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2010 New Year's Resolution: Google Android Phone & Straight Talk or Bust

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Drawing the line on crappy cell phones, AT&T's awful network & high airtime prices we affirm a move to a great cell phone & generic Verizon (Straight Talk) cell service.

We think this is an affordable, common sense mobile communication & computing pledge and plan to stick by it.

Goals:
Mobility - Work anywhere
Affordable, high quality mobile communications & tethered laptop

• Voice
• Texting
• Data & tethering

Ability to demo our GPS Fleet Management Software in the field and manage our fleet of vehicles, route drivers with GPS dispatching and track our heavy equipment and trailers.

Ability to monitor home & office using Control4 Home Automation.

Requirements:
Purchasing an unlocked Android phone enables price comparisons between cell providers and month to month billing allows us to walk away from poor service or towards better offerings.

Notes:
A trade-off has been made to move away from desktop Microsoft & OutLook to "the cloud" using Google Gmail & Google Docs.
Straight Talk is available through Walmart
Page Plus Cellular is another possibility for airtime.

Because  AT&T and iPhone can't and Verizon & Droid won't...

Dawson Barber.

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Google Phone May be Available in Early January

FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc plans to sell two versions of its own-branded cell phone: one with a service contract with T-Mobile USA and another that is unlocked, a source familiar with the matter said.

The phone, manufactured by HTC, has a number of code names such as HTC Passion, Dream or Nexus One and could be available directly though the Google website as early as January 5, according to the source.

Google said on its official blog on Saturday that it was testing a new mobile device with its employees. Media reports have said that Google will sell an unlocked version of the touch screen phone, allowing consumers to pick a carrier of their choice to provide wireless service.

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GPS Fleet Tracking

Google to Sell HTC Android Phone For Consumers

Highlights:

• Unlocked
• Probably ATT or T-Mobile Network
• HTC Quality

Note: We're holding out for an unlocked Android CDMA-based (Verizon) to use on Straight Talk, a generic version of Verizon's airtime offered through Walmart.

InformationWeek.com

'Nexus One' Is Google's Android Phone For Consumers
by Eric Zeman - Dec 13, 2009 

Mere hours after Google posted a blog about an unnamed Android device that it gave its employees, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that the device will in fact be sold to consumers as the Nexus One. This is the real, actual, Google Phone, and it will be available in early 2010. It's still not called the "Google Phone", but the Nexus One -- to be made by HTC -- is as close as I think we're going to get. The WSJ cites sources familiar with Google's plans and says that Google has designed this handset and plans to sell it directly to consumers, unlocked. The device will run Android version 2.1 and will run special software not available to current Android devices. The WSJ reports, "Google designed virtually the entire software experience behind the phone, from the applications that run on it to the look and feel of each screen. Google appears to want to throw its brand behind a device more directly, designing a phone without working with the wireless carriers that often dictate what features they allow on their networks." What's interesting is that the head of the Android project at Google has flatly said, more than once, that the company is not interesting in making or selling hardware. Obviously, this changes things. Granted, HTC is actually making the device for Google, but it will be fully branded by Google and the user experience will be Google's and not HTC's. The device will be available directly from Google online, and buyers will have to provide their own cellular service. It will be sold unlocked, so that users can choose the network on which to use it. Whether those will be CDMA-based (Sprint, Verizon) or GSM-based (AT&T, T-Mobile) is unclear, though it is more likely that the device will be GSM-based to give it a wider base of possible users. On Saturday, Google admitted that it had given its employees a device to test out over the holidays. They'll be evaluating all the systems on the phone and report how things work. Google calls this process "dogfooding." This device is the Nexus One. It will be available in early 2010. Price point and other specs remain unknown.