More Details Emerge on the Mythical Google Phone

[Jerry Raia]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/06/more-details-emerge-on-the-mythical-google-phone/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/06/more-details-emerge-on-the-mythical-google-phone/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Now that the iPhone has moved from rumor limbo into the land of the living (at least we think so -- how many people have actually touched one?), we obviously need another mythical mobile to drool over and speculate about -- and the natural candidate is, of course, the so-called Google phone. While the big G has been making inroads on your handset with mobile versions of its search, email, and mapping software for some time, there has been growing speculation that the company is working on its own hardware -- speculation that only intensified when we published that pic of a supposed Google / Samsung collaboration called the Switch..."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Jerry-Switch.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />I hope Google does make this phone, I really do. I haven't had anything to bash since the MPx220 and this would go beyond my wildest dreams. Beta jokes aside, I say we begin a petition to encourage Google to make this turkey. The resulting comedy would be well worth it. Maybe we could take up a collection? :roll:

[ctmagnus]

But wouldn't it be awesome to have a device that's, like, 95% screen? Not so much as a phone, but as a tablet?

[Jerry Raia]

Not if it's running some goofy Google hybrid operating system! :lol:

[ctmagnus]

That aside, wouldn't it?

[Jerry Raia]

OK Maybe...

[Rocco Augusto]

But wouldn't it be awesome to have a device that's, like, 95% screen? Not so much as a phone, but as a tablet?

as long as i didnt have to touch/smudge/muck-up the screen, I would be all over it! ;)

[Mike Temporale]

i don't know. A gPhone? :roll:

[SteveHoward999]

i don't know. A gPhone? :roll:

If it has Wi-Fi, would we spend our days looking for gSpots?

:twisted:

[Pony99CA]

i don't know. A gPhone? :roll:
If it has Wi-Fi, would we spend our days looking for gSpots?
You mean we don't already? :lol:

Steve

[Pony99CA]

I hope Google does make this phone, I really do. I haven't had anything to bash since the MPx220 and this would go beyond my wildest dreams. Beta jokes aside, I say we begin a petition to encourage Google to make this turkey. The resulting comedy would be well worth it. Maybe we could take up a collection? :roll:
What kind of "critique" is that? You gave absolutely no reasons why you think this will be a turkey (although in a forum post later, you say Google producing their own OS would be one reason).

Samsung licenses pretty much every mobile OS and has made some decent phones. I don't know how much Linux experience they have, but I suspect they'd probably take a standard mobile Linux implementation and put some Google UI shell on top at worst.

But let's at least give reasons why we're bashing something (especially when so little is known about it). Or did I miss a previous story where those reasons were listed?

Steve

[Jerry Raia]

It's not even going to be an MS OS which is what we DO focus on here. To me this is as amusing as a Palm phone. Perhaps the other 10 people running Linux on their PC's will like it though. In any case I predict it will be a joke just like I think the iPhone will be. We will see if I am right. What applications will even run on it? How many phone OS's are there out there now? Do we really need another one?

[Mike Temporale]

But let's at least give reasons why we're bashing something (especially when so little is known about it). Or did I miss a previous story where those reasons were listed?

I guess you're not familiar with Jerry's love of Google and all their beta applications. :lol:

I find it funny that number of years ago everyone was laughing at Microsoft when they said they are going to start building a phone OS. now, every software company thinks they can do it too. I'm not much of a google fan anymore. I think that while it might be built by Samsung, that doesn't mean that it will be a Samsung based OS with a new UI. Chances are Google wants more control than that. I think Samsung is just going to be building it. Google will supply the OS and it will be in beta for decades.

[dlinker]

The following quote from the Sydney Morning Herald is from a transcript of an interview last week with Vincent Cerf - Google's Chief Internet Evangelist:

I asked about recent reports that Google had a so-called G-phone in the works and that it was collaborating with Apple on a hardware project. Was Google getting into hardware?

VC: I don't think so. On the other hand, we're very interested in the platforms that other people are building. We are quite eager to be part of the mobile revolution. People are acquiring mobile equipment which is much more elaborate that simple a telephone. Becoming an equipment manufacturer is pretty far from our business model.

From the Blog of the Journalist who interviewed Cerf:
http://blogs.smh.com.au/mashup/archives//010255.html

[Pony99CA]

The following quote from the Sydney Morning Herald is from a transcript of an interview last week with Vincent Cerf - Google's Chief Internet Evangelist:

Becoming an equipment manufacturer is pretty far from our business model.
Not that far -- they make (or at least sell) the Google Search Appliance (http://www.google.com/enterprise/gsa/#utm_medium=et&amp;utm_source=bizsols&amp;utm_campaign=gsa) for companies' intranets. Of course, that's a corporate thing, not a consumer device like a cell phone.

Steve