Google Phone As Early As Next Week

Tweet

Don't anticipate a slow January in the tech world.

It looks like 2010 is going to rocket out of the gate.

The Consumer Electronics Show opens next Friday in Vegas. Two days before the big doings start doing, Google is hosting an invitation-only press event back at their corporate offices in Mountain View, California.

The safe-money bet is this will be the unwrapping of the new Google Nexus One phone.

The Nexus One is expected to include a 5 megapixel camera, WiFi, a compass and my personal favorite: an accelerometer (so, like, if you fall out of a plane then you can find out how fast you are falling to your death).

The Nexus One will reportedly retail unlocked for about $530. With a two year contract from T-Mobile, it's expected to be priced below that magical $199 price point that applies to all the other smartphones.

My question: How will a Google phone be different from the other Android smartphones? Why should I get excited that a company that specializes in webware is selling hardware? That being said; I have no doubt it will be a hit anyway.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio