I almost cried when I returned the Motorola DROID A855 Android Phone (Verizon Wireless) to Verizon due to connectivity problems but now I am glad I ended up with the Google Nexus One Unlocked Phone! This Nexus One hasn't failed me yet; it has strong 3G connectivity with T-Mobile and strong Edge connectivity with AT&T. The phone is gorgeous (AMOLED display - Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) and amazingly fast (snapdragon processor) and fun (Android 2.1 interface enhancements)!
I love the droid platform that you can customize and aren't stuck with the rigid iPhone experience.
I love Google's turn by turn navigation which usually works for me by voice command such as "Navigate to Fry's Electronics" and it will give me choice on screen of which two locations in my city do I want directions to? I touch screen my selection and it starts telling me how to drive there. I have found Google's Navigation better than Garmin in that it gives a better gas-saving route and tells you the turns before you get to them rather than after you already passed them. I do prefer hard keyboards which Nexus One doesn't have so Verizon's Motorola Droid wins out there! I was hoping they had used the money saved on no landscape keyboard to put in BETTER microphones and really fix the Voice Command making typing obsolete, but no. However, Swype and other keyboard apps can improve your virtual keyboard experience. The phone has been dissected and the parts apparently come to $174 in change and the rest is Google's profit.
Another reviewer said low battery on Nexus One, to fix that, just download free app Advanced Task Killer and shut down running software that you don't need running and it will last longer. Also, you can make it run edge instead of 3G which will save on battery. There are a lot of settings you can easily adjust to conserve your battery life. Battery life for the Nexus One is as follows: 10 hours of 2G talk time or 7 hours of 3G talk time; 12 days of 2G standby time or 10.4 hours of 3G standby time; 5 hours of Internet use on 3G or 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi; 7 hours of video playback and 20 hours of audio playback. According to FCC radiation tests, the Nexus One has a digital SAR of 0.867 watt per kilogram.
Also, another reviewer said that low privacy due to syncing with his desktop, but you can turn off syncing in your settings if you don't want them to sync. The syncing is actually one of the features that I think appeals to most Android/google fans.
I love the Amazon ap and being able to scan UPC codes to do comparison shopping and read Amazon reviews!
The 3D AMOLED screen is breath-taking. The interactive wallpapers are fun.
I bought the Nexus One unlocked from Google for $529 plus tax. I have always been impressed with how innovative google is but the experience of buying a phone from them is horrid. I would not do it again. They are not providing any customer service other than to tell you to call TMobile about the service or HTC about hardware questions. Google will not provide a customer service telephone number even AFTER you have given them almost $600; there is no customer service on the packing slip or anywhere to be found. They have a help forum where supposedly you can get help from other CUSTOMERS but they themselves will not help you out. TMobile CSRs say they will have this phone available for sale in their store by the end of January and I would definitely recommend buying it from them instead of Google. Also if you buy it from Google, TMobile insurance against damage, loss, theft, etc is unavailable; the only insurance you can get on the Google phone when you buy from google is from square trade which has a deductible and is limited in what it will cover. I do really like and use the UNLOCKED status of the phone and don't know if TMobile will be selling it unlocked as that is something new to be offered in USA. It is so great for traveling abroad; just pop in a prepaid SIM card from that country and you are ready to roll without roaming fees! I suppose if TMobile doesn't sell it unlocked you just need to go to the same little bit of extra trouble to unlock the phone so you don't end up having to turn over the farm to TMobile/AT&T for roaming fees!
I received my phone 01/08/10 and am thinking it is a definite keeper but I am still playing around with it and learning it. Nexus One is FUN! It is pretty! It is fast! It is so enjoyable I have almost forgotten the awful Google buying experience.
UPDATE jan 17 2010 - I brought my Nexus One to the AT&T Kiosk and the guys there both said WOW, I was happy with my iPhone 3GS when I woke up this morning but now I want one of these! I explained it was only on EDGE and not 3G but they said that the snapdragon processor made up for it that you notice the speed lag only in downstreaming video or megafiles. they volunteered that AT&T is "in no hurry" to get the Nexus One running on their 3G network since they can not sell the phone and all the retail profit is going to google; they are putting their efforts into their next new phone which I think they called the Elite.
Google now has a couple of employees on their help forum attempting customer service but failing. Google has made its fortune by advertising mostly and acting like any actual interaction with their customers will give them the cooties, so I guess it is too late to change. Offering the phone unlocked when brand new is really great and may be lost if only sold by the carrier. So Google if you are listening here is how you can go into the phone-selling business without getting the cooties - partner with Amazon and Wal-mart (retail and online). These retail giants have proven records of consistent great customer service. Let them sell your unlocked phones for you and collect a profit for providing customer service and you get to continue to rake in the big bucks without having any actual contact with your customers and not tarnish your reputation when people experience what it is like to interact with you rather than admire you from afar. The retail store with the best customer service record in cellphones though is Best Buy; let them sell your phone unlocked and customer satisfaction will soar!
Another reviewer said he didn't know why people would buy it here for more than what google charges but the answer is crystal clear - one google is not selling to many countries yet and secondly amazon will provide customer service and won't charge a re-stocking fee.
I am really enjoying my Nexus One and am thinking it is the KEEPER
Feb3, 2010 update
This phone really shows off YouTube! Their HD concerts and other clips are stellar to watch on this phone! Watching theater previews on the movies app (free) is a fun experience. The picture is HD and the sound quality is best with ear phones.
While there are fewer apps than iPhone, there are more free apps. How many apps does one need anyway? I try to keep my phone light so it is ripped and ready to fly fast!
There is a great silicone coating making the nexus one almost impossible to scratch! There is a great YouTube video where someone is intentionally trying to scratch the nexus one screen as well as the back with their car keys and can't! : )
I got a computer in my pocket and I am lovin' it!
UPDATE Feb9,2010 Now there is a Google Nexus one Customer Support number 888-48Nexus (888 486 3987) so might be worth a try to purchase from Google! Maybe they have seen the light!
Also software update released earlier this week includes MULTI-TOUCH that so many people seem to really like!
UPDATE Feb16,2010 Google Voice is fully integrated on this phone so using it for texting in or out is as easy as the regular messaging icon. But Google Voice has free text messaging so you can have your carrier block texting using their system and save the $10-20/month or whatever your carrier is currently charging you for texting.
UPDATE April24,2010 I purchased the car dock and am loving my N1 even more! You can use your phone with a Bluetooth headset while it's in the Car Dock; when you dock your phone for the first time, you'll be prompted with a dialog box to select the dock's audio settings. Just uncheck the "As speaker phone" option, and your phone will be able to pair with a Bluetooth headset. To change these settings later, go to Menu > Dock settings while Car Dock is running.
UPDATE May31,2010 I guess the Nexus One is no longer available on google's website and will soon be sold in stores where you can pick up, touch, and play with before shelling out big bucks. I am still very happy with my Nexus One! If I was to choose again today the smartphone right for me, I would choose this one again. My son just terminated iPhone Friday and got the HTC DROID INCREDIBLE Android Phone (Verizon Wireless) from Verizon and that is probably the best choice for him as he wanted to leave AT&T and go with Verizon. The incredible is made by HTC like the Nexus One that I enjoy! I love the open android platform and think he will fall in love with it too. He has only had it a few hours but already is saying how cool it is to be so integrated with google unlike his iPhone. I prefer my NexusOne as I can stick an activated GoPhone SIM card in there and it works; I don't have to sign a 2 year contract for overpriced service like my son did! He had to pay AT&T money too to get out of his iPhone contract. I'm on wifi most of the time and just pay for AT&T service when I need it and I am free to do something else if I ever decide to do so!
I found this review comparing cameras between htc nexusone and htc incredible: The Nexus One takes better pictures than the Droid Incredible. How is that possible?! you say? The Incredible is 8MP, thats a whole THREE MORE MEGAPIXELS you say. Well, I think it boils down to the megapixel myth: the common belief that more megapixels equals a better camera, which isn't always the case. There are a wealth of other factors in play here, the lens, the flash, the CMOS sensor- all of which can contribute to better overall image quality.
Also Engadget compared cameras on Incredible and N1: With all this talk of the Droid Incredible ousting the Nexus One from Verizon Wireless, having a better multitouch implementation, and just being newer and shinier, you might think this comparison of cameras is just mercilessly piling on the pain for the original Googlephone. After all, the Nexus One and its 5 megapixel sensor came out a good few months ahead of the 8 megapixel Droid Incredible, so surely this battle would be over before it's even begun? Not so fast, says Android and Me, whose diligent testers have put the two HTC handsets through a side-by-side shootout. As it turns out, the Nexus One rather swept the contest in both naturally and flash-lit shots, while the Incredible habitually exhibited a blue hue in less than perfectly lit photos. Both cameras were adept at taking excellent daylight photos, as is to be expected, but the devil is as usual in the details -- and you can find all of them at the source link below.
YouTube has many short videos comparing nexus one to incredible or droid just type in nexus one vs incredible or type in nexus one vs droid or whatever phone you want to compare to. Basically NexusOne and Incredible are very similar. N1 one is a little bigger. Incredible has more plastic. incredible has track pad while N1 has trackball; both light up. Incredible has HTC sense which gives you built in widgets; N1 uses google android widgets but you can download all the other widgets to N1 so the difference is really only that the incredible comes pre-loaded with the widgets through HTC Sense. N1 has less storage. Incredible has an enhanced micro usb. one might think since the Incredible camera has more megapixils that it takes better photos than N1 but that doesn't seem to be what reviewers comparing photos taken side by side are saying! The Incredible gives you 7 homescreens with leap feature whereas N1 has only 5 homepages but really I am not using all 5 of my pages yet and plan on never doing so as how many apps does one need really? I like to keep my smartphone trim and fast! N1 has longer battery life than Incredible which may really be significant as short battery life is one of the major complaints for N1 and Incredible's is shorter; some say it is the HTC Sense that eats up the battery life so maybe incredible users will be uninstalling it, if THEY CAN!
The other night we were out eating crab buckets at a very loud rowdy restaurant and we decided to go shopping afterwards but didn't know how to get to the mall from here so I pulled out my N1 and really didn't think it would work with all that noise, but i spoke navigate to xxx and it got it 100% perfect! My friend's jaw dropped and said How did your phone do that? My phone won't do that! (she has a G1). If you get the N1, you'll be hearing that a lot "How'd your phone do that? mine won't do that...."
To other reviewer Shunundo - i agree with you that speaker quality is tinky and really need to use with earbuds or bluetooth. If you have trouble seeing in sunlight, adjust the settings and see if that helps. the phone has automatic brightness, it has a light sensor built in, when you are in bright light, the brightness lowers, and raises when in the dark. You can disable this and customize the brightness level by going to Settings>Sound and Display>Brightness. AMOLED screens are not the best choice if you are a lifeguard in the sun all day but prettiest for normal lighting day and night. Also did you know you can turn your N1 camera flash into a flashlight without rooting it? there are SEVERAL android apps for that. I agree with you that wifi is the best way to go and I am on that almost all the time for speeds as fast as my desktop!
UPDATE - On the wireless settings, there is an option for "Tethering & Portable Hotspot". Once you turn on "Portable Wi-fi Hotspot" you can tether any wireless device. Saw someone at the park on July 4th with the iPad, and 2 iPod Touches tethered to N1 ~ this completely blew all of us away as the 3G connection was lightning fast for all 3 gadgets! N1 wasn't rooted.
UPDATE 7/20 My phone updated to Froyo 2.2 seems like weeks ago and my son's incredible hasn't updated yet; he is still on 2.1 and really wanting 2.2. I've heard Nexus One owners are always going to get preferential treatment from Google over their other android customers.
UPDATE 10/10/10 - I am still lovin' my Nexus One! It just keeps getting better and better and I have not had a single thought about switching to anything else! Google Nexus One Unlocked Phone'
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