Google unveils Nexus One

Google has announced its eagerly anticipated Nexus One smartphone, which combines the latest in hardware from HTC with the company’s new Android OS 2.1 software.

Available now in the US for $529 without service, or from $179 with a two-year contract, the company said Nexus One will ship in Europe via Vodafone in the very near future.

At a press conference on Tuesday at Google’s HQ in Mountain View, California, Google revealed details about the new phone. "The Nexus One belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call ‘superphones,’ with the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ chipset making it as powerful as your laptop computer of three to four years ago. It's our way to raise the bar on what's possible when it comes to creating the best mobile experience for consumers," said Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering. "We look forward to working with handset manufacturers and operators to bring more phones to market through this channel worldwide."

The slimline Nexus One measures 119mm x 59.8mm x 11.5mm, weighs 4.6 ounces and includes a 3.7in, 800 x 480 glass capacitive AMOLED touchscreen display. It has a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash, and offers white balance and colour effects. Video can be captured at 720 x 480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher, depending on lighting conditions. The OS can record hi-res MPEG4 video, and will upload it to YouTube with one click, claims Google.

The updated Android 2.1 OS (Eclair) features a number of new enhancements. For example, you will be able to enter text without typing using a voice-enabled keyboard for all text fields. For example, you can dictate a text message or an email. You can also tell the phone what to do – call a contact, find driving directions or even search Google.

Other improvements include smoother menu animation, five new home screen panels and more widgets, including a new nifty Weather widget that provides an interactive graph for real-time weather data. Users will also be able to browse their pictures and Picasa Web Albums in a new 3D visualisation gallery.

Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation enthused: "The Nexus One represents the unique combination of design and innovation two companies like Google and HTC can have when they collaborate."

Google vice president Mario Queiroz inferred that unlike the Nexus One, its rivals can’t run multiple applications except in particular circumstances: "The [Android] architecture enables true 'always on' applications in the background. I can be listening to music, playing my favorite game, my wife can call me, I'll pick up the phone, talk to her, hang up the call, and continue listening to music and playing my game – much like what you have on your desktop computer or on your laptop."

Nexus One website