Image by Daniel Greene via Flickr

With so much hype over the new Google phone, does it have a chance of living up to the expectations? I promised myself I wouldn’t use the term “iPhone killer” in this article, but with so people asking this question, I have to at least consider it. The answer is this; Yes, the Google Nexus One offers a huge competition to Apple’s iPhone. Will it destroy it? I doubt that. There’s plenty of room in the market for two high end smart phones (sorry Palm, you tried).

Before I even mention the phone, I have to say how impressed I am with the whole purchasing process from Google. The online shop is smooth sailing, and when you order the phone, you get a 15minute safety window to cancel. The phone arrived in the UK within three days of my purchase! For an engraved phone, that’s pretty damn amazing.

Now, everything about this phone is slick, even down to the boxing. I’m sure you’ll find a ton of un-boxing videos on YouTube if you’re into that kind of thing. But Google definitely took a leaf from Apple’s tree in regards to neat packaging – it felt like Christmas day again opening this thing.

The phone itself is extremely thin, smooth, yet easy to grip (important). There are 4 main buttons on the phone, just below the touch screen; Back, Menu, Home and Search. It’s useful having 4 standard buttons on a phone, something I often missed on the iPhone – it gives all apps a sense of uniform. There’s also a scroll-ball and a lock/unlock button, as well as volume control on the side.

Upon turning on the phone, the first thing I noticed was (continued on page 2…)