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Nexus One switchers?

ChazUK said:
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All this positive talk of rooting and the custom roms is making it hard for me to not do it. I've had no issues using the stock firmware so far but would love to play with other roms.

I used to kind of like flashing my Hero with custom roms to see what was new on newer cooked builds. This has been one interesting thread! :D
Click to expand...

If you're having no problems with hardware so far, and are ok with losing the warranty, I say root it. It makes the device even that much better. The people that worked on the cyanogenmod ROM have put a LOT of time into it, and it shows. It's been even more stable for me than the stock rom, and is a hell of a lot faster. Plus, you actually get use of all of the device's 512mb of RAM. And numerous tweaks that really boost performance.
 
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chris975d said:
ChazUK said:
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All this positive talk of rooting and the custom roms is making it hard for me to not do it. I've had no issues using the stock firmware so far but would love to play with other roms.

I used to kind of like flashing my Hero with custom roms to see what was new on newer cooked builds. This has been one interesting thread! :D
Click to expand...

If you're having no problems with hardware so far, and are ok with losing the warranty, I say root it. It makes the device even that much better. The people that worked on the cyanogenmod ROM have put a LOT of time into it, and it shows. It's been even more stable for me than the stock rom, and is a hell of a lot faster. Plus, you actually get use of all of the device's 512mb of RAM. And numerous tweaks that really boost performance.
Click to expand...

My only concern is that my first Nexus One died 8 days after receiving it which is what has put me off of unlocking the bootloader. If someone clever enough finds a way to re-lock the bootloader I'll be all over it like a rash. :p
 
ChazUK said:
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My only concern is that my first Nexus One died 8 days after receiving it which is what has put me off of unlocking the bootloader. If someone clever enough finds a way to re-lock the bootloader I'll be all over it like a rash. :p
Click to expand...

Ahhhhh.....gotcha. Well, it's not like the phone is horrible even with the stock ROM, if you have a good unit, it's still better (to me) than a stock iPhone 3GS. Maybe one of the masterminds behind all of the cooked ROMs will come up with a way to un-root it soon.
 
ChazUK said:
My only concern is that my first Nexus One died 8 days after receiving it which is what has put me off of unlocking the bootloader. If someone clever enough finds a way to re-lock the bootloader I'll be all over it like a rash. :p
Click to expand...

Since unlocking voids the warranty, I don't believe there is any way to re-lock it. Google takes a very hands off approach to these activities but nonetheless if you brick the phone or something goes wrong and its been shown that you rooted it, then your SOL
 
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maflynn said:
ChazUK said:
My only concern is that my first Nexus One died 8 days after receiving it which is what has put me off of unlocking the bootloader. If someone clever enough finds a way to re-lock the bootloader I'll be all over it like a rash. :p
Click to expand...

Since unlocking voids the warranty, I don't believe there is any way to re-lock it. Google takes a very hands off approach to these activities but nonetheless if you brick the phone or something goes wrong and its been shown that you rooted it, then your SOL
Click to expand...

I'm more than happy with my Nexus One as it is but would like to try some of the stuff that has been added to the custom roms.

As I've said before, the two year warranty is worth more to me than an unlocked bootloader. If I were to unlock the bootloader but the hardware developed a fault unrealted to the software, it would bother me that I couldn't get it repaired under warranty.

Perhaps in a year or so when I (undoubtedly) buy a newer handset, I'll keep the nexus one to fiddle about with and unlock the bootloader then.
 
Made the switch

Placed my order last night and can't wait!

Played with the hardware (dummy unit) at a local phone store and it was much thinner and compact than I thought.
 
Lou E. Ville said:
Got my N1 early yesterday, and I must say so far I am very impressed.

-First off, the screen is absolutely gorgeous. Online videos do it no justice. I also think the "not being able to see it in sunlight" issue is somewhat overplayed.
-I have had no troubles with the touchscreen. It is a smidge less responsive than the iPhone, but nothing that I'll be complaining about. I have also followed the tips about hitting the hotkeys towards their upper half and have experienced no troubles.
-The keyboard is a little different than the iPhone's as well. At first I found myself making some mistakes, but by the end of the day I was typing almost as quickly as I was on my iPhone. I'll probably try out Swype eventually.
-I was pleased to see that many of the apps that I used most frequently on my iPhone are also availible in the Android Marketplace (Shazam, Urbanspoon, Movies, etc.)
-The maps/navigation app is infinitely more polished than the iPhone version, as is the Gmail app (of course that only will apply if you have a Gmail address as your primary account; I haven't even looked at the other Mail app)
-The Calendar app is somewhat disappointing, but still suits my purposes.
-NOTIFICATIONS...wow. The N1 owns the current iPhone OS in this area. The notification bar at the top of the screen, as well as the lights on the phone, make for a great alert system.
-Haven't tried putting any music or movies on the phone yet. I have a feeling this is a battle the iPhone may win. I did play a few preinstalled songs on the N1 music player, and while it's not as polished as the iPod on the iPhone, it still does its job well.
-The integration with Google/text/voice searching is seamless throughout the device.
-One cool thing I like is how it automatically syncs Facebook profile pics to your contacts list.
-Oh yeah, this thing is wicked fast.

All in all, after a day or so, I'm loving this phone. Can't wait to get it even more customized to my liking.
Click to expand...

I got my N1 for sevral days and I agree to pretty much everything you said.
There are a couple issues I have with the phone. The first is the touchscreen is not as responsive as iPhone's. Sometimes I had to touch the screen a couple times before the input is registered. The second issue is the stock keyboard. IMO it is total crap and I replaced it with the hTC keyboard. The hTC keyboard is lightyears ahead of the stock one and as good as the iphone keyboard.

Other than these two gripes, I had a total blast with this phone. I rooted it last night and installed cyanogenmod. Along with SetCPU and Advanced task killer, the battery life is much improved. I now constantly have over 180 mb of free ram available despite running 15 apps in the background. The phone is a total beast and I have this huge smile using the phone. Oh, the trackball alert app lets you set the color of the trackball. For me, red means a missed call, blue means I got an email, green means text message and pink means MSN message. In the middle of the night, I don't even have to unlock the phone to know what's waiting.

Anyway, I'm a recent Nexus One switcher and I can't be any happier. :D
 
Thank God for rooting! After 5 hours of texting, browsing, an hour of talking on the phone and listening to music, I'm only at 75 percent. 5 hours ago, I started at 100%, now I'm at 75%. My 3G is on, my brightness is turn on, my Yahoo Mail is set to update every 15 mins, my G-Mail is instant, and I have some things running in the background. Niiiiiiiiice!
 
If I opt for the N1, I'll be rooting it, but only after putting it through its paces and after the 14 day grace period.

Personally, I'm vacillating between keeping my iPhone and getting the N1.

I visited my local verizon wireless store and played with a droid very briefly. I wasn't all that blown away with android at first. Now I will qualify that and say its difficult to make a judgement call after only a 2 minutes with the demo unit. I was blown away with the iPhone after the same time period when I first saw it, but I also understand that it was the first of its kind.

I'm range about 80% of getting the N1 to about pretty sure I'll keep my iPhone.

Edit:
I think I've finally decided what to do - I'm done vacillating. I'll buy the N1, and if it works as it should, sell my iPhone. Then when June comes around and apple blows my socks off with the new iPhone, I can always sell the Nexus One and jump back. Either way I think I make out.
 
Same thoughts that I had. I haven't rooted by N1, but I must say I am liking it more each day. Playing with the droid for a few minutes doesn't give you a feel for android. With an iphone there is not much you can do with the screens other than add icons or rearrange them (not counting if you jailbreak your iphone). With Android you can add widgets. With the app Anycut you can add literally anything. Even without rooting your N1, you can do far more customization than the iphone.



maflynn said:
If I opt for the N1, I'll be rooting it, but only after putting it through its paces and after the 14 day grace period.

Personally, I'm vacillating between keeping my iPhone and getting the N1.

I visited my local verizon wireless store and played with a droid very briefly. I wasn't all that blown away with android at first. Now I will qualify that and say its difficult to make a judgement call after only a 2 minutes with the demo unit. I was blown away with the iPhone after the same time period when I first saw it, but I also understand that it was the first of its kind.

I'm range about 80% of getting the N1 to about pretty sure I'll keep my iPhone.

Edit:
I think I've finally decided what to do - I'm done vacillating. I'll buy the N1, and if it works as it should, sell my iPhone. Then when June comes around and apple blows my socks off with the new iPhone, I can always sell the Nexus One and jump back. Either way I think I make out.
Click to expand...
 
kenypowa said:
I got my N1 for sevral days and I agree to pretty much everything you said.
There are a couple issues I have with the phone. The first is the touchscreen is not as responsive as iPhone's. Sometimes I had to touch the screen a couple times before the input is registered. The second issue is the stock keyboard. IMO it is total crap and I replaced it with the hTC keyboard. The hTC keyboard is lightyears ahead of the stock one and as good as the iphone keyboard.

Other than these two gripes, I had a total blast with this phone. I rooted it last night and installed cyanogenmod. Along with SetCPU and Advanced task killer, the battery life is much improved. I now constantly have over 180 mb of free ram available despite running 15 apps in the background. The phone is a total beast and I have this huge smile using the phone. Oh, the trackball alert app lets you set the color of the trackball. For me, red means a missed call, blue means I got an email, green means text message and pink means MSN message. In the middle of the night, I don't even have to unlock the phone to know what's waiting.

Anyway, I'm a recent Nexus One switcher and I can't be any happier. :D
Click to expand...

nfl46 said:
Thank God for rooting! After 5 hours of texting, browsing, an hour of talking on the phone and listening to music, I'm only at 75 percent. 5 hours ago, I started at 100%, now I'm at 75%. My 3G is on, my brightness is turn on, my Yahoo Mail is set to update every 15 mins, my G-Mail is instant, and I have some things running in the background. Niiiiiiiiice!
Click to expand...

Glad to hear about other successful rooting stories. It really does make a great phone even better. The more I use my rooted N1, the more that I think it even trumps my jail broken 3GS. The only thing I even slightly miss now is the better cut, copy and paste on the iPhone.
 
Reading these really makes me wish I felt the same about the N1 after 3 days of use. At first I was blown away by everything. Until I got used to it then started realizing the downfalls and it made me got back to the iPhone. Question for the N1 users. Most of you who have done the rooting process what are you doing to your phones. Like which apps/programs are you guys mainly running?
 
ajohnson253 said:
Reading these really makes me wish I felt the same about the N1 after 3 days of use. At first I was blown away by everything. Until I got used to it then started realizing the downfalls and it made me got back to the iPhone. Question for the N1 users. Most of you who have done the rooting process what are you doing to your phones. Like which apps/programs are you guys mainly running?
Click to expand...

You may have gotten a bad unit with your N1 as far as why you didn't like it. If your unit was a good one, you may just have not given it enough time to get used to it. I've found that when I switch platforms, I need to give the new device at least a week as my primary phone before I decide for/against it. You have to give yourself time to adjust, because you build a familiarity with anything that you use for a while, and anything that's different from that seems "not quite as good" usually, at first at least. When I went from blackberry to my first iPhone, I hated the iPhone simply because it was different and I wasn't as proficient with it. Once I adapted to the keyboard and different entry method, I saw it's advantages over blackberry. I couldn't type a lick on the first iPhone that I used. And I hated trying to change settings, because I knew where everything already was in my old blackberry. I just think that people need to give new platforms a true try out period when/if they make an attempt to change to them.
As far as programs on my rooted N1, I use SetCPU for CPU throttling and battery conservation, and love the trackball color notification for my alerts. It's amazing how nice it is not to have to wake the device and unlock it just to know what notifications I have waiting. As far as other apps/tweaks/programs, the things I like the most are the things that are already built into the "cooked" ROM itself. The himem kernel that allows for all the 512mb of RAM to be used, and the graphical processing enhancements that are coded in as well. These things, to me, really make the N1 shine. And I'm still playing with some other battery conservation apps, but I really don't need them now with the current tweaks that I'm already running. But tinkering is fun. And I have the Seidio 3200ma battery arriving tomorrow, so I'll be able to run everything at "full throttle" if I choose to without worrying about battery life, so that will be really fun.
 
Those of you wondering if you should root it and run a custom rom, do it.

I switched from a 3GS to the nexus. I was blown away by the nexus at first, but then the various bugs and performance problems made me consider switching back.

But then I rooted and tried both the sense rom and cyanogenmod. Both are so much better than the stock android, and really make the phone look and feel the way you would expect from a top-of-the-line android device.

In my opinion, a rooted nexus has the 3GS beat, but a non-rooted nexus does not. The stock android that google installs on it is okay, but really is not representative of what the phone is capable of.


Other various notes as a former iPhone user:
- The touch screen on the nexus is fine. I can tap small links while browsing the web just as well as I could on my iphone. Pinch-zoom, scrolling, and other common gestures feel just as responsive. Technically, the iphone does have a better touch screen (the nexus can not detect more than two points at once, while the iphone can read 3+), but it is not a hinderance.
- Compared to iPhone, stock android's music player is functional but barebones and a little ugly. Solution for now: install the sense UI rom, which has a very nice media player. The next android release is rumored to majorly improve the music player, similar to how Android 2.1 introduced the nice-looking image/video viewer.
- The stock android keyboard isn't great. Solution: install the HTC sense keyboard (search xda developers) or try one of the other keyboards floating around online or on the market. Android lets you change your keyboard. It's really nice!
- Multitasking is a big deal. Yes, its true you can only view one app at a time but the ability to switch between apps instantly and pick up right where you left off is a major improvement. Another cool example of multitasking is when my podcatching app (beyondpod) opens itself in the background to automatically download new podcasts every day, and then closes. Not having to do anything to update my podcasts on my phone is very nice.
- Overall, its just really nice to know that I now have a phone where the manufacturer isn't constantly trying to tell me how to use it. The nexus is designed to multitask third-party apps, and was designed to be easily unlocked, rooted, and modified. Why use an iphone when you feel the need to jailbreak it and make it do things it isn't intended to do?
 
i don't know about jumping on the rooting bandwagon.... doing so voids your warranty. I would only root if i was past the 30 day (in CA) return policy AND I was sure i had absolutely flawless hardware AND I was sure I didn't care about the remainder of the warranty. For a new user trying out the device, rooting will result in marrying the device - ie, you can't return it or get it replaced once you root it!
 
chris975d said:
You may have gotten a bad unit with your N1 as far as why you didn't like it. If your unit was a good one, you may just have not given it enough time to get used to it. I've found that when I switch platforms, I need to give the new device at least a week as my primary phone before I decide for/against it. You have to give yourself time to adjust, because you build a familiarity with anything that you use for a while, and anything that's different from that seems "not quite as good" usually, at first at least. When I went from blackberry to my first iPhone, I hated the iPhone simply because it was different and I wasn't as proficient with it. Once I adapted to the keyboard and different entry method, I saw it's advantages over blackberry. I couldn't type a lick on the first iPhone that I used. And I hated trying to change settings, because I knew where everything already was in my old blackberry. I just think that people need to give new platforms a true try out period when/if they make an attempt to change to them.
As far as programs on my rooted N1, I use SetCPU for CPU throttling and battery conservation, and love the trackball color notification for my alerts. It's amazing how nice it is not to have to wake the device and unlock it just to know what notifications I have waiting. As far as other apps/tweaks/programs, the things I like the most are the things that are already built into the "cooked" ROM itself. The himem kernel that allows for all the 512mb of RAM to be used, and the graphical processing enhancements that are coded in as well. These things, to me, really make the N1 shine. And I'm still playing with some other battery conservation apps, but I really don't need them now with the current tweaks that I'm already running. But tinkering is fun. And I have the Seidio 3200ma battery arriving tomorrow, so I'll be able to run everything at "full throttle" if I choose to without worrying about battery life, so that will be really fun.
Click to expand...

Ya man I just couldn't do it i realized how much more I enjoyed the solidness of the iPhone and how smooth it is in comparison. Wasn't my N1 it's just how it runs in general I've played with more then just mine. It's open source so I kind of expected it to not be as solid but we all have our own opinions on what we need and want on our devices. The iPhone just simply works for me. I wish the N1 was just as solid or I'd have that in my hands right now.
 
That's inline with other tests that pitted the iPhone and Nexus. It also shows that if apple puts A4 into the new iphone, performance will be much better.
 
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maflynn said:
That's inline with other tests that pitted the iPhone and Nexus. It also shows that if apple puts A4 into the new iphone, performance will be much better.
Click to expand...

Let's hope they do! A4 @ 1ghz in your pocket would be great.
 
The car dock is now available! It costs $55 but looks awesome :):):)...ordering now!!:D

Description is:

"The Nexus One Car Dock is the perfect place to put your phone when you're in the car. In addition to holding your Nexus One, the car dock also charges your phone’s battery, lets you use your phone handsfree, and provides easier access to voice and navigation apps.

The dock’s built-in speakers and volume controls also enhance the in-car music and media experience. And the Car Home app, which loads automatically, makes it easy to access Maps and Navigation, Voice Search, Contacts, and Music.

You can mount the dock on the windshield or dashboard, and it ships with an adhesive disc that lets you attach it to a textured surface as well. The dock comes with a charger to fit into your car’s 12V utility socket, and the holder can rotate for flexible orientation."
 
The N1 that I ordered over the weekend has arrived and I'm now starting to put it through its paces.

I see a huge difference between the nexus one and the iPhone, some of which is good and some of which is bad.

For instance, how apple implements cut/paste is slick. Its less flexible and a bit awkward with the N1.

The screen is gorgeous, the typing isn't has bad as I thought it would be based on the posts here.

Email client which I live and die on is less then desirable. I have a gmail app, a mail app and a third party mail app (touchdown) to access my company's email (being exchange servers with group policies). I'm sure I'm missing something but forwarding a html email in the regular mail app (which I'm using for my .mac email) strips the html formatting and sends it as text :mad:

battery life - since I'm just charging it up, too soon to judge.

Verdict: Too soon to judge but if I was a pinned down for an answer now. I'd say I prefer my iPhone. I haven't tried the music yet.

I read somewhere that apple is a design company and google is a company run by engineers. The result of the iPhone and Nexus one bear this out. A very consistent easy to use UI, the Nexus is more complex, but has much more options.
 
I've been back to using my 3GS for about a week now and I gotta say that I feel a little envious when I see my girlfriend using the Nexus. Then I stop and think about the lack of apps that suit my needs and I realize I'm where I belong.

If the developers of Checkbook and Appigo's Todo ported the apps over to Android, I'd be gone in a heartbeat. I emailed the dev of Checkbook and he said he may get to it eventually. I didn't really get a warm and fuzzy from his response but I guess it's just a waiting game.
 
maflynn said:
Verdict: Too soon to judge but if I was a pinned down for an answer now. I'd say I prefer my iPhone. I haven't tried the music yet.
Click to expand...

The music app will make you miss the iPhone ;)

There are a ton of third-party music players (Meridian, Mixzing, 3), but you might like bTunes. It's basically a port of the iPhone/iPod Touch media player interface. A little rough right now, but the developer is working hard and seems to be pumping out new releases (with pretty significant features) on a regular basis.
 
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