Nexus One - The Google Phone - Finally Announced

[david.dakota]

After weeks of rumour and speculation, leaks and videos, Goodle announced their first venture into the world of Smart Phones - the Nexus One.

 

Running the most recent release of Android (2.1, or Eclair for those who like cakes), t Nexus One also boasts some impressive hardware. It features a zippy 1GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which Google says enables the phone to seamlessly run multiple applications at once. A trackball allows users to navigate the interface, and also uses different colored lights to send various alerts–such as a new call or e-mail message. It also sports a 3.7-inch touchscreen AMOLED display with a native resolution of 480×800 pixels, a five megapixel camera, 512MB of RAM and ROM, and a microSD slot that’s expandable up to 32GB of storage (it ships with a 4GB card). It has a compass and an accelerometer, and light and proximity sensors allow the device to save power by dimming or shutting off the screen. A metal plate on back is designed for personal engraving. There is no hardware keyboard.

 

Impressions are so far favourable, but still no 'iPhone Killer' (as they say).

[Will]

Been watching a few videos and I think it looks pretty good. Both in hardware and software. My issue would be that I've got too much invested in Apple's products, apps I like, mobileme, macbook sync etc. This would have to offer me a big improvement over what I have to convert me.

 

At least it's competition though, that's always a good thing.

[Ryan]

After weeks of rumour and speculation, leaks and videos.. and you call them Goodle.

[McPhee]

I believe it's a Google phone rather than the Google phone. Something to do with them rebranding the '...with Google' brand and selling them through their site rather than moving in to the hardware business to compete directly with Apple. Basically in the future you'll get handsets from Sony Ericsson, Motorola, HTC, Samsung etc. with their own custom UIs built over the top (like a continuation of Sense or MotoBLUR that covers the whole OS) and you'll get Google handsets, which will run Google's standard Android UI.

 

I like the idea personally. It gets the point across much better than the '...with Google' thing ever did.

 

As for the handset itself, got to admit I'm tempted. It looks like a pretty good Android handset, and being a Google branded one I'd expect updates will come pretty promptly and support will continue for some time. At $530 I'd order one. Shipping, Import Duty and VAT add an extra £100 on though, bringing it to about £435. Still a good price, but not enough to make me order straight away.

[flameboy]

have to be honest hate the look of the OS personally...thats a instant turn off...

[Ten10]

Terrible war down at engadget. Seems the exclusive review didn't go down so well with the crowd. But to tell the truth the review was somewhat biased towards the Iphone. But I think a great feature of the nexus one is flash support. Don't see that too often. Still want a motorola milestone though.

[Wesley]

Looks very, very nice.

 

In about 6 months my free internet access for iPhone is up (then costing 10 quid a month for it).

 

I thought I'd just get the next iPhone, but now it'll be a choice.

[Shorty]

have to be honest hate the look of the OS personally...thats a instant turn off...

Eh? Isn't it running Android? It's an awesome OS.

[Cube]

I almost, almost bought it - I had even entered all my card details. But I really do not need this, especially for the price.

 

This is also kind of an experiment. Google may try more options in a the future with a better price tag, or perhaps slightly lower powered but still great one for less. It may be best to wait and see what they do in the near future with the Phone Webstore.

 

I think that the phone and the operating system are utterly beautiful, and it looks like it's reliable too (my only problem with my Nokia 5800 is that the Symbian OS is very buggy).

[McPhee]

I bought one... but they won't accept my card

 

Not sure if I'm disappointed or relieved but I think I'll leave it til after CES now.

[RoadKill]

slightly lower powered but still great one for less.

 

There are several handsets that fit this description, htc magic, htc hero, motorola milestone

 

The whole point of the Nexus One that it's currently by far the best Android handset available

[flameboy]

Eh? Isn't it running Android? It's an awesome OS.

 

meh just don't like the way it looks for whatever reason.

[Shorty]

It's probably that absolutely terrible wallpaper they've got on the phone on their site :/

[Ten10]

I thought that the wallpaper was the pixel breaker clock, which I think is a nice touch. If its not then that is pretty lame.

 

Edit: Just looked on the nexus google site. I'd have to agree there shorty. That dodgy carbon fibre wallpaper doesn't do too much for that menu.

[Caris]

European version supports multitouch just to let anyone know.

[Wesley]

How come they'd change something that (in my eyes) important?

[Caris]

It's the same with the Motorola Milestone.

[Shino]

Patent problems in America probably.

[Wesley]

Does that mean app support is kind of split though...?

[Shino]

Does that mean app support is kind of split though...?

 

That's a good question, from what I've been reading multi touch is allowed to third parties, albeit at they're own risk of getting sued by Apple. In Europe however software patents to obvious solutions aren't attributed, so we can have all that good stuff.

[McPhee]

Does that mean app support is kind of split though...?

 

Nope. There's full multitouch support in both the Nexus One and the Droid. For some reason (probably patent related) Google just won't add multitouch support to any of their software stateside.

 

They really need to get whatever legal issues there are sorted out tbh, it does seem there are some that NEED multitouch in thieir handsets.

[Cube]

Actually..that reminds me. Does this phone support that really useful thing they call a stylus?

Edited January 8, 2010 by Cube

[Shorty]

Actually..that reminds me. Does this phone support that really useful thing they call a stylus?

You realise that the iPhone support a stylus right? It's just that you need a capacitative one.

[dazzybee]

Does this do anything better than the iPhone?

[Caris]

Well the reviews I have read are saying the iPhone is still the better phone.