nexus one

[ link: nexus-one | tags: google android nexusone | updated: Thu, 21 Sep 2017 10:42:39 ]

Some people have asked me to review my experience with Nexus One as a user in Canada.

Here be my first impressions.

In the first hour my impressions were:

the screen is amazing; colours are vibrant and the resolution is great.
the phone is really responsive; this is likely due to the fact that the CPU speed is twice of my over-clocked (CyanogenMod f/w) Tmobile G1 and Rogers Dream.

After using it for a couple of weeks, I have to say that the above statements still hold. Phone is really fast and the screen is really crisp.

I am using the phone in Canada, and currently on the Rogers network. This means that I only get 2G data connectivity. It's not bad, but it's much slower than it used to be when I was still using the Dream. I have heard mixed messages about being able to use the phone on Wind Mobile. According to the specs, I should be able to... so I'll keep my fingers crossed until now.

I miss my keyboard. No matter what people say, the keyboard on the G1/Dream rocks. It's not the size of the keys but the ability to sense the keys under your fingers when you type. I am getting better at typing on the screen projected keyboard, but it's no where near the same.

Buttons. The physical BACK/HOME/MENU buttons were replaced with ones built into the touch screen area. This was really hard to use at the beginning. I find that I got better at it, and don't have as much trouble now. Anyone that I give the phone to play with, however, has problems with these buttons. You'll grow into it... it just takes a bit of learning.

Battery life is about the same as on the G1/Dream. I have to charge my phone about every 3-4 days. I use it as a phone, PDA, GPS/maps, and media player... but no 3G yet.

Nexus One comes loaded with Android 2.1. The additional polish is instantly visible, but that's not the reason I chose the platform in the first place. Don't get me wrong... it's nice... you just forget about it after you showed it to all your friends.

The camera on the phone is improved. It's still a tiny camera, so there is no comparing it to a dSLR, but it gets the job done. It also comes with an LED flash, which I find fires too bright way too often. After I root the phone I'll have to look at fixing that.

Overall I am very happy with the phone, and don't regret my purchase.

My biggest complaint about the phone is actually not about the phone but about the Nexus One dock. That was a waste of $40. I wish I oped to buy a generic doc from ebay.

The dock has two functions to charge your phone and to let you play music from your phone to a set of speakers. I have no complaints about how it charges the phone. I do however dislike the dock's media connectivity. For one, the dock doesn't use the micro-usb connector, but a set of 5 ball contacts that are spaced out on the bottom of the phone. This allows the phone to slip in and out of the dock with no force required. That was a horrible design decision. Each time I want to control the media playback I push a button on the screen, and if I am not careful, I end up severing the connection. The music actually streamed to the dock over bluetooth, so you'd think that it wouldn't matter... well it does. The dock loses sync and music streams from the built-in speaker.

</rant-mode>

Now that I have that off my chest. I recommend the phone, but not the dock. :)

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I am an embedded Linux software developer and consultant operating under Jukie Networks Inc in Ottawa, Canada.

nexus one

[ link: nexus-one | tags: google android nexusone | updated: Thu, 21 Sep 2017 10:42:39 ]

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