Google Nexus One phone speculation hits critical mass

Will Android-based device be launched this week?.

If all goes according to plan -- and by "plan", we mean endless, unconfirmed speculation -- Google will introduce Nexus One at a press conference in Mountain View, California, on Tuesday.

Google hasn't confirmed as much but has told various media outlets to expect a "significant announcement". Most expect that to be the official arrival of the Nexus One, which since the rumor mill began to heat up two months ago has been touted as Google's Apple iPhone killer.

The device, though manufactured by HTC, will be branded as a Google phone and run version 2.1 of Google Android. From there the actual details of the Nexus One get dicey.

A number of tech news sites, including Engadget and Gizmodo, posted what appear to be leaked pictures of the Nexus One. According to those and previously leaked specifics, the phone has a 3.7-inch screen and a 5-megapixel camera, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, a light sensor, Wi-Fi radio with Bluetooth, an FM speaker, open GL ES 2.0 capable graphics, and a Snapdragon processor.

Gizmodo, with the help of leaked documents it says it obtained, further reported that the phone will cost about $530 unlocked or $180 with a two-year lock-in with T-Mobile.

Engadget went so far as to post a lukewarm review of the Nexus One on Saturday, with the site's editor in chief, Joshua Topolsky, saying the phone "is not really very different than the Droid in any substantial way" although it is "notably faster".

Meanwhile, Gartner's Research Director for Enterprise Mobility Robin Simpson told CRN in December that the new Google phone is nothing more than internal prototyping. As a pure software company, Google doesn't have warehousing, he said, or any of the other physical assets required to ship physical product.

The Nexus One represents a continued push by Google into the smartphone marketplace, following the continued success of its Android operating system and the excitement created around the Motorola Droid and the rest of last year's hot new Android phones.

Thanks to all the Nexus One buzz and speculation, Google has also effectively stolen a page from the Apple playbook: building breathless anticipation in advance of a mysterious product launch. Google also stands to steal a bit of the thunder from this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which kicks off Thursday in Las Vegas.