Google Launches Nexus One: T-Mobile Plan Available Now, Verizon and Vodafone Coming Soon

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.6; en-us; Archos5 Build/Donut) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)

A lot of people are forgetting that the software, OS, UI, apps, and the user-friendliness and accessibility of all that, are just as important as the hardware specs.

Some are also living with the restricted os, lack of multitasking, sluggish application approval process, lack of customisation too, lackluster network offerings (in some regions) and switching the other way.

Honestly, both platforms can I've together quite harmoniously without people spereading dsinformation and uneducated "facts" about Android.

 

[OllyW]

Honestly, both platforms can I've together quite harmoniously without people spereading dsinformation and uneducated "facts" about Android.

Not in his world. He thinks there should only be one phone and all the rest should just give up.

 

[Bevz]

Looks Good. Nice to see they're selling it unlocked, unlike the iphone... Although i shouldn't complain as O2 just unlocked mine

Be good to get my hands on one and really see how responsive the UI is... because let's face it, the UI is everything.

 

[Rocketman]

incompatible with the frequency band used by the AT&T and Rogers networks for 3G data. Additionally, the Nexus One is incompatible with CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint.

Maybe they are trying to have a VERY narrow release of this product to debug before they release hardware/software 2.0 compatible with some significant fraction of the phone buying public.

Rocketman

 

[distortedloop]

2 things that the NexusOne does better than the iPhone off the top:

• Multiple carriers
• GV pre-installed

Multiple carriers is meaningless if you're happy with the one the phone you like is on - but options are always nice.

Google Voice is not the be-all to end-all. I have GV (on my iPhone as well), but rarely use it. I had a similar product from AT&T back in the '90s, so GV is hardly anything new.

...if the NexusOne is nearly as good as the iPhone.. The multiple carrier status will be quite an advantage, especially since Verizon has considerably more coverage than AT&T (At least in Metropolitan Los Angeles, they do. I had Verizon and experienced one dropped call, because the battery died. On AT&T I don't even get signal at home. No signal when I lived in the middle of [flat] Burbank, no signal while living in Pasadena, no signal at friend's house in Glendale.)

Carrier quality is like real estate, it's all about location, location, location. I'm also in Los Angeles, and have no issues with AT&T anywhere that I frequent routinely. There's a factory I visit in Santa Clarita that no one gets a signal in except for TMobile users. Otherwise, everywhere in the San Fernando Valley I go to, even Burbank, no problems. Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Redondo, Watts, Torrance, all of them no complaints with AT&T. I had Verizon for a few years. The service was no better than AT&T in my parts of town.

Then why can't Apple allow more than 6 apps in normal use? Why must you have to jailbreak it (which seems to cause them to catch fire)? Why can't you just buy it and by default, get 6 apps usage?

Because the battery drain is too high, allegedly. I have jailbroken, and use that Backgrounder and ProSwitcher app to run many apps at once and switch between them easily with a few finger flicks. My iPhone never catches fire, or even runs particularly hotter than normal, when I multitask most apps.

This may be the best Android phone yet, but that's not the big deal in this announcement.

You can run this phone with just a data plan. No voice plan. (Pay by the minute for calls, or use Skype or Google Voice via the data plan.)

Without a voice contract, you cut the cost of ownership dramatically. It's the beginning of the end for companies and phones that rely on traditional contracts, like AT&T and the iPhone.

Do you actually have Google Voice? If you do, you should understand already that Google Voice IS NOT a replacement for a voice plan. You cannot make or receive calls with Google Voice without some kind of voice delivering product other than GV. I suppose you could use Skype as your voice product, but GV does not stand alone for voice communication beyond voicemails.

Just reading around it also going to get flash a lot faster than the iPhone by the looks of things

Flash (Adobe) should just die. It's a CPU hogging, battery killing abortion on every platform I've used it on. Ability to run Flash, while nice, is far from a must-have for me. Are there Flash only sites that you really find attractive or necessary?

 

[*LTD*]

Om Malik Interviews Google’s Mobile Chief Andy Rubin
Regarding Android partners like Verizon and Motorola being upset about the Nexus One:

“People shouldn’t focus too much on the device (Nexus One),” said Rubin. “What’s more important is the strategy behind the devices.”

Yes, what better way to get the press not to focus on a device than to hold a big press conference to announce a device, talk about how great it is, and give one away to everyone who attends?

★
Daring Fireball 10-01-05 5:39 PM John Gruber http://daringfireball.net/

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.6; en-us; Archos5 Build/Donut) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)

Honestly, both platforms can I've together quite harmoniously without people spereading dsinformation and uneducated "facts" about Android.

Not in his world. He thinks there should only be one phone and all the rest should just give up.

Oh well, lucky for us that Samsung, Nokia, HTC, SonyEricsson, Motorola, LG, Asus, Dell and the rest think otherwise.

I bet all of those above make their phones without infringing on other peoples technology too.

 

[*LTD*]

Not in his world. He thinks there should only be one phone and all the rest should just give up.

Game's already over. Apple has this market figured out for the next 5 years at least. We're looking at the iPod of smartphones.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.6; en-us; Archos5 Build/Donut) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)


Some are also living with the restricted os, lack of multitasking, sluggish application approval process, lack of customisation too, lackluster network offerings (in some regions)

All small potatoes compared to the iPhone Experience.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.6; en-us; Archos5 Build/Donut) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)

Om Malik Interviews Google’s Mobile Chief Andy Rubin
Regarding Android partners like Verizon and Motorola being upset about the Nexus One:

“People shouldn’t focus too much on the device (Nexus One),” said Rubin. “What’s more important is the strategy behind the devices.”

Yes, what better way to get the press not to focus on a device than to hold a big press conference to announce a device, talk about how great it is, and give one away to everyone who attends?

★
Daring Fireball 10-01-05 5:39 PM John Gruber http://daringfireball.net/

You are fogetting that it wasn't a "nexus one" event but an Android 2.1 event. They even had a representatve from Motorola there (Albeit late).

All of the Nexus Ones features will be on Motorola's flagship device too.

 

[meth]

Flash (Adobe) should just die. It's a CPU hogging, battery killing abortion on every platform I've used it on. Ability to run Flash, while nice, is far from a must-have for me. Are there Flash only sites that you really find attractive or necessary?

Flash is a giant player online. many more options for games if your phone were capable of it. i'm all for flash.

funny how you mention you had a similar app to GV in the 90s and that it is nothing new. i agree, but somehow i get the feeling if jobs were to announce a similar product on a launch it would become this GROUNDBREAKING thing the greatest since sliced bread type of invention. kind of like when they added touch to focus on their camera or the voice commands which were things found on phones long before the iphone came out but yet apple made it seem like there invented it. Apple has a good product but an EXCELLENT marketing team.

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.6; en-us; Archos5 Build/Donut) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)



You are fogetting that it wasn't a "nexus one" event but an Android 2.1 event. They even had a representatve from Motorola there (Albeit late).

All of the Nexus Ones features will be on Motorola's flagship device too.

Plenty of confusion. Android 2.1? Nexus? Which is it? Wasn't this supposed to be the big Nexus One reveal? It's the Google Phone, right? What? There's already a Google Phone called the "Droid", and the other HTC phone is actually a Google Phone? So what's an Android? LOL. Nice to see Google keeping things simple.

ONE device. ONE OS. Done well. That's the key. These wannabes want to follow Apple in every way possible, except the one key way in which Apple is so successful. It's what happens when you focus on the User Experience and not on a PPC model pimped to thousands of smartphones.

 

[HiRez]

I don't imagine Apple execs are exactly laughing at this thing, but they probably got a quick internal chuckle and promptly went back to work. This is the "Superphone"? Sheesh.

 

[kernkraft]

Very good points!

It looks nice to me, but I'm tired of dropping $500 on these "smart" phones.

Hopefully this will encourage Apple to open up the iPhone to more customization.

There is no question about it - the iPhone will always be remembered as the first mainstream smartphone that brought the 'genre' to a wide audience (at least in the US). But not everybody is crazy about the 1-200.000 apps. Not everybody can afford the iPhone (or wants to pay so much for it) and not everybody wants large and expensive storage. Some people don't like iTunes and some want to use their smart phones in a different (smarter) way than what Apple offers.

Most people just want email, GPS, Skype or something similar, some news and a few games. If a fairly cheap handset can provide that, why not to buy it? Especially, if it has a better camera, better battery life than the iPhone (I don't know, but wouldn't be surprised)? It might have certain issues, where the iPhone is superior. But in life, most things are compromises. I knew that the 3G was worth the premium on the 3G in the UK. But to me, the days of paying this much for so few new features are over. We all can get lazy and Apple is notorious about leaving certain products rolling for far too long. It would be stupid to ignore other phones just because they are not from Apple. At least now other manufacturers are also making an effort to provide something useable.

Competitors will have to rely on what Apple gets wrong. Tens of thousands (or even more) jailbroken iPhones show us that some people's idea of 'user experience' does not match Apple's definition. The shape is getting boring, it needs new features (like front-facing camera, better primary camera, better battery, of course) and a new screen would also be good.

 

[iZac]

Ya see, like everyone when i first heard about the 'Google Phone', I was excited, really excited.

But when i heard it was going to be a rebadged HTC and when i saw that it looks like all the other dull (sorry any HTC owners out there) HTC handsets, i totally lost interest.

 

[roar08]

What does this have to do with mac and rumors regarding apple?

Most of this site sucks now. It still has some good tidbits of information here and there though. The answer to your question is on the top of the page: advertisements. All the idiots that post here thinking they've got some undeniably fantastic insight into one thing or another and the stupid conversations that result drive a lot of page views.

 

[OllyW]

Game's already over. Apple has this market figured out for the next 5 years at least. We're looking at the iPod of smartphones.

I hope Apple are not as complacent as you. While they have done an amazing job so far, they are still only in 3rd place in the smart phone market with more competition coming their way.

 

[polaris20]

Plenty of confusion. Android 2.1? Nexus? Which is it? Wasn't this supposed to be the big Nexus One reveal? It's the Google Phone, right? What? There's already a Google Phone called the "Droid", and the other HTC phone is actually a Google Phone? So what's an Android? LOL. Nice to see Google keeping things simple.

ONE device. ONE OS. Done well. That's the key. These wannabes want to follow Apple in every way possible, except the one key way in which Apple is so successful. It's what happens when you focus on the User Experience and not on a PPC model pimped to thousands of smartphones.

Anyone with a high school reading ability shouldn't have too much difficulty figuring out what is what. I certainly don't.

 

[clarkent5477]

5mp camera and flash..

the nexus comes with 5mp camera and flash.. i mean, what more could a user want??? iphone can't do that!

 

[roar08]

I hope Apple are not as complacent as you. While they have done an amazing job so far, they are still only in 3rd place in the smart phone market with more competition coming their way.

I don't know why people like you infer things people don't say. The author made no mention of his belief Apple was going to sit on its ass (complacency) for the next 5 years. I think it's fair to glean from his post he believes Apple has dominated similar markets and is likely to do the same with the iPhone. Whether he's right or wrong, your reply is stupid.

 

[Rocketman]

Flash (Adobe) should just die. It's a CPU hogging, battery killing abortion on every platform I've used it on. Ability to run Flash, while nice, is far from a must-have for me. Are there Flash only sites that you really find attractive or necessary?

Flash with all its limits, which are most visible when used on the following site . . . is used extensively on the new most popular site on the web: Facebook.com. On Facebook pages? Nope, on games on the Facebook site which are promoted with viral marketing techniques successfully.

Will not run on Mac OS 10.3 because Flash is not offered on that platform. Want to run it on 10.6.2? Okay, but it is buggy and crashes Firefox once in a while. Want to play a Facebook game at any semi-popular time like 10am or 5pm? It has server access issues.

You thought Flash was evil before?



Rocketman

Family members addicted, need drugs now, send quick.

 

[*LTD*]

I hope Apple are not as complacent as you. While they have done an amazing job so far, they are still only in 3rd place in the smart phone market with more competition coming their way.

Amazing how everyone is chasing the guy in third place.

Forget the placements, and pay attention to who is setting the standard. Hell Nokia is in first, and they currently have nothing to offer that even compares to Android, never mind the iPhone. Nokia's numbers are all based on years of entrenchment. They're currently in a nice downward slide and intend to litigate their way out of it. Way to act like #1.

RIM had better change, and change soon. The ways in which this should be done are obvious. Only a matter of time before RIM gets creamed, courtesy of Apple. Glorifed e-mail machines will only get you so far in the consumer market. And the days of RIM being the only player in the enterprise sector are numbered. RIM absolutely has the most to lose here.

So much for #1 and #2.

 

[dhollister]

The Nexus One is quad-band and supports HSDPA. How can it not support AT&T's 3G network? Is AT&T using something thats not 850, 1800, or 1900? Are they using something not HSDPA or HSUPA?

What am I missing that prevents this phone from using AT&T's 3G data?

 

[archipellago]

Just been on the Google Phone page looking at the specs of this. Seems to be all good and very close to the iPhone ON PAPER. Can't wait to see one, especially interested in seeing what the screen is like, it sounds good.

AnDy

close on specs???

it spanks the iPhone into next week...

 

[heisetax]

Standard Memory verse Other Memory

That's a tiny amount of standard storage, but overall the phone looks good.

Just take a look at what is actually in the iPhone & iPod Touch. This phone to be on par with the iPhone when a 5GB, 16 GB or 32 GB card is installed.

 

[Macsterguy]

I like everything my iPhone does except for making calls...

I have had at least 30 DROPPED OR CALLS THAT DIDN'T GO THRU TODAY ALONE in the D/FW area!!! This is a real problem that gets worse every day... My wife, daughter and 2 son's have iPhones too and it is the same for them... I have purchased an additional 12 for my business, more of the same...

I have no choice but to stop using them and go for this google phone or something else (that works to make calls). I dare at&t to try and charge me a cancelation fee when they didn't deliver as promised... What a shame...