Upcoming Google GPhone Details Leaked

From DailyTech: When Google announced that it was getting into the phone business, many expected that it was going to release the long rumored "GPhone", a high-tech smart phone akin to the iPhone. The company surprised everyone when it instead released a smart phone operating system, Android.

Now knee-deep in the smart phone industry, Google has gained much in terms of experience. While the first implementations of Android saw some mild enthusiasm, multi-touch ready Android 2.0 handsets like the Motorola Droid, available on Verizon in the U.S., are gaining even more traction. One key to why Google's experiment has worked -- somewhat -- is that most of the hardware it uses is high-end enough so that cross-platform apps are feasible.

However, in a surprising decision the company is reportedly preparing to complete a complete 180, returning to the original rumored "GPhone" and looking to make it the foundation of its smart phone business. The pivotal difference is that with the GPhone Google looks to write the majority of the software and tune the phone's experience, not just make the OS, as it has previously done.

Rumors first cropped up when some loose-lipped Google engineers spilled the beans on Twitter. Writes Google employee with Twitter s/n "identica", "Stuck in mass traffic leaving work post last all hands of 2009. ZOMG we all had fireworks and we all got the new Google phone. Its beautiful."

The phones handed out were reportedly unlocked. A friend of another Googler, going by the s/n "GreatWhiteShark" chimes in, "A friend from Google showed me the Android 2.1 phone from HTC coming out in Jan. A sexy beast. Like an iPhone on beautifying steroids."

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