First shots of the proto hardware Google is using for the Android project are available at Gizmodo, and it looks remarkably like a Nokia E61 (or a Blackjack or Blackberry, depending where your loyalties lie). Given this will probably not be the final hardware, a functional design, with qwerty keyboard, was to be expected.
Read on in the full article.
it looks remarkably like a Nokia E61 (or a Blackjack or Blackberry, depending where your loyalties lie)
Is that like a new kind of Rorschach exam or loyalty test?
*holds up Android* "And what do you see in this one?"
"I'd say an E61, but in my heart, I know it looks like a cheap piece of HTC rubbish"
I don't think Google are actually developing an Android based phone. This is simply a reference / development platform. The handsets will ultimately be the responsibility of the handset manufactures that decide to take on the Android software stack.
In other words, they are trying to unseat the WinMobile platform from its current niche, so all "Google Phones" will be WinMobile phones minus the WinMobile.
Is it just me or is that the UGLIEST phone in existance?
I suppose it's one way to make sure nobody steals the prototype!