Google joins smartphone race with Nexus One

Nexus One, which Andy Rubin, Google's vice-president of engineering, claims "belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call 'superphones,'" boast of features such as the ultra-powerful ARM-based Qualcomm QSD82350 (Snapdragon) Cortex A8 1GHz processor (not surprising as speed has always been one of Google's core brand values), 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom, autofocus and LED flash, A-GPS, 3G, WiFi, GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, onscreen Qwerty keyboard, microSD card slot (expandable up to 32GB; Nexus One ships with 4GB card), microUSB port and 3.5mm audio jack.

The Google phone, which reportedly is slightly lighter and smaller than the iPhone, also comes with accelerometer sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and digital compass.

Unlike iPhone, the Google phone sports a user changeable battery but it does not support multitouch functions.

And, that's not all. The pencil-thin device incorporates applications including Google Maps Navigation and a weather widget to give users an immediate forecast for their precise location.

Still clamouring for more? With Nexus One, phone users can also use voice recognition for text messages, emails, Facebook updates and Twitter, as well as search Google, call contacts or obtain driving directions by speaking into the phone.

Other aspects packed into the Nexus One include a 3D photo gallery, Live (animated) Wallpapers and widespread support for popular Google applications such as Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation.

But most importantly, Nexus One is the first smartphone to run on Android 2.1 mobile platform which promises enhanced functionality and improved usability.

And, like any other Android-based device, Nexus One can multitask with ease. In other words, with Nexus One you can open a dozen applications, watch a listen to music and take a call at the same time without encountering any lag or freeze.

In fact, thanks to the open source platform, users of Android-based devices can do lots of things on their Android handsets such as running applications in the background, allowing them to get instant alerts whenever a friend updates their Facebook page or Twitter profile; listening to music on Spotify while writing an email; and threading conversations by person, rather than by the method of contact, so you see all your text messages, emails, instant message chats with a friend in a single place, rather than spread across programs.