Google's Own Smartphone the "Nexus One": Wow!

It's here and the Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) webpage that has all the specs and tour of their new Nexus One phone is downright breathtaking, visit google.com/phone to see for youself.

Via Wired.com -- No-BS sales model
Google wants to make it easier for people to buy phones, and once they buy them, to control their relationships with network carriers. So, you can buy an unlocked version for $530 (the phone works with "nearly all" GSM SIM cards, says Google) or pay $180 for a two-year contract with T-Mobile. Google says later on, there will be other carriers and other plans.

I used my Nexus with T-Mobile, which had good 3G coverage in New York City and zero network coverage of any sort in my place in western Massachusetts. I was able to make phone calls, though, by swapping my SIM card with the one from my AT&T iPhone. (As Google acknowledges, this combination gives you voice calling, but not access to AT&T's 3G network. Bummer.)

At $80 a month, the T-Mobile plan is $20 a month cheaper than what Verizon charges on the Droid Android phone. Hopefully, some of the future plans will be dirt-cheap, allowing people to amortize the initial cost of the unlocked phone.

Cool Design
Physically, the Nexus One is as pleasing as any phone in the market. The HTC-manufactured device (built to Google's specs) is like an iPhone with curvy corners, cast in a classy burnished grey with a black frame around a brilliant 3.7-inch 800 x 400-pixel OLED (!) screen. There are four hard-wired touch controls on the bottom of that frame, including one that instantly brings up a search box. (Well, it is a Google phone.)