Mario Queiroz, vice president for product management at Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), said in a blog post on Saturday that the company has begun distributing a "mobile lab" device to its employees. While Queiroz disclosed few details of the product, industry observers are saying that it's the latest step in Google's efforts to create a self-branded smartphone.

According to Queiroz, the mobile lab device "combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android -- the Google-backed mobile operating system -- " and would enable Google employees to "experiment with new mobile features and capabilities." He did not disclose a timeline for when testing might conclude.

If previous reports are to be believed, that hardware partner is HTC, the Taiwanese hardware manufacturer that previously produced Android-compatible phones for all the major U.S. carriers, beginning with the first Android device to hit the market, the T-Mobile HTC G1.

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