Latest rumor cites Google Phone as a “certainty”
A skeptic hearing a rumor will often claim to only believe something when they see it with their own eyes. But that’s exactly what a source for one tech site claims to have done with the much-discussed “Google Phone”.
As we’ve covered before, there have been rumors of such a device ever since the firm first announced the concept of the Android operating system. But as more and more manufacturers produced Android-based phone, the purpose of a Google phone (beyond simply having a very recognizable brand name) became less and less clear.
The most recent theory before this week came from Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch who raised the possibility of it being a data-only device, with calls made through VOIP. While it’s not clear how reliable that story is, there’s certainly some logic to the idea: it would be a genuinely new concept, would tie in nicely with Google’s Voice services, and would even give a tenuous reason (“it’s not a phone”) why Google had denied previous rumors.
Now Gizmodo reports a source has specifically seen a Google Phone, described as “Google-branded hardware running a version of Android we haven’t yet seen.” The source noted that the system – which was also seen on a laptop – was definitely a new edition of Android rather than the Chrome operating system.
The conclusion which both Gizmodo and other sites have drawn from those details is that the handset will run a custom-built version of Android which directly incorporates Google Voice. That would be an interesting strategy: while Android is based on open source and a mix-and-match of apps and hardware, this would be a very straightforward partnership between hardware and software.
As long as Google can find at least one firm willing to support the handset on a data-only plan, the potential is there for a handset which has a recognizable brand name and offers extremely cheap voice calls with little or no technical wizardry needed on the part of the user. That really would be a game-changer, and indeed a reason for a Google Phone to exist.
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