Google Phone

For Google nerds like us here at GeekSage this is quite an exciting phrase.  Let’s here it again “Google Phone”.  It’s such a beautiful term.  Right now my entire digital life is sitting in the Google cloud.  My email, my calendar, my documents, my contacts, my rss feeds, voicemail, text messages, and probably even more than that.  The thought that I could have my phone sync beautifully with all of it is a thought that makes me very giddy.  I’ve dreamed of the day that I don’t have to try to figure out where things are sitting.  I have multiple email accounts, which means multiple contact lists, multiple places where email could be, multiple calendars, etc.  It’s easy to get Google to pull all of your email to one account and that’s what I have been working on getting set up.

I have a personal domain where I have my gmail sit.  It’s where I have set up email accounts for everyone in my family as well.  Unfortunately not everyone is onboard with the idea of moving to a new email address.  Even my wife refuses to get rid of her AOL email which she hates.  Change is just not something that everyone is comfortable with.  Either way, my whole digital life is now sitting in one spot and it was quite a road to get there.  Now that I have put the hours in organizing and sifting through my various accounts and merging everything into my main account it’s time that my phone has complete access to all of it.

I currently have an iPhone and am able to access all of my different Google apps through one app or another, but it is not nearly as pretty as Google would do it.  With a native Google Apps enabled phone I could have access to all of my documents, my email, my calendar, and have it work 100% with Google Voice.  For those of you who haven’t checked out Google Voice, I highly suggest you do so immediately.  With the digital age, everyone has multiple phone numbers, multiple places where those phones sit, and multiple voicemail inboxes.  With Google Voice you are able to route all of your calls to wherever you want them.  Also, you are able to screen your calls, get transcripts of your voicemail, and many more powerful features.

Google recently acquired Gizmo5 which looks to be a good hint at what is to come with the Android/Google Voice platform.  Currently there are many rumors circulating and speculating about the future of a Google Phone and what carrier it might sit on.  I believe that Google will be setting up a deal with AT&T for this one.  There are reasons for this.  Verizon uses CDMA technology which does not travel outside of the US, same with Sprint.  T-mobile has good service in larger areas but in the North their coverage is not nearly as great.  AT&T has great service across the US, even though a good percentage of it is Edge.  This is bound to only get better though.  They won’t be terrible forever.  Personally, I have no problems with AT&T.  I took a trip this weekend to Myrtle Beach and we drove.  During which time I used MiFi to use my cell’s data connection in the car for the multiple MacBooks that were run.  As I write this, I am using that connection and it is doing just fine.  I had 3G for a decent section of the trip, and Edge when we were on long stretches on the interstate and out in the boonies.  Either way, I never had connection issues.

Google will have to make a deal with a carrier or purchase one to make that Google phone happen.  This is because it will use a data only connection and if there is no deal made, there is a very small chance that someone will be able to put this phone on any random carrier they wish without wasting money on a small voice plan as well.  Right now carriers don’t like this but they will be turning into wireless ISP’s rather than telcos.  Google will use VOIP technology in conjunction with Google Voice to make a very powerful setup for their users.  I believe that we will end up paying exorbitant data fees from these carriers though since they will be losing revenue from having no voice connection and we also will not be using them for SMS and MMS’s.

None of this will happen until the iPhone goes to all carriers because Apple has AT&T wrapped around their fingers right now.  I believe if AT&T struck this deal with Google now, Apple would find someway to pull out of their contract with AT&T.

In the end of things, I am still very excited about the possibility of a Google Phone and I will switch immediately to whichever carrier has that phone.  Even though I say it will go to AT&T I hope that it goes to Verizon for a subsidy and then also has a SIM slot for worldwide travel.  That would make me very happy since Verizon has the best network in the United States, hands down.