You've just gotten yourself a Motorola Droid on Verizon Wireless, and now there's already a new and better phone on the horizon? Don't worry, the Motorola Droid will likely get the software the HTC Nexus One will be powered by sometime next year. The main difference between the Motorola Droid and the HTC Nexus One will likely be the chipset, form factor and carrier support.
While the Motorola Droid should represent the latest and greatest Android offering in the QWERTY Slider category, the HTC Nexus One should represent the latest and greatest in the Android all-touch category. Mainstream media currently presents the latter as something that could beat the iPhone, yet a new hands-on report says that the Nexus One will first and foremost match the iPhone 3GS when it comes to hardware capabilities (performance is a relative subject of course).
The HTC Nexus One is in many ways the U.S. counterpart to the HTC Bravo for Europe we covered earlier this month. It'll operate only on T-Mobile's 3G network at 1700 MHz in the U.S. though, meaning that it'll not work on AT&T's 3G network, and it'll not work on Verizon Wireless and Sprint's respective EV-DO networks either.
Rumors are suggesting that Verizon Wireless will start offering the CDMA counterpart to the HTC Nexus One, though we could be talking several months before it'll actually hit store shelves, and it could easily have hardware tweaks of its own. HTC rarely builds exact clones. That said, compared to the HTC Droid Eris currently on Verizon Wireless, the HTC Nexus One will be a higher-end phone when it comes to pure specifications. The Droid Eris runs HTC's Sense interface though, making it more consumer-friendly out-of-box.
According to leaks, the HTC Nexus One will be powered by Android 2.1 though, while the HTC Droid Eris is currently powered by Android 1.5. With Android 2.0, Google brought improved 3D graphics acceleration to the table, meaning that the HTC Nexus One and its Android 2.1 software will be able to take advantage of more powerful hardware components than what the Droid Eris hides under the hood.
Android 2.1 is also said to be offering an improved interface, and an image at Engadget reveals that Google might be pushing multiple active screens through a card-based launcher.
At the end of the day, there are few reasons why one specific Google Phone that'll be sold and promoted to consumers by Google will come true at this point though. The really good news here is that Google is actually acknowledging that the Android all-touch form factor should offer the latest and greatest too, not just the QWERTY slider form factor. It's no secret that the myTouch 3G that was released earlier this year revealed the potential, and we think it's now become clear that T-Mobile, Google and HTC are looking to take out that potential with the HTC Nexus One early next year, pumped with new hardware technology and an out-of-box experience that doesn't make you desire third-party interfaces offered by some other Android phones.
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