The debate over Droid v. iPhone rages on, but lots more Android surprises are on the way. Get ready for the Google Phone. It’s no longer a myth, it’s real.
The next “super” Android device will almost certainly be a HTC phone that’s much thinner than even the Droid or iPhone – The Dragon/Passion. This is the phone the senior Android guys at Google are now carrying around and testing, at least as of a couple of weeks ago. If you’re willing to give up the Droid’s keyboard, the Dragon/Passion is going to be a really cool phone. It should be fully available very soon.
But it isn’t the Google Phone. Everything up until now has just been a warm up to the Google Phone.
Way more interesting are the rumors we’ve been hearing for months about a pure Google-branded phone. Most of our sources have unconfirmed information, which we describe below. But there are a few things we have absolutely confirmed: Google is building their own branded phone that they’ll sell directly and through retailers. They were long planning to have the phone be available by the holidays, but it has now slipped to early 2010. The phone will be produced by a major phone manufacturer but will only have Google branding (Microsoft did the same thing with their first Zunes, which were built by Toshiba).
There won’t be any negotiation or compromise over the phone’s design of features – Google is dictating every last piece of it. No splintering of the Android OS that makes some applications unusable. Like the iPhone for Apple, this phone will be Google’s pure vision of what a phone should be.
That’s it for confirmed, super-high confidence information, which frankly isn’t a whole lot more than we all heard back in late October. But we also have a few more details as well that we’ve gathered from a number of sources. Everything that follows we still consider to be just well-sourced rumors:
One source told us that HTC, a Taiwanese company, is building the new Google phone, but we think that information is incorrect. We have some fairly good information that suggests Google is working with a Korean phone manufacturer on the Google phone – LG or Samsung (we mentioned this on CrunchGear earlier this week). Samsung has multiple parts in the iPhone and could be pressured by Apple not to work with Google, which says LG is the more likely partner for Google. So rumors like this one may be much more important than they first appear. But either way, the best information we have right now points directly at Korea as the birthplace of the Google Phone.
We’ve also heard from a good source that Google is planning a big advertising push around the device early next year – like January.
That’s all we have for now. We don’t yet know what the device will look like, how big it will be, or even if it has a physical keyboard. But we do know that Google is getting into the phone building business directly, and doesn’t seem too concerned about competing with all the other device manufacturers building Android phones.
So can one safely assume that this phone would be the one that they will hand out at Google I/O in May
Hopefully because I’m planning on going.
Although one of the question remains will the new phone have it’s own “BIG G” brand? or go on with a tag ‘HTC” like the ones released last October, 2008. Thanks for this link: http://bit.ly/google-phone-is-for-real-coming-very-soon
it’ll be old news by May.
Ugh… I hope people don’t start showing up to I/O because they think they’re going to get something for free. Just what I/O needs is a bunch of disinterested swag hounds.
This feels “Microsoft’ish” Try and enable a competitive market but stay out of crushing it (Ie the hardware piece) Get frustrated because the market isn’t reacting quickly enough to your competitor to then jump in directly.
I think people are wrong that this is risky for Google in terms of Android adoption. Aren’t they now my competitor if i’m releasing an Android based phone?
“Isn’t Risky” I meant
Michael,
What is the future for Pink phone from MSFT on this background?
Any more rumors or your contacts are all shutdown?
-mandar
This blogger things that Google will utilize Chrome OS on the new “Google Phone aka Drago” http://macspotlight.blogspot.com/2009/11/chome-os-video-and-google-phone-rumors.html
IS that out of the Question? A possibility? AT this point with everything happening it wouldn’t be a surprice because it will allow them not to compete directly with HTC, Samsung etc… Wouldn’t the Chrome OS concept be more suitable for a phone?
Not only it’s for real, it’s for certainty.
See the leaked preview: http://bit.ly/google-phone-is-for-real-coming-very-soon
FIRST!
Loser!!!
haha, FAIL
the branding of this device will be interesting. will it be called the Gphone? MyTouch? Dragon? Passion? Latitude or My Location?
HEY THE LOCATOR IS GUY IS BACK.
–
fail
I love you Google! LG? Android? Physical keyboard? If all three of those things pan out I may very well have to find a new home for my Droid.
Agreed. A keyboard is a must for me too.
But beyond that, this is Google. We expect it to blow away anything Apple could offer. Google hast to go above & beyond everything else include the kitchen sink… no, two kitchen sinks. Then I think we’ll see 2x as many phones sold as the iPhone in half the time.
Droid kicks ass though. Anyone who has one is very lucky.
I assume it won’t have a physical keyboard, ’cause in the long run its purely about getting used to a new way of typing, typing speed are equal once one gets used to it (they did a test with lots of people on the iphone once) and technically it makes the phone lots and lots lighter (or actually allows more place for really usefull things (processor,… etc.))
NOBODY I know, who has been typing on a qwerty on a mobile types as slow as iphone/onscreen keyboard users, even with your predictive text. It helps quite a bit to not have to look where you’re typing.
I’d love to see this “study” of yours.
On the Hiptop 2 keyboard I could type 30 wpm.
Nohting’s been that good since, including the G1.
But it’s ludicrous to say that the iPhone is “as good” without a keyboard.
“We expect it to blow away anything Apple could offer. ”
I wouldnt be so sure about that. I think you could make your argument as far as software goes… Google is incredible. But, what consumer hardware have we seen from Google? What experience do they have designing good hardware? Especially phones?
I don’t disagree that it will likely be an amazing phone… but I think saying “We expect it to blow away anything Apple could offer. ” is a bit ignorant.
Google can design interface well. Example, Google Chrome browser has minimalistic interface and doesn’t compromise much on capabilities.
Google had say in Droid design. Per, the article, they want to go an un-compromised android phone; that propably means Google believes they could have a bettor phone than a Droid.
Hope I am right, as it could only increase quality of products follow.
Obviously, Google will outsource the hardware bit as has been suggested in the blog. They aren’t going to manufacture it.
There is some logic for a Google branded phone:
1. Most manufacturers are skinning the Android with their own GUI. There exists a demand for an Android phone with the unchanged features. Google can fit in here.
2. Most manufacturers have made a token presence with Android OS. Majority of their devices still use other more established OS. Google can give that push for mass adoption of the Android OS.
3. Google’s direct presence will bolster driver development for the latest Android OS. Most manufacturers have been lagging behind in adopting the latest Android OS.
Lastly, I think Google will be able to retain members of the Open Handset Alliance if it is concurrently open to all of them about the future development of the Android OS.
Droid kicks ass? Maybe among the other also ran smartphones on Verizons network.
256mb for apps=showstopper
slow
no multi-touch
terrible keyboard
terrible camera
Quit spreading lies.
– Droid can hold more apps than the iPhone; the iPhone is limited to only 129 extra apps; Droid apps store their main data on the card, not ROM.
– Droid is faster
– Android supports full multitouch. You’ll see.
– Good keyboard; more importantly, it has a keyboard, and a joypad!
– Much better camera than the iPhone. It was a little coding bug that is about to be fixed, as TC reported.
Physical keyboard is a huge plus. I hope they can make a phone even thinner than the droid with a huge dedicated keyboard. That would rock.
[...] reports out of TechCrun Add on physical keyboards are so yesterday and unimaginative.
yeah droid is quite good, we were actually thinking of giving one away for one of our old contests on http://styleguidance.com but the whole contract thing turned us off.
the htc android (eris):
- has multi-touch
- is super fast
-has a 5mp camera
-holds a ton of apps
-removable memory
the moto droid is def missing some key features but the htc android is fantastic.
It’ll probably be a low-end phone. They let HTC and Motorola capture the high-end of the market with their branded devices, whilst Google themselves take on the low end of the market with their own cheap phone that they can sell tens or hundreds of millions of the world over, with no worrying about deals with carriers or retailers.
I’d go as far as saying this is why Nokia is avoiding using the Android OS, even in its high-end phones. They know Google will be taking on their “candy bar” market directly.
Google is known for taking technology, making it better, and giving it away to the masses. I’m hoping that you’re right and it’s a lower end phone. I could totally see Google making a super thin, consumer oriented world phone thats unlocked out of the box that you can use on whichever carrier you want. No frills, no added on software, just a cheap $100-200 candybar phone that works. It’s very Google-esq to release something like this to shift the dynamic, get people off cell phone contracts, and make carriers be competitive with rates and fight it out for no contract customers. It could certainly be the start of the end for $600 cell phones. The profit margins on these phones for no-contract purchases is outrageous.
I sure as hell hope it does NOT have a keyboard. That would completely ruin it for me. Properly implemented touchscreen phones > keyboard sliders.
Right. But the only one I have seen properly implemented is the iPhone wide mode keyboard. Android 2.0 is better than 1.0 but still not comparable to the Apple on screen keyboard. I think physical keyboards will go away at some point.
I hate touchscreen keyboards. Even properly implemented (which I have yet to see, even the iPhone’s is so so) its so much slower to type having to look at the keyboard. On a physical keyboard there’s actually feedback when a key clicks down and I can feel the buttons with my fingers. Personally I think it will be a long time before touchscreen keyboards can actually achieve the same speed and accuracy as physical ones, although I agree physical keyboards will probably go soon.
It’s hard to believe that people prefer to take up half a screen. It’s so slow. A physical keyboard is crucial on a small device… at least if you do much typing.
It is true that it takes up half the screen while typing, but ONLY while typing. Look at the classic candybar form like the BB Tour. The screen is forced to be half the size ALL the time, because the keyboard is not removable. That totally sucks!
The better option is a slider like the Droid, but now you have moving parts that wear out over time and complicated manufacturing and packaging.
Touchscreen ends up being the better solution with no disadvantages (when done properly). It will be even better when locally positioned haptics are better or some flexibility is allowed in the surface of the screen.
/signed
Saw Droid today, its keyboard sucks, its big in size and i don’t understand why the bottom part was left alone and USB port and other buttons.
Google, Motorola and Verizon must go for a 101 design class @ Apple.
we have seen enough iPhone killers, I don’t know if the big management guys understand or not but by advertising their phone as iPhone killers they are indirectly marketing iPhone with their money. what a pity
Call me crazy, but I like it a lot. The addition of a question mark, comma, period and @ without pushing Alt are genius and allow me to type much faster than I could on the env, XV, blackberry, treo or saga.
The G1’s keyboard still rocks. I know that a lot of people don’t like the ‘chin’, but as a right-handed user, I find landscape mode, with the kb popped out and my thumb on the ‘pearl’, perfect for dealing with email.
The keyboard on the Droid is under rated. It’s not that bad. And frankly I find the onscreen keyboard to be quite good. So at least you get the choice of 2 decent keyboards. The larger screen really makes the onscreen keyboard more useful.
The phone is barely bigger than an iPhone? I don’t get how you think it’s huge???
Maybe because it weighs 50% more.
I disagree: I returned Droid b/c I hated the keyboard so much. Absolutely awful. No feel, no travel, total fail.
Keyboards are a personal thing.
I wonder why they changed their mind. Are they not getting the kinda hardware they hoped for?
I think its a mistake for them to compete with other cell phone manufacture that they’re allied with. They should try and strengthen the bonds not rip them apart. Google will have a huge advantage over HTC, Motorola and others.
That school of thought is long gone.
Look at Yahoo, it said it’ll still compete with Bing despite the search deal.
Nokia has entered laptops market
Dell has entered mobile market
Now, Google enters mobile market ?
I’ll not be surprised if it does.
Android as an OS is free to carriers/phone makers. Any belly-aching they might do would be quite silly.
The interesting thing to me is that Google is actually going to get into the hardware biz. I hope it works out for them, but I’m half-expecting an ugly white brick that runs super fast. (Google isn’t known for their design prowess.)
I’m completly puzzled as well. I’m rather sure that you can’t establish a good working ecosystem like OS + Hardware if there’s one player that builds OS AND Hardware.
Is there a single working example from the last 20 years?
If I were Samsung, Motorola, SonyEricsson,I’d be rather p***ed.
Palm ruled both the mobile OS licensing and hardware markets for years. Palm fell because of a staggering number of awful management decisions, not because of a lack of people willing to license their OS and compete with them.
What is an iPhone that everyone wants to copy? Apple owns both hardware and OS. Rimm is similar and now Google is going that route with a high end phone for cheap.
I don’t think Android is getting the kind of hardware Google hoped for.
Up until now, all phones had that antiquated Qualcomm 720x processor and other anemic components. The Droid has almost perfect hardware, but
- they got lazy on the keyboard design,
- skimped on the amount of ROM,
- abused the phone design with those pimped out gold accents and
- traded a nice trackball for that sorry excuse of a track pad.
I am very excited with the prospect of a perfect Android phone, and maybe that will be the one to replace my G1. Fingers crossed for this rumor to be true.
I agree – if other manufacturers start to feel like they’re in a twisted market place competing with Google on hardware, it could do more harm than good.
I remember hearing stories about Intel vowing to never sell branded desktop PCs, as they didn’t want to be in competition with their customers (Dell/HP/etc.), and give those same customers excuses to go with someone else.
A part of me hopes this is rumor.
I think this is a typo “planning a bit advertising push”
did’ja mean to say big?
+1
i really want the HD2, but if this is to be true, I may just wait.
Sounds good and LG would be perfect
Awesome.
Going to have to be pretty great to get me to switch from the iPhone — so many apps I relay on. And, I can’t imagine it being better as far as usability or overall slickness. Another thought, the Google brand, imo, is not so hot internationally (China specifically). If it’s a good phone, perhaps this will help them. Or, perhaps people (Chinese) will say, “Why would I want a Google phone. Who uses Google anyway?”
oh and… *big “advertising push”
Nice post…
“apps I relay on” ??
“Who uses Google” ??
On his second comment, if you read the entire thought he is specifically referring to the Chinese market – which doesn’t use Google at all. Baidu controls an overwhelming share of the market in China.
Thanks Michael. I didn’t see your comment. I’ve had this tab open for a couple hours meaning to respond.
You’re totally right on. I didn’t mean to restate what you already said.
uh, yup.
Apps like Things, DianHua (Chinese Dictionary), Tweetie 2, Dropbox, Bylines, Shazam, tons of random subway maps, iTunes Remote… the app store may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but, no other phone can offer anything like it. (Is Arrington still using the Pre? I don’t believe it.)
Regarding “who uses google,” well, I meant just what I said. America is not the only place where Google will want to sell their phone. The average Chinese person uses Baidu. The cool Google brand that you and I are familiar with isn’t as, uh, omnipresent as it may seem.
Saying that Google isn’t used at all in China is like saying that Yahoo isn’t used at all here. Look up the reports for China and you’ll see that Google is around 15-20%, some have it at even more, which is more than Yahoo or and far more than Bing here.
Your apps point is severely damaged by the fact Android already has at least half of those apps and in some case even better versions (Navigation, Remote can be a mouse for your comp so you can even use it as a PPT clicker etc.) along with an awesome Google Voice app (which is why Arrington uses it) that Apple declined.
Google is really big in Latin America. They even have development and comercial offices in Argentina and Brazil (don’t know if in any other countries as well).
At least in Argentina, a Google phone will be tha bomb.
So crunchpad will run chromeOS. That cooperation has led to all this info being passed long. So why state that they are rumors if you are learning this info directly from google?
very strong assumption. any confirm/deny, Mike?
Yawn. Heard it all before.
Why doesn’t Google just make a ‘close enough’ iPhone clone, give it away for next to nothing (I.e. Lose money on it) in order to get market share. Make money back on the apps.
Because they don’t have to.
Because Google makes $0 on Android apps. Can’t imagine that would change.
70% Developer
30% Carrier
Isn’t this just another instance of the splintering of the Android brand?
sounds like it
Yes! bring it on! tired of the iphone’s itune closed system. itune sucks. app store sucks. we need google to bring in competition forcing apple to loosen up their tight ass policies.
whahahahahahahahha
Yeah a tiny handful of apps with a selection of over 1,00,00 have been denied. boo hoo. You are drinking too much of the arrington kool-aid. newsflash..Google has denied apps too. but you won’t read that here. Not with Arrington’s personal gain using Google on the Crunch pad. Think for yourself.
google has some partnership with Clearwire one hundred thousand?
FYI @Darwin. it’s 100,000 or you could write 1,00,000
those who have iphones, you know you feel a tingly sensation in your crotch when you hold it. seriously, the iphone is porn to you.
real？
maybe
First they made the software in the hope the hardware guys freed from that huge piece of the usability pie can focus their innovation on the hardware. As we have seen over the last 2 years these folks are unfortunately lacking in imagination, have zero new ideas, and don’t get usability hence the pasting they received at the hands of new comer like Apple. Thus Google have been left with no choice but to step in and show them how its done.
Agreed, with the exception being HTC (though they could use a little nudge).
Thanks Google. This will destroy the android environment.
No, it won’t. This will be the biggest increase in adoption to ever happen to the Android environment.
I for one am happy to hear about a ‘real’ Android phone. I’m seriously tired of half-ass forks like Sense and Rachael that will have a disjointed upgrade path.
In all likelihood a Google phone with ‘just’ Android would be able to upgrade as soon as a new OS is released.
I’ll be in line for this one.
Any phone with the Google logo somewhere has the “google experience” and gets updated ASAP. I believe Droid is one of those phones.
This would be great. The Droid looked sort of neat but I swore off Motorola years ago after using too many awful phones. I’ve only used LG since, and I’ve been totally happy with all their products. LG+Google would without a doubt be my first smart phone.
Is this a real push by Google into the hardware game or merely a design exercise?
Google had a ton of control over the design of the Droid, and what came out of it isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing device. They’re known for functionality and ease-of-use, cute at times but not pretty or sexy.
There’s no shortage of manufacturers jumping onto the Android bandwagon while ditching WinMo and Symbian in the process. Google is riding some serious momentum. So what advantages does a gPhone bring?
The only major advantage I can think of at the moment is that Google can afford upend the carrier pricing model, which is to say that it’ll have a very low cost (unsubsidized) phone with cheap or free service. They’ve already bought Gizmo5, how about entering the MVNO space? Free VOIP, cheap data and PAYG terrestrial voice? It could send the carriers running for the hills.
definitely a design exercise. the pricing model will be google’s differentiator. bingo. veri-sin understands and is trying to lock people into contracts with 300.00 early term fees. 2010 is gonna be an exciting year in the tech wars saga.
G is not into making hardware. if they were we would have a G-puter by now.
I think you hit the nail on the head… this is going to be about Google Voice, Gizmo5, and a VoIP solution.
The wrecking ball has shown up outside the headquarters of the US cellular companies.
Yay!
Nice. I wonder if when the Google phone breaks you’ll have to make an appointment with a ‘genius’ and personally accompany the phone to the store for repair … oh, sorry … that’s Apple and their f&%$ing stupid broken iphone policy.
Hey Apple – my iphone is broken – I’m not – so why do I have accompany the phone …. idiots.
Mike, like you I am seriously considering dumping the iphone too. I’m very pleased to hear that Google are planning to wipe the floor with Apple … about time!
And where will you go, who will you shout to when your Google phone breaks? What evidence of good physical supply chain management (or customer support for that matter) is there for Google? Ever had your Gmail account suspended for no reason?
Actually – no, my gmail account has never been suspended. And I’ve never been forced by Google to give up my time so they can repair something they sold me either.
Somehow I don’t think Google would act quite as paranoid as Apple in any situation. Apple = closed. Google = open.
I’ll take open.
This is a great point. Product support and service for consumers is harder and more expensive than it looks, and Google has almost no experience with it. It will definitely be a learning experience for them.
So you’d rather box and ship your phone by mail and be without it for a week or longer, than go to a store the same day and have the problem resolved in an hour?
Yeah… That makes sense…
I love 3 hours from the nearest Apple store – I live IN Australia … it’s a BIG country.
I don’t have time to take a full day off just so Apple can look at my iPhone.
So in other words you represent a small portion of the public that doesn’t leave near and Apple store, which is a HUGE convenience when it comes to service and a definite NEGATIVE for Google.
Hell, I dont even have an apple store in my state, along with 17 other states, so I dont know about small portion. Even if we had one, unless I lived within an hour of it, I would mail it. PTO > Fixing my phone in the same day.
Sounds great. I will hold out until I see the ads in jan. Thanks
Interesting…
If it is sold directly by retailers, does that mean that they won’t have the same requirements to sign a 2-year contract like the other phones do now? If so, sign me up
The Buddha phone to Apple’s Jesus phone?
+10
I think the whole solution to producing an iPhone kiler is not to make anything like an iPhone. The whole reason the iPhone became successful is because it was unlike anything else on the market.
Even though I own an iPhone, I don’t think of it as a phone. It just happens to have a phone function but I’m more concerned about my emails, facebook, & twitter.
These companies need to think outside of the box and stop trying to beat the iPhone because it can’t be done. While a small minority care about running multiple apps, most of my friends who own or want to own an iPhone do so because of three primary things.
1. The App Store- Yesterday my hardcore Zune/Microsoft friend that just got his iPhone asked me to slap him because “How did I live without this?”
2. U/I- The phone is so easy to use. My 3&5 year olds know how to use it. My mom & dad like it because it’s simple.
3. Branding- Let’s face it. Apple is cool. Being the Anti Apple may be the way to go as far as getting the people who don’t want to follow the leader but let’s face it: people want to follow the leader. Twitter is a good example of this. I didn’t personally know any of my friends that used the service until it became a household name.
To sum it up, beating the iPhone can be done. It’s just going to be one hell of an uphill battle.
An interesting but slightly flawed series of statements.
Beating the iPhone will be done – and it will be – by one or more of three methods:
1) A superior individual device being produced. Probably the least likely in the short term.
2) A number of equivalent devices being produced. Already happening and will only increase over time.
3) Fashions changing. The most likely – how ‘cool’ do you think something is when a lot of people have it?
Incidentally, Apple aren’t the leader in smartphones. That’s Nokia and then RIM. What they do lead in is one highly profitable but incredibly vulnerable market sector.
[...] to TechCrunch a “pure Google-branded phone” with Android is “absolutely confirmed” for early 2010 – [...] ]]>
Why would anyone care about beating the iPhone? The vast majority of people with cell contracts do not own a smart phone. Google does not need to beat iPhone (or any other phone) to succeed wildly with their phone. It’s a wide open market.
We’ve heard all this “Google Phone” talk before. Forgive me for being skeptical, but I’ll believe it when it see it.
Slippery slope for google who relies on disrupting business models. I would assume this would not be tied to a carrier specific release. The network issue is very interesting here since google could easily throw a voip / wifi app in the mix along with an mvno for much better control of the costs; but mvno’s haven’t really worked out all that well. lots of interesting things about this news.
Google simply needs to disable the VOIP data function in the absence of a voice contract. This way people can pay the bare minimum to get 911 support and Google won’t have to worry about the FTC.
it’s about time.
Michael – Your story is missing a key piece – who’s the service provider? Will we still shell out a small fortune each month to Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile/Sprint/etc or will Google find some way to make the airtime free?
Was looking through all of the comments to see if someone would ask this. Carrier is going to play an important role in this unless Google is going to buy into that business too. If Google is going to sell it direct, then that means GSM/ATT at least in the short term since, to date, the CDMA carriers have to approve/brand their own phones for their respective networks.
GSM doesn’t just mean AT&T. T-Mobile (for one) also uses GSM.
Am I the only one who thinks that HTC and Motorola and Samsung and Sony are going to have issues with Google producing their own phone and thereby undercutting their marketshare?
sorry but, RTFM
“We have some fairly good information that suggests Google is working with a Korean phone manufacturer on the Google phone… (most likely LG)”
Google isn’t going to independently create a smartphone. its going through LG most likely to build it to Google’s exact specifications.
That’s competition.
Google is just one more competitor.
And, thanks to Google, they can at least use Android for their own phones. It’s an open platform that’s becoming massively popular and pervasive. It’s in demand. That means more sales. Consider that previous their only other options were, what, Windows Mobile or a custom OS that no one wants. I suppose they could all band together, against Google, and create their own open mobile OS.
But either way that will never change the fact that Google is rightly deciding to produce some hardware — because they damn will can, according to how they see fit. This competition will be great.
Yes, you probably are, Michael.
It’s called market diversification or ‘not putting all your eggs in one basket’.