Google's first attempt at retail has encountered a speed bump.
Scores of buyers of its first 'own brand' smartphone, the Nexus One, seem to have experienced 3G connection problems.
The much-hyped phone is sold directly to consumers through its website at google.com/phone. Google started selling its phones just four days ago to consumers in two Asian cities - Singapore and Hong Kong - apart from the United States and Britain.
Already, pockets of users have been posting their problems on the Google Mobile Help Forum.
Their complaints centre on the phone constantly switching between 3G and the slower EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution) networks, resulting in tardy responses when they surf the Internet. Voice and SMS functions are unaffected.
One user in the US, nicknamed 'manconeg', wrote on the Google forum that he could surf the Net at only 600kbps on his Nexus One. Using the same SIM card on another smartphone, he could surf the Net at five times the speed "at 3,000kbps, and reliably" too.
Another US user reported the same problem. He wrote: "My phone says 3G all the time but my speed is 250kbps which is a lot slower."
At press time, Google had yet to reply to these complaints.
Similar complaints flooded the online pages of technology publications Engadget and Gizmodo.
On Gizmodo, one irked user wrote: "So, does HTC stand for Hard To Connect now?"
Google's touchscreen phone, touted as a rival to Apple's iPhone, is made by Google's manufacturing partner, Taiwan's HTC.
It seems that HTC is clueless about the cause of the 3G connection issues. Technology publication nexus404.com reported that one user had contacted HTC about the problem but was referred to US mobile network operator T-Mobile instead.
Although the phone is sold by Google on its Web store, HTC provides customer support in Singapore from its care centre.
Straits Times correspondent Oo Gin Lee, 40, probably the first buyer in Singapore to have received his set yesterday (January 9), said his new toy could not connect to the Internet on his telco's 3G network.
The problem persisted after he rebooted the phone twice and checked his Internet settings thrice.
"I expected a lot from Google, so I am very disappointed," said the self-professed geek who writes for the paper's Digital Life publication.
The phone - which costs US$577.31 and comes with a 12-month warranty - was not sent to local telcos for testing, but Google had given an assurance that the handsets would work here.
Buyers can use their existing SIM cards or sign up for 'contract-free' plans with local telcos to use the phone.
American buyers of the phone have two options: buy it with a two-year plan from the T-Mobile network for $179, or without a contract for $529.
