Whilst HTC phones have met with a generally favourable reception critically, consumers still seem, for the most part, to prefer the Blackberry and the iPhone. All that could be about to change however (or at least that’s what Sergei Brin would tell you), thanks to the Google Nexus One, the latest handset to be produced by the search engine giant.

Nexus One will be the first phone to run, the latest version of Google’s operating system, Android 2.1, which boasts a raft of cool features like interactive wallpaper and improved customisation, even if it lacks some of the iPhone OS’s flashier features. The specifications also look excellent, the headlines being a 1 GHz snapdragon processor (the most powerful processor to ever feature in a phone), a 5 megapixel camera and a pretty impressive screen, that compares very favourably indeed with the screen on the Motorola Droid that wowed the industry when it was released at the back end of last year.

The phone is available unlocked and can be purchased for around £325 pounds off contract, £40 less than an iPhone. The first UK network to get it will be Vodafone though as of yet there is no announcement as to how much it will cost to get one on contract. However, if you want a guess (buckle up, conjecture fans) I would have to anticipate that it will be cheaper than the iPhone is on other networks.

Why? Well, the nearest contemporary of the Nexus in terms of individual price is the Nokia E72, for which Vodafone charge £30 a month (600 minutes, unlimited texts, 500 MB of mobile internet and webmail). It would certainly be hard to justify charging more. This price compares very favourably with the iPhone’s, a comparable deal for which will cost £35 from O2.

So, arguably better specs, comparable functionality for less money, logically this should be a decent rival for the iPhone. Only time will tell of course, though Apple would do well not to dismiss the challenge from Google, especially as the Nexus is unlikely to simply rest with Vodafone, like the iPhone has done withO2. The Nexus is expected to roll out across all, or at least many, networks in the near future, meaning that it could well become ubiquitous pretty quickly.

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