Not everyone who covers Google could make the Jan. 5 launch event for the Google Nexus One smartphone and Webstore unveiling.
Count me among them. This was a curse and a blessing for me. I followed the event in real time from my laptop at home, so I didn’t miss the news.
What I did miss was the free Nexus One Google gave out to each attending member of the press and analyst corps.
My eWEEK colleague Chris Preimesberger, who attended and took pictures of the event, got the phone that would have had my name on it.
That’s the curse. The blessing is that I plan to review the device, so now I’m free from the awkward, uncomfortable feeling of disclosing that I was given the Nexus One free.
Instead, I’ll find myself disclosing that Google has shipped me a loaner copy to review and return in 30 days. Here is the loaner agreement:
Google takes care to remind us reviewers that the Federal Trade Commission wants us to disclose such arrangements, a nice legalese touch that gets them off the hook and places the onus squarely on the ethically sound shoulders of journalists. Here are those unwieldy guidelines.
Google sent my device overnight Jan. 7. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait a day or so.
A check at the UPS Website tells me the device is stuck in a facility in Lexington, Ky. Not exactly the hinterlands, but certainly not where it belongs with me.
I really wanted to use the Google Maps Navigation on the Nexus One to direct me to a new restaurant I’m trying tonight. This is a bummer, man.