and my decision is going to be made in December based on the Passion versus the Droid.

• Google hasn’t said a peep about it and have in fact said quite definitively that such a product would not exist within the last few weeks.
• Chances are even if something like this did release in the next few months it would not be on Verizon. (Although if this thing comes out for AT&T I may actually be physically ill as I’m going to have to hear about their having both the iPhone and the gPhone.)
• Even if Google is basically dictating everything under the sun on this device, so what? I don’t know what about that would make it any better than what’s coming out of Motorola or HTC.
• The alleged partnership is with LG, not that they are bad, but I’ve had LG phones and meh is what think of them creating my high end smartphone.
• Honestly I’m just tired of waiting, at some point you have to bite the bullet and make your move and play the cards your dealt and dance with the one that brung’ you and etc….

Alright, I’m the calm center of the universe again and I’m going to go back to trolling for Passion news.

What about the rest of you, are you biting?

Update: TechCrunch is reporting that the phone may be purely data driven using VOIP for voice duty and they are sticking with AT&T or T-Mobile as the carrier. If that actually proves to be true I really will be at peace with the device as AT&T in the middle portion of the country where I live and would leave the gPhone little more than a glorified paperweight anytime I left wifi.

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HTC Passion

I’ve been following and coveting the Motorola Tao/Sholes/Droid since the first renders from Russia (spasiba tovarisch) popped up on Boy Genius Report this summer. It’s enormous “HD” screen, speedy processor, physical keyboard, Android OS and the fact that Motorola put most if not all of its eggs in this basket meant that this device was going to be something to reckon with. The release has been solid and the reviews have been pretty glowing.

Alright so what’s with the title of the post. Well there has been a shadow cast on the Droid since mid-October by the HTC Dragon/Passion. Some of the same temptations that first drew me to the Droid are now pulling me to the Passion, the screen is rumored to be anywhere from 3.7-4.3″ and then there is the Snapdragon processor helping things chug along at up to 1 GHz. Who knows what that will translate into as far as real world experience, but those specs are hard to ignore. I’ve used several HTC devices in the past and have always found them solid and reliable, whereas Motorola has been in a tight downward spiral since late 2006. HTC also has the much vaunted Sense UI, but in the end it’s just a skin which means less to me on an Android phone than it did when they were using TouchFlo to cover the hot mess that was Windows Mobile 6.0.

Honestly the most difficult part of all this is that as a Verizon user I have become far too accustomed to having absolutely no worthwhile device choices at all and suddenly here is this embarrassment of riches. So here I sit, waiting for the next flurry of insider information to drop about HTC’s little December surprise and hopefully something about it will inspire me to take action one way or the other. But then again by late December we’ll be closing on Q1 2010 which brings into play the Motorola Sholes Tablet.

Damn you Verizon! You’ve got HTC and Motorola lined up on either side of me like Scylla and Charybdis. Where the hell is Hera when I need her?

Any other current or potential Verizon customers suffering from visions of buyers remorse dancing in their heads?

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