Peer Review: GPhone rumors stoke commentary, creativity
Google phone rumors have been circulating for months, but speculation crescendoed (we hope) this week, with Engadget reporting that Google will announce its "mobile platform" in the "very near future." Crunchgear hears that the phones will be produced by HTC or Samsung, or both, and will run Google Talk, which allows users to make free or very cheap calls over the internet. Piper Jaffrey, an investment bank that give financial advice, called the rumors circulating on the web (including here) "partially credible."
But what will the phone look like? Over the course of 2007, designers have designed and Photoshopped a ton of different options. After the jump, we've rounded up our favorite "gPhone" mockups. Which is your favorite? What would you like to see in a Google phone? We've rounded up a few views from around the web, but would love to hear yours.
"Google will be met with a significant amount of competition that it wields no advantage over. Cell phones are a different ballgame and if you ask me, Google is ill-equipped to play this game." , CNet
"The most exciting part of the Gphone rumor-mongering is the word that phone might use ads to subsidize your minutes and texts. In other words?free calls! How they would go about doing this without completely ruining the experience is anybody's guess." , Crunch Gear
"It makes sense for Google to be talking to mobile carriers in countries where PC density is marginal. By tightly integrating the Google Apps, Google Phone could become a viable rival to the much ballyhooed $100" , GigaOM
"If it runs Linux, has Google Maps and GPS, I'll be the first in line to buy one.", Information Week
This one is supposedly a "leaked" image of the phone. If that's true, maybe Google should have contacted some the designers above first.
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