Google.com/phone, formerly Google’s Nexus One storefront, relaunched as the Google Phone Gallery, letting users compare Android phones available in 14 countries from a range of manufacturers and carriers. It was not a comprehensive list — rather a curated selection of phones Google chose to highlight.
While framed as a comparison tool for consumers, the Gallery also functioned as a soft endorsement mechanism. Phones not included — like Verizon’s Fascinate, which replaced Google Search with Bing — were effectively signaled as out of favor, without Google being directly punitive.
The Gallery also prominently featured the “with Google” badge on select devices and allowed filtering by that designation. Google’s explanation: “‘with Google’ phones have been optimized for use of Google mobile services, providing easy access to Search, Voice Search, Google Talk, Google Maps, Gmail, Sync, YouTube and Android Market.”
The distinction was murkier in practice. The HTC EVO 4G, Droid Eris, and Droid Incredible all carried the “with Google” label, as did the Droid X and Droid 2 despite their locked bootloaders and light Blur skins. Meanwhile, the HTC Desire — another Sense phone — did not receive the badge, nor did Samsung’s Vibrant, Epic 4G, or Captivate, all of which included the same requisite Google apps. No clear rhyme or reason was apparent.
The Gallery was a promising step toward quasi-certification for phones meeting certain standards, though the definition of “with Google” remained frustratingly vague.
