Amidst news of Google reportedly releasing its own Android handset, the Nexus One, sometime next year, comes a Google handset that has surfaced on Twitter.
An image of a Google Android handset was posted on Twitter by Cory O’Brien, a US marketing and advertising professional, who said this is a Google employee-exclusive phone being distributed and tested internally.
Whether this phone, which he said is the forthcoming HTC Passion, is indeed the same phone as the Nexus One, is up for debate.
Unverified tweets talk about the Google phone being tested by Googlers: “A friend from Google showed me the new Android 2.1 phone from HTC coming out in Jan. A sexy beast. Like an iPhone on beautifying steroids,” said GreatWhiteSnark.
Details, details!
O’Brien, the Twitterer behind the posted image of the Google phone, said Google has acknowledged the existence of this handset and added some juicy details on its functionality, saying it felt “very iPhone like when using the OS”.
When asked about the difference between the iPhone and the HTC Google phone O’Brien replied: “Hardware wise, they seemed very similar. The difference will be the OS and software.”
He also described the Google phone’s interactive backgrounds feature, saying that was an interesting/unique addition to the phone.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that Google plans to sell the phone to consumers directly over the web and that in comparison to the iPhone this new handset is not only slimmer than the 3GS, but also has a linger touchscreen.
By Marie Boran
Photo: The forthcoming Google phone as posted on Twitter by marketing expert Cory O’Brien.
