One thing which hasn't been nailed down in all the reports about Google's expected mobile phone announcement is exactly what operating system will run the thing. Turns out, it could be Linux.That'd be a huge boost for the open-source OS. Reports that Linux would be at the heart of Google's gPhone first surfaced this August, in a report out of Asian by Jennifer Tan of Anian Research. (Tan's article is no longer extant, but LinuxDevices.com has the story.)

Subsequent Gphone story haven't focused much on the OS, chattering instead about the who, when, and where of the announcement. eFluxMedia is reporting that, along with the Gphone, Google will launch a development platform.

"Code-named Android, the platform will contain a full set of components such as a operating system (but not only that), a set of common APIs, a customizable user interface, a middleware layer, a mobile Internet browser and others."

This means the Gphone will be open, very open, to third-party applications. Thus we see that Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are planning to stick it but good to Steve Jobs and too-tightly-wound iPhone ecosystem.

Still, one has to give Jobs credit for changing the mobile-device coverage equation from a discussion of the phones themselves into hagiographic musings on the wonderfulness of different phones' fathers (no mothers, yet).

We saw that in the coverage of the iPhone's launch, where numerous stories made it sound like Jobs had practically invented the idea of a decent mobile device. Hey, if that's true, how come my Blackberry is so much more capable than the iPhone?

On the cusp of the Gphone's arrival, that trend is apparently being carried forward. The object case is "I Robot: The Man Behind the Google Phone in Sunday's Times, which opens with this:

"A retinal scanner emitting a blue glow monitors the entrance to Andy Rubin's home in the foothills overlooking Silicon Valley. If the scanner recognizes you, the door unlocks automatically. (The system makes it easier to deal with former girlfriends, Mr. Rubin likes to joke. No messy scenes retrieving keys - it's just a simple database update.)"

Oh, please. Rubin puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like you and me. Stop trying to convince me how uber-cool this guy is, and just tell me what's in the darn phone. For that, though, we have to go back to the August LinuxDevices story, which sets forth this prospective features list: