Google’s Phone, “Nexus One”, Spotted in the Wild

Last week, Time Magazine posted its annual “Top 10” list for fifty different categories, and for gadgets, the top spot was given to Motorola’s Droid phone. This was a fairly big surprise, since Apple’s products have dominated top lists for the past few years, especially with the iPhone, but it was refreshing to see a new face for once. There’s been a lot of debate as to which is better, the Droid or the iPhone, but one thing’s for certain, Droid certainly did a lot of things right.

Unlike many other smart phones on the market, Droid doesn’t run a Palm or Windows OS, but rather “Android”, the operating system spearheaded by Google and various partners. With a company like Google behind such a robust phone OS, it almost seemed likely that it would evolve into more than just a developer, and release an actual product, and it looks as though that rumors are true, as the Google phone has been spotted in the wild.

Early leaked images of the phone looked like HTC’s Passion, and the most recent action shots show that to be the case. There’s no HTC branding on the phone, however, so whether this is just a result of an early unit, or due to a deal Google struck with the company, no one knows (except Google). According to one blogger, the phone is an “iPhone + a little extra screen and a scroll wheel“, and judging by the pictures, it does look to be a bit taller than an iPhone.

The final name for the phone, supposedly, is “Nexus One”, and the release date is of course unknown. With these recent leaks of images, though, it looks like we’ll be learning a lot more about the device in the near-future. Rumor also has it that Google will be selling these phones directly, rather than going through a partner, and if that’s the case, then things are going to be mighty interesting.

Apparently, Googlers aren’t supposed to be tweeting the details of the Google Phone, but they have no problem tweeting about how awesome it is. And they also apparently have no problem showing it off. And not surprisingly, pictures of the device are starting to hit the web. Without further ado, this is it. Cory O’Brien, a San Francisco-based blogger, got his hands on one tonight and tweeted out that picture.