My thoughts on the Nexus One

by Volker Weber

I have been using the Nexus One for almost a week now, and I am comfortable to say that I like it a lot. It's the phone I would buy today if I needed to get a new one. Only you can't buy it in Germany. At least, not yet. Anyway, read on ...

Bold 9700, Nexus One, iPhone 3G, Nokia N900

This photo shows the current top of the line smartphones: BlackBerry Bold 9700, Nexus One, iPhone 3G(S), Nokia N900. As you can see, the BlackBerry and the Nokia are very different, but the Nexus and the iPhone look similar.

I am not going to bother you with details, or technical specs. You can read those elsewhere. The Nexus feels the fastest of all four. Its Teflon-coated body feels solid and expensive. And it's not as wide:

Nexus One on iPhone

Yes, the left side of both phones are aligned. It has a much higher res and brighter screen than the iPhone using AMOLED techonlogy, rivaling the high res screen of the Nokia N900, all the while being so much thinner. Actually thinner than one of the N900 halfs:

Nokia N900 and Nexus One

The photos don't do it any justice. You actually have to hold it in your hand to understand it is the best Android phone to date. That is, if you can live without a physical keyboard.

The question I cannot answer is which of those four phones you should get. They are all brilliant in their own right. For email, certainly the BlackBerry. For media consumption and overall app variety the iPhone. For being the real owner of your own ship, the N900. And for the rest, the Nexus One.

Word of caution: if you live in the US you will find it does not support 1700 MHz AT&T 3G. It won't tether your laptop, it relies heavily on the cloud. Speech recognition is server based for instance. It will sync your mail and contacts through ActiveSync but not your calendar.

By and large, I find this to be the best Android so far. Don't touch it if you don't have the funds to buy it.

Comments

I would have preferred if you haven't gave it to me.

The first impression is great :-)

Thomas Lang, 2010-01-23

It seems to be available in Switzerland at least... I see two stores listing it, Tecpreis promises delivery in about 3 business days for 798 CHF while digitec claims to receive the devices from the manufacturer on the 27th and sells it for 829 CHF.

Ragnar Schierholz, 2010-01-23

I liked the feel of it, also, compared to the Droid which feels heavy and looks similar to the Nokia. I have to wait until June for it to be available on Verizon in the U.S., however.
Chris

Chris Reckling, 2010-01-23

You mention it will ActiveSync mail & contacts but not calendar. If you are a 100% google user (mail, cal, addressbook) is it still the same limitation ?

Glen Salmon, 2010-01-23

Not at all. If your stuff is on Google, it works brilliantly. Mail address, password, boom. Two minutes later, it's all there.

Volker Weber, 2010-01-23

I am missing the Nokia E72 up there a little.

Its the best Symbian-Phone I had up till now and battery-life is awesome - its the first smartphone after 2 years which hasnt to be charged every day ;)

Martin

Martin Posch, 2010-01-23

@Martin - guess you have not used a Blackberry yet. This is imho the only smartphones with stamina significant beyond one working day.

Armin Auth, 2010-01-23

Armin, they are not the only ones. The E71/E72 can do that as well. If not better.

Volker Weber, 2010-01-23

you are probably right. Depends also on how many bells and whistles you keep going (3G, WLAN, GPS). And your using pattern, as always (youtube videos on the Bold are nice, but you can drain your battery pretty fast). That is so far the major area where improvements are needed.

Armin Auth, 2010-01-23

@Armin

I have used (nearly) all current smartphones because I am responsible for phones and it in my company. We have approx 30 Blackberries and I have to admit they are very close to the perfect-company phone (though lots of my users want an Iphone just because its from Apple ;) )

For my private phone i have a nokia e72 and with Profimail installed I have a setup which comes close to my corporate blackberry Bold without having to pay for Blackberry Service. The longer I have it the more I love my E72, and after the first problems Nokia also seems to get all this Ovi-Stuff better, yesterday I downloaded Ovi-maps with free turn-by-turn navigation (!), I think this is at the moment only offered by some Android-Devices, but not the ones you can get here in Austria.

@Volker: I think the E72 is a big step better the the E71, The battery-life is miles ahead and all my E71 - users have problems with dust under the display.

Grettings from Salzburg / Austria

Martin Posch, 2010-01-24

@Martin - thanks! We have both BB and Nokias (also E71) in the company and there is people that are also happy with the Nokia. However, as a company workhorse, we still have way more BBs (and I am still a very happy camper with the Bold 9000).

Dust behind the display - that is a Nokia classic, not only on smartphones. Most of the Nokias I had were bad on that. But I love my E51 as a phone (no dust issues yet - luckily).

Armin Auth, 2010-01-24

Dust is a big problem for the E51. Unfortunately the chrome frame isn't as robust as I wished to (FYI: the bottom of the frame is glued). I "destroyed" my E51 by pulling it out from a pocket of my jeans when it was upside down.

Well let's wait for the Nexus to come to Germany ;-)

Mathias Ziolo, 2010-01-24

@Mathias: no issue with dust so far, but I also lost the chrome frame on my first E51. Apart from that, a great device.

Armin Auth, 2010-01-24

Where would you sort in the Palm Pre in your comparison?

Andre Adrian, 2010-01-25

The Pre fits right in there in the middle. Very easy to use, a keyboard which works well for me, more apps than N900 but less than Android.

Volker Weber, 2010-01-25

Hi,

what does the 'calendar not (active)synching' actually mean?
That I will not be alterted on an appointment?
Or that Changes I make to the GCal won't Show up in GCal?

And: I also like it a lot ;) When I used the Pre (I think thgat one should be in the list above, too, being somewhat a hybrid between the Nokia and the Blackberry) I kept thinking: This was easier on the "Treo 650", something I am NOT thinking a lot since Tuesday...

OLiver Gassner, 2010-01-28

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