Updated 11 Feb, 2012, 4:06 pm IST

Nexus 1 - A Quick Look

17 Dec, 2009, 4:06 pm IST | Shayne Rana

Google's got the industry on pins and needles with the announcement of the mysterious Google Phone or Nexus 1, but will it be all that?

The buzz in the mobile industry is getting louder and louder as 2009 is closing in on its grand finale. It’s almost curtain time for 2009 and manufacturers are rushing to get their wares out to the stands in time for the full brunt of the holiday season. Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson are tossing handsets out there but in my opinion, and I believe that I speak for a lot of people in this, the most anticipated handset, since the iPhone is the mysterious Google Phone, the Nexus 1, that could very well make an appearance come Jan 01st 2010.

There’s been plenty of speculation about whether or not this mystery handset that’s been popping up all over the blogs and tech sites will actually be ‘all dat and a handful of peanuts’. So far all we’ve seen are a few blurry images of a rather sleek touchscreen handset and a video that doesn’t do more than increase our curiosity. There really seems to be a lot of buzz surrounding this handset. And then the very recent news that Google has a rather large countdown timer that pops up on their search home page when users hit the I’m Feeling Luck option without even searching for anything. Sure it's obviously a countdown to the year's end but nothing's ever that simple is it? What’s this all about? No one has a clear cut idea. Though speculation has it that it could be the countdown to an official Google Phone announcement. It's not the long wait that bother me it's the not knowing that does!

If this is publicity for this so called Google Phone, it's working. The whole industry is running around in a haze with speculations and theories galore about this next possible mobile phenomenon. The only reason we even know about this handset is thanks to the employees at Google (the world over) who were incidentally given handsets over the last weekend to play around with and send in feedback. Through the various Tweets and blog posts bits and pieces of information about the Nexus 1 have emerged. The videos making the rounds show nothing more than colorful animations for the booting or on the desktop, but there has to be more.

Just I case you haven’t been following it here’s a gist of what we know so far about the Nexus 1.

The handset is built by HTC
So far it seems to feature a variant of original Android v2.1 platform
It will feature an OLED Capacitive touch screen
Will support quad-band GSM/Edge and UMTS/HSDPA networks, as well as tri-band 850/1700/1900 networks
It’ll be an open GSM (unlocked) handset and will not be associated with any specific provider
It will run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip
It’s rumored to cost around $1000 which works out to about Rs. 46, 570

That’s about all we know so far. Google has yet to make it official from their end, but let’s face it with so much hype the big question will be is it going to be worth that much of money. What will it feature that would make it costlier than the iPhone? And should Apple be worried? There are a lot of questions that need answering and unfortunately Google’s not being very forthcoming just now, but rest assured in the mobile industry nothing remains a secret for long and before the year runs out, I’m sure the Google Phone, Nexus 1 or whatever they decide� to call it will be as clear as crystal.

My only query is - will this be just another Android handset (boooring) or will the Nexus 1 deliver a lot more than we’ve experienced so far? Let’s wait and watch.

For more information check out NexuOne.com and stay tuned to Tech2 for more details on the Google Phone as they break. In the meantime I’d like to hear your opinion on the latest Google Phenomenon of the Google Phone and what’s your take on the ominous countdown timer on the search site. Please feel free to leave your comments below or you can follow this thread on our forums.

Tags: Google , Nexus 1 Touchscreen , 5 Megapixel , Android