So I watched Google's promo video on the Nexus-S and it was dizzying. After a while I thought I was watching an advertisement for shoes. Then I decided to checkout Google's site.
All I have to say is that I'm noticing as many marketing missteps with this iteration of "Nexus" as the last one....
1) T-Mobile release (limited customer base).
2) Promo videos that don't show much of what Gingerbread can do. Are Justin Mattso, Simon Wilson, and Mike Lebeau the best spokesmen they could get? Not to mention the promo videos are showing me the closed-captioned text right on top of those screen shots of the new interface he is talking about.
3) Erosion of the Android brand name by marketing "Gingerbread" so heavily instead of "Android". The video with the kid and gingerbread cookies is cute, but are most people even going to understand that Gingerbread is the new version of Android? Do most people know that Froyo was the last version?
So once I get past the marketing missteps, here is what I gathered:
- Memory is the same as the iPhone-4
- Screen is larger, but resolution is less than iPhone-4
- Processor looks comparable to iPhone-4 (though I don't know the exact benchmarks here -- no dual core)
- Voice activated features seem to be the best thing here, though if you are like me you find that you don't like using these sort of features in public places -- best used in the car through a headset.
- Nexus-S is "unlocked by default" and will work with "any GSM carrier" -- that's a plus.
- Camera on Nexus-S is 5MP, but no mention of backlit sensor or HDR (I'm sure you can get an HDR app for it). Camera on iPhone-4 is incredible because of the backlit sensor.
- Curved screen looks nice on the Nexus-S (not sure if this contributes to the "75% less glare" they boast).
Hopefully somebody will produce some better demo videos for Nexus-S than Google did, so we can see some of these features in action. So far I see nothing in this phone that makes it notable other than it runs "Gingerbread" or "Android 2.3" -- I'm not sure that's going to catch the attention of the non-techie masses in the world.
All I have to say is that I'm noticing as many marketing missteps with this iteration of "Nexus" as the last one....
1) T-Mobile release (limited customer base).
2) Promo videos that don't show much of what Gingerbread can do. Are Justin Mattso, Simon Wilson, and Mike Lebeau the best spokesmen they could get? Not to mention the promo videos are showing me the closed-captioned text right on top of those screen shots of the new interface he is talking about.
3) Erosion of the Android brand name by marketing "Gingerbread" so heavily instead of "Android". The video with the kid and gingerbread cookies is cute, but are most people even going to understand that Gingerbread is the new version of Android? Do most people know that Froyo was the last version?
So once I get past the marketing missteps, here is what I gathered:
- Memory is the same as the iPhone-4
- Screen is larger, but resolution is less than iPhone-4
- Processor looks comparable to iPhone-4 (though I don't know the exact benchmarks here -- no dual core)
- Voice activated features seem to be the best thing here, though if you are like me you find that you don't like using these sort of features in public places -- best used in the car through a headset.
- Nexus-S is "unlocked by default" and will work with "any GSM carrier" -- that's a plus.
- Camera on Nexus-S is 5MP, but no mention of backlit sensor or HDR (I'm sure you can get an HDR app for it). Camera on iPhone-4 is incredible because of the backlit sensor.
- Curved screen looks nice on the Nexus-S (not sure if this contributes to the "75% less glare" they boast).
Hopefully somebody will produce some better demo videos for Nexus-S than Google did, so we can see some of these features in action. So far I see nothing in this phone that makes it notable other than it runs "Gingerbread" or "Android 2.3" -- I'm not sure that's going to catch the attention of the non-techie masses in the world.
