Leading up to the CES show opening this week, we are tuned into the announcements and product launches from the brand names in the consumer electronic space. Following up on the Google Nexus One post yesterday, we are taking a look at the range of reviews and giving our loyal readers a perspective they may not receive from the main stree media. The first consensus forming of the phone is that it is not innovative in terms of the current generation of smart phones. The Google Nexus One does run the android 2.1 operating system so it will not work with Lotus Notes at this time. Read more about the Google Phone review from PC World.

Other reviews are below:

Walter Mossberg WSJ
David Pogue New York Times
Tech Crunch
Wired

Wired had some good things to say about the interface. The google Nexus one has a home screen that features “live wallpaper,” a new trend that is both dynamic and fun. While the display on the new launches of various smart phones is the trend, then battery life will become an issue for smart phone users. Wired indicated that  the Nexus One phone’s power meter indicated that the display screen was eating up half the energy. When The Wired reporter failed to recharge the Nexus during the night, it would inevitably be dead the next morning. The battery’s official ratings are impressive when compared to the iphone, seven hours 3G talk time, seven hours video. Indeed, other reviews also mentioned that talking or using media didn’t run things down too quickly, the drain from the screen is an issue for a device that urges you to use the internet all the time. Consumers will have to think about power adapters to carry with them regularly.

It is all about the ecosystems.  The Google Nexus One Handset Launch Confirmed recently and the wait is over. Barrons wrote that the Nexus One is similar to other Android phones. The Nexus Google phone is built by HTC. The phone is slim, fast and has a large screen. T Mobile customers may be in luck since tests with the Nexus One in New York City found it easy to connect to the T-Mobile 3G network. This may give it an advantage over unlocked iphones. Several websites have reported on the leaked website for the Nexus One Google phone, but the wait is over as Google hosts a press conference today.

Other Google Phone tip sites report that Google may only let customers attach up to five phones to a single Google/Gmail account.  A Cancellation of the T-Mobile Nexus One plan forces the customer to either return the phone, or pay the difference between the subsidy and the unlocked price, unusual for wireless phone companies. Google also announced that the Nexus one will be available through Verizon in the Spring.

We will add the confirmed features as soon as they are made available. The Google Nexus One with T Mobile Service will sell for $180 with a two year service contract, while those who choose to forgo the contract will pay $530 for the Nexus One.

While IBM has a beta full release of Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1, allowing iPhone users to enjoy the software’s automatic syncing capabilities for e-mail and calendaring, there is no announced support for the android platform. This means that people who buy the Verizon google phone, i.e. the Droid, will not be able to sync their corporate email to the device if their company uses Lotus Notes.

This past year, IBM announced the availability of their Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1, which includes Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.1 with its planned synching capabilities for email and calendar features on the iPhone. IBM is touting this as one way to make Apple’s iPhone a business tool, something 73% of users say is not the case. Maybe Lowell McAdams has the similar position on the android smart phones. Verizon executives have been quoted that the Droid is positioned as a consumer phone. Verizon has made it clear that the Droid is their most anticipated launch of the year. They’ve been sending out an unusual amount of teaser information, commercials, culminating in a countdown clock to November 6th, 2009. Some of the phone’s features were covered in a recent Verizon Droid review summary. For the record, Lotus Notes Traveler software is supported on the following mobile device platforms:

Apple iphone

Nokia Symbian devices

Microsoft Windows Mobile 5, 6 and 6.1

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Have you seen the “I don’t” commercials? These commercials are driving consumer awareness about the impending arrival of the Droid Cell Phone. Specifically, Verizon customers have  been hoping for the iphone to become available on their network.  The phone they will get may be even better. The patience has paid off. The industry is abuzz over the Motorola Droid. What is the Droid cell phone? It is the first Google Android 2.0-based smartphone. Verizon Wireless will make it available on Friday, Nov. 6, in the United States. Meanwhile, the DroidDoes marketing campaign hit the airwaves about two weeks ago.

The reviews are starting to trickle in and expectations are climbing that the Droid can beat both the Palm Pre and Blackberry Storm II performance when it comes to competing with the iphone. The Droid boasts a beautiful high-resolution screen, multi-tasking apps, free turn-by-turn GPS navigational system, and both a touch keypad and hardware keypad. Yet, the reason is plain and simple. Palm Pre lacks the network, and the Blackberry Storm II lacks a physical keyboard. You take the best of those two phones, put it on the Verizon network, and you have the makings of a iphone clone for Verizon.

PC World sums up the five best features nicely in an article written by JR Rapheal. Rapheal notes that the Motorola Droid has key features that take aim at some of the iphone shortfalls, such as that the battery can’t be replaced, complaints that the data service is slow, complaints that 3G access is dysfunctional, complaints that the device couldn’t do MMS messaging, and more. AT&T and Apple have also been the focus of controversy related to rejecting the Google Voice app, and trying to block third-party VoIP solutions.  The Droid supports flash in its browsers, which makes it one of the few wireless phones to have a mobile browser that can. Verizon confirmed in the media that its network can handle the data bandwidth demand Droid phone users will need as it rolls out nationwide.

Music may be the key reason that customers stick close to the Apple world. Once users have a large library of songs in the .m4a format, it takes some work and software to convert those files to mp3 format. However, it may be worth the time to convert over to standard mp3 formats to find better cheaper music players.  The Droid does come with a built in App for playing MP3 music.

What is the best deal on a Droid cell phone? The answer is buy it for $199 with a two year plan. Also expect the email/web plan of $30 to be a requirement for Droid users. You can pay full retail if you need a Droid mobile phone before you are eligible for an upgrade.  Verizon offers three data plans for Droid customers: $30 month on top of your voice plan’s rate for non-Exchange usage, $45 per month on top of your voice plan’s rate for Exchange usage, and $50 per month total cost for a data-only plan (whether or not you use it to access Exchange).  Like most smartphones, the Droid does not support IBM’s Lotus Notes or Novell’s Groupwise. It does support Google’s Gmail in addition to Exchange.

Finally, anyone owning RIMM stock felt the pain on Monday November 2nd as Citigroup downgraded Research in Motion (RIMM : NASDAQ) since 28% of RIMM sales come from Verizon and a new baby is on the way.