Move over, Droid? A rumor from TechCrunch suggests that Google is overseeing development of a new Android phone bearing its brand name.
It's hard to dig up much in the way of specific information from Michael Arrington's story. He says this is not to be confused with HTC's Dragon or Passion, a thin, touch screen phone that senior staff on the Android team are currently carrying around. This is reportedly something new, with Google dictating every aspect of the design and slapping the Google name on the result.
Google will reportedly farm out the manufacturing to an experienced company, possibly HTC, but more likely LG, who was already rumored to be making an Anrdoid phone with Qualcomm's powerful Snapdragon chipset. There's no information on what the phone will look like, what features it will have or how it will distinguish itself from other Android devices made by HTC, Motorola, Samsung and others.
The phone was supposed to be ready for this holiday season, TechCrunch reports, but has slid into 2010, and a big marketing push could come as early as January.
If Google is getting into hardware design, that's big news, but Android hardware has been pretty good lately with one major exception: Google needs to ensure that its phone has much more than 512 MB in Flash ROM with a 256 MB storage limit for apps, as found in Motorola's Droid. Most Android phones are like this, coming with limited on board storage paired with a MicroSD card slot for photos, video and music, but because you can't install apps onto MicroSD, space is extremely limited for apps. That holds back the Android Market, which in turn holds back the platform. And I think the Android platform is what Google really wants to thrive as a result of the new hardware.
Also, is it too much to ask for a phone with smooth scrolling? Even the Droid looks a little choppy, and that's a minor complaint, but a little extra "wow" factor could go a long way if Google's going to put its name on a phone.
