Is a True Google Phone on the Way?

Posted 11/18/2009 at 8:58am | by Paul Lilly

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The dust hasn't had a chance to settle on Motorola's Droid, but that hasn't stopped the Android camp from looking ahead to the next hyped up handset that could, once again, prove to be an iPhone killer. So what has the Android community giddy with anticipation? The Dragon/Passion (and something else, but more on that in a minute).

According to Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch, HTC's upcoming Dragon/Passion will be much thinner than either the Droid or iPhone, and as of a couple of weeks ago, it's been the smartphone of choice among senior Android guys at Google. Pat yourself on the back if you sensed a caveat, because unlike the Droid or G1, this one won't ship with a physical keyboard.

But there's even bigger news in the Android camp. Perhaps tired of waiting for a handset maker to develop that must-have smartphone capable of socking it to Apple's iPhone, Google is apparently building its own branded phone, or so Arrington claims to have confirmed. Originally intended to ship in time for the holidays, the date has been pushed back to early 2010.

According to Arrington, a major phone manufacturers will produce the handset, but with Google's branding (similar to how Toshiba manufactured the first Zune players of Microsoft). and Google will sell the smartphone both directly and through retailers. Hoping to avoid any quirky compromises, Google is in complete control of the entire design and should represent the search giant's vision of what an Android smartphone should ultimately be.

Arrington says the rest is unconfirmed speculation, but that's okay - this is plenty to drum up some buzz and chatter in the Android community, don't you think?