At a Google press event held Tuesday afternoon at the company's Mountain View, Calif. headquarters, Google vice president Mario Queiroz billed the new Nexus One as a "superphone" and an "exemplar of what's possible" on mobile phones running Android. He didn't precisely define the term superphone, other than to suggest it has greater capabilities than today's existing smartphones.

Queiroz spoke along with several other panelists including mobile guru Andy Rubin, HTC CEO Peter Chou, and even competitor Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha. All of them took pains to deflect concerns that Google has shifted course with its Android OS, or that Google could muddy the waters for its current wireless industry partners by selling its own branded device.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology

1. John A. wrote: The following is the key quote: In a response to a reporter’s question about how Google plans to avoid AT&T’s trouble in providing enough coverage for its iPhone customers, Chou emphasized the distinction between carrier service offerings and the phone itself. From AT&T’s web site: Actual coverage area may differ substantially from map graphics, and coverage may be affected by such things as terrain, weather, foliage, buildings and other construction, signal strength, customer equipment and other factors. AT&T does not guarantee coverage. Cellular networks were originally designed for people on the go, people who are not inside buildings.  As networks expanded the outdoor coverage improved.  The arrival of digital eliminated crosstalk.  But now people want high data rates indoors.  This is not an easy problem for any operator to solve. January 5, 9:27 pm | [comment link]

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