It has been a long time coming but Google is finally readying itself for an assault on the smartphone mobile market. Plans have been afoot for a Googlephone for a number of months but it would appear that it now appears to becoming to fruition. It is rumoured that the Google-branded handset will be built by a third party supplier – likely the Taiwanese manufacturing giants, HTC.
The unique style of a Googlephone will see the first time a mobile provider takes on the mantel to control every single feature of a mobile phone, from the integrated software to the service for calls and text messaging.
For smartphone users, the Googlephone promises to be the most powerful handset on the market, holding twice the amount of processor speed as the latest iPhone 3GS. Meanwhile, the developments in mobile graphics could see a staggering release of 3D video games akin to the quality of the PSP and Nintendo DS.
Google risks antagonising the rest of its mobile phone competitors by incorporating the latest Android software. Google has intimated that it will look to maintain exclusivity for the latest release on their Googlephone – codenamed Flan – which will infuriate the likes of Samsung and Sony Ericsson who could be hamstrung from providing updates to their current Android-powered handsets.
Latest design mock-ups suggest that the handset will boast one of the largest touchscreens on the smartphone market to date, complete with a super-thin, sleek design. The most groundbreaking software development could be the integration of Google Voice to provide free and unlimited calls to any landline or mobile phone in the country. A possible connection with VoIP giants Skype would give Google the network capacity to make and receive calls between Googlephones, other smartphones and mobile phones and computers anywhere in the world.
It is expected that the Googlephone will be released for the first time in the United States in the beginning of 2010.
Tags: google, googlephone, mobile phones