Even if you don't use BBM on the reg, you have to admit this is a pretty cool concept.

 

Google Nexus One Phone with Verizon badget

 

It may not be long before we see Google's Android phone dubbed the Nexus One available on the Verizon Wireless network. If Google adds Verizon to the mix, you and I may get a competitive price since T-Mobile will have to share their slice of the pie.

The rumor is that on March 23 the Nexus One will be available to Verizon customers, making them the second U.S. wireless carrier to offer Google's device. March 23 is coincidentally the first day of CTIA tradeshow in Las Vegas, coincidence, or not?

The Nexus One's slogan reads "Web Meets Phone" which is a classy market position to assume. Let's breakdown what's under the hood of this bad boy. It has a sleek tablet shape with a 3.7 inch, WGVA display, 1 GHz snapdragon processor combined with the sought after Android Operating System, 512 MB RAM with a 4 GB Micro SD card (can be upgraded to 32 GB), Bluetooth 2.1 EDR and a nifty Digital Compass - just in case the GPS fails and your lost while hiking.

Nexus One comes with a whole suite of Google related applications which continue to grow in numbers each day.

This spring the Nexus One is off to Europe, where it will debut as a VodaPhone product. Rumor has it their release date is April. That means German wireless carrier T-Mobile won't be the only company with a sole-provider monopoly of Nexus One.

It looks like the CTIA trade show in Vegas will be the launch of the Verizon Nexus One. Booyah.

AT&T rumored to lose iPhone exclusivity this Wednesday?

by Marc Flores on January 24th, 2010 at 6:52pm
Filed under: AT&T, Apple, Rumors 563 Comments

“But it’s tied down to AT&T…” Those may be words that you’ll never hear again when it comes to the iPhone. Now, it’s not written in stone just yet, but one of Hot Hardware’s inside sources feels very confident that AT&T will lose its iPhone exclusivity during Apple’s big announcement this week. If this is true, coupled with an announcement / beta release of iPhone 4.0, Apple’s iPhone sales could skyrocket — especially since some people have avoided the iPhone like the plague strictly because of AT&T. Where will the iPhone go? Will there be an unlocked version available? We’re not quite sure, but we’ll find out soon as it’s shaping up to be a big week for Apple with a tablet announcement, iPhone 4.0 and now possibly the iPhone may finally be unshackled from AT&T’s grip. One thing to consider, however, is that if AT&T loses its exclusivity this Wednesday, who’s going to want to buy an AT&T-locked iPhone until the next generation model comes out? That alone gives us some doubt.

[Via Business Insider]

Read

BGR (via Business Insider) reports that AT&T may be losing AT&T exclusivity on Wednesday. My prayers may have been answered...

Fascinating touchscreen comparison from our friends at Mashable. As you can see, the iPhone has the most accurate touchscreen by this test.

A few years ago, when Apple originally set out with the idea of giving the iPhone to one carrier exclusively in the U.S., they first went to Verizon. But the network balked at some of Apple's demands, which at the time of complete and utter carrier dominance in this country, must have seemed like a joke. So instead, Apple with with AT&T, and the rest is history.

And while Apple is getting a very sweet deal from AT&T in the form of huge payments for each iPhone sold, which is pulling in billions of dollars in revenues each quarter for the company, the relationship is also the subject of much discontent. Obviously, plenty of users are fed up with AT&T complete and utter failure at times to provide a network that will support the iPhone. But word is that Apple has also not been a happy camper for some time now, as what many perceive to be greatest source of weakness for the iPhone, AT&T's network, is something that is completely out of their control. The big question for 2010 is: Is Apple finally ready to do something about it?

Obviously, Apple would never say anything against AT&T publicly, mostly because it's just a bad negotiating tactic. And also because even when they move beyond exclusivity, AT&T will still undoubtedly be an iPhone carrier partner. But make no mistake, Apple is talking to other carriers in the U.S., and likely has been continuously since the iPhone's initial launch. But the one that everyone dreams of, is the same one that first turned them down, Verizon. And that's a point which probably hasn't made negotiations very easy. But a few signs are starting to suggest that the planets may be aligning.

Specifically, a report yesterday in TheStreet says that Apple has chosen Qualcomm to provide the chips that will power a new iPhone due this summer. Qualcomm is the key CDMA chipset manufacturer and this is important because the largest technical hold up in bringing the iPhone to Verizon is that up until now, all iPhones have been GSM-only. Verizon, meanwhile, is a CDMA network.

The report notes that the partnership will in fact lead to a Verizon iPhone this coming summer. Of course, this report comes from an analyst, and regular readers may know my aversion to trusting anything they say ? especially when it comes to Apple products. The fact of the matter is that too often they're simply dead wrong.

That said, there are other indicators that something is going on. For example, yesterday at CES, AT&T announced that it would be bringing webOS devices to its network for the first time. WebOS is of course the operating system Apple rival Palm developed for its "iPhone killer," the Palm Pre. Perhaps even more notably, AT&T also announced that they would be launching five Android devices in the first half of 2010. Up until this point, AT&T was the only network that hadn't announced Android device support.

It's hard to imagine Apple being happy with either of those moves. And it's hard to imagine AT&T doing anything to make Apple unhappy, unless they knew they were losing the iPhone. And soon.

Of course, that's just speculation, but TheStreet's report states as a fact that Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T expires in June. Others have said this in the past as well. But again, analysts. This point has long been the topic of much debate. I've asked both AT&T and Apple numerous times when the contract is actually up, and neither will say a thing. Given that Apple has a habit of unveiling new iPhones each June, it would seem somewhat logical that June is when new contracts begin and end, but others have suggested (and made a compelling case) that the actual contract may run through the end of 2010.

Another recent report, again from an analyst, suggests that Apple and Verizon are closing in on a Verizon iPhone deal, but that there is a disagreement over pricing. And there is also talk that Apple may want to wait until Qualcomm makes a chip that is both CDMA and GSM compatible, which isn't expected until the second half of 2010, making 2011 a more likely Verizon launch window.

So there are still plenty of clouds in the sky blocking the view, but there seem to be more signs out there than ever before that the Verizon and Apple stars are aligning. And we get more clues in a few weeks when Apple is expected to unveil its new tablet device, which may or may not have some sort of carrier network and/or carrier-run WiFi agreement that comes with it. Let's hope.

[images: 20th Century Fox]

Great article on the politics behind an Apple-Verizon deal via WaPo/TechCrunch.

Qualcomm’s CEO Paul Jacobs has openly expressed interest in inserting a Qualcomm chip into Apple’s popular iPhone. New rumors reported by TheStreet.com indicate that Qualcomm’s endeavors were successful: A Qualcomm chip will power a new version of the iPhone on Verizon in the summer.

While official confirmation from Apple and Qualcomm is still pending, Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar serves as the source for this particular story. He claims to have confirmed the partnership with iPhone manufacturers and suppliers.

Yesterday we learned that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip is powering the super speedy Nexus One. Although the Qualcomm iPhone chip in question is different — reportedly a 3G wireless technology chip for EV-DO — this is still a massive get for the San Diego-based chip supplier, should the rumors be true.

Now my head is going to explode. Nexus One coming later this spring to Verizon...but maybe the iPhone is coming this summer?!?!

To my utter amazement, my teenage son has switched from an iPhone to a Nexus One. He can’t exactly explain why he likes it more, but this was enough for me to give it a long hard look. He also told me he switched to Chrome from Safari, and he has a good point on both counts.

I’ve compiled a list of ways that I think a Nexus One is better than an iPhone, an iPhone is better than a Nexus One, and how they equally suck. I could be wrong about shortcomings of both phones because I’m not an anal geek tester. I’m just a “normal user” albeit one with Exchange.

13 ways the Nexus One is better than the iPhone

1. “Open system” so that, God forbid, if someone can create a better browser, address book, calendar, or email client, you can install it. Somebody at Apple thinks it has the monopoly on good app development. He or she is wrong.
2. Actions are snappier. This is hard to quantify, but things seem to happen faster and crisper on a Nexus One than on an iPhone.
3. Flash for the camera. Maybe Apple employees are always in well-lit places, but this isn’t true for me.
4. The same charger for the Nexus One works with Bluetooth headsets. That’s just one less thing to carry, and one less plug in your car.
5. Ability to type a period without going to another screen. I know the iPhone can do this automatically, but only at the end of sentences. I need it for email addresses and links.
6. Alphabetic list of all installed apps (without having to hook up to iTunes on a computer). Sometimes don’t you want to see a nice list of everything?
7. Anchored application icons on the home page—as opposed to how iPhone’s reorder themselves automatically in what can only be described as a crapshoot unless you use iTunes.
8. Reasonable way to install beta versions of applications as opposed to the UDID iPhone insanity.
9. Non-Facist app-store approval process. I’ve gotten so many “We submitted it to Apple. It could be a couple of weeks before it’s approved” emails that I want to puke.
10. Persistent “elevator” in the vertical scroll bar. I like to know where I am in a long list (for example, email inbox). The iPhone only shows the elevator when you are scrolling. It disappears as soon as you stop scrolling.
11. Better organization of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings. Nexus One: Settings—>Wireless & Networks has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings. iPhone: Settings—>gets you to Wi-Fi but then you have to go to General to get to Bluetooth.
12. Five guesses for the word that I’m typing instead of one. I’ve seen Nexus One display as many as fifteen if you vertically scroll.
13. Replaceable battery. Duh.

4 ways the iPhone is better than the Nexus One

1. Name. With the infinite money that Google has, “Nexus One” is the best name it could come up with? Holy kaw!
2. Syncing your Calendar with Exchange. The Nexus One’s inability to do this astounds me. It must be because Google employees only use Gmail.
3. Syncing Contacts with Exchange. Google says this can be done, but I can’t get it to work completely. Specifically, I have 7,461 contacts in Exchange, Address Book (on my MacBook), and Gmail. My Nexus One shows 7,202 contacts when displaying only Gmail contacts; 60 when displaying only Exchange contacts; and 7,537 when displaying both. I assume this is my fault, but I’ve really tried to make it work. But the truth is that I can live with this disparity, but it offends my organized mind.
4. More applications—only time will tell how this shakes out. Today, the essential ones that I use are there: Seesmic, Evernote, TripIt, and Fandango plus enough games for my kids. I do miss Tweetie—I hope that Loren will come to his senses.

5 ways the iPhone and Nexus One equally suck

1. Dependence on AT&T. That’s all we need: another popular smartphone that uses AT&T. Yes, Nexus One can use Tmobile, but let’s be serious. God help us if Apple makes a tablet that updates automatically using AT&T. Google says that the Nexus One will be available for Verizon this spring.
2. One-day battery life. I guess smartphone users just have to live with this shortcoming—but I thought Apple had the exclusive on sucky battery life.
3. Why can’t Apple and Google put a “.com” button on the keyboard used for email applications? Am I the only person in the world who types “.com” many times in email?
4. How about Flash? My bet is that Nexus One will have it before iPhone, though.
5. How about demo versions of applications so we that can try before we buy? (Update: You have twenty-four hours to return an Android app for refund. How much can you learn in twenty-four hours, though?)

By the way, if you get a Nexus One, you should know this. When you add an application, it doesn’t automatically appear on the home page. You have to choose to display it. My prediction is that lots of people will “know” they installed something but cannot find it. Google should change this logic. Imagine if you bought songs in iTunes, but they didn’t appear in your iPod automatically.

Summary

The Nexus One is a serious challenge to the iPhone—particularly because this is version 1 of Nexus One while the iPhone has been out for years. It is the phone that Palm should have created, but that’s another story.

Right now I cannot use a Nexus One as my primary phone because it cannot sync my calendar (something my teenage son doesn’t care about), I use it all the time (without a SIM card, just as a Wi-Fi device) while my iPhone charges around the house. The day that calendar syncing works will be very interesting.

Disclosure: Google sent me two Nexus Ones.

Total coverage of Android and iPhone.

From my friends at Holy Kaw!, http://holykaw.alltop.com. I'm definitely considering getting a Nexus One on Verizon later this year.

This is going to be awesome...Mickey Rourke as the villain is the icing on the cake.

Chromeo is one of my favorite bands. Their new "Night by Night" song is aggressively catchy and the video is great too. Hat tip to Sian-Pierre at Swagger Paris, http://www.swaggerparis.com, for posting the video. -BR