Google's official unveiling of its own-brand phone has finally brought to a halt the seemingly endless speculation over the device, the existence of which was long denied by the company, but which soon proved to be more than mere vapourware as the name and images of it eventually leaked onto the web.

The Nexus One, which can be ordered today from a new online store hosted by Google, has met with a mixed reaction from commentators and industry experts. Some have hailed the device as the only worthy challenger to Apple's iPhone, while others said that it renders other Android-based devices obsolete. Many, however, have expressed indifference to the Nexus and the "superphone" tag that Google has labelled it with.

Indeed, a glance at the specifications shows that the Nexus One, with its 1GHz Qualcomm SnapDragon processor, large touch-screen, Wi-Fi and 3G wireless support, plus built-in GPS, is very similar to other handsets such as HTC's HD2. This should come as little surprise, since the Nexus is actually manufactured for Google by HTC.

But it is the available software and services that set any mobile apart from the competition, as Apple has demonstrated with the iPhone, and the Nexus includes one or two surprises here.

As well as a newly minted version of Google's Android platform, the Nexus features speech recognition throughout, dynamic noise suppression on voice calls, and is also said to support automatic synchronisation of photos to the web.

However, in other respects the Nexus seems to have little to offer that consumers cannot already get with other Android-based handsets, such as access to Google Maps, Google Mail, Google Talk, and Android Market for downloading applications, so it is difficult to see justification for claims that the Nexus is the first in an emerging category of superphones.

Then there is the question of why Google has chosen to compete against its own partners, such as Motorola. The Android platform might be open, which is why it has attracted a number of handset vendors and carriers, but the fact that Google has been the first to market with an Android 2.1 device could easily convince its partners that they are not in an equal partnership.

Google's ultimate goal, as some observers have maintained, is probably to boost web advertising by getting its platform used by as many people as possible. Perhaps the company is hoping that it can follow Apple's example and use the cachet associated with the Google brand to draw consumers to the Nexus One instead of rival phones.

Whatever Google's motives for marketing its own-brand handset, the Nexus One seems a little disappointing after all the hype and rumour that preceded the launch. It certainly does not seem to be the "iPhone killer" that some observers have labelled it, especially as many buyers are drawn to Apple's handset because of its close integration with the iTunes music service and the huge number of available applications as much as for its slick design and touch-driven user interface.

However, here at V3.co.uk, we will reserve ultimate judgement until we have had a review model to test out for ourselves.

06 Jan 2010