If you’ve spent any time in the tech end of the blogosphere lately, chances are that you’ve heard plenty of info about the Nexus One, a new phone from Google that they are calling a “superphone inch, implying that it is one step up from the smartphones that we’ve come to know.

Google had scheduled and official press event today and is revealing all about the Nexus One, which is an HTC handset designed very closely with Google. It is running Android 2.1 software which Google says will be available to other existing Android devices soon.

Check out an animated 3D tour of the Nexus One.

Even cooler than a simple official announcement is that Google is already selling the phone, and it couldn’t easier to purchase. Just go to www.google.com/phone. Currently the phone can be purchased at a subsidized $179 with T-mobile as the carrier, or unlocked (for use with any SIM card/GSM network) for $529. Also on board for carrier subsidies, but not available until Spring 2010, is Verizon and Vodafone.

One major fine print detail about the unlocked and unsubsidized version: Google says that the currently available Nexus One does not support AT&T or Rogers 3G bands. So phone calls should work on these networks (and perhaps even EDGE data), but you won’t be getting fast 3G cellular web access. Here is the official text:

The currently available Nexus One device is unlocked and will recognize SIM cards from any mobile service provider using the GSM standard, but is incompatible with the frequency band used by the AT&T and Rogers networks for 3G data (see below). Additionally, the Nexus One is incompatible with CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint.

[My emphasis on currently available] It seems that Google is hoping to support these bands in the future with a slightly modified Nexus One. They also go on to say the following:

We are working hard to provide Nexus One phones optimized for the Verizon network – please stay tuned. The Nexus One for Verizon will not be a GSM device, so it will not be compatible with T-Mobile, AT&T, or other GSM networks.

Alright enough about carriers, how about specs? I’ll give you the quick details, but you can jump over to the tech-specs page for even more.

• 3.7-inch 800×480 AMOLED capacitive touchscreen
• 1GHz Qualcomm ‘Snapdragon’ QSD 8250 CPU @ 1GHz
• 5MP camera
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• AGPS
• Digital compass

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this phone. Now I understand why HTC was holding back on an Android version of the HTC HD2. It makes me happy to see that Google has made the landing page for purchasing the phone extremely simple (in typical Google fashion). I’m looking forward to a version of this phone that will support the necessary bands for AT&T 3G as that is the carrier which I’m currently using, but it isn’t exactly clear if they are working on a version of the Nexus One that will support it or not.

Information is coming through on Google’s Chromium OS from a number of sources. (See below.) I’ve been following the Techcrunch blog and as a mobile-focused end-user, I’m picking up a number of things that turn me off.

I advise you to check out the two links at the bottom of this article but here are a few pointers.

• Available for end users in a year
• For OEMs to build into devices
• Coming to X86 first then ARM
• Limited device support
• “Android apps currently will not run on Chrome OS. inch
• For devices bigger than netbooks
• [Screeching halt!]

Clearly Chromium OS is for high-speed fixed (stationary) connections and not for mobile devices. Device support will be extremely limited so I wouldn’t expect this to work with 3G, touchscreens, multi-touch mousepads, fingerprint readers, external screens, local storage, extended buttons or other special features we see on UMPCs without it being re-built especially for each device.

Personally I’m having trouble working out what Google are doing here. Is it to promote HTML5 development? Am I failing to see the long-term play? Are we really going to be using operating systems on our desks that are dumber than the ones on our phones?

The advantages for netbooks users are limited. The license cost advantage will be just $15-$25, the device support will be poor and there will be a million and one re-distributions causing confusion and splintering for Linux.

High-speed javascript processing won’t be unique to Chrome. Fast boot won’t be unique to Chrome. HTML5 won’t be unique to Chrome. Web apps won’t be unique to Chrome. What’s going to get people to buy a Chromium OS computer? I doubt people will be queuing up for an OS that never needs upgrading.

Google Blog

Techcrunch

Warning. This is another ‘our reliable sources’ story!

Shanzai.com, a website dedicated to tracking China’s tech industry, is reporting that Lenovo, and Acer will launch products based on the Nvidia Tegra platform and running Google Chrome OS.

If it’s true it means that Google OS is months ahead of schedule. Previous Google said that we wouldn’t see devices until 2010.

Apart from those ‘reliable sources’ and a few very strange looking pics that were purported to be Google OS, there’s nothing much to go on here.

Thin and light mini notebooks will come soon, I have no doubt, but there’s a huge question mark hanging over the choice of OS. Linux looks to be the big winner here but what flavor it will have is anybody’s guess.

Exclusive: Lenovo and Acer to launch Tegra devices with Google’s Chrome OS

Got any thoughts on this one?

On the 7th July, Google announced that they are developing an operating system called ‘Google Chrome OS.’

“Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.”

“…redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates”

“..Google Chrome running within a new windowing system”

“…Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips.”

The world of Internet journalism went mad and Techmeme lit up as a result of the announcement. Thousands of blogs responded too. It was quite an interesting response for what is essentially another Linux distro. Perhaps it reflects the desire for a real consumer-level alternative out there. It certainly proves the power of the Google brand and that could be the most important aspect of the whole product.

Read the full story

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items from around the web.

• Netbook Cover Fashions Itself in the Likeness of an NES Controller This handcrafted netbook slip case has a cool retro gaming style to it as it is designed to look like an NES controller. Looks as though the person who made it uses it to protect their Acer Aspire One [Portal page].
• Broadcom demonstrates video accelerator for netbooks Broadcom has developed a part for inclusion in netbook platforms called Broadcom Crystal HD which works to accelerate video processing, apparently enough that a Mini 110 [Portal page] can play back 1080p video at full framerate, which is pretty impressive.
• Instant-On OS Makers Respond to Chrome OS Makers of instant on pre-OSs Splashtop and HyperSpace response to the news that Google plans to release Chrome OS which will initially be targeted toward netbook users.
• HP Mini 110 Netbook Gains $30 HD Display Option Speaking of the Mini 110, Kevin C. Tofel from jkOnTheRun let’s us know that the unit can now be configured with a 1366×768 resolution display, up from the previous 1024×576 option. Along with the aforementioned Broadcom Crystal HD option, you are getting real HD playback (1280×720) from a netbook!
• Asus Eee PC T101H touchscreen netbook coming later this year Asus UK has confirmed the specs of the Asus Eee T101H [Portal page], the bigger brother of the T91 [Portal page]

In the same way that Google Wave is being designed, in a way, to represent what email would look like if it were invented today, Google’s just announced operating system is Google’s attempt to re-think what operating systems should be. Google says that the operating systems that we use today were fundamentally developed before the consumer web was around, and thus aren’t conducive to the activities and goals of computer usage that is expected in this day and age.

The Google Chrome OS, which is set to be released on netbooks in the second half of 2010, is an open source operating system that will run on both x86 and ARM based architectures, and Google hopes to initially target netbooks, but the OS will definitely be used elsewhere as well.

As the name implies, the Google Chrome OS is going to be like booting right into a browser in just a few seconds. This puts Google’s suite of web applications in a favorable position as Google brings more and more users into the cloud. Google also makes the point that developers who create new web applications will be developing for the largest computing platform, as web apps based on web standards will run in any browser, giving that application access to a user-base which extends to Mac, PC, and further.

In case it wasn’t clear, the Google Chrome OS will be completely free, and open-sourced later this year so that the open-source community can contribute to the project. We mentioned that the Google Chrome OS will start showing up on netbooks in the second half of 2010; Google says they are working with a number of technology companies to bring Chrome OS equipped devices to market, including: Acer, Adobe, Asus, Freescale, HP, Lenovo, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments.

Google seems to be very transparent about this project, as it seems to benefit consumers enormously. Consumers are going to get a quick booting, free OS. Netbook and other hardware producers have a solid choice in a free open-source OS which means consumers won’t have other OS license fees passed on to them. Additionally all of this is going to create good competition in the instant booting OS space, which means innovation and better products.

Read the official announcement from the official Google blog.

Right then, that’s the end of my first day on my Mid Moves tour. Who’d like to see what I got up to?

Mid Moves (Ewan) – Day 1… Fire from Ewan Spence on Vimeo.

In the video, I talk about my choices of today’s element (fire) and my transport of the day (the bicycle), and take you on a little tour of Edinburgh.

The Compal was used for three main areas today wiring up blog posts, doing the route planning (courtesy of Google Maps, which takes me on a weird route I wouldn’t have considered), and pointing out the extra information about the monuments on Calton Hill available by browsing the internet when you’re standing next to them.

Breaking News (Meaning I don’t have much information at this stage!) Google have just posted confirmation that they will launch a new browser tomorrow (3rd Sept.)

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

That doesn’t sound too exciting but if its Ajax-focused, it could be interesting for mobile users. Its a hash of Firefox and Webkit by the sounds of it.

We’ve used components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, among others — and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.

I’m looking forward to trying it out, testing its capabilities and speed tomorrow. Stay tuned for some UMPC-based Chrome action! Questions to be answered:

• Is it fast for ajax?
• Does it support grab and drag (our fave) plugin
• Is it just a google-focused window to Google apps?

More comment from Matt Cutts (Google.) More official info at the Google blog,

Update: Chrome is now available for download. Have installed on desktop and don’t see any way to ‘grab and drag’ or fullscreen or do any sort of plugin activity. That will kill it for most people I think. What exactly are they trying to achieve with Chrome?