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The Observer reports on a more realistic phone which may already materialize. Think Google Phone rather than the fabled iPhone. A mobile handset partnership between Google and Orange (a multi-billion dollar partnership) via GigaOM.

Google is on the move. The internet giant has held talks with Orange, the mobile phone operator, about a multi-billion-dollar partnership to create a ‘Google phone’ which makes it easy to search the web wherever you are.

The collaboration between two of the most powerful brands in technology is seen as a potential catalyst for making internet use of mobile phones as natural as on desktop computers and laptops.

Their plans centre on a branded Google phone, which would probably also carry Orange’s logo. The device would not be revolutionary: manufactured by HTC, a Taiwanese firm specialising in smart phones and Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), it might have a screen similar to a video iPod. But it would have built-in Google software which would dramatically improve on the slow and cumbersome experience of surfing the web from a mobile handset.

I believe the partnership may happen. A full blown Google based mobile handset complete with mobile internet optimization and full syncing capabilities with the current [and future] Google web based apps. Google already has a great mobile Gmail and Google Talk client available for mobile users. Could you imagine writing a note and seeing it reflected in your Google Docs? Maybe creating events on your mobile calendar app and seeing the events as soon as you got on your computer? All of this done transparently without the need to create emails sent to special backdoors for current online apps.

This is what consumers should be looking for. Not some slick looking handset with a malformed mini OS X GUI experience in their pockets.