Google phone ´gets mixed reviews´

The new Google G1 mobile phone handset powered by the search giants own operating system has received mixed reviews, it has been reported.

Google´s long-awaited smart-phone, which has been compared to the iPhone, is not an iPhone killer but is likely to impact on Apple´s sales in the long-term, according to mobilemarketingnews.co.uk.

The website claims the two selling points Google has over Apple is the device has a full slide-out qwerty keyboard and the handset´s Android operating system, which has been under development for three years.

Pieter de Klein, of T-Mobile UK, told the news provider: "It is a bit like comparing a Mercedes with a Ferrari."

"Some people hate Ferraris and like Mercedes, or it may be the other way around. There will be an audience for both," he added.

Meanwhile, Microsoft´s chief executive officer Steve Ballmer told the BBC that the company was not worried about Google´s Android operating system, but wished the company had researched the mobile software market sooner.