The Google Nexus One - My Observations
Monday, January 18, 2010 at 06:53PM Well, I have finished my evaluation of the Google Nexus One Android communications device.
I was once a member of SavaJe Technologies, so I cannot be totally objective in this observation, because damn it, we did some stuff way better than Andy and his crew.
First off, the Nexus One (from now on, referred to as the N.O.), is packaged simply and beautifully. Unfortunately, it is much bigger packaging than iPhone, but even though it is larger, it is still nicely done.
The N.O. came with a charge, so I popped my SIM taken from my TMO myTouch into the phone. Phone powered right up, and sent me through the setup wizard, which was quite easy. Having used an Android phone, getting used to this phone was easy, and a much needed improvement over the myTouch. The screen is absolutely beautiful.
And it is fast. It actually makes Android look like a decent OS. The keyboard is actually responsive, for a software keyboard. However, the keyclicks, when turned on, are annoying as hell. Reminds me of a bad Selectric.
I loaded the usual apps I would use on it. Seesmic, being the only Twitter client that has any goodness to it on Android, worked flawlessly. Facebook, (I am on the Beta for Rhapsody, go to http://blog.rhapsody.com/2010/01/droidapp.html, if you want to get in on it), , Foursquare, etc. All apps work great. The N.O. is a really awesome phone. I love Google Voice integration. Since I use GV alot, it is nice to have that.
Now, let me get to the negatives. Battery life. Horrible. Moving Wallpaper, see battery life. Keyboard feedback, meh. But, that is really the only "negatives" I could see. This is not an iPhone, so interfacing with Android is a bit of a learning curve, but nothing impossible. It is just different. One of the things the iPhone beats this in, is in the fonts. I think the iPhone has better fonts. Put an OLED on the iPhone, it would win, hands down.
Voice sound is quite good, due to the audio processor in the phone. Using a differential mic setup, it does a really good job canceling noise.
Multitasking: I understand why iPhone doesn't allow 3rd parties to do multitasking (though Apple's own apps, like iPod, App Store, etc can). 3RD party apps, done wrong, can simply burn the battery down. However, having said that, I enjoy the multitasking features of the Nexus One.
Media Management. Yay, they have a better player than the piece of shit in the myTouch. I know who wrote the thing, and I will not mention their name here. It plays well. I sync music to the device using Salling Media Sync (http://www.sallingsoftware.com/). It does a great job. However, some of my music is in Apple Lossless format, which the Nexus One does not support. Sigh....
The only hardware glitch I can report is plugging it into the front USB port on my MacPro (Early 2008). It somehow kills the Apple Keyboard and its internal hub when I do. I have to unplug the N.O. and replug in the keyboard to get it to respond. I do not know if you have seen this, but it is annoying.
Summary:
If I was to not be biased about iPhone, I would definitely have the Nexus One as my phone. But I will use it as a backup and demo phone for the software we are writing for Android.
