Gadget: Google Nexus One Mobile Phone

Every new mobile phone seems to be touted as an iPhone killer, but if any company has the swagger to knock Apple's finest off its perch it's Google. The web giant has recently unveiled the Nexus One Smartphone and it's a little bit special.

It looks, on first glance, like any other smartphone – a slim, sleek and thoroughly uninspiring grey and black slab. Switch it on, though, and you're greeted by a sumptuous 3.7in wide touchscreen. A moment later and you've signed into your Google account, bringing your Gmail, contacts, bookmarks and anything else stored in Google world to the tips of your fingers. With both 3G and wi-fi built in, you can spring between websites like a digital gazelle. The combination of Google's Android 2.1 operating system and a spritely 1GHz processor adds to the internet experience.

It's got the flair of the iPhone too. Shimmering icons pop up here and there and "Live Wallpapers" animate your inputs. The James Bond moment comes when you use the voice wizardry built into the Nexus One. My "voice search" for "Scotland's national newspaper" brought me straight to www.scotsman.com. Even voicemail can be automatically transcribed into text using Google Voice. The camera on the iPhone always seemed a bit of an afterthought. Not here. You've got a 5 megapixel, HD video recording beauty with LED flash and autofocus.

And Nexus One will keep getting better, with new apps added daily to the 20,000 plus already available. It may not have the glossiness of the iPhone, its iTunes integration or millions of apps. However the Nexus One is a web wonder with unrivalled Google integration.

This article was first published in The Scotsman, Saturday March 13, 2010