Joe Duck

Google Phone almost here

Rediff is reporting that the Google Phone is coming within weeks. I’m skeptical it’ll be available that soon but I think this is a brilliant play for Google, striking at the hot iPhone market with a device I’m guessing will be similar, a bit better due to lessons learned from the iPhone, and cheaper. With Google’s branding power and very positive tech vibe they’ll be selling these as fast as they can produce them and if they provide the most robust connectivity they’ll beat the iPhone handily over time.

My price point? I’ve been wondering about this. My Treo 650 pisses me off about every time I use it, but I hate to trash that little investment. Examples of Treo deficiencies are the endless loop after synching which I just experienced this morning after loading my Google Party Pictures and now fear I’ll have every synch, a cumbersome proprietary desktop system, shitty modem capabilities, and a screen that is too small to use comfortably for browsing. In my view the key enhancement Google could bring would be a larger screen than the iPhone, though the iPhone screen is “large enough” to browse and view movies comfortably. But at $500 I’m keeping the Treo another year or so because applications like Google maps in Java give me “iPhone like” capabilities on the Treo, which I put to good use in the Silicon Valley traffic and road nightmare. At least California has very good signage. New Jersey could learn a lot from Caltrans.  However if Google can get down into the $350 range it’ll be hard to pass and at $250 I’d be in for sure, so go Google Phone go!   In any case I’ll be happy to switch away from Sprint which in rural Oregon is shorthand for “no connectivity”, not to mention the roaming I’m worried about while I was in the heart of silicon valley.   Hey sprint, can you hear me yet saying “I can’t hear you!”

August 24, 2007 - Posted by JoeDuck | gadgets, Google, internet, iphone, Science & Technology