Google presented its first smartphone called Nexus One on Tuesday, during a private press-only event at its headquarters. This phone is developed in partnership with HTC, a hardware manufacturer.
The Nexus One has the latest version of Google's Android mobile operating system and it can input the users' speech so the text can be inputted by the users' voice and connect to their emails, text messages, face book, and web engines. The phone's retail price is US$180 dollars with a two year contract with T-Mobile and is available for US$530 dollars unlocked that is released in the open market. It is also available immediately at Goggle's new online store. According to Google, Verizon and Vodaphone network will also take in the Nexus One and make it available for purchase early this spring.
"The Nexus One is where web meets phone," says Google vice president of Android project management Mario Queiroz. "It's an exemplar of what's possible on mobile phones. It belongs in an emerging category of devices which we call superphones."
By releasing the Nexus One, Google is placed in a competition against rivals that have web-enabled handheld devices such as the iPhone and PalmPre and Motorola Droid or an Android phone similar to the Nexus One. The handset is housed in a thin exterior case less than half an inch (11.5 mm) thick, and it weighs only 4.5 ounces (130 grams). For the hardware, it has a zippy 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that enables the phone to flawlessly run multiple applications at once. A trackball allows users to navigate the interface, and it carries various colored lights to send different alerts for a new text message, new calls, and alarm. It also houses a 3.7-inch touch screen AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 by 800 pixels, a 5-megapixel camera, 512 MB of RAM and ROM, and a microSD slot; It has a compass and an accelerometer, and light and proximity sensors that allow the device to save power by dimming or completely shutting off the screen.
