More Nexus One info

Obviously we spoke about the launch of the new Google phone, the Nexus One, yesterday and most sites seem to be awash with ‘news’ and speculation about its eventual availability.

I mentioned in my last post that the handset could be purchased SIM-free directly from Google (www.google.com/phone) for $529 and Google will ship to the UK. What seems like a reasonable deal, $529 equates to around £325 at the moment, there’s more to consider in the cost. Firstly you’ll have to add 6.5% sales TAX, then 17.5% VAT and UK import duty and finally a currently undisclosed shipping charge. So the cost of picking up the Nexus One from the USA is likely to be nearer to £500.

In terms of specification the Nexus isn’t going to be a slouch. Android 2.1, 1Ghz Qualcomm QSD 8250 CPU, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, 3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, trackball, GPS, accelerometer, digital compass, light and proximity sensors and a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash.

Sound good so far?

One thing that may disappoint you is that there will not be multi-touch functionality in the stock device. Seems a shame, and this has been put down to there being some kind of Apple patent in force in the USA with regard to multi-touch. Whether the European models will have this enabled by default we are not yet sure but we understand that the hardware is certainly capable and that the Android 2.1 OS is capable, it’s simply that the bundled applications, such as maps and the web browser, have the multi-touch feature disabled so I’m sure that this could be somehow enabled later.

Google Nexus One Specification:

Height: 119mm
Width: 59.8mm
Depth: 11.5mm
Weight: 130 grams w/battery
3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 800 x 480 pixels
5 megapixels camera
Autofocus from 6cm to infinity
2X digital zoom
LED flash
User can include location of photos from phone’s AGPS receiver
Video captured at 720×480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher, depending on lighting conditions
UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900)
HSDPA 7.2Mbps
HSUPA 2Mbps
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
A2DP stereo Bluetooth
Removable 1400 mAH battery
Talk time: Up to 10 hours on 2G / Up to 7 hours on 3G
Standby time: Up to 290 hours on 2G / Up to 250 hours on 3G
Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G / Up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 7 hours
Audio playback: Up to 20 hours
Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz
Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)
512MB Flash
512MB RAM
4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)
Assisted global positioning system (AGPS) receiver
Cell tower and Wi-Fi positioning
Digital compass
Accelerometer