The idea of the Google Phone and all the things that were mentioned is just pure awesomeness. Google really has a shot at changing the mobile market significantly for the world. I would definitely like to get my hands on one of those, I am imagining right now, free long distance calls...how awesome is that?? And all you have is a data contract.
He did briefly mention regional restrictions which would definitely suck. Also, you would have to think about what happens if you were to travel...I think the smart move would be to put GSM Quad-Band frequency into the phone so that when you travel (since you wouldn't have access to data) you can still go ahead and pop a sim card in and make calls. Also is the price of the data contract which I'm sure...won't be pretty, in my opinion anyways.
Cheers to Google!! I look forward to what they have.
I assume the data contract will be regional. However, when you travel you should be able to use WiFi, or data roaming plan, like Sprint has right now for $20/month. This would make it a true world phone.
Also Im not really sure how this is going to work. What wireless company will sell a phone that requires only data? And if they do what will the cost of data plans jump to?
Also Im not really sure how this is going to work. What wireless company will sell a phone that requires only data? And if they do what will the cost of data plans jump to?
All of them do already. It's data plan for non-phone devices, like the netbook or data modem. You can think of a GPhone like a netbook, but just smaller.
P.S.
To get this rolling, I think Google should buy the struggling Sprint right now.
Buy Sprint!? Please God no....doesn't Sprint run on CDMA? CDMA technology = fail. It would definitely restrict the gPhone to regions in that case...and it wouldn't really be a world phone at that point.
First, we are going to disagree over CDMA vs GSM, so let's not go there.
Second, Sprint will be just a way-in for Google in the USA. Imagine not to have to worry about starting a telecom company and spending resource in porting mobile phone numbers into Google Voice. Then Google will buy Roger in Canada, etc.
Third, I am speculating that GPhone will have the Qualcomm dual band chipset, so data roaming around the world would be just roaming contract.
Buy Sprint!? Please God no....doesn't Sprint run on CDMA? CDMA technology = fail. It would definitely restrict the gPhone to regions in that case...and it wouldn't really be a world phone at that point.
How would CDMA = fail? This is data coverage we are talking about, and by now everyone has seen the 3G coverage map (Verizon vs. AT&T) lol. CDMA has 5x more 3G coverage than GSM.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
Buy Sprint!? Please God no....doesn't Sprint run on CDMA? CDMA technology = fail. It would definitely restrict the gPhone to regions in that case...and it wouldn't really be a world phone at that point.
CDMA has not failed me once. In fact, the only cellular failure I've ever experienced was on AT&T. Just like any other phone, the gPhone could be CDMA with worldphone capabilities like the Storm, Tour, etc.
You mean the first article. Well you are not reading the entire article. The quote is out of context by itself.
No, by itself, it's quite in context. It was said about a month ago and something like no we are not doing this is not something google usually says. They are usually 'no comment' or question dodging.
People are trying to read WAY too far into a simple 'no we're not making a phone' statement.
A month ago is old news, if indeed it was a month ago and not longer.
Google sounded its intentions two weeks ago when it purchased a small company called Gizmo5, which had developed technology to connect Google Voice with voice-over-internet (Voip) networks such as Skype.
This rumor started a month ago with TechCrunch and they just reran the same rumor a couple of days ago. Phandroid isn't so reliable either, they tend not to check their facts before writing about a topic. Also Google has already stated several times that they have no interest in developing their own hardware, nor do they have the people to do it.
Now Google may in fact be developing their own and reigning in Android in an effort to compete with iPhone. One phone running Android is a lot easier to update and maintain compared to what we have now.
My bet is that's what's going happened. One manufacturer, all carriers.
