Would You Buy a Data-Only Cellphone?

There's an eyebrow-raising rumor that Google's toying with a cellphone that could work on any data network and make phone calls through its Gizmo5/Google Voice package. Are you ready to leave standard voice channels behind for the wireless data frontier?

There are a handful of clues that, strung together, seem to point toward Google offering its own phone-like VoIP services. The Google Voice project and its Gizmo5 acquisition, the Android phone OS, of course, and a deal that lets them re-sell wireless data. Then again, regardless of whether Google's ready to jump in, some phone provider could, at some point, make this kind of offer—unlimited domestic voice calling, cheap international calls, and a data-friendly a phone that works with any data contract.

If Google or some other firm offered a (presumably) subsidized, affordable phone with an internet calling package and any data package you want, would you nibble? Or is the difference between data and voice coverage big enough to enjoy having a backup?

[brainw4re]