With more and more mainstream news sources getting turned on to the upcoming gPhone, the usual flurry of “is this the first Google cellphone?!” stories begins in earnest.  First up is The India Street who are pushing Chinese company E28 Limited’s latest smartphone, a moderate BenQ P51 lookalike, as a likely candidate for Google’s OS and software suite.  According to an industry source, the manufacturer - who has a history of producing Linux-powered open-source handsets - has several choice phrases in their roadmap which might indicate interest from the search company.

It’s a (tenuous) prospect that has got Wired’s Rob Beschizza screaming into his latté:

“Looking at the phone instead of the firm, let’s put it this way: if that’s the gPhone, there will be slack jaws and silence. If it’s a gPhone, well, okay then”Rob Beschizza, Wired.com

Saying that, E28 does have some redeeming factors.  The manufacturer recently tested a number of handsets that are able to seamlessly pass a call between WLAN and cellular networks, pointing to a real strength in VOIP.  But don’t worry, Rob, all the signs point to Google being very liberal with its OS goodness.  Not only have HTC and LG been repeatedly mentioned as probably hardware partners, further rumours finger the majority of other suppliers (with the exception of Nokia) as at least interested in the concept.