San Francisco - An "insider" at smartphone maker HTC told gadget blog CrunchGear that Google plans to release a long-rumored cell phone in the first quarter of 2008.

The source said that Google is finalizing the handset design with HTC, and that the phone will feature a special GPS-enabled version of Google Maps, Gmail, a calendar application and Google Talk, to enable Internet telephony.

CrunchGear also noted "talk" that Samsung may also be releasing "gPhone" handsets as well.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/yv4v38 (CrunchGear)

http://tinyurl.com/2cqam6 (Forbes.com)

http://www.htc.com