One has to feel for the Android devs out there.  I know I do.  With this kind of fragmentation it is almost as bad as developing for the web with the many different browsers out there.  Notice in the chart below that most of Android users out there are still running 1.5 or 1.6.  An interesting fact considering that we are starting to see many apps come out that are 2.1 only.  Checkout the chart below to see the breakdown.

The breakdown is as follows:

Deloura was the manager of developer relations at Sony, so this move is right up his alley and may signal that Google is getting ready to take games as a medium more seriously.  There are also rumors that Google is developing a set top box and a tablet with the Google Experience with Android on each.  Could hiring Deloura be a move to tighten up those platforms to compete with Apple TV and the iPad?  Time will tell of course.

No matter what his final area of focus will be revealed to be, Google made a great pickup here, especially if he helps them bring some sort of order and semblance to the Market.

It will be interesting to see what Google’s first hire in the gaming arena is going to mean for the Android platform.

Google Earth

Back in January when the Nexus One was unveiled, we got our first glimpse at Google Earth for Android. When the Nexus One officially shipped, I was surprised to learn that the application wasn’t loaded on the phone. In fact, there wasn’t even a mention of it after the unveiling. I assumed it would arrive at some point on either Android 1.6 or later.

Now it’s more than a month later and Google finally snuckGoogle Earth into the Android Marketplace yesterday.

On paper, the Google Earth app sounds fantastic. Not only does it feature the highest resolution (800×480 pixels) seen on a mobile handset to date, it also adds new features like voice search and road layers. I wish I could share firsthand how great the experience is but, sadly, only Nexus One owners can download and take advantage of the new application. Apparently, unless you own a super phone, you’re not able to handle Google Earth.

As a T-Mobile G1 owner, I don’t ever expect to see this app on my phone. Even if I pretend that my phone gets an update to Android 2.1, I would have to remove a big chunk of applications to make room. Google Earth is 5.7MB to download, which is considerably larger than anything I have on my phone so far. Once extracted and fully installed, it eats up 22MB of precious memory. That’s simply not feasible for me as I would rarely use the app.

As to the timing of this release, I’m somewhat confused. It’s not like Google Earth was necessarily time-sensitive. At some point, most of today’s Android phones will be upgraded to Android 2.1 and capable of handling the app. Google could have waited just a bit longer to push this out and received a much warmer response. If anything, yesterday’s release only highlights the fragmentation problems surrounding the platform.

I’ve been using the Nexus One with TMobile since mid-December as my primary mobile phone. This is the best Android powered phone to date. It’s also the fastest and most elegant smartphone on the market today, solidly beating the iPhone in most ways. In this rapidly evolving market there is sure to be something better just around the corner. But if you are looking to buy a high end smartphone right now, this is the phone for you. The Nexus One is the Android signature device.

Our complete review is below.

Nexus One: The Big Picture

The phone looks more like the iPhone than any other phone on the market. There is no physical keyboard like the Android-powered Motorola Droid, and the tradeoff is a much slimmer design. The phone is 11.5 mm deep, slightly thinner than the iPhone 3GS at 12.3 mm. It is also slightly lighter than the iPhone 130 grams v. 135 grams). The package comes with the phone, a removable battery, 4 GB Micro SD storage card (expandable to 32 GB), USB charger and microphone headset.

The Nexus one has four functional touch buttons at the bottom of the screen (back, menu, home, search) and a navigation trackball pointing device. It also has physical power and volume controls. But most of your interaction with the phone will be through the gorgeous 3.7 inch 480 x 800 OLED capacitive touchscreen. This is the best mobile phone display on the market today, blowing away the iPhone’s 480 x 320 display. The screen is bright and alive, and an absolute pleasure to use.

This phone is also powered by the Snapdragon 1 GHz core processor, which is more than able to handle the Nexus One’s 3D graphics, multiple applications running in the background and heavy browser use simultaneously. Unlike previous Android phones, there is no slowdown or lag when you push the phone’s performance, and less of a need to kill applications to keep the device humming.

On the downside: all this hardware bling is an energy hog. The screen will self adjust brightness and Google is smart about turning down the processor when it’s not being used. But I’ve found battery life to be woefully brief, even by iPhone standards. Officially the phone has up to 7 hours talk time, 250 hours standby, 5 hours of 3G Internet use, 7 hours of video playback and 20 hours of audio playback. Unofficially, I was able to kill the fully charged battery with 1.5 hours of continuous gameplay (Robo Defense) on the full-brightness screen. Be prepared to keep this phone near a charger at all times. You can easily view what’s using the battery, though (the screen is 71% of my current usage), and then adjust the hardware or software usage to maximize battery life.

Overall the Android is a superior mobile device, particularly when paired with Google Voice. Google is calling this the first of the Super Phones. And they may not be exaggerating all that much.

Price And Availability

The Nexus One is available “in large quantities” starting today at Google.com/phone. An unlocked GSM version of the phone that will work in most countries is $529.

Google is also offering a subsidized version of the phone – also unlocked – through T-Mobile for $179. The service plan offered by Google is 500 minutes/unlimited SMS/unlimited data for $80/month. T-Mobile’s termination fee is $200, and some users might be tempted to buy the T-Mobile version and terminate immediately, paying just $379 for the unlocked phone. Google says that users terminating too soon will be charged the full price of the phone, however. But even the T-Mobile version of the phone can be used overseas on trips by slipping in a different SIM.

Google will ship the unlocked version of the phone to customers in the U.S., U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore. In the Spring they say they’ll add a CDMA version of the phone through Verizon, and set up a European store with a carrier plan via Vodafone.

U.S. users can also use the unlocked phone with AT&T, although the phone’s radio isn’t able to use AT&T’s 3G network.

Notable Software Features

The Nexus One, which runs the new Android 2.1, has a number of notable software features that make the phone a pleasure to use.

First, Google Voice is deeply integrated with the phone, as it is with all Android phones. That means you can assign your Google Voice number to the phone, and use it to make all outbound calls and text messages. In my opinion this is the single biggest selling point for Android phones, and why I won’t switch away from the platform any time soon.

Google’s Voice Keyboard is amazing. It goes way beyond the Voice Search application that was launched in 2009. Every text field in the device is now voice enabled. In most apps you can choose the microphone button and talk into the phone, which then converts your speech to text. I’ve found it to be around 90% accurate with no background noise (dropping to around 70% accuracy in a moving car). It’s easy to then go in and edit out errors. It’s a massive time-saving feature of the phone.

The Live Wallpaper feature is pure eye candy, and fun. You can choose a variety of wallpaper settings like Grass (blades of grass wave gently in front of a day or night sky), Magic Smoke (my favorite, draws smoke, clouds, water and plasmas in eye popping colors), Water (touch it and it ripples), and a Polar Clock (presents the date and time as clockwise arcs).

The new clock application, which runs automatically in the charger doc, shows the time, local weather and has easy access buttons to the alarm, pictures and music. Keep a charger next to your bed and toss out that alarm clock.

Google will also offer a Settings Backup service that backs up profile, application, ringtone and other settings to the cloud. Setting up a new Android phone after using the backup service is a breeze. Even without it I was able to set up the phone in about ten minutes with my Google contact, calendar, email and important applications.

Finally, Google has added a lot of nice graphical touches, including 3D scrolling of apps, and a new way of viewing photos using the CoolIris technology. Photos dip into the plane as it there is depth. Tipping the phone trips the accelerometer and the photos dip in the same way.

Notable Hardware Features

The most obvious hardware feature of the phone is the 480 x 800 OLED capacitive touch screen. Combined with the Snapdragon chipset the phone is a real workhorse. But Google has also included other more-than-nice touches.

The noise cancellation feature is particularly useful. The device has a second microphone on the back that monitors inbound noise and automatically cancels it out (anyone who’s used Bose noise cancellation headphones on a long flight will appreciate this). It does a great job of canceling out machinery and wind noise on the other end of the call. In my testing, call recipients noticed a substantial increase in call quality on this phone v. either the Droid of the iPhone. Look for other phones to quickly add this feature, it’s a must have.

On the downside, the phone’s primary microphone is located on the bottom of the device, to the left. I noticed that on calls, when I cradle the phone between my neck and shoulder without using my hand, my voice is often muted and can’t be heard. This is a design error that should be changed in future versions.

The phone’s camera really shines. It has a large footprint on the back of the device, larger than on most phones. It’s a 5 megapixel camera with a flash, but that description doesn’t do it justice. The macro and low light features are top notch for a mobile phone. I took the picture to the right in low light with no flash in our conference room at TechCrunch HQ.

The phone has two available docks. Both charge the device via frictionless touch points. The normal charger turns on the phone’s clock feature, as described above. The car charger turns on Google Navigation, a killer Android application that turns the phone into a connected navigation device.

Google, Purveyor Of The Nexus One Smartphone

The Nexus One is an important milestone in the smartphone market. This is a software company, frustrated with making compromises with hardware manufacturers, that has taken the product bull by the horns. HTC makes the phone, but the branding is mostly Google and it’s clear that they directed every aspect of the development of this phone. It’s Google’s vision of the perfect Android device, from the huge and beautiful screen and massively fast Snapdragon processor to the software elegance of Google Navigation, Live Wallpaper and the Voice Keyboard. When combined with Google Voice there is no phone on the market today that can touch the Nexus One.

Unlike previous Android phones, and I’ve used most of them, the Nexus One has no obvious flaws or compromises. The phone is the state of the art in mobile, and I will use it happily. Until, as I always say, something better comes along.

Shopper also allows users to search products by voice and saves search histories for later reference, according to a post on Google’s Mobile Blog about the new app available via the company’s Android Market. It can also be downloaded through a QR code on the Mobile Blog.

Google last year introduced barcode scanning through Google Product Search for Android-power phones in the U.S. and the U.K. The new Shopper app ratchets up competition to similar offerings like ShopSavvy from mobile developer Big in Japan. Its app, which includes an Android version, also lets users scan barcodes to retrieve product information online.

Google Buzz on Android mobile

Most folks will probably opt for the sleek Google Buzz app, which you operates a little like Facebook Mobile – you can check status updates, post your own status updates, or complain about the new season of “Lost.”
But the best feature of Google Buzz is the new layer of Google Maps. Let’s say you’re in Manhattan, enjoying a nice dinner, and you’re thinking about getting a cup of coffee. You could turn on your mobile phone, which would find your exact location, and allow you to peruse buzz about the nearest coffee shop. Or you might want to leave your own mark on the map – maybe a note about that sushi roll you just devoured.
The mobile version of Google Buzz also lets you track the location of your friends, based on their latest blast of buzz. To some journalists, of course, this is troubling news. At the Huffington Post, Larry Magid argues that Google Buzz for mobile could let any of your friends find out exactly where you are, at any time of the day. Problematic, if you’re one of those very private people. Of course, there will be options to turn off the feature.
Google, however, sees the GPS functionalities of Google Buzz to be one of the platform’s key attributes.
“With Buzz for mobile, we hope you can start interesting conversations about places and be more spontaneous when you are out and about,” Google’s Punit Singh Soni wrote on the Google Mobile blog. “How many times have you missed a fun event, even though it was nearby? Or a better choice of dessert, just because you didn’t know about it?”

MediaTek has already developed a chipset and other hardware for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6 operating system and has sent the package, MediaTek hardware plus Windows Mobile software, to handset makers in China so they can start designing new Windows Mobile smartphones, a MediaTek representative said.

“There is a huge thirst for smartphones in emerging markets,” Microsoft said in a statement. “For many people, the phone rather than the PC is the main entry point to the Internet, resulting in a high demand for rich communication devices. In order to meet this demand, we have teamed up with MediaTek to facilitate the provision of affordable smartphones,” the company added.

MediaTek will release a similar hardware and software package with Google’s Android mobile phone OS in the second half of this year, the MediaTek representative said.

Google did not return calls requesting comment.

More than a month after officially unveiling the new Android-based phone, the search giant on Monday launched a phone support line specifically to answer the questions of Nexus One owners. Phone owners can call (888) 48NEXUS (63987) between 4 a.m. and 7 p.m. PST and reach a live tech, Google advises.

Google Nexus One

Following the launch of the Nexus One, Google’s online support forums were flooded with questions from customers who were having shipping and technical issues. Google attempted to direct questions to HTC and T-Mobile, its hardware and carrier partners on the Nexus One, but the Nexus One is being sold exclusively through Google at the moment, and it’s the company that customers look to when they have a complaint.

The phone support line is a bit of a departure for Google, which has traditionally offered a pretty bare-bones customer support operation to this point in its history. Forums, FAQs, and e-mail support had up until now been pretty much the extent of what Google offers to everyone other than paid customers of Google Apps.

Google has since learned that that approach goes only so far.

“By design, we focused initially on providing the best possible customer support through our on-line channel, and our experience in the four weeks since the Nexus One launch enabled us to significantly enhance that on-line support offering. We have been able to address a large majority of customers’ inquiries successfully through on-line support, in combination with phone support from our partners, HTC and T-Mobile,” a Google spokesperson said. “That said, our approach with our new consumer channel is to learn fast and continue to improve…Live phone support from Google, combined with an optimized on-line support experience, enables a superior Nexus One customer experience.”

Still, the phone support launch isn’t a total surprise as Google recently posted a job opening ad for a “Phone Support Program Manager, Android/Nexus One,” to be based at Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.