Google Phone: Why I Couldn't Care Less...For Now
CIO.com mobile guru Al Sacco explains why he's not getting excited about the recently revealed Google Phone, or Nexus One, which will apparently be produced for Google by Taiwanese handset maker HTC...at least not yet.
CIO — So. It seems the oft-rumored and--until recently--never-pictured, "Google (GOOG) Phone" exists.
The bulk of the technology news industry is stopping the proverbial presses. Bloggers are clacking away crazily on their laptop keys, regurgitating the new info, cropping and zooming on images and otherwise going ga-ga over the Google Phone a.k.a. Nexus One--which happens to look an awful lot like the previously-peeped HTC "Passion"...
But me? Me, I can't help but roll my eyes and scoff a bit. Google Phone, Smoogle-Phone, I say. I've yet to see a single piece of hardware running Google's popular Android OS that could meet all my smartphone-related needs. And frankly, this new Google Phone, Nexus One, HTC Passion/Dragon whatever, is no different.
Here's why.
First of all, some background. Readers familiar with my work know I am a die-hard BlackBerry user; in fact, I focus almost solely on BlackBerry in my writings now-a-days, though I cover mobile/wireless and mobility-related enterprise issues, as well. That's for two reasons: 1) I LOVE BlackBerry handsets, and I think they offer the best "total package" of smartphone features available today; 2) I write for CIO.com, and the enterprise-oriented nature of RIM and its wares make the company a good fit for my readers.
I focus on BlackBerrys, but I regularly use all different types of handsets; I own and/or employ an iPhone, Nokia E71; HTC Touch Pro2 and countless BlackBerrys.
In all honesty, I'm not really a big fan of Android in its own right. But I assure you, I'm not "hating for hate's sake" either. I haven't embraced Android for two main reasons: 1) I've yet to find a single piece of Android hardware that it's functional enough to actually adopt as my "daily driver," or my regular device; and 2) the dearth of currently available quality Android apps.
Compared to other popular smartphone platforms, including BlackBerry, iPhone and even Windows Mobile, the number of valuable applications available for Android is a joke. (And until there's more financial incentive for developers to create Android apps--C-R-E-A-M, get the money--this problem will persist...but that's a whole other issue I don't have the space or patience to tackle here...)
Android hardware? The G1 was junk, as far as I'm concerned, due to its awkward design and funky keyboard--with chin. The HTC Magic, or T-Mobile myTouch 3G, is also awkwardly shaped, and it has no "physical" keyboard. Same thing goes for the HTC Hero. And the DROID, which Verizon (VZ) effectively hyped like the second coming of you-know-who, well, the DROID is too damn clunky and it weighs a ton; if I wanted to feel like I had a brick in my pocket, I'd still be carrying my old BlackBerry 8700.
As for this new Google Phone that's got all the other blogger's skivvies in bunches, much of the same observations can be made. Specifically, it doesn't have a "physical," or non-touch, keyboard--a deal-breaker for me, personally. I simply can't type as well on a touch screen, capacitive or resistive, haptics or no haptics. And still nothing nearing an acceptable variety of available applications exists.
So what's all the excitement about, you ask? Well, the Google Phone, or Nexus One, is the first handset designed by Google. Not "Built by Google," as many of the initial Google Phone rumors had suggested. But designed by Google. HTC is apparently making the device based on Google-provided specifications.
So really, the Google Phone is just another Android-powered, HTC-made smartphone with a higher-resolution screen than existing Android devices and an updated and polished mobile OS--Android 2.1.
