Google
Nexus One

The Google Nexus One was an HTC-manufactured smartphone that marked Google’s decision to sell mobile phones directly to consumers for the first time. At the launch event in January 2010, Google used the term "superphone" to describe the device. The phone cost $529 when purchased from Google’s website and was initially available with airtime from T-Mobile USA. In April 2010 the Nexus One was also made available bundled with airtime from Vodafone in Europe. However, in May 2010 Google announced it would close its own store and it was eventually shuttered in July 20210. The Nexus One remained available through other channels after this point. The phone's design included a metal wrap-around casing with a band across its back that could be used for personalised engraving, which Google offered as a free service if customers were happy to have 72 hours added to the dispatch time. Notably it was branded "Google" rather than "with Google" as had been the case on other Android phones at the time. In terms of specs, the Nexus One boasted a 3.7-inch AMOLED touch screen, five-megapixel camera and tri-band HSPA. It also offered the ability to transcribe voice to text, had an additional microphone to provide dynamic noise suppression, and it also had voice guided turn-by-turn navigation via Google Maps. At the time of launch the phone was considered to be a speedy device and this became one of its defining attributes. It was undoubtedly due to the Qualcomm QSD 8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz processor and enhancements in the 2.1 release of the Android software. This was not the first time this processor had been used in a mobile phone. It also featured in the HTC HD2, Toshiba TG01 and the Sony Ericsson X10. The device's responsiveness was noticeable in almost every aspect of operation, be that the screen transitions, scrolling through lists, opening applications or multitasking. It set a benchmark for other devices in 2010. There were four icons across the bottom of the screen. These were not physical, clickable keys, but touch-sensitive buttons offering four functions: back, menu, home and search. These were considered one of the shortcomings of the phone, as they initially appeared unresponsive. However, subsequent use revealed that the touch area associated with the buttons was slightly above them. This meant that it was possible to accidently select one of these functions when trying to interact with applications at the bottom edge of the screen. Google's decision to open a direct retail channel to sell unlocked Android devices was considered a bold move at the time. However, it was not the first company offer phones directly. For example, Nokia had established web stores in many markets at the time. The perceived risk for Google was that it might undermine the growing support for Android among many manufacturers, however this never became an issue. Although technology enthusiasts were excited by the Nexus One, it's high unsubsidised price and consumers limited appetite for buying phones online at the time dampened it's appeal. Google's lack of brand awareness in consumer electronics and mobile hardware also ensured modest sales. At the time, HTC’s partnership with Google was considered to be quite a coup. The general view was that HTC benefitted greatly from the close development partnership undertaken on the Nexus One. Arguably this allowed HTC to not only gain a competitive advantage by getting access to the latest Android OS features first, but it also meant it was able to have a leading role in determining the future direction of the Android platform. When the HTC Desire was released later in the year it had extremely strong similarities to the Nexus One, beyond the main difference of having an optical trackpad rather than a trackball. It also had HTC’s Sense UI rather than the vanilla Android version on the Nexus One. The trackball was similar to those used on many BlackBerry devices. HTC integrated an LED that made the ball change colour, flash, or glow briefly to indicate the charging status of the phone or other information. For example, it flashed blue when the phone received a call while connected to a Bluetooth headset. An unusual fact about the Nexus One relates to Google’s efforts to trademark the name. In December 2009 the company made an application to secure the trademark, but the application was ultimately declined in March 2010 as the rights had already been granted to another company. Google also faced another challenge shortly after the launch. It was subject to a cease-and-desist action from the estate of science-fiction author Philip K. Dick who considered the Nexus One to be an intellectual property infringement relating to the ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ Novel which was published in 1968. The estate claimed that "Nexus One" was a reference to the "Nexus-6" robots in Dick’s book.