Google Nexus One Hands-On, Video, and Impressions

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Google Nexus One Hands-On, Video, and Impressions

Posted by timothy on Saturday January 2, 2010 @03:18PM from the there's-a-nap-for-that dept.

wkurzius writes "Engadget has gotten their hands on a Nexus One and have put their first impressions up for the world to see, including whether or not they think it's the 'be-all-end-all Android phone / iPhone eviscerator.' Their opinion? 'Not really.'"

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Only one question... by houstonbofh · 2010-01-02 15:27 · Score: 2, Interesting

Is it locked? That is really the "killer app" point for me. A commercially sold phone that is hacker friendly from the start.
1. Re:Only one question... by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 15:32 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  It's feature-locked. It only has the hardware to work fully on T-Mobile. Like the article says, take it to AT&T and you can't reach the frequencies they do 3G data on. It's not a bad design trade-off... why give the T-Mobile users hardware they don't need, when a majority of customers with an unlocked device would take it to T-Mobile because of their "unsubsidized hardware, cheaper service" pricing?
2. Re:Only one question... by NotFamousYet · 2010-01-02 15:36 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  If you want a commercially sold phone that is hacker-friendly, I'd advise the Nokia N900. Have you considered that?
3. Re:Only one question... by B5_geek · 2010-01-02 15:39 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Get a Nokia N900 if you want that killer feature.
  Debian ... check
  root access ... check
  ssh + screen ... check
  apt-get install damn near anything ... CHECK!
  
  --
  "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
4. Re:Only one question... by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 15:49 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Nokia took a big turn a few years ago, dropping the "free after service provider subsidy" models in favor of going very geek. I had one of their recent phones earlier this year while I was waiting for my subsidy to get an iPhone to come available.
  The initial failures of the Ovi App Store were annoying, and with only the built in apps available to me it needed some work. They're racing in the same division as much bigger fish called Apple and Google, but they seem to have a neat device in the Booklet 3G... just a plain Windows netbook with a $300 provider discount making it $299.99, and Best Buy was kicking in another $100 to make it $199.99 over the holidays. The killer feature on this one is a solid battery.
  They're really going for the geeks... but are there enough geeks who will pass on both Apple on AT&T and Google on Verizon and T-Mobile?
5. Re:Only one question... by Albanach · 2010-01-02 16:22 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  They're racing in the same division as much bigger fish called Apple and Google
  In Q3 2009 Nokia sold 16.16 million smart phones. Apple sold 7.04 million.
  Apple's market share is certainly growing, but in the world of cell phones, they don't come much larger than Nokia.
6. Re:Only one question... by fm6 · 2010-01-02 16:23 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Are the right wingnuts resorting to calling people "hippies" now? Boy, talk about running low on brainless insults. You guys should have rationed your rudeness to make words like "liberal" and "socialist" last longer. Oh wait, conserving natural resources is "fascism", isn't it?
7. Re:Only one question... by maitai · 2010-01-02 16:41 · Score: 1
  
  Asking if it's locked or not IS asking if it will work on their carrier.
  Note, Unlocked GSM phones will work on any GSM carrier. As opposed to say, a locked to T-Mobile phone which will only work with T-Mobile.
8. Re:Only one question... by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 16:45 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Not quite an apples-to-Apple Inc. comparison there.
  Apple effectively has two very similar packages in "smartphones", would you like the 3GS in 16GB or 32GB. Some non-S 3G phones are still in inventory and selling at a discount. And let's not forget Apple has the bigger App Store, and developers who target the iPhone also get to see their apps run on the iPod Touch which isn't considered a "smartphone" for lack of a phone.
  Development for Nokia's line of phones is much harder, because there's more than one screen size and a much wider range of capabilities.
  It's a little more than just product moved that matters. Nokia's App Store is nothing compared to the iTunes App Store, and we know 30% of all money that goes through that goes straight to Apple.
9. Re:Only one question... by houstonbofh · 2010-01-02 17:18 · Score: 1
  
  Wrong kind of "locked." I want to know if I can change/mod the software.
10. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-02 17:30 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  I'm sorry, but WHY for the love of Farley do Android phones always go to T-Mobile? Their 3G coverage is essentially non-existent, which defeats the purpose of a smartphone. I'd love to buy this phone, but if it's T-Mobile only, then there's no point because you'll only be able to use programs requiring the internet when you're on a wireless network (if it supports that).
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
11. Re:Only one question... by jbuilder · 2010-01-02 17:36 · Score: 1
  
  The N900 PIM-specific functionality is far behind what Android or iPhone is capable of. If you're OK with that, then I would be inclined to agree. The N900 is a solid device.
  
  --
  Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
12. Re:Only one question... by JSBiff · 2010-01-02 17:42 · Score: 1
  
  "why give the T-Mobile users hardware they don't need"
  I have a bit of a question about this. . . is it *really* any more expensive to create a radio frequency generator that can tune *either* set of frequencies? Why would the phone need additional hardware? Every radio has a tuner mechanism to choose the frequency. I mean, my 30 year old FM radio can tune 88Mhz *and* 107Mhz. Why can't a cell phone radio tune 1700Mhz *and* 1900Mhz? It's not fundamentally different technology, it's just a different frequency?
13. Re:Only one question... by jbuilder · 2010-01-02 17:42 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Have you been paying attention to T-Mobile at at all lately? Because that's not even true. They're 3G coverage has expanded to the point in the last year alone that it's at 85-90% of AT&T's 3G coverage. They cut the timetable for their rollout of 3G from 36 months to 17 months. I literally had 3G turn on overnight in my own neighborhood just a couple of nights ago.
  And even IF you don't have 3G coverage in your area - you will soon - and if you have WiFi in your house (who doesn't?) you'll be off and running with high speed internet access when you're at home.
  
  --
  Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
14. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 17:56 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  They're 3G coverage has expanded to the point in the last year alone that it's at 85-90% of AT&T's 3G coverage
  so what, like 2% of the US then?
15. Re:Only one question... by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-02 17:57 · Score: 1
  
  Wrong kind of "locked." I want to know if I can change/mod the software.
  Android on the HTC Magic has a settings menu item to enable USB debugging so I have hopes for being able to install my own applications.
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
16. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 18:00 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  /spending 2min to install blackra1n and rock/cydia and have a great phone!
  
  Paying $500 + signing a $100/month contract on a phone which may get bricked on the next update because you hacked it: priceless.
17. Re:Only one question... by quenda · 2010-01-02 18:02 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The N900 PIM-specific functionality is far behind what Android or iPhone is capable of.
  But it does run the google-apps mail & calendar web version well - both main and mobile versions.
18. Re:Only one question... by Darkness404 · 2010-01-02 18:06 · Score: 1
  
  ...Because compared to T-Mobile AT&T's coverage is huge? Really, I'd much rather support T-Mobile rather than AT&T (not going to support Verizon and Sprint has no coverage either where I travel) but some places I go T-Mobile has no coverage and AT&T does (yeah, they are places in the middle of nowhere but that doesn't diminish the fact I still need cell service). I'd really like to have an unlocked Android handset to use on AT&T that has all the features I want, I'd really like a Droid but that is CDMA only I believe and I'm not switching over to Verizion until they stop screwing with people's phones.
  
  --
  Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
19. Re:Only one question... by LearnToSpell · 2010-01-02 18:07 · Score: 1
  
  lulz. Only if you consider Debian to be far behind what Android or iPhone is capable of. What are you missing?
  
  --
  Haida Manga
20. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 18:09 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  As a long time Nokia fan and former employee, I have to say, I really enjoyed their Series 40/60 phones in the early to mid part of the decade. But after having an N95 phone and comparing it with the iphone OS in the ipod-touch (i know, i am ignoring comparable capabilities, and focusing on usability) there was no comparison.
  Symbian is long in the tooth and needs to just die. The development environment is crap on windows and sucks even more on linux/OSX. I've done development for Symbian/WinMo/iPhone and Symbian is the most painful when it comes to the tool chain and development platform.
  Usability wise, Symbian also pretty much sucks.
  Now, I have not used an n95 or n900, and stil have friends at the mothership that enjoy these phones. But, Nokia really needs to focus on developer tools and platform as well as general overall usability of the phones. Otherwise, they will be reinventing themselves again in another year or so.
21. Re:Only one question... by mgblst · 2010-01-02 18:14 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, but somehow Apple iPhone division made more profit worldwide than Nokia, even though Nokia sold over 100 million more phones.
  You can pull out numbers to go either way.
  Nokia are a big fish, but they have stumbled majorly. They risk being made irrelevant like Ericsson and Motorola if they don't change this. They fucked up the same way Microsoft fucked up and lost this battle as well.
  I liked Nokia, but the fact it took someone like Apple to shake up this industry shows how out of touch they really are.
22. Re:Only one question... by Darkness404 · 2010-01-02 18:15 · Score: 1
  
  The N900 is good, but I think eventually Android development is going to catch up to the iPhone and have good commercial games. The N900 probably never will (well, aside from emulators and Quake). Its like the difference between buying a PSP and a GP2x, the GP2x is more hacker friendly, both have similar feature-sets, but you are going to get better quality games on the PSP at the expense of not being able to run a few nifty apps (assuming a non-hacked PSP). Community driven projects are great at making emulators, ports of old UNIX games (look at the 100,000 versions of nethack out there) but for new, full featured games that are more than a tech demo, you usually have to go with a commercial OS. Android is good in that it will allow unofficial "shady" development (emulators) while still enticing commercial studios.
  
  --
  Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
23. Re:Only one question... by farble1670 · 2010-01-02 18:23 · Score: 1
  
  compared to where nokia was 4 years ago, that's a large decline. if you are a nokia shareholder, that's a terrifying decline.
24. Re:Only one question... by NotBorg · 2010-01-02 18:26 · Score: 1
  
  Can't lock in the customer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H frequency that way.
  
  --
  I want this account deleted.
25. Re:Only one question... by abigor · 2010-01-02 18:38 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Games? I don't play them on a phone, but a lot of people sure seem to.
26. Re:Only one question... by abigor · 2010-01-02 18:41 · Score: 1
  
  Not if other Android phones are any sort of indicators.
27. Re:Only one question... by Delwin · 2010-01-02 18:44 · Score: 1
  
  So long as Android keeps it's 16MB max heap per application you're not going to see any serious gaming on it.
28. Re:Only one question... by El+Royo · 2010-01-02 18:51 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  If you're looking for a hacker friendly phone then you really can't beat the Palm Pre. Linux OS underlies it. Very strong homebrew community that works -with- Palm. The whole phone is open for tinkering. Shortly, it should be supported on Verizon and the GSM version should be available in the states later this year (of course, you could import a QWERTZ phone from Germany now, but that seems like a lot of effort to me). Recently, the homebrew community ported Doom to the phone, it works with the new OpenGL drivers included in the webOS 1.3.5 update. Palm really gets open source. Of course, I might be biased, I do run the Pre 101 Web site in my spare time, but I don't think I've exaggerated anything.
  
  --
  Author of Enyo: Up and Running from O'Reilly Media
29. Re:Only one question... by anethema · 2010-01-02 18:53 · Score: 1
  
  Haven't seen his in any of the replies, but the N900 is just like the Android in bands. 2G only on ATT.
  
  --
  
  It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
30. Re:Only one question... by anethema · 2010-01-02 18:54 · Score: 1
  
  By android I meant the Nexus One
  
  --
  
  It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
31. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-02 19:01 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  I looked at T-Mobile's coverage about 6 months ago when I got a new phone. Their 3G covered a few square miles...TOTAL for the entire country. Unless you lived in just the right spot in a couple of cities, you wouldn't get 3G. I just checked their 3G coverage, and while it's infinitely better than it was 6 months ago, it still doesn't even come close to covering all major cities in the country, let alone if you go outside of a major city. They now cover the city I live in, yet the city just a few miles way (which is even bigger than mine) doesn't have any 3G coverage - seeing as how I'm a consultant and bounce back and forth between the cities a lot, that's crap that my phone will only work in one of those cities. With my iPhone I have 3G coverage even when I visit relatives out in the middle of nowhere in little towns with a population of under 1,000. I'd love to pay less and have an Android phone, but T-Mobile's network still has a long way to go to be competitive. That's the real reason their prices are so low - because they have to lower monthly payments to get people to use their substandard network (for 3G that is).
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
32. Re:Only one question... by fm6 · 2010-01-02 20:02 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  and if you have WiFi in your house (who doesn't?) you'll be off and running with high speed internet access when you're at home.
  If you have WiFi in your house, you already have that, and without having to deal with the tiny screen and awkward data entry.
  In a phone, Wifi is a fallback, at best. The only advantage a phone has over other internet devices is portability. And "must be near a hotspot" is not portability.
33. Re:Only one question... by Hurricane78 · 2010-01-02 20:24 · Score: 1
  
  They're racing in the same division as much bigger fish called Apple and Google,
  I’m sorry? Apple and Google may be big companies, but in the mobile phone sector they are not able to hold a candle to Nokia. Nokia has ten times more experience and market share, than both of them combined!
  (I’m not exaggerating. They did car phones in 1981 and their first really portable mobile phone is from 1987. Apple’s global market share is somewhere around 4%. Google’s is negligible. Nokia’s is somewhere around 45%.)
  Yes, they were a bit resting on their laurels, and got caught with the pants down by Apple. But that can only happen to someone who has laurels, if one has laurels to rest on. :)
  Now they accelerate again, and I have no doubt that they are working hard to get back what they lost.
  Ovi is in my eyes somehow pointless. Apple had to create an app store, because that is the only way that control freaks of that level could offer any software for their phone at all.
  With Nokia we had the ability to download/buy software from anywhere, simply copy it on the phone and install it since forever with Symbian. Just like you would do it with your laptop. No need for any stupid app store.
  Which does not mean that it can’t be useful for those who don’t know where to search. Like a web portal (like Yahoo/Lycos/etc) was useful for newbies back in the days.
  The thing is: There will be a time, when app stores will be a thing of the past too. And Apple will have huge problems with that.
  All in all, I hope nobody wins so that we all win. Interesting times ahead... :)
  
  --
  Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
34. Re:Only one question... by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 20:34 · Score: 1
  
  You apparently never studied RF physics.
  88.1 mHz to 107.9 mHz requires a much smaller antenna than anything in the gHz-plus range. Add to that the fact that the FM band only spans 20mHz so you don't need a very agile tuner.
  Now, you want fifteen times that range, and also ten times the frequency... oh boy are you in for a much bigger antenna that's going to weigh down your device... not to mention you're not going to see anything in the 1800 mHz range that is ever going to be interesting.
  Notice that the iPhone on AT&T has to carry AT&T-only cellular chips that take up so much space, there's room to put another 32GB of flash memory in its place in the same shell, the call that the 64 GB iPod Touch. If you want the same form factor but carry two network chips, one of which will almost certainly never be used, you're going to displace the other memory chip or end up with a bigger device... and that's not a phone to write home about.
35. Re:Only one question... by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 20:39 · Score: 1
  
  AT&T has too many smartphone customers on their network already... just look at the complaints from the iPhone users where there is 3G coverage, but the network's too congested. You haven't seen the "AT&T is the network with the fewest dropped calls!" ads lately, have you?
36. Re:Only one question... by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 21:01 · Score: 1
  
  Apple has made it's trademark in limiting the number of products their software runs on, so there's fewer possible configs to support. iPhone has had one screen size its entire life, and the iPod Touch has always been an iPhone without the cellular modem stuff which is pretty nice if you're often around WiFi and have non-smart phone on you.
  Google is open sourcing its phone operating system... so any provider can call up any hardware maker they want to make a GooglePhone. They're only making a device of their own out of frustration that nobody has given their OS the hardware they'd like to see with it. They don't care if this model sinks or swims... they just want to get their ads in front of as many eyeballs and ears as possible.
  Microsoft is doing their typical commercial license thing... and hasn't really been a big player in this industry.
  Nokia and RIM are out their with a platform they own from the ground up. The problem with them is they can't really attract 3rd party app developers with the high number of screen sizes and other configs out there. You haven't heard much from their app developers, do they even exist?
37. Re:Only one question... by fm6 · 2010-01-02 21:12 · Score: 1
  
  There's much to like about the Pre, feature-wise anyway. The one thing that makes me hesitate is Palm's long decline in quality. I use to be a rabid fan of Palm, but each generation of products has been flakier than the last. The last straw was my Centro, which had too many problems to mention, and finally stopped working in less than a year. After I ditched it I vowed never to buy another Palm product. The Pre tests that resolution, but not quite enough.
38. Re:Only one question... by Chris+Oz · 2010-01-02 21:20 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I doubt that the antenna is the actual problem. From what I remember and it has been a long time 20 years since I did any serious antenna design. You actually need longer antennas for lower frequencies eg 1/2 the wavelength for a dipole and 1/4 for a whip antenna. So the phone antenna can be quite small. Similarly I would be surprise if you couldn't make a fairly broad band antenna at for a mobile. The biggest problem with broadband antennas is impedance mismatching and hence VSWR problems mainly for TX. As you move up the frequency a given antenna can generally operate over a wider band more easily because the wavelength difference between the antenna length and the TX frequency becomes for a given TX band. A 20MHz (capital M for Mega not small for milli) TX band at 100 MHz will give you ~ a 20% variance in wavelength which is larger than the wavelength variation from 1.7 GHz to 2GHz.
  Having said that I haven't done any RF design for phones so there may be some gotchas antenna wise that I am not aware of but I suspect the problem if it is a space problem may come from other front end requirements such as the high Q crystal filters, diplexer if they use one, and power amp (depending on design) but I am only guessing. Certainly there are lots of small quad band phones that seem to have solved this problem. Expense is another factor.
39. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-02 21:29 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  Usability wise, Symbian also pretty much sucks.
  Usability test: how to change a contact's Name and Surname.
  Nokia S60: Open "phonebook", select the contact, select "edit", edit "Name" and "Surname" fields, select "end".
  Android: Connect to the internet, sync your contacts with gmail, open gmail with your PC, select "contacts", download the contacts as a CSV file on your PC, edit it via openoffice.org, reupload the edited CSV file to gmail, sync your phone again, disconnect it from the internet.
  Usability test: how to send to your PC some photos you've taken with your phone.
  Nokia S60: Open "gallery" (with a dedicated button on many phones), all the photos in your phone will appear, with the latest photos first. Select the photos you need to send (1 keystroke if your phone has hardware buttons, 3 taps if it doesn't and you have to open the menu), select "send", select "bluetooth", select your PC (already selected if you've used it before).
  Android: Open your desk's drawer, take out the usb cable, connect your phone to the PC, select "mass storage mode", turn to the PC, search the phone filesystem for the photos (they're intuitively located in a "100MEDIA" subfolder in a "DCIM" folder, and called "IMAG%04d.jpg" - you'll have to figure out what files contain the photos you need), copy them to the PC, safely remove the usb device from the PC, put the usb cable back in the drawer.
  Usability test: how to listen to some random music from YourFavouriteArtist.
  Nokia S60: Open "music" (again, with a dedicated button on many phones), select "artists", select "YourFavouriteArtist" (just pressing Y will usually do), select "all tracks" because you're not looking for a particular album, select the first track.
  If later you want to change artist, press "back" (you're, well, back in "all tracks from YourFavouriteArtist"), press "back" (you're back to the artist list).
  Android: Open "music" by selecting it from the applications menu. A fancy but unuseful cover flow display appears. Press the "three horizontal lines" glyph. Another menu appears. Press the "person with a microphone" glyph. The menu changes. Find YourFavouriteArtist by scrolling the whole list or pressing the "search" button and then tapping "Y", and select him. Press the "musical note glyph", then select the first track.
  If later you want to change artist, DON'T press the "back" button (it would take you back to the "home screen" for some reason), you have to tap the "three horizontal lines" glyph.
40. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-02 21:44 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Bingo. The other use for WiFi on a phone is to turn off 3G and use WiFi for internet (say when you're at work or at home) and it drastically extends the battery life of the phone. I've started doing that with my iPhone - if I'm home or at a friend / family members house, I turn off the 3G and use their wireless and my battery life about doubles.
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
41. Re:Only one question... by Maxmin · 2010-01-02 21:46 · Score: 1
  
  In a phone, Wifi is a fallback, at best. The only advantage a phone has over other internet devices is portability. And "must be near a hotspot" is not portability.
  Android's primary target market is *currently* sessile early-adopter geeks who are near hotspots 90% of the day. That, plus the fact that wifi is wayfuckingfaster than North American mobile networks, means your point is nearly moot. Except for those using their phone on the road.
  As Android spreads out to more mobile networks, things will even out.
  
  --
  O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
42. Re:Only one question... by wertarbyte · 2010-01-02 21:53 · Score: 1
  
  You apparently never studied RF physics. 88.1 mHz to 107.9 mHz requires a much smaller antenna than anything in the gHz-plus range. Add to that the fact that the FM band only spans 20mHz so you don't need a very agile tuner.
  Frequencies at that range require an extremely large antenna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_low_frequency). You apparently never studied SI units.
  
  --
  Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh.
43. Re:Only one question... by Jeppe+Salvesen · 2010-01-02 22:18 · Score: 1
  
  The large majority of the Nokia smartphones are being used as dumbphones: The owners never install an application, and only scratch the surface in terms of the phone's capabilities. Compare that to the iPhone...
  
  --
  Stop the brainwash
44. Re:Only one question... by Maxmin · 2010-01-02 22:36 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  "Smartphones," he said. Nokia's worldwide marketshare for stupidphones is still many times that of all smartphone sales combined.
  
  --
  O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
45. Re:Only one question... by Aladrin · 2010-01-02 22:41 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  I don't know what you're smoking, but I've had my Android a lot longer than that and it was larger than 'a few square miles' in Orlando alone. All of Orlando, in fact.
  Up in New England, T-Mo sucks. Down here in Florida, it's the best service. It all depends on your area. They are, however, improving all the time.
  
  --
  "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
46. Re:Only one question... by Maxmin · 2010-01-02 22:50 · Score: 1
  
  The GP is probably referring to the OS, not apps. Pretty much anything you can build and run on the Android emulator should install on an Android phone. There are a few forked Android OS projects out there, offering root access and more. Question is whether they can be flashed onto Nexus and other recent phones...
  
  --
  O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
47. Re:Only one question... by adolf · 2010-01-02 22:53 · Score: 1
  
  Wayfuckingfaster? Baah.
  I pull about 2.5 megabits per second over Verizon's 3G on my Droid, every place I've bothered to test it. This is a good bit faster than most intentionally-free public access points that I've used, and I'm very pleased with its performance on CDMA. 3G coverage has been absolute, for me, as well -- except in a few small rural Ohio towns where no cell phones work at all.
  At home and at work over WiFi, sure, I can do a little better than that (6 and 7Mbps, respectively) -- but not better enough to actually notice, since most of my wait-states are spent waiting for the 500MHz-ish CPU to render things, not waiting for the network to catch up.
  It's not like I'm downloading ISO images with the thing. But if I were, and WiFi were available, you can bet that I'd using my laptop for that instead of a phone.
  And speaking of moot points: It's a cell phone -- of course people use it on the road. That's what it's for.
  Furthermore, as an early-adopter geek who is near hotspots 90% of the day: I almost always keep WiFi turned off, just to save on battery, since the added speed (and/or reduced latency) of local WiFi is often nearly imperceptible.
  However, I think my behavior (and battery life!) would change if I couldn't do 3G at all.
  
  --
  Kid-proof tablet..
48. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-02 23:06 · Score: 1
  
  T-Mobile's map was downright laughable back in the summer. Now it's just "poor", but at least you don't burst out laughing saying "How can they claim to offer 3G when their coverage is essentially non-existent?!". They have improved a lot in the last 6 months though. Maybe in a year and a half with my contract with my iPhone 3GS is up, it'll be good enough that I can switch to T-Mobile and get the latest Android phone. I would've preferred to get an Android phone to an iPhone, but especially where I live, T-Mobile just doesn't have the network right now. I hope they get there soon so we have more competition.
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
49. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 00:05 · Score: 0
  
  Where did you pull that piece of info from?
  Even the dumbest of users play games, browse the net, take and share photos and videos.
  Moderately knowledgeable use IM clients, Skype and/or SIP.
  Advanced can use remote desktop, ssh and similar tools.
  S60 may be dated and painful to develop for but it still blows iPhone out of the water in terms of sheer availability of application functionality.
  Also, dismissing Maemo as exotic, niche player is delusional - it is THE new platform. Once it trickles down to more affordable (and or compact) handsets it will be very hard to find a single point where it is not better than anything out there.
  Posting anonymously not to undo previous moderation.
50. Re:Only one question... by LostCluster · 2010-01-03 00:39 · Score: 1
  
  It's possible to hit all four GSM bands used world wide... but have you seen the bricks such phones are compared to the relatively slim iPhone?
51. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 00:51 · Score: 0
  
  but Sprint now has no roaming fees and uses Sprint's and Verizon's networks
52. Re:Only one question... by TheRaven64 · 2010-01-03 00:51 · Score: 1
  
  Have you tried GPE for PIM functionality? I don't think it is part of the standard stack on the N900, but it was ported to the 770 a few years back.
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
53. Re:Only one question... by rich_r · 2010-01-03 01:14 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Broadcast FM is VHF (Very High Frequency). ELF is down below 1khz, with wavelengths of hundreds of meters.
  The difficulty with microwave (ghz) is that because wavelengths are so short, the entire circuit needs to be tuned, not just the antennae.
54. Re:Only one question... by nloop · 2010-01-03 01:57 · Score: 1
  
  I have a t-mobile android phone. I live on the east coast and get 3g most everywhere. Perhaps you live in Nebraska? Careful of the map kool-aid. Also, last I checked Verizon and AT&T's unlimited usage plans were $150/month as opposed to T-Mobiles $90. Getting 3G in Nebraska isn't worth that premium to me, despite cool tv spots telling me otherwise.
55. Re:Only one question... by cheesybagel · 2010-01-03 02:32 · Score: 1
  
  N900 runs a Linux distro. You can run emulators such as MAME, ScummVM, or DOSBox in it.
56. Re:Only one question... by JSBiff · 2010-01-03 02:39 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  "You apparently never studied RF physics."
  Not much, not in depth. Only a little bit, while studying for an Amateur Radio Technician license. But, enough to know that the following statement isn't completely accurate:
  "88.1 mHz to 107.9 mHz requires a much smaller antenna than anything in the gHz-plus range."
  I call BS on that. The length of the antenna that is required is *inversely* proportional to the frequency, because the length of the antenna is a function of the wavelength of the frequencies being tuned. You can have antennas that are approximately 1/4 wavelength, 1/2 wavelength, or 1 wavelength (I suppose it's possible to design an antenna which is some other fraction, but in ham radio, those seem to be the most common lengths).
  So, IIRC correctly, wavelength is derived thusly: Wavelength is the distance the radio wave travels (at the speed of light) in one cycle
  C = 299 792 458 m / s
  f_1 = 100 Mhz = 100 * 10^6 cycles / s
  f_2 = 1700 Mhz = 17 * 100 * 10^6
  L_1 = C/f_1 = 299 792 458/(100 * 10^6) = 3 m / cycle
  L_2 = C/f_2 = 299 792 458/(17 * 100 * 10^6) = 0.176 m / cycle
  So, I don't know why you're going on about antenna size. A cell phone has to have an antenna, *anyhow*, and neither the T-mobile or AT&T cellphones have giant antennas, so that should be reason enough to dispel your argument about the antenna. The only question, really, is the tuner circuitry. Perhaps a 200 or 300 Mhz range really is too much range to pack into one cheap radio chip?
57. Re:Only one question... by Cramit · 2010-01-03 02:39 · Score: 1
  
  If you live in the north-east Verizon is the only carrier to provide "good" coverage. I have used AT&T and T-Mobile. I only pay $73/month for my Verizon Droid (450 min, of which I use maybe 100; 200 text; Unlimited Data). This is comparable to my iPhone which I paid $86/month but I can actually use my Droid as a phone and Actually have the internet in my pocket, vs. the iPhone which was a bad phone when it got service and only really had the internet available in cities or near wifi.
58. Re:Only one question... by xinco · 2010-01-03 02:39 · Score: 1
  
  I travel on business. T-Mobile works great in Denver where I live. Every major and non-major city I've had to go to since I got the phone in February has had 3G coverage. Excellent 3G coverage. Frankly, I don't care if I have decent data coverage when I'm out in the boondocks. I'm rarely, if ever, outside of a major metro area or major interstate corridor.
  It's the same reason I went with SprintPCS 10 years ago for just regular phone service. Excellent coverage where I needed it. I stuck with them way too long though....
  Sprint customer service got truly horrible. With their billing issues from the Nextel merger, it's amazing they didn't go belly-up.
  Now that I've rooted my G1, upgraded to CyanogenMod, and moved my apps to my SD card, I couldn't really ask for more. (Who am I kidding? I want better battery life, a larger screen, and a faster CPU -- but that's the phone, not the service)
  And no, you don't have 3G coverage in the middle of nowhere -- Verizon made that quite clear. But in the real world, as long as it makes you happy, who cares if it's really 3G. Although, since this is slashdot, it matters!
59. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 02:50 · Score: 0
  
  Come on mods. Informative?
  Funny, yes. Accurate? No.
60. Re:Only one question... by TikiTDO · 2010-01-03 02:54 · Score: 1
  
  I am not entirely sure what you are trying to accomplish here, but your post is only true if you go out of your way to find the hardest way to accomplish each of the tasks you list. Even then, some things are still a bit of a stretch.
  First off, I will go ahead and ignore the strange line of reasoning you mentioned with connecting to the internet, syncing your gmail, and all the other things you need to do once when you take your phone out of the box. Every phone has some initial setup, and pretending that Android has something special is deceptive. Now, I want to change someone's name, so I can go with one of two options:
  1. I can open gmail in my browser, open contacts, click the name I want to change, select edit, and update the actual field, before clicking done.
  Of course I might not have the convenience of being at my computer, so instead I can:
  2. Press the "Contacts" icon on screen, hold the name I want until the context menu comes up, select "Edit contact", then update the info I want, and press done.
  The fact that you can find a more complex way to do it does not mean that it is the only way of getting the job done.
  For your Phone->PC example, I will admit to cheating a bit. I have no idea whether any sort bluetooth storage mode is available, nor do I particularly care. Instead, when I want to transfer something, I'll open up my FTP client, and upload the files I want to my computer. There is even an app that is supposed to support samba drives, but I have never felt a need to install it. Now granted, this requires you to do a bit more work to set up these apps, but of course you conveniently omitted the step necessary to install the Nokia app that your PC would likely need, so I consider us even.
  Finally, I do not use my phone to listen to music, so you may have a point about the problems there. That said, when I opened the Music app just now, the first screen was a simple selection (Artist, Album, Song, or Playlist), which does not appear to reflect what you are trying to describe. Selecting any of these options, then using the back button also works without issues.
  Now I am not sure whether you are confused about some of the features Android has, are trying to troll, have some sort of really old and crippled version of the platform, or are simply misinformed. In fact, the Android has plenty of shortcomings that you could have offered valid complaints about, but given the subjects you chose to mention, I get the impression that you are not interested in even giving it a chance. If that is the case, please refrain from posting incorrect information. Other people might read what you have written, and actually take it seriously.
61. Re:Only one question... by jac89 · 2010-01-03 03:22 · Score: 1
  
  Wow.. For at least the first of those examples you are completely wrong. You can edit all the contact information on the android phone itself. You just go to your contacts on the phone. Long press on the one you want to edit, select edit contact and type in the name in the first box. Since everything is synced to google you can also do this change on gmail, or even google.com/contacts. I don't know where you got the idea that you have to edit CSV values. Also looking at the music app on my g1, (which i don't really use, yay zune hd) I'm not sure where you are coming from. To get to an artist I open the music app, click the upper left button labeled artists, and then start typing to search. To play an entire artist just long press on it and select play. Getting pictures off the phone is as you say, although there are third party apps you can get to do bluetooth transfer, or even just upload your photos to picasa, or email them to yourself. Now that I think of it just use the import functionality on something like picasa. For the last of these getting pictures off my G1 is no harder than getting them off my point and shoot. What android phone were you testing these on?
62. Re:Only one question... by Dr.+Zim · 2010-01-03 03:25 · Score: 1
  
  Funny, I don't have to do that to change a contact on my G1. I find it in the contact list, press 'menu -> edit contact', scroll down to the field and change it. It will synch with Google when I force a synch, or when the next scheduled synch comes if I've got it on automatic. Same with your other two tests. They only prove that you don't know how to work your android phone. /z
  
  --
  (name withheld by request)
63. Re:Only one question... by someone300 · 2010-01-03 03:30 · Score: 1
  
  What the hell? Is this post sarcastic?
  
  Android: Connect to the internet, sync your contacts with gmail, open gmail with your PC, select "contacts", download the contacts as a CSV file on your PC, edit it via openoffice.org, reupload the edited CSV file to gmail, sync your phone again, disconnect it from the internet.
  Or just edit the contact directly on the phone, much like with any other phone. It will auto-sync back to gmail. I tend to edit my contacts on the gmail interface because I prefer having a full sized keyboard, but if I'm out, I've never had any problem with conctact maintenance directly on the phone. I don't know what you're talking about with CSVs and openoffice... I don't even have an office suite installed.
  
  Open your desk's drawer, take out the usb cable, connect your phone to the PC, select "mass storage mode", turn to the PC, search the phone filesystem for the photos (they're intuitively located in a "100MEDIA" subfolder in a "DCIM" folder, and called "IMAG%04d.jpg" - you'll have to figure out what files contain the photos you need), copy them to the PC, safely remove the usb device from the PC, put the usb cable back in the drawer.
  I've never had to plug my phone in for anything other than development or charging. Sending images over bluetooth works just fine, but I tend to upload them to picasa or email them straight from the phone, either via the wifi or 3G.
  
  Open "music" by selecting it from the applications menu. A fancy but unuseful cover flow display appears. Press the "three horizontal lines" glyph. Another menu appears. Press the "person with a microphone" glyph. The menu changes. Find YourFavouriteArtist by scrolling the whole list or pressing the "search" button and then tapping "Y", and select him. Press the "musical note glyph", then select the first track.
  I use spotify so I can't comment.
64. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 04:00 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  Since you've clearly never spend any time using an Android phone, I've fixed some of your usability tests:
  Usability test: how to change a contact's Name and Surname.
  Nokia S60: Open "phonebook", select the contact, select "edit", edit "Name" and "Surname" fields, select "end".
  Android: Open "Contacts", select the contact, press Menu button and select "Edit contact", edit "Name" and "Surname" fields, press Done button.
  Usability test: how to send to your PC some photos you've taken with your phone.
  Nokia S60: Open "gallery" (with a dedicated button on many phones), all the photos in your phone will appear, with the latest photos first. Select the photos you need to send (1 keystroke if your phone has hardware buttons, 3 taps if it doesn't and you have to open the menu), select "send", select "bluetooth", select your PC (already selected if you've used it before).
  Android: Open "Gallery" (or press Gallery key shortcut on phone), all the photos in your phone will appear, with the latest photos first. Press the Share button, and select "Picasa", followed by pressing the Upload button. Visit the Picasa website on your PC and download your photo.
  Usability test: how to listen to some random music from YourFavouriteArtist.
  Nokia S60: Open "music" (again, with a dedicated button on many phones), select "artists", select "YourFavouriteArtist" (just pressing Y will usually do), select "all tracks" because you're not looking for a particular album, select the first track.
  If later you want to change artist, press "back" (you're, well, back in "all tracks from YourFavouriteArtist"), press "back" (you're back to the artist list).
  Android: Open "Music" by selecting it from the applications menu (or use key shortcut), select "artists", select "YourFavouriteArtist" (just pressing Y will usually do), long-press to play all tracks, and press back button to change artist, etc.
65. Re:Only one question... by El+Royo · 2010-01-03 04:05 · Score: 1
  
  I was in the same boat myself. I was hesitant to jump aboard with the Pre. My Treo 755p dying was the impetus. I'm so glad I did. Pop over to PreCentral and see what people are talking about, check the enthusiasm of the community. There are warts, but with 8 software updates since June, Palm is knocking them out quickly. Flash should be available shortly. I plan to write my Palm predictions for 2010 soon.
  
  --
  Author of Enyo: Up and Running from O'Reilly Media
66. Re:Only one question... by D+H+NG · 2010-01-03 04:09 · Score: 1
  
  OK, I'll bite. In Android, you can edit your contacts by selecting "Contacts" from the home screen, then choose the contact you want to edit and holding down your finger. A context menu appears, select "Edit contact". Alternately, you can open your contact's info and then press the "Menu" button, then select "Edit contact". To send a photo to your PC, you open "Gallery". Your photos will be displayed. Select the one you one to send, then choose "Share". Select "Bluetooth".
67. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-03 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  I am not entirely sure what you are trying to accomplish here,
  Trying to stop the ongoing mantra "nokia devices are not usable".
  
  Now, I want to change someone's name, so I can go with one of two options:
  1. I can open gmail in my browser, open contacts, click the name I want to change, select edit, and update the actual field, before clicking done.
  No, you can't change "name" and "surname". You can only change something called "name", and Gmail will try to split it into "name" and "surname", and will get things wrong if you happen to know people called "Mario / Di Bella" or "Pier Luigi / Rossi".
  
  The fact that you can find a more complex way to do it does not mean that it is the only way of getting the job done.
  Since my primary phone runs Android, I'll be very pleased if you can tell me a faster way to do that job - that is, changing a contact's name *and* surname on my phone.
  
  For your Phone->PC example, I will admit to cheating a bit. I have no idea whether any sort bluetooth storage mode is available, nor do I particularly care. Instead, when I want to transfer something, I'll open up my FTP client, and upload the files I want to my computer. There is even an app that is supposed to support samba drives, but I have never felt a need to install it. Now granted, this requires you to do a bit more work to set up these apps, but of course you conveniently omitted the step necessary to install the Nokia app that your PC would likely need, so I consider us even.
  1) Android does not ship with a native ftp client / server. Of course you can install one, but we're talking about the usability of the *platform* here, so I described the only option that was available without installing extra software. I installed a nice ftp server app on my Android phone, but that doesn't count, as I could install some equivalent software on my Nokia phone too. 2) Bluetooth does not require any "nokia app" to transfer files, so I'm not "conveniently ignoring" anything. If a PC is equipped with a bluetooth stack, it will be able to transfer files without installing any extra application, using the OBEX push profile. If I really installed the official nokia suite, then my experience would have been even smoother, because it would automatically sync the photos between the PC and the phone in the background, as soon as the phone entered the PC's bluetooth range. I hear that Android 2.0 finally implemented the push profile, unfortunately my phone runs 1.6.
  
  Finally, I do not use my phone to listen to music, so you may have a point about the problems there. That said, when I opened the Music app just now, the first screen was a simple selection (Artist, Album, Song, or Playlist), which does not appear to reflect what you are trying to describe. Selecting any of these options, then using the back button also works without issues.
  It is possible that HTC crippled the music player on my phone by replacing the original Android player with another one which has the exact behaviour I described. What can I say? I can post a video of my phone if you doubt of my honesty. Of course I'd be saddened if this was necessary.
  
  Now I am not sure whether you are confused about some of the features Android has, are trying to troll, have some sort of really old and crippled version of the platform, or are simply misinformed. In fact, the Android has plenty of shortcomings that you could have offered valid complaints about, but given the subjects you chose to mention, I get the impression that you are not interested in even giving it a chance.
  I am using a phone that was released in October 2009 (HTC Tattoo), and I'm comparing it to my previous phone that was released in 2006 (Nokia N73). If I had something against Android, I wouldn't have bought an Android as my next phone. Android is a nice platform, I just don't find it more usabl
68. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-03 04:55 · Score: 1
  
  I am using an HTC Tattoo. Perhaps it ships with a different version of the music player because it has a smaller screen size (still, its screen is bigger than the one of my previous phone I was comparing it to).
69. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-03 05:05 · Score: 1
  
  Android: Open "Contacts", select the contact, press Menu button and select "Edit contact", edit "Name" and "Surname" fields, press Done button.
  My Android phone has no "surname" field.
  
  Android: Open "Gallery" (or press Gallery key shortcut on phone), all the photos in your phone will appear, with the latest photos first. Press the Share button, and select "Picasa", followed by pressing the Upload button. Visit the Picasa website on your PC and download your photo.
  You'll admit it's not the same thing. Why do I need a Picasa account, Internet access, and to go through a web browser, when both my phone and my computer are equipped with Bluetooth? I'd say the usb cable option was more "usable".
  
  Android: Open "Music" by selecting it from the applications menu (or use key shortcut), select "artists", select "YourFavouriteArtist" (just pressing Y will usually do), long-press to play all tracks, and press back button to change artist, etc.
  We definitely do not have the same music player. I guess I was unlucky with my phone.
70. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-03 05:07 · Score: 1
  
  There is no "surname" field, and the "bluetooth" option is missing in my phone.
71. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-03 05:22 · Score: 1
  
  1) IIRC G1 has no bluetooth file transfer, unless you hacked it with an unofficial ROM, and I wouldn't point at this as an example of "usability", which was the focus of my post.
  2) You can't edit the contact's *surname* as I stated in my post.
72. Re:Only one question... by karnal · 2010-01-03 05:26 · Score: 1
  
  Just some thoughts:
  1. Why in your first example would you be editing a CSV file on the PC, when google gives you access to edit the contact right then and there? My Windows Mobile experience is as thus:
  a. open gmail/contacts in web browser
  b. Edit contact to suit and save.
  c. Force an activesync connection on the phone (or wait 30 minutes, as mine automatically polls both my contacts AND calendar and keeps them synched - whether on device or on the internets.)
  2. Photos are always kind of a usability issue - DCIM and 100MEDIA seem to be the standard that Canon digital cameras use (my only experiences here) so why would that be different? Since you are already speaking about the Nokia as a bluetooth partnership, we'll assume that WiFi is a "known setup" as well. Outlining my experience:
  a. Connect to WiFi at home
  b. Open Total Commander; connect to home share drive (server or PC.)
  c. Copy files from phone (storage card/dcim/100MEDIA/.) to share.
  d. Disconnect WiFi.
  Listening to music is simple on my phone - however, as most tech people go, I use an alternate program. But with HTC's TouchFlo, there's a "tab" on the main interface that goes directly to music. Scans the entire device (quickly if it's already been scanned once) and then you select music. But, as I haven't used it (I prefer something more along the lines of "select a folder to play every time") I can't speak for how quick it is in comparison to the Nokia device.
  I can't believe that an Android device is quite as hard as you make it out to be - unless you're untechie, in which case the scenario you gave at the very least with transferring photos gives me some indication (with bluetooth pairing) that the user is technical enough to understand that piece.
  
  --
  Karnal
73. Re:Only one question... by karnal · 2010-01-03 05:34 · Score: 1
  
  In all fairness, you did post a comment regarding a technical / usability issue on Slashdot. You're going to get all sorts of people commenting on exactly what you did wrong and why their way is better.
  Heck, I even commented back to you on how my WM device works just to contrast. However, you have valid points for the usability of the device in the scenarios you've described.
  Keep in mind that no one is calling you a liar - misunderstandings at best of how two different people use a device on a web forum can lead to unneeded arguments. I've run into this recently on other forums when describing my opinions on my particular phone; sometimes people just know their way is better and will do anything to proclaim they are correct when in fact both opinions can be correct.
  
  --
  Karnal
74. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-03 06:04 · Score: 1
  
  I can't believe that an Android device is quite as hard as you make it out to be
  It is not. I've just chosen some aspects that I found most disappointing on the usability side. I wasn't trying to demonstrate that Android is not good - I do not think this. My point was, that there is no "usability gap" between Android devices and S60 ones (at least for people like me).
  The CSV hack was the only way I found to edit **surnames** in my contact list. The vast majority of people can live without it.
75. Re:Only one question... by mdwh2 · 2010-01-03 06:12 · Score: 1
  
  If you're comparing them in terms of handheld gaming devices, then you need to include devices like the Nintendo DS (I can't find Q3 2009 results, but at over 113 million sold as of September 2009, I believe that's more than the Iphone and Ipod Touch) and PSP (56 million as of August 2009).
  So sure, Nokia aren't the best as a portable gaming platform, but Apple are still not the leaders in that market.
  And let's not forget Apple has the bigger App Store ... Nokia's App Store is nothing compared to the iTunes App Store
  Who cares - that's only because of their locked down manner which forces all apps to go through the store. Why is that good from a developer point of view? It just means more competitors. If I want an app, I go to the website and download it. That's how it works for 99% or more of the computing world. Why would I as a developer prefer the method where I have to sell only on Apple's site, and only if Apple allow me?
  I have a Nokia 5800, and I've never even needed to visit Nokia's store. I just download what I want, and it Just Works.
  Development for Nokia's line of phones is much harder, because there's more than one screen size and a much wider range of capabilities.
  Yes, the tired old one-model-versus-multiple-models argument. The prevalence of PC gaming and the demise of gaming on other computer platforms shows it doesn't really hold much strength. And anyway, the DS and PSP are single models, too.
  and we know 30% of all money that goes through that goes straight to Apple.
  Exactly. Extra expense for the consumer, that doesn't go to the developers.
76. Re:Only one question... by Optic7 · 2010-01-03 06:14 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, but you are mistaken. Motorola makes some quad-band GSM phones that are about half the size of an iphone, like the razor and the slvr L7. I've seen several others as well.
77. Re:Only one question... by mdwh2 · 2010-01-03 06:17 · Score: 1
  
  Nonsense. Where did you pull that from?
  In fact, the reverse is true. Even on so-called "dumb" phones, they can run apps and access the Internet, and people do this. The Iphone shouldn't even be considered a smart phone (give me a definition that includes the Iphone, but not most other phones?), it's only an arbitrary category, used by Apple to try to artificially inflate the Iphone's market share.
78. Re:Only one question... by karnal · 2010-01-03 06:20 · Score: 1
  
  Agreed - I think a lot of people are missing out (including me) on what exactly you were trying to do with a contact.
  
  --
  Karnal
79. Re:Only one question... by mdwh2 · 2010-01-03 06:21 · Score: 1
  
  So? Yes, it's not news that Apple are good at selling expensive products to a niche market, and making lots of money from it. Why is that an argument for saying the product is good for consumers?
  I've got to laugh - arguments for Apple are commonly made from their point of view, that would be nonsensical if we heard them for other companies. Imagine: "But look how much profit Microsoft make - obviously their products must be better than everyone else!"
  I liked Nokia, but the fact it took someone like Apple to shake up this industry shows how out of touch they really are.
  Shake up the industry? What did they do exactly? And sure, I'm no fan of companies becoming dominant, so it's always healthy for newcomers to come around, but it's nonsense to pretend that a niche latecomer is the dominant platform, and it's also stupid when you're ignoring plenty of other players such as RIM.
80. Re:Only one question... by mdwh2 · 2010-01-03 06:23 · Score: 1
  
  Hear hear. And let's not forget that "smart phone" is ill-defined anyway, and it's debatable that the Iphone falls into that category - can anyone give me a clear definition that includes the Iphone, but doesn't include most feature phones?
  If we included all feature phones, not just those arbitrarily labelled as "smart phones", Nokia retain their dominant market share, but Apple's share is far lower.
81. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 06:34 · Score: 0
  
  Complete and utter tosh.
  I've had the dubious priviledge of owning Nokia S60 and Android phones.
  Your Android workflow is deliberately skewed. Editing a contact in Android -> Press and hold on contact until menu dialog appears - Select "Edit Contact".
  Select field to be edited with finger - and use virtual (or physical if present) keyboard to edit. Then press OK when edit completed to save.
  I notice you didn't mention how to edit multiple contacts in Nokia S60 - or in fact how to sync your Nokia S60 with the PC - or in fact how you can't backup and restore contacts between different versions of S60 (for the same phone model) (XML schemas regularly change - and the importers can't perform the transformation properly - data is lost). Or in fact - how the Nokia PC apps - suck large.
  The world has changed - and Nokia is way behind the curve.
82. Re:Only one question... by Belial6 · 2010-01-03 06:38 · Score: 1
  
  There is more than a few square miles of 3G coverage just surrounding my house. You are just making that up.
83. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-03 06:57 · Score: 1
  
  You obviously never looked at their 3G coverage map back in the summer. I wanted to go with T-Mobile because they had lower prices and an Android phone. But after looking at their 3G coverage map (or more accurately called, lack of 3G coverage map), there was no way in hell I'd go with them. Hopefully they keep working to get 3G covered all over and in a year or two they'll be as good as the other networks.
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
84. Re:Only one question... by metamatic · 2010-01-03 07:09 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I have an N800, and I'm familiar with Maemo. It has a lot of fairly basic deficiencies. For example, there has been a bug open for several years about the fact that it's impossible to set your preferences for date format. That's a bit of a killer for me, trivial as it may seem, as I use ISO format everywhere, and the last thing I need is my phone and organizer using a different format from everything else.
  I've also been displeased with Nokia's lack of continuing support for older devices. When I went through the hell of reflashing my N800 for the 2008 OS release, Nokia said that would be the last reflash needed, as they had added a proper package manager. In fact, it was the last reflash needed because they dropped support for older hardware and told everyone to go buy an N900.
  Then there's the fact that the windowing toolkit on the N900 is a dead end, due to be replaced by Qt in the inevitable N910--which you will no doubt have to buy, because they won't offer an OS update for the N900.
  No, sorry, but Nokia does not fill me with enthusiasm.
  
  --
  GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
85. Re:Only one question... by Maxmin · 2010-01-03 07:23 · Score: 1
  
  The 16MB heap limit does not apply to OpenGL ES resources, which can be the lion's share of a 3D game's memory use (texturemaps etc.)
  Android actually is quite an excellent gaming platform, on hardware with a GPU of some sort (i.e. nearly all the currently supported handhelds.)
  I'm writing an Android 3D game currently, and with hundreds of texture-mapped objects in view, the framerate is at or above the display's refresh rate. The CPU(s) are untaxed, the load is low.
  Any serious game developer for Android will follow the usual real-time programming paradigms, like object-preallocation, avoiding boxed primitives, etc.
  My impression as to why Android does not currently *seem* to have many quality games has to do with Google choosing to avoid touting one app over another. Also, OpenGL is not easy, nope, it's in fact hard. After reviewing many books on the topic, I've found just one that fits the bill: "Mobile 3D Graphics with OpenGL ES and M3G" (Pulli, Aarnio et al.)
  If anyone's read this far, and you're considering buying the book, you'll want decent example apps to understand wtf the book is talking about. Go grab the NeHe OpenGL ES Android ports, then bunkerize for a week to learn how it all works.
  
  --
  O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
86. Re:Only one question... by jbuilder · 2010-01-03 07:29 · Score: 1
  
  If AT&T's is only 3% of the use, then I suppose.. ;)
  
  --
  Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
87. Re:Only one question... by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-03 08:48 · Score: 1
  
  I googled around after we got the phone on saturday and found a few howtos for flashing the phone with images which give you root. It looked pretty straightforward but I won't be doing it on my wife's phone any time soon.
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
88. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-03 09:20 · Score: 1
  
  Complete and utter tosh.
  Please go on.
  
  Your Android workflow is deliberately skewed. Editing a contact in Android -> Press and hold on contact until menu dialog appears - Select "Edit Contact". Select field to be edited with finger - and use virtual (or physical if present) keyboard to edit. Then press OK when edit completed to save.
  Sigh. No. This will NOT let you edit the contact *name* and *surname*, as I clearly stated in my post. Try again.
  
  I notice you didn't mention how to edit multiple contacts in Nokia S60 - or in fact how to sync your Nokia S60 with the PC - or in fact how you can't backup and restore contacts between different versions of S60 (for the same phone model) (XML schemas regularly change - and the importers can't perform the transformation properly - data is lost). Or in fact - how the Nokia PC apps - suck large.
  I don't know what you are talking about. My Nokia phone is able to export its contacts in the industry-standard vcard format. I regularly do it, and I've never lost information. Even the contact pictures get stored in the vcards. S60 also supports sending the contacts via bluetooth using OPP - not only it works between different Nokia phone models, it also works between phones of different manufacturers. In fact, exporting the contacts via bluetooth is the standard procedure I've followed every time I or some other member of my family bought a new phone. It just worked every time. I couldn't do this with my Android phone because it doesn't support ANY kind of transfer via bluetooth - but I just exported my contacts from my old Nokia phone as vcards, and then uploaded them to Gmail with no problem whatsoever. No XML schemas involved, no data loss.
  To edit many contacts, of course you can use the Nokia PC suite which, unlike what you say, does perfectly its job: the contacts also get synced with Windows Vista Contacts, Outlook or whatever. You say it sucks - well, if it's so, then please explain to me why, and what other phone manufacturer offers a PC suite with more features.
  I agree that .NET-based tools such as Nokia Photos and Nokia Music sucked badly, but they are being phased out, and never were needed at all since Nokia phones (just like Android) speak open protocols and don't need proprietary applications to manage their content.
  
  The world has changed - and Nokia is way behind the curve.
  I don't share this opinion.
89. Re:Only one question... by Belial6 · 2010-01-03 09:52 · Score: 1
  
  No, I looked at their map, and had T-Mobile in the summer, and I can say for a fact that you are just making up your statement.
90. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 10:36 · Score: 0
  
  It's possible to hit all four GSM bands used world wide... but have you seen the bricks such phones are compared to the relatively slim iPhone?
  The iPhone supports four GSM bands (850,900,1800,1900 MHz) and three 3G bands (the two used by AT&T and the one used almost everywhere else in the world, which uses 1700MHz uplink and 2100 MHz downlink).
  It's the probably the same with the Nexus One, just that for 3G it supports the international band, the T-Mobile US band and maybe another one... but supposedly not the AT&T frequencies.
91. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-03 10:51 · Score: 1
  
  You must have looked at the "call" coverage map - which is just fine. The 3G was downright laughable. It's still bad, but much better than it was. Either you're confused or you're just lying because you want to bash other networks. I don't give a crap what network I have - I just want one with good coverage and a phone worth having. I wanted to go with T-Mobile and get a G1 instead of an iPhone, but their lack of 3G coverage just made it not worth the money - why would I get a smartphone if I can't use it due to a lack of coverage?
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
92. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 10:56 · Score: 0
  
  Sorry, mixed that up. The international one uses 1900 MHz for uplink, 1700 MHz is T-Mobile USA.
93. Re:Only one question... by dgatwood · 2010-01-03 10:57 · Score: 1
  
  From what I've read, it sounds like iPhone only supports 850, maybe 1700, and 1900 for 3G. That's why it doesn't support 3G on T-Mobile when unlocked---no support for 2100. Unless it really does and none of the unlockers are smart enough to figure out how to create a proper carrier definition file, of course. :-)
  The reason for this, to some extent, is that an antenna is only going to be ideal for a narrow range of frequencies. If you build something that's a full wave at 850, it's a half wave at 1700, but it doesn't do well at 1900 at all. So you might, for example, use an antenna whose length is between the 850 and 900 bands so that it's so-so at 850 and 900, so-so at 1700 and 1800. I don't know what you do when you start throwing in frequencies like 1900 and 2100. Maybe a separate antenna for each, which may be why there aren't any 6-band phones out there on the market, AFAIK.
  
  --
  Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
94. Re:Only one question... by Belial6 · 2010-01-03 11:08 · Score: 1
  
  T-Mobile must have just given me access to their special super secret invitation only 3G network that they didn't tell you about, because I, and others here had a lot more 3G coverage than what you claim was available to you.
95. Re:Only one question... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 11:13 · Score: 0
  
  From what I've read, it sounds like iPhone only supports 850, maybe 1700, and 1900 for 3G.
  Well, you can easily check it:
  
  UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
  GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
  (http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html)
  Here, "2100 MHz" refers to the "international band" which uses 2100 MHz as downlink and 1900 MHz as uplink (cell phone -> tower).
  (I mixed that up with T-Mobile USA's 1700 MHz frequency in my post above...)
  850 MHz and 1900 MHz are the two frequency bands used by AT&T.
96. Re:Only one question... by AmiMoJo · 2010-01-03 11:38 · Score: 1
  
  The HTC Hero comes in two versions for different networks, but is actually the same phone in terms of hardware. By simply changing the firmware you can change it from 3G/GSM to Edge/WCDMA. Since this phone is also made by HTC and the radio chipset most likely supports more than just whatever T-Mobile use it is probably possible to modify it too.
  What I want to know is when will it come to the UK. I was just about to get a Hero on 18 month contract but now I'm not so sure.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
97. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-03 11:43 · Score: 1
  
  Then they didn't update their coverage map. I'm not going to go with a company because you tell me that they have good coverage and the companies own coverage map says they have extremely bad coverage. That's extremely poor marketing on their part, if that's the case. I'm starting to think you're just a fanboy making shit up because I called T-Mobile out for having the worst 3G coverage in the nation. It's a shame, because they have the best prices in the nation.
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
98. Re:Only one question... by dgatwood · 2010-01-03 12:37 · Score: 1
  
  Ah. It was the other way around. My bad.
  
  --
  Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
99. Re:Only one question... by Belial6 · 2010-01-03 12:49 · Score: 1
  
  That must be it. Everybody else is shown coverage maps that are clearly more than a couple of square miles for the country and multiple people confirm that they do in fact get 3G coverage in more than a couple of square miles. You are the only person that allegedly was told they only had a couple of square miles of coverage, and somehow that makes me a fanboy. Riiigggghhhht....
100. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-03 13:21 · Score: 1
  
  No, "everyone" is look at the CURRENT 3G coverage map. NOT the ones from 6 months ago. Hell, there's a whole TWO cities in my state (one being the one I live in, but not the even bigger one just 10 miles away, where I often work) that is on their 3G coverage map. If you don't believe me, check their site. Don't look at the green map - the one that does have a lot of coverage, that's just voice. You have to click "data" and look at the purple map - THAT is the data coverage map and the dark purple (which is in the minority by far, even now) is the 3G coverage. Compare that to Verizon or AT&T's 3G coverage maps. T-Mobile has done a lot to improve 3G coverage in the last 6 months, but they're still a LONG way behind the competition.
  Maybe T-Mobile has 3G coverage not shown on their coverage maps - if they do, great! But if that's the case, then they need to update their maps or they'll keep having people go to Verizon or AT&T due to their own coverage maps showing them to not have much in the way of 3G.
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
101. Re:Only one question... by Belial6 · 2010-01-03 13:55 · Score: 1
  
  Wow! You must live in the middle of no where if the only two cities in your state that have 3G are less than 3 square miles COMBINED. You know, there are places out side of Gantts Quarry, Alabama.
102. Re:Only one question... by Totenglocke · 2010-01-03 14:36 · Score: 1
  
  Wow, you must not know how to read! I said "6 months ago they only had a few square miles for the country" and I said "now there are two cities in my state that are covered". Six months ago, there are NO cities in my state (or most states) with 3G coverage from T-Mobile. Now there's actually quite a few, but it's still horrible compared to the competition. When there's a city (where I'm originally from) with over 2 million people in my state and it has NO 3G coverage at all (according to T-Mobile's own coverage map), there's a big problem with their 3G coverage. The city I'm in now is only about 15 miles north and has about 850,000 people and it's one of the two in the state that has 3G coverage. So yes, where I currently live it would be fine to go with T-Mobile as long as I never left the city. However, since I frequently drive back to visit friends and family, my phone would become useless for anything but making phone calls if I went with T-Mobile.
  But of course, I'm lying because I really wanted to pay more money per month to go with another carrier. Yup, that's what happened. I did my research on each companies site comparing rates, was getting ready to go with T-Mobile, then looked at their 3G coverage and said "Wow, the coverage is so great and the prices are so low, I think I'll go with another company instead and pay a few hundred dollars more a year". Why are you so determined to pretend like their own coverage maps don't exist which, even now that they've added a tons of towers, STILL show that their 3G coverage is horrible?
  
  --
  "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
103. Re:Only one question... by TikiTDO · 2010-01-03 16:45 · Score: 1
  
  As karnal pointed out, I was not trying to call you a liar. Instead, I saw some information that was factually inaccurate, and posted to address those shortcomings. Yes, I did list trolling as one of the potential reasons for your post, but even you must admit that without knowing how a person thinks, that is always an option.
  The main concern is that by all appearances, you made the Android sound as complex as possible (Open desk drawer, take out USB cable?). For instance, I still see the name/surname thing as a somewhat strange example. The actual phone does not care whether your contact is named Mario / Di Bella or Mario Di / Bella. When you get a call, the screen name will still say "Mario Di Bella," and when you search your contacts you can type in "Mario," "Bella," or even "Di" and still find the same person. Obviously, since gmail will allow you to enter both first and last name, the info is stored somewhere on the servers, but it is not relevant to the Android as much as to a normal gmail account.
  Also, as you aptly illustrated with the bluetooth example, I am not the end-all source for information on the Android. In my defense, I try to point out my own shortcomings in my posts, so as not to confuse people with a potentially unsubstantiated opinion. I simply ask that you double check that your post does not appear biased, and that your information is sound.
  Also, regarding phone features, I am using a rooted Dream, so I can certainly see where feature differences might arise. I would suggest your root your phone too, if it is possible already.
104. Re:Only one question... by mjwx · 2010-01-03 20:44 · Score: 1
  
  Not quite an apples-to-Apple Inc. comparison there.
  Also, Apple has most of it's yearly phone sales in Q3 (after the latest model is released), after the hype storm dies down the sales drop considerably (to about 1/4 according to Optus).
  
  Nokia maintains those numbers year round.
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
105. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-03 21:20 · Score: 1
  
  The main concern is that by all appearances, you made the Android sound as complex as possible (Open desk drawer, take out USB cable?).
  But it's true! To transfer files from my phone to my PC, I have to either use the USB cable, or (would describing this seem less trollish?) open the phone shell, take out the microSD, and put it into the PC. These are the options the phone's designers gave me. You probably don't like this fact - as an owner of such a phone, I like it less than you do.
  I was upset for having bought a € 300 phone with "bluetooth" written on its box, only to discover that it cannot send files as a € 30 phone would do - bluetooth is only there for headsets. Oh well - my fault, I should have done more research before buying. Then I went to a geek-oriented site and I found people praising my new phone's "usability" compared to my old phone "inusability". I posted a message saying "I actually found my old phone more usable sometimes", supporting my opinion with precise facts, and I got both addressed, and modded, as a troll.
  
  For instance, I still see the name/surname thing as a somewhat strange example.
  I do not have the time, competence and english skills to write a full review of the phone. Nor a slashdot comment would be the appropriate place for it. I just took the first three examples where I found my old phone was better. Want more strange examples?
  - The phone will not turn itself on to make an alarm go off.
  - The built-in mail client won't let me save mail attachments, it will only "play" them (I tried to send myself some mp3s via email as an alternative to the usb cable, before installing an ftp server application).
  - The main menu and the home screen do not rotate.
  - There is no built-in file browser.
  - It is very difficult to distinguish between running programs and recently used, but closed, programs.
  - Once my phone crashed, while using the built-in camera app. When it rebooted, it displayed a scary, non-dismissable notification saying "checking sd card for errors". And apparently did nothing (perhaps it was a wrong translation of "please check your sd card for errors?") - the only way to make it go away was to run chkdsk on the sd card. Additionally, when that happened, the phone "forgot" the mp3 I had chosen as ringtone and silently switched back to the default tone.
  - The on-screen keyboard does not rotate in all applications - of course the qwerty keyboard is more comfortable in landscape mode, but sometimes you can use it that way (e.g. when browsing web), sometimes you can't (e.g. when editing a contact).
  - Refusing an incoming call makes a "missed call" popup appear.
  - Every time I turn on the phone, it says "your sim card has changed" and prompts me to change my operator settings.
  - The phone does not see ad-hoc wifi networks (useful to exchange large data when you're far from home - especially since bluetooth is not there).
  - There are no "profiles" for ringtone settings - only the default mode and the silent mode.
  - No photo editing features.
  - I can't create albums in my photo gallery? Why is it called "albums" then? I must be missing something here.
  - Gmail contact groups do not appear as contact groups in my phone.
  
  The actual phone does not care whether your contact is named Mario / Di Bella or Mario Di / Bella. When you get a call, the screen name will still say "Mario Di Bella," and when you search your contacts you can type in "Mario," "Bella," or even "Di" and still find the same person.
  I do care if I am to sync my contacts with other devices that make the distinction, such as my previous phone which I am still using. For instance, because they allow you to sort the phonebook "by name" or "by surname".
  
  Obviously, since gmail will allow you to enter both first and last name, the info is stored somewhere on the servers
  Gmail doesn't allow you t
106. Re:Only one question... by milamber3 · 2010-01-04 01:22 · Score: 1
  
  This isn't true at all. The CDMA Hero from Sprint has can NOT switch to GSM and the European GSM Hero can NOT switch to CDMA. If you flash the wrong radio onto the device it will completely brick it. This is the only way that I know of to completely ruin your Hero. I also have no idea why you are talking about the Hero and T-Mo since Sprint and Verizon are the only providers with Hero (Eris) hardware.
107. Re:Only one question... by milamber3 · 2010-01-04 01:52 · Score: 1
  
  According to this article: http://www.iphoneworld.ca/news/2009/08/13/apple-share-of-smartphone-market-increases-to-133-with-iphone-3gs-introduction/ iPhone has a 13.3% market share compared to Nokia's 45%. I'd say having about 1/3rd of the market size of Nokia when they have been in the mobile phone business for about 1/10th the amount of time is impressive. Also, it doesn't bode well for Nokia's future.
108. Re:Only one question... by milamber3 · 2010-01-04 02:02 · Score: 1
  
  Just to add a better source with more data: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1126812
  If you look at the article you can see that in one years time (2Q 08 - 2Q 09) Apple went from 2.8% to 13.3%, almost a 500% increase. On the other hand, Nokia went down from 47.4% to 45%, a 5% decrease in market share. I am by no means a fan of Apple, but you should really check your info before posting it just makes you look bad. In the long run I really think Android will overtake both of them by sheer number and functionality.
109. Re:Only one question... by cl0s · 2010-01-04 03:10 · Score: 1
  
  There is no surname in your Gmail contacts on the computer either though. Just a 'name' it doesn't try to split it or do anything, it always displays it as you type it (doesn't try to split it to display as Lastname, Firstname or anything like that either.) I got the standard opensource version or Android so I don't see that music player that was put on most likely by your carrier to give you a 'unique' experience on your Android phone.
  As for the images you can also long press an image... press 'Share' and you have 'Bluetooth device' & 'Picasa' (which if you also have the program installed on your computer, you're done.)
  BTW I still have a G1 but rooted with the CyanogenMod, which is Android 1.6. That said, your experience on a carrier released version of Android could very well be different and I wouldn't doubt they validate your claims. The Nexus should be a better phone, as the updates, etc... will be controlled by Google and not the carrier as all the other Android based phones currently are.
110. Re:Only one question... by Dan+Ost · 2010-01-04 03:16 · Score: 1
  
  It's my understanding that the issue isn't AT&T's network so much as it's poor design in the iPhone. Of course, since the iPhone is making AT&T so much money, they'd rather take the black eye and not risk their relationship with Apple.
  Do AT&T's 3G customers who aren't using an iPhone have similar "congestion" issues? 3rd parties are saying no. There's even been some /. stores to that effect recently.
  
  --
  
  *sigh* back to work...
111. Re:Only one question... by AmiMoJo · 2010-01-04 06:29 · Score: 1
  
  It is true. I know because I have done it :)
  I changed my UK GSM/3G T-Mobile G2 (a re-badged Hero) to WCDMA firmware and used it in Japan with a Japanese SIM (rented). It was flawless, both for calls and data. In fact I know of a couple of other people who live in Japan and who imported the phone and changed the firmware over before it became officially available there. It's also nice to get raw Android rather than the HTC skin or T-Mobile branding.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
112. Re:Only one question... by Tacvek · 2010-01-04 06:58 · Score: 1
  
  W-CDMA is better known as UTMS, and is part of the GSM family (perhaps more clearly stated as the 3GPP family) of cellphone standards.
  It is not part of the CDMA family (which is perhaps better called the 3GPP2 family) of standards.
  
  --
  Stylish sheet to fix many problems in Slashdot's D3: https://gist.github.com/801524
113. Re:Only one question... by D+H+NG · 2010-01-04 10:47 · Score: 1
  
  Which version of Android were you using? I can see the "Family Name" field in editing contacts and the "Bluetooth" option on mine. Perhaps these are new features in 2.1.
114. Re:Only one question... by peppepz · 2010-01-04 11:29 · Score: 1
  
  It's 1.6. Thanks for the good news, I hope I'll be able to upgrade to 2.1 soon (either by official or "alternate" channels), looks like they've improved things quite a bit.
115. Re:Only one question... by TikiTDO · 2010-01-08 03:23 · Score: 1
  
  I was going through the market recently, and saw an app that reminded me of this post. The tool is called "Bluetooth File Transfer", and it it the first item under Apps->Communication. It does not seem to work on all phones, but it may be able to do what you'd like with the OPP.
  Regarding the items you listed, you are correct that the phone does not provide these things natively. There are apps that do many of these things, but I can see what you mean regarding the out-of-box usability.
my old samsung i8510... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 15:28 · Score: 1, Interesting

running s60 v3 can do :
8.1 mpx photos
has a dual led flash
has a wifi client
can do skype over wifi (fring)
does 3G/quad band GSM
runs garmin/tomtom/route 66 GPS software with over 8 GB of maps.
has 32 GB storage (16GB on board, 16GB microSD)
has accuweather 15 days forecasts and reuters new feeds
does RSS with mobispine
has the usual calendering stuff with sync and does gmail/search/google maps with native apps.
has opera, the symbian web browser and literally hundreds of symbian apps for reading PDF/doc/chm etc
has mobioffice for office docs, divx player, real player and dozens of mp3 players available.
can connect to a projector and output sound + video on the same output cable. ...and is over 2 years old and obsolete at this point. and android phones dont even have half this functionality in 2010.
1. Re:my old samsung i8510... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 16:02 · Score: 0
  
  the m8910 also has a 12mpx camera and both can do smb file sharing over wifi, ssh over wifi and charge via microusb. androids offerings are still lagging behind s60v3 both in software and hardware.
2. Re:my old samsung i8510... by anethema · 2010-01-03 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  What's with all the AC's lately?
  
  Anyways, for one, get an iPhone and you get all of this except for the uselessly over megapixelled camera.
  
  For another, you're on S60. It's a total bitch to code for, the UI looks like windows 3.1. It just is not pleasant to use. Contrast that with an iPhone or Android phone and its night and day. Android JUST came out, so complaining about no skype (which you don't even have natively, you have to go through fring, which sucks). and no turn by turn GPS at this point doesn't seem relevant.
  
  The iPhone platform has had some time to mature and has everything you describe.
  
  Wifi? Of course. Skype ? Native skype client which I use to call right over 3G, not using any daytime minutes. Quad band GSM ? Naturally. 32GB storage? Check. Weather? Of course. Rss? Only about a billion apps for that. Calendering has been around since the days of early palm PDAs, so a phone without this would be dissapointing, but yes, my calender syncs with google, along with my contacts and mail over exchange. Wow opera and the symbian web browser, opera is now getting better, symbian browser is unusable on the modern web. PDF reading is no problem on either platform. There may not be a dozen mp3 players for iPhone but I bet there will be for Android. I play DivX/Xvid without issue. Connect to projector with sound/video in one cable? Check there too.
  
  Just demonstrating how once a platform matures a bit (Isn't S60 like a hundred years old?) and gains some usershare, the functionality will come, the hardware will get more refined, etc. Give android some time.
  
  --
  
  It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
More vendor/carrier lock-in by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 15:28 · Score: 1, Insightful

I'm more than a little disappointed that they seem to be going down the same path that Apple did, which is pretty much to stick you with a certain wireless carrier.
1. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 15:40 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  Yeah, cause I totally didn't buy an unlocked Motorola Milestone and use it on my prepaid carrier which doesn't sell phones at all. Oh wait, yes I did.
  
  Damn that Google, with their open source OS that runs on a huge variety of devices.
2. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by cgenman · 2010-01-02 15:49 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  You can get commercially available unlocked iphones. They just cost so much that nobody does it.
  Apparently people would rather spend less money up front, and more money in the long run. Either people's budgets are so precariously balanced that an upfront fee is unviable, or humans are just bad at math. Possibly both.
  
  --
  The ______ Agenda
3. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 15:52 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Right now, in the USA, there's only one provider (T-Mobile) willing to discount your service if you decline the hardware subsidy. If you want to use anybody else, you pay the same rate even if you decline the upfront money.
  Either T-Mobile subscriptions will go through the roof, or we've got proof that the public just doesn't care. People with money seldom understand math, see also: Las Vegas.
4. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by The+End+Of+Days · 2010-01-02 15:56 · Score: 1
  
  The problem, of course, is that T-Mobile's service has a reputation (possibly deserved, possibly not) as making AT&T seem reliable. Also they are definitely behind the big boys in coverage. I considered switching to them until my brother told me I could expect dead zones all over my city - and this is not a small city by any means.
5. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 16:10 · Score: 1
  
  I'm in a true fringe area... there's two farm's fields within eyesight of where I sit.
6. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-02 16:25 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I'm in a true fringe area... there's two farm's fields within eyesight of where I sit.
  Are you sitting on the fence?
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
7. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 16:48 · Score: 1
  
  Could somebody explain why the little E disappeared from my iPhone last month to be replaced with a "3G"... yeah, Verizon's map ads need an update.
8. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-02 16:56 · Score: 1
  
  No, not me. I am in Australia and all I know about Verizon is what I read here, so I assume it is a very bad word.
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
9. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by Shadow+of+Eternity · 2010-01-02 17:04 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  And I need to go inside a steel and cement storage building to lose a signal here in Orlando while my friend with his iphone can't even get one less than 4 miles from one of the largest universities in the entire state.
  I can cherry pick anecdotes too.
  
  --
  A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
10. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by Dare+nMc · 2010-01-02 17:31 · Score: 1
  
  FYI Their are a couple other options from MVNO's, for instance http://www.pagepluscellular.com/ seams to have decent reviews, and uses the entire verizon network. Their unlimited plan is about as cheap as I have seen (no unlimited data plans though)
  (never used them, only looked at there site and am thinking...)
11. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by quenda · 2010-01-02 18:12 · Score: 1
  
  You can get commercially available unlocked iphones. They just cost so much that nobody does it.
  Note that this is a US-only perspective.
  Here they are not generally network locked, except for prepaid. But they are still DRMed up the wazoo.
  You can jailbreak it, but why fight the supplier when you can choose a non-evil one instead?
12. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by farble1670 · 2010-01-02 18:33 · Score: 1
  
  when most carriers do not even offer a no contract option, it has nothing to do with being bad at math.
  the current model has carriers competing only on what cool new phones they offer. that's a whole heck of a lot cheaper than competing on their service / customer service / features / restrictions.
  t-mobile is the only US carrier i know of that offers new customers a no-contract option for smart phones. i'll be getting an unlocked phone and jumping over to them as soon as possible.
13. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 18:56 · Score: 0
  
  This actually raises an interesting point. The few travelling geeks in our midst are the only ones who need to concern themselves with the coverage pissing contest. If CellCo has 98% coverage but you live in a dead zone, then TeleCom's 78% that covers most of your town looks like a better choice. Anecdotal evidence isn't worth anything when looking at an abstract (national percentage of coverage), but is often the most important factor in personal decisions (coverage where I am). Too many people disregard this, resulting in efforts wasted to dig up some statistic that shows my choice to be objectively better than your choice, when we ought to be able to simply say, "this choice is better for me." It's amazing how much people get along when this thought process is applied to beliefs.
14. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 21:35 · Score: 0
  
  If you're a great antenna-designer, please do design a small nifty antenna that will work on the various US GSM and 3G frequencies, in addition to the European ones, and whatever else frequencies there are out there.
  The problem is designing this antenna in a small nifty package. It's not easy. I don't think it has been done yet.
15. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by ceoyoyo · 2010-01-03 01:45 · Score: 1
  
  Must be nice. In Canada you pay more if you don't take the contract. You can take or leave the discounted phone if you sign the contract, but you pay for it anyway so you might as well have it.
16. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 01:48 · Score: 0
  
  Well, an unlocked smart phone is pretty expensive. But the entire point of a smartphone is to waste your money (in exchange for entertainment, I guess).
  Look at models from previous years and you find you can get good unlocked phones very cheap--no way that carrier subsidies are worth it
17. Re:More vendor/carrier lock-in by stokessd · 2010-01-03 03:03 · Score: 1
  
  The third option is that there is nothing to be gained from an unlocked phone in the US (which is where most of the monkeys posting are from). Our cell phone landscape is dismal to say the least:
  Verizon - best coverage in most but not all cases. CDMA, bastards, horrible customer service, no rollover minutes, EVDO is like fast edge, no voice while using data, so stream pandora and miss calls.
  AT&T - Best GSM coverage, actually very good in the midwest, rollover minutes, call fidelity not quite as good as Verizon, overloaded service in big cities, between 3G and edge, data available everywhere I've traveled all over the lower 48. Cursomer service abotu as good as verizon (IE sucks), but they do offer subsidized new iPhone purchase even at mid contract (Verizon will not do that I'd bet).
  T-Mobile - building 3G out like crazy, but still less coverage than AT&T. Seem to have good customer service, I've never been a customer, but when I took a look at the G1 I was impressed with the conversations I overheard from the customer severice people in the store.
  It's unclear to me that I can take an unlocked phone or a phone that is already amortized and get a reduced monthly bill by using it. AT&T has no plan that is chaper if I bring my own phone to the party. Back when I was a verizon guy, there wasn't a cheaper plan that you could by if you didn't get a phone. So unless you can get a burner (pre-paid) sim card that does data as well, there just doesn't seem to be any reason to not get the subsidized phone, there is no discount to be had.
  The real power of the unlocked phone happens when traveling abroad, where you can buy a local sim and go. But I suspect a staggeringly small percentage of buyers fit that category.
  Sheldon
AMOLED screens in a completely different class by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 15:41 · Score: 1, Interesting

The AMOLED screens are simply amazing compared to conventional backlit LCDs used by the Droid/iPhone.
1. Re:AMOLED screens in a completely different class by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 16:13 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  unless if you use it in daylight...
2. Re:AMOLED screens in a completely different class by NoobixCube · 2010-01-02 17:04 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Agreed, I have a Samsung Galaxy (which has an AMOLED screen), and indoors it looks amazing, way better than my friends' iPhones' screens. Introduce direct sunlight though, and you're looking at a dull, dark-grey mess.
  
  --
  Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
Google just trying to see what sticks? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 15:42 · Score: 2, Interesting

In the past, when Google was a smaller company, we'd see very direct and targeted products being developed. First was their excellent search engine, then AdSense, and then GMail and Google Maps. The quality was good, the feature set was quite complete, and they were rife with innovation.
Lately, however, it seems that Google has just started throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. There seems to be a significant lack of focus. Android, Chrome OS and Nexus One follow this path. There's nothing about them that really sticks out relative to the competition. It's more just Google playing catch-up.
Especially in the case of Chrome OS, nobody has a fucking clue what Google is trying to accomplish. Power users find it extremely limiting, and "normal" users really have no use for it. Hopefully they abort it soon, and instead just make Chrome the best browser it can be.
1. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by wickerprints · 2010-01-02 17:07 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Ah, but this is what Google wants everyone to believe. They want you to think that they're just messing around and dabbling in every tech-related market. But the truth is far more subtle and interesting.
  Google's real product, its core focus, has always been and remains its analytics. Everything they have developed or acquired--GMail, Maps, YouTube, Android, and of course, Google search--has been about one thing, and one thing only: gathering data and analyzing it in order to better match the consumer with the advertiser. You want to know/buy something. Someone else wants to tell/sell it to you. And Google's entire business model is about profiting off the need to make this connection efficient.
  When viewed in this context, it becomes crystal clear why they have their hands in all these seemingly disparate technologies. They have a huge advantage, in that by cross-indexing the data they have collected on you, they can have a very complete picture of your preferences. It doesn't matter that YouTube doesn't turn a profit on its own. It doesn't matter that GMail and Android are free. In a sense, these things are not really products. They're more like...well, bait. They are a means to understand you better, and in turn, sell that understanding to people who want to sell you their products. Therefore, you are not Google's customer. The advertisers, the ones who pay Google for their analytics, are their real customers.
  Given Microsoft's recent unveiling of Bing (and their "cashback" program), it appears that MS management still doesn't understand Google's strategy. They are trying to compete in this one area, thinking that if they could attract people to use their search engine, they would be competitive. While that tactic might have worked a decade ago, it's much too late now. They are throwing money at the problem because they don't understand that Google is successful because they offer services that are free, easy to use, and effective, then take the data they collect and sell that knowledge to advertisers. They have misunderstood in the same way that people misunderstand why Google developed all these different technologies and offered them for free.
  It's also one more reason why I won't use Android, despite how good it is. I already use too many Google services. I don't need them to know even more about me than they already do.
2. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by ColdWetDog · 2010-01-02 17:28 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Maybe I should get my wife a Google account, a gMail account and a Nexus. Then Google can tell me what she's about. I sure can't seem to figure it out on my own...
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
3. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by wickerprints · 2010-01-02 17:34 · Score: 1
  
  LOL
  I think if you did that, you'd probably discover she's about shoes. Prada or Jimmy Choo. And handbags. Then again, I don't think you really need Google to tell you that.
4. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 18:04 · Score: 0
  
  > it appears that MS management still doesn't understand Google's strategy
  I applaud your five-year-old insight and lack of faith in others' intelligence. (Execution is a different thing. BigCo's suck.)
5. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by shawb · 2010-01-02 18:14 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I honestly think Google is a lot smarter than that... they don't sell data to the advertisers. Google keeps that data in house and simply decides which ads to show to which viewers. Selling that data would be like a dairy farmer selling his cows. In fact, that's one thing that almost makes me trust my data with Google... they don't want their competitors getting their hands on that data. It's not a kind heart and dedication to not being evil that drives Google to keep your data safe... it's pure financial self interest (and not even the enlightened variety.)
  
  --
  I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
6. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by ShooterNeo · 2010-01-02 18:26 · Score: 1
  
  100% wrong. Advertising doesn't pay enough for google to be the Iluminati. No, what google does very well is it implements huge backend systems that are cheaper and more reliable than anyone else.
  It does this by :
  1. A custom (Linux based) OS and file system and failover system (by duplicating all data 3x)
  2. custom, super-cheap hardware based on PCs
  3. Hiring the smartest programmers it can possibly find, although it tends to pick people based upon educational achievement and not real world success.
  The Nexus One will let you access google's wonderful backend systems while on the move. It'll be very cheap, and run very fast. +1 FTW.
7. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by Aerosiecki · 2010-01-02 18:35 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  It's also one more reason why I won't use Android, despite how good it is. I already use too many Google services. I don't need them to know even more about me than they already do.
  What kinda weak FUD is this? It's a linux system on which you can gain root access with fair ease! You can packetsniff, block traffic, and swap out whatever bits of the OS you want. If the Big G were spying on you as such, you would not only know, you could do whatever you like about it.
  ][
  
  --
  
  Cherish. Live. Dream.
8. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by farble1670 · 2010-01-02 18:45 · Score: 1
  
  It's also one more reason why I won't use Android, despite how good it is. I already use too many Google services. I don't need them to know even more about me than they already do.
  no. by using an android phone they aren't going to know any more about you than if you just used their other services over the web. the thinking from google is that the phone is just a hook. if they can get me using it on my phone, then i'll use the web interface at some point and contribute to their ad-based revenue. in fact, the android google apps are ad-free.
9. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 19:52 · Score: 0
  
  F the shareholders. Go buy msft for all I care.
10. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by dkf · 2010-01-02 21:13 · Score: 1
  
  100% wrong. Advertising doesn't pay enough for google to be the Iluminati. No, what google does very well is it implements huge backend systems that are cheaper and more reliable than anyone else.
  And it's by selling precisely targeted ad space online that they pay for all those backend systems and services. They're profitable and have plenty of costs, so they must have at least one strong income stream. As far as anyone (outside a few who really know) can tell, that's the ad business.
  
  --
  "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
11. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by cheesybagel · 2010-01-03 02:55 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, it is better to keep selling the same old shit and not invest in R&D. Go GM.
12. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by MemoryDragon · 2010-01-03 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  Actually you are wrong, Google does not sell the data, they simply get the cash from their ad displays and their ads being shown in various sites, most of their revenue still comes from the ads being shown parallel to their search results, which is amazing how non intrusive they are. So Microsoft is not that far off, by reducing the number of searches means less money for google.
  But the main aim for Google is mostly to attract people to their services so that they can cash in on the ads!
  This is also noticable in Android because I assume the ads displayed in many of the free apps come directly from google and no one else!
  Microsoft got it, but their intention just is to get the cash google currently has, nothing more nothing less, they are also just another neverending money hungry corporation trying to take over the next big thing!
13. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by wickerprints · 2010-01-03 07:32 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, you are absolutely correct--I merely used the "selling data" as a shorthand (an inaccurate one at that) for what you described.
  However, I still feel unsettled that any single corporate entity can observe and collect as much data about me as Google does. Whether or not they let anyone else have it is not really the point...I actively try to minimize their ability to correlate that data, by using multiple accounts, for example.
  I'm not paranoid--if I were, I would avoid using any Google services at all. But I still use Maps, search, mail, etc. That's because the benefit to me to use these (as opposed to a competitor's service) exceeds the risk of invasion of privacy. That's how much better Google implemented these. But Android (and Chrome) is not at that stage for me to feel comfortable using it, and it may never get to that point. The non-Google alternatives (e.g. iPhone, Firefox) are quite satisfactory to me.
14. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by dagamer34 · 2010-01-03 14:11 · Score: 1
  
  I'm going to sum up Google's strategy by reusing a phrase that Leo Laporte came up with: "Google sells things for 'less than free' to the consumer." And the thing is, at some point in time, they're going to cross the line and get hauled in front of the FTC/FCC for some silly deal.
  
  For example, take the recent product release of Google Maps Navigation. It costs nothing. The operating system it runs on costs nothing. Heck, Google was advertising Android products on it's page FOR FREE (and considering how many webpage views google.com gets, that really is worth a LOT of dough). And Google really doesn't care. Because it wants to mine information from you. About how people move from point A to point B. About traffic patterns. About food choices. About relationships between one store and another.
  
  For example, if you knew that 20% of people who go to store X in a mall eventually go to store Y in a mall, it would behoove the owner of store Y to pay a TON of money to Google to advertise to people that are actually IN store X. Notice, I didn't say people who often go to store X, but actually IN store X. Since that person is already out and about, it would make for extremely effective advertising the likes this world has never seen.
  
  As such, everyone thinks of Google as a search company, which is extremely foolish. They are an advertising company that uses search as a means to an end. Sure, it's their most successful product, but they don't want it to be their ONLY product. And when you start seeing a plethora of devices running Android which directly ties into all of Google's services, that's when you should start to get "scared".
15. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by moosesocks · 2010-01-03 18:36 · Score: 1
  
  They hold on to their money like these projects they are investing in are high-growth high-profit ventures and they aren't. So now Google is a hardware reseller? Who the fuck did the RROI for shareholders and decided that works out.
  Actually, it's pretty simple. Google has a *massive* interest in pushing smartphones to the masses, as it opens up an entire new ad market (and also gives them more data to crunch).
  Once the market's been shaped to Google's liking, they'll most likely exit the hardware business quietly.
  It's much easier for Google to justify this move to its shareholders than it is for most companies to justify any sort of R&D. Fortunately, Google's shareholders don't seem terribly interested in micromanaging the company as long as it continues to churn out the profits.
  
  --
  -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
16. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 21:15 · Score: 0
  
  Scared? Without Google undercutting Microsoft and Yahoo, we'd still be paying extra if we wanted to go beyond 50 MB storage in email. So having our every actions monitored is the price to pay for cool "free" stuff (even Firefox is subsidized by Google), but the first rule of economics is that there's no such thing as a free lunch. At least with Google we can *pretend* that things are free on the Internet. Privacy is an alright price to pay for all the "free" web services we take for granted today (even ones Google forced competitors into making free).
17. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by theaceoffire · 2010-01-04 05:23 · Score: 1
  
  If I can go through life never seeing ads that I hate because of Google... if every ad was on a subject I was interested in, in a manner that wasn't screaming and flashing at me... I would be very happy, I would likely turn off adblock, and I would *CLICK* on ads and *BUY* stuff.
  
  If Google can do this, they deserve my money.
  
  --
  I steal signatures. This one used to be yours.
18. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-05 08:09 · Score: 0
  
  Google's research shows that more and more people are using their phone to perform search.
  If Google can ensure the search experience is good on their phones and their phones sell well, then they are increasing the likelihood of of a search (rather than "I'll do it when I get home" and then forgetting to do it).
  Its an interesting ploy to increase their reach and increase it in terms they control. It is not quite the money loser you think it is.
19. Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-08 15:24 · Score: 0
  
  Boo hoo. Shareholders should know what they are getting into when they buy shares that don't entitle them to any voting rights. The founders of Google hold all of the shares with the voting rights and what they say goes. It's like News Corp... Rupert Murdoch owns a small portion of the total issued capital but what he holds actually holds something like 70% of the voting power.
Nexus One Forum by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 15:43 · Score: 0, Offtopic

The phone looks like it's pretty damn fast, very impressed. You can discuss it here as well:
Nexus One Forum
This is a engineering issue, not Googfle's call. by brunes69 · 2010-01-02 15:45 · Score: 3, Informative

T-Mobile and ATT operate on different 3G frequencies. Supporting all frequencies would be prohibitively expensive.
Re:This is a engineering issue, not Googfle's call by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 16:01 · Score: 1

T-Mobile started life as VoiceStream doing GSM before Cingular decided that was cool and they'd join in. This lead to an awkward phase where they were distributing dual-protocol phones and had different rate tiers on the different networks. Yet again, when Cingular got the assets of the failed AT&T Wireless, they had to do another round of hardware swaps for those incoming customers.
Verizon has announced their LTE network with enough advance notice that they should be able to avoid such a costly rush change.
The summary sounds misleadingly negative by cupantae · 2010-01-02 16:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

I can't see exactly what's wrong with this phone. All that was meant by the "not really," I think, is that it isn't mindblowingly superior to other Android phones. It looks very nice.

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1. Re:The summary sounds misleadingly negative by fermion · 2010-01-02 20:18 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  I don't think it is misleading. The review was overall bland. The hist is that this phones adds nothing to the current market place. It looks like an iPhone, and is only a little faster than the Motorola equivalent. It does not compete with the pre.
  I suspect a good percentage of users are going to hate it. We have heard many comments on how people hate the Jobsian world of the single button device. How the lack of keyboard makes the phone useless. The phone has an advantage over the iPhone, in that for the same unsubsidized price one gets an unlokced phone, but that is more expensive that other phones.
  I believe, and other people believed, that Google was going to do something interesting, not just copy the iPhone. Now we can see why Apple is no longer so buddy with Google.
  
  --
  "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
2. Re:The summary sounds misleadingly negative by Katatsumuri · 2010-01-02 23:49 · Score: 1
  
  In the article, "not really" serves to state the obligatory "We're totally not giving this a shining review because of our exclusive first reviewer deal, and we are being totally 100% neutral here. We'll even throw in a rant or two." The summary picks up the "not really" line just to be more of a click bait. It's just web writing as usual, you can simply ignore the wording and focus on the facts.
3. Re:The summary sounds misleadingly negative by hey! · 2010-01-03 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  Well, people in the news business, even the tech news business, think in terms of black and white. They'd prefer a story that means all iPhones and prior Android phones have been turned into junk by a new device that shows was a crappy P.O.S. they really are. That kind of story is good for the news business because that drives the need to follow the media slavishly so you know when you have to run out and buy a new device.
  I have a Droid, and it's both a very good phone, a very good PDA, and a very good mobile computing platform. It does the fundamentals pretty well: it pulls in signal, it runs for a long time on a charge, it's stable so that when an app starts misbehaving it doesn't compromise anything else.
  In comparison to an iPhone, I'd say the iPhone has two advantages from a UI standpoint: the hardware "Home" button you can find quickly without hunting for it (sometimes I pick up my Droid upside down and have to look or feel for the asymmetrical edge) and better polished core applications. As an example of the latter, if you are reading an email and delete it, the Droid returns you to the *prior* email, the iPhone shows you the *next* email. This is the kind of superior task oriented design Apple used to be justly famous for (but seems to have forgotten in the iTunes interface).
  The UI advantages for the iPhone shell and core applications are real, but not "blow the doors off the competition" territory. The fact that Verizon's network works better near my house far outweighs any marginal advantage in the user shell or core apps user interface.
  What I've learned from a lifetime of working in technology is you can't look to one aspect of a product in order to make that a killer product. Back in the 1980s, you could make a the argument that the lower training and support costs of MacOS should make Macs the dominant corporate computing platform, but we all know that didn't happen. We were ordering computers by the truckload, replacing the typewriters in entire departments with computers. The capital cost advantage of a PC outweighed it's TCO. It meant that a department could be equipped *this* year instead of over a two or two and a half years. And many of us weren't all that adverse to the notion that we'd have to build our empires ... er, *departments* larger next year to support those PCs.
  The advantages of the iPhone over Android are much slighter than the 1980s advantages of MacOS over DOS, and they are more shallow. Any developer could replace the standard Android shell and core apps with better ones (in fact shell replacements are popular), and having multiple carriers to choose from is a *huge* plus. Having competing manufacturers will drive the price down as well.
  I think Android *is* an iPhone killing platform, if by "kill" you mean that the iPhone will lose it's market leadership position eventually. But Android is just not a "throw your iPhone in the trash and eat the termination fee, *right now*" kind of killer. The effects aren't going to be seen immediately on the share of installed base figures, but rather in something like the second time derivative of that figure. In five years time not many people are going to select AT&T so they can get an iPhone. Not unless Apple finds some new secret sauce that drives that.
  
  --
  Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
iPhone Killer? by Skythe · 2010-01-02 16:22 · Score: 1

I would be waiting for the keynote before dismissing this claim. Until that point, this phone is basically a rebadged HTC Snapdragon based phone. I have a feeling Google Voice will be in the mix.
I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by dafing · 2010-01-02 16:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

Very funny, isnt this thing meant to be coming out soon? I realise all tech has crashes, but when you are going up against the iPhone, I think you should be able to change wallpaper without constant crashes! Thats the sort of thing that would put me off buying a phone, if a friend told me "this is so much better than the iPhone, check out the sparkly backgrounds" and then CRASH, #2 CRASH, #3 CRASH as you try and change the background! I'd automatically assume the rest of the phone were as buggy. Do other Android devices have similar crashes? I've had iPhone apps crash before, but never the actual first party OS functions before. I dont have much hands on experience with Android, its not really available in New Zealand.

Anyway, hope I dont come across as a jerk. I have big hopes for Android, although I dont see myself leaving my iPhone soon. The Nexus One seems to have a very nice interface with some software features that Apple would do well to copy. I dont like the look of the hardware, I'd prefer the iPhone. Its good to have strong and healthy competition in any market, I dont think Android handsets have been on par with the iPhone yet. Im trying not to get too excited over the Nexus One, as too often we hear "iPhone Killer" bandied about. Perhaps if we didnt have such high hopes, we would be more tolerant of Androids current flaws, rather than instantly dismissing the device when it turns out not to be made of solid gold and curing cancer. I remember the ridiculous hype over the Droid, with a massive marketing campaign, and then it seems to have just fallen dead? When I hear of the Nexus One, commenters will often mention "the Droid sucked" or "this is so much better than the Droid" etc.

I hope the Nexus One comes out soon so I can see it, although New Zealand seems to only have one or possibly two Android handsets on sale?

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--- ...or a new slashdot signature. Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
1. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-02 16:59 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  I think Android generally is buggy. My wife bought an HTC Magic yesterday. I emailed some image files to it for her to use as backgrounds but the mail client on the phone gave the files names like "null", "null-1" and so on. It hasn't crashed though.
  But the SMS application has this over designed UI which drives us around the bend.
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
2. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by dafing · 2010-01-02 17:17 · Score: 1
  
  I'm always afraid that I'll come across as a smug Apple fanboi when I mention things that SEEM to be wrong with Android, after all, I've barely spent any time with actual Android devices.
  
  Sorry to hear your wife has had problems. Is it so bad that it would put you off Android in general?
  
  I've noticed people who use Android tend to have applications to kill tasks, as someone else mentioned, I'd almost rather have a "non multitasking" iPhone than a phone I have to constantly worry about while my phone is in my pocket, "is fart application.app using up resources?"
  
  --
  --- ...or a new slashdot signature. Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
3. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-02 17:35 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry to hear your wife has had problems. Is it so bad that it would put you off Android in general?
  No, she just finds it confounding at times. She loves the look and feel of the UI. I think it is easily the equal of the iPhone. But android lacks the minimalistic Steve Jobs feel, which may be a problem in the longer term.
  This morning she discovered that addresses in the contacts app link directly to google maps so the phone can guide her to her clients site. She was very impressed with that.
  The funny thing is that when she asked me why I had heard of Android I said well.... its linux based. She runs ubuntu on her laptop because it is all I will support so she got a chance to rib me about that. Because I am really a BSD fan I suppose I should be pushing her towards the iPhone.
  
  --
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4. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by dafing · 2010-01-02 17:49 · Score: 1
  
  ha,well if you do push her towards an iPhone, she can rest assured that the iPhone also links contact addresses to Google Maps :) Its a cool feature on both iPhones and Android devices. How did we live without Google Maps? :)
  
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5. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by Darkness404 · 2010-01-02 18:24 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  The thing about the iPhone is... it crashes... often (I don't have one but the majority of my family members do, as do a few of my friends). Sometimes it fails to pick up calls, applications crash, SMS messages are sometimes delayed hours, while I would be quick to blame it on AT&T, my current "dumb" phone doesn't have these problems (well, not that theres any applications to crash on the stupid thing...) while running on AT&T. On my iPod touch, applications will occasionally simply refuse to load, Facebook will randomly crash when loading, there are a few websites Safari doesn't like and crashes, etc. While for a lot of people these may be simple annoyances, for some a lost call may be lost money.
  
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6. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by dafing · 2010-01-02 18:43 · Score: 1
  
  Oh I entirely agree, a lost call can cost you money. I have had applications on my jailbroken Original iPhone crash on me before, but never core iPhone functions like the phone, or txt messaging etc. Those are things that are "Apples fault", if a fart app craps out on me, then thats "the fault of the 14 year old programmer".
  
  I think ALL of the cellular problems American iPhones on AT&T have, are caused by AT&T! In NZ, I've never had ANY of those problems! EVER! Overseas networks also seem to have essentially no problems with iPhone data/call use.
  
  Not saying that the iPhone is perfect, its not, but I do think that a reviewer should be able to change the wallpaper on a soon to be released phone without it crashing. I dont think you should pay good money for a phone that crashes on simple core tasks. For me, my iPhone hasnt.
  
  Im still interesting in seeing what the Nexus One is like when its released.
  
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7. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by Darkness404 · 2010-01-02 18:50 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  While I can't speak for the iPhone, on my iPod touch core Apple things such as the music "app" have crashed on me, and three times I've had to do a hard reset from doing nothing more complex on the iPod other than changing songs.
  
  And while I do agree that wallpaper changing should be simple, in reality on most Android phones they work on the core first and move outward to the UI, OS X development works first on the UI then works on the core.
  
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8. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by dafing · 2010-01-02 19:11 · Score: 1
  
  Sad to hear about your problems. Maybe you could work out what is causing the crashes, if its a certain website or whatever, and send a bug report to Apple. I know they wont do anything about it, but worth a try!
  
  I leave my iPhone on all the time, its rather useless for calls when you have it turned off, and I've never had any crashes on the Apple made apps and only rarely do 3rd party App Store apps crash. For a while there, when the App Store were new, EVERYTHING would crash on opening!
  
  They still pump out updates, it drives me nuts. I have 100 odd apps, and constantly have about 60 updates waiting, no matter how often I update my most used applications (remember when we called them "programs"?), theres always an update a day away!
  
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9. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by peppepz · 2010-01-02 20:43 · Score: 1
  
  Every piece of hardware I've owned crashes once in a while. "Smart" hardware tends to crash more often, but I've seen a Motorola "dumb" phone crash when hanging up a call, an Alcatel monochrome phone crash while composing a SMS (in a reproducible way and in a very common use case), and at least two Nokia smartphones crash while listening to music. Even my ipod shuffle, a device so simple that it does not even have a display, sometimes crashes and starts emitting stuttering music - I once even needed to "reset" it via iTunes to be able again to upload songs on it.
  That said, I find my HTC Android phone crashing particularly often, and the annoying thing is, that when it does, it resets the sim card - this means you won't receive incoming phone calls until you take your phone out of your pocket and realize that it is stuck at the "insert PIN..." prompt. Every other phone manufacturer I've tried - Siemens, Alcatel, Motorola, Nokia, does this thing right by not asking for the PIN number when the phone is reset by some watchdog. Android doesn't, and it's a pity, because at least my HTC phone is the most crash-prone one I've ever owned (and it wasn't exactly cheap).
10. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by dafing · 2010-01-02 21:03 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Im not hearing many good things about Android...a phone is perhaps the most important gadget you rely upon, believe it or not, you can live without your computer! It only takes an hour or so to completely reinstall a computer operating system, or you can just buy a new one off the shelf if it dies.
  
  But a phone, if it dies when you are stranded somewhere...its life or death. I've grown attached to my phones, funny to think that ten years ago I didnt actually have a cellphone. But now, the thought of being away from it literally creeps me out, "have I gotten a call?", "does someone need me?" etc.
  
  I was actually a little scared to get a smartphone, I thought there must be so much more to go wrong with my phone. My iPhone has never crashed in its basic Apple programmed duties yet, I'm hoping it stays that way!
  
  Its seriously not acceptable to have a glitchy phone, in the same way I wouldnt accept a buggy GPS unit. I've been in situations before when my phone has literally saved my life, Im not going to risk it with what appears to be a seriously unstable OS.
  
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11. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by lucian1900 · 2010-01-02 23:48 · Score: 1
  
  I love the UI of the SMS application.
12. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by salesgeek · 2010-01-03 01:29 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  If you are going to say you are not hearing good things about a product or a person, please share what that bad thing is. Otherwise, go back to your cubicle at your PR firm.
  Android is remarkably difficult to crash. There are some applications that crash from time to time, but an application crash does not take your phone offline. Google's built in aps are remarkably reliable. Third party applications can extend or replace included applications (like the dialer or address book) it is possible that an unstable 3rd party app can make things less stable. That's the price you pay for having an open platform, and well worth it based on the functionality that I have on my phone that you can never, ever have with an iPhone (try to get Google Voice, Handcent SMS, Locale and Lattitude on an iPhone).
  
  --
  -- $G
13. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-03 08:47 · Score: 1
  
  We found the threaded view confusing. When a reply comes in there doesn't seem to be a reply button to compose a new message. Instead there is this little message composition field and a send button. Anyway I am sure we will get used to it.
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
14. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by dafing · 2010-01-03 10:10 · Score: 1
  
  Right back at you buddy, go back to your PR. Look up "Google Mobile" and all the other Gtalk applications for iPhone. I havnt used them myself though.
  
  Third party applications can extend or replace included applications (like the dialer or address book) it is possible that an unstable 3rd party app can make things less stable. That's the price you pay for having an open platform, and well worth it based on the functionality that I have on my phone that you can never, ever have with an iPhone
  You'd take another third party "phone.app" that has extra speed dial slots over stability? Really?
  
  Open Source doesnt have to be unstable, I dabble from time to time with Linux and rather enjoy it. Still havnt made the big switch, but I do appreciate Open Source software. If thats what you mean by Open Platform. If it give me stability on a "mission critical" device like a phone, I'd take a closed source device. Also, what about OS updates, they kinda suck on Android, you have to wait for your carrier to give it to you? Or not... Thats ridiculous. When an update comes out, I download it on iTunes, no different than a podcast, plug in my phone and BOOM, I'm running it. (I also jailbreak)
  
  Anyway, if I have to defend myself about "what I've heard", its basically that Android is "a close second", check any of the big Gadget sites, Endgadget, Gizmodo etc. They all say "if you dont get an iPhone, the Droid is the second best..." Oh here, this is actual evidence of what I've been saying, "It's this simple: If you don't buy an iPhone, buy a Droid. It's the best phone on Verizon, and with Android 2.0, the second best smartphone you can buy, period. It's flawed, deeply in some ways. But it's the second best phone around, on the best network around."
  
  So, these reviewers were all so jacked up about the Droid, and now it seems to be "not as good as the Nexus One", which has all the hype. Check any review of the Nexus One and you will notice those comments, "the Droid felt slow, this is faster" etc etc etc.
  
  I dont have much hands on experience with an Android phone, they are not really sold in New Zealand. From the people I know who have one, they say its not as "polished" as an iPhone. I'm sorry I havnt recorded every conversation I've had with my friends for you!
  
  I hope I can play around with the Nexus One soon.
  
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15. Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes by anamin · 2010-01-04 08:52 · Score: 1
  
  Really? My android based phone crashes every day or so when using blue tooth media streaming. Turn off bluetooth and it magically is a better experience. Just because you don't have crashes doesn't mean that the rest of us are having the same luck.
Critical by iluvcapra · 2010-01-02 16:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

No multitouch? Okay.
No physical keyboard? Okay.
No multitouch AND no physical keyboard? Sorta fatal combination.

--
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
1. Re:Critical by Solandri · 2010-01-02 19:48 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  No multitouch? Okay.
  
  I am wondering if Apple has some sort of patent on using multitouch in a UI which is preventing other phones from implementing it without getting a license from them. On the face of it, I'd consider it an obvious invention since the whole reason humans have thumbs is so they can manipulate objects with 2+ digits. But you never know with our crazy software patent system.
2. Re:Critical by LingNoi · 2010-01-02 22:09 · Score: 0
  
  Apple does have a patent on multitouch. Not sure of the specifics though it was on slashdot about 1 or 2 years ago.
3. Re:Critical by Aladrin · 2010-01-02 22:45 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Why exactly do you need to hit more than 1 key at a time? Hint: You don't.
  Or maybe you were suggesting that multitouch is necessary to make a touch-interface that doesn't screw up all the time. It isn't.
  I've got the G1 with the new updates and the on-screen keyboard is almost as easy to use as the physical one. I rarely pull out the keyboard any more because it isn't worth the time.
  
  --
  "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
4. Re:Critical by LS · 2010-01-02 23:06 · Score: 1
  
  Also there's tons of prior art. Anyone have an answer to this question? Why aren't other touch screen phones supporting multitouch?
  
  --
  There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
5. Re:Critical by schoett · 2010-01-03 01:59 · Score: 1
  
  I am wondering if Apple has some sort of patent on using multitouch in a UI which is preventing other phones from implementing it without getting a license from them.
  Case in point: The Motorola Droid (Android 2.0) has multitouch in Europe (where it is called Milestone), but apparently not in the US.
6. Re:Critical by nloop · 2010-01-03 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  If Apple does indeed hold this patent, they would be laughed out of court if they tried to enforce it.
  
  Things besides the iPhone that support multitouch:
  Windows
  Linux
  That HP touchsmart computer
  Droid Eris (Verizon phone)
  HTC Hero (sprint phone)
  
  Those are just the ones I can think of without a google search. Also, most 'of your "stock" Android phones (HTC G1, HTC MyTouch3g, Motorola Droid/Milestone, Nexus One) do indeed support multitouch, it's just not enabled out of the box. With a pretty easy hack (thanks Cyanogen) my MyTouch can pinch zoom. I'm guessing the reason it's not enabled stock is more to do with zoom features not really being standardized. While the pinch zoom works great in the browser, Google Maps doesn't support it. Probably more of a keeping a standard interface thing. It will come, give it time.
  
  As a siderant, What does it matter? I use my phone with one hand. To use multitouch requires you to hold the phone with one hand and operate it with the other. It's just awkward. Maybe the next iPhone will incorporate special toe controls as well so I can bring another limb into the equation. Killer feature there.
7. Re:Critical by nloop · 2010-01-03 02:23 · Score: 1
  
  Multitouch is there in the hardware, you just have to turn it on. Same as the other Google phones that are out now. G1/MyTouch/Droid can all multitouch if you so desire.
8. Re:Critical by stokessd · 2010-01-03 03:28 · Score: 1
  
  Or maybe you were suggesting that multitouch is necessary to make a touch-interface that doesn't screw up all the time. It isn't.
  By that same token, why have a tough interface at all, we could navigate with a IBM style nubbin at the bottom of the the phone. The truth of the matter is that multi-tough is a HUGE enhancement when reading web pages on such a tiny screen. Being able to fluidly zoom in and out and automatically zoom to content edges makes browsing on the iPhone much more usable than I ever thought possible. The usage statistics for traffic from mobile phones backs this up. the iPhone does way more browsing than the other smart phones. I suspect that there is some correlation between browsing and the demographic that likes the iPhone, but the truth is that actually using the iPhone is enjoyable and so it's used - A LOT. I had a palm smart phone years ago (kyocera) and it was brutal to surf on. I only ever did it when I absolutely had to.
  Sheldon
9. Re:Critical by adamchou · 2010-01-03 04:59 · Score: 1
  
  Apple does have a patent on multitouch but it appears to be very specific to their hardware
10. Re:Critical by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 05:07 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  Apple's key multitouch patent involves having the device determine what a user wants to do when more than one option is available; i.e, is the user trying to scroll a screen or select something on it?
  It seems like a fairly small thing, but it actually puts a pretty severe limit on what you can do without it.
11. Re:Critical by teknopurge · 2010-01-03 06:21 · Score: 1
  
  webOS uses multitouch, though not sure if they licensed anything from apple for that ability.
  
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12. Re:Critical by AmiMoJo · 2010-01-03 11:50 · Score: 1
  
  Multitouch is already in Android, it's just a question of phones getting drivers in place and updating to the 2.1 release when it goes final. Rumour has it that current Android phones like the Hero and Droid will be multitouch after the update.
  If it's Apple patents you find annoying, see the magsafe connector.
  
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13. Re:Critical by Eil · 2010-01-03 12:33 · Score: 1
  
  I am wondering if Apple has some sort of patent on using multitouch in a UI which is preventing other phones from implementing it without getting a license from them.
  Yup.
  Also, they're trying to trademark the word multitouch.
  And they won't let it go without a fight. COO Tim Cook has been quoted as saying, "We will not stand for having our IP ripped off, and we'll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal. I don't know that I could be more clear than that." That makes it pretty obvious that Apple fully intends to sue the pants off anyone who even thinks of using more than one finger or object to interact with a screen.
14. Re:Critical by moosesocks · 2010-01-03 18:39 · Score: 1
  
  Seconded. I actually found the Droid Eris's touchscreen keyboard to be slightly better than the one on the iPhone.
  The high-resolution screen certainly doesn't hurt either.
  
  --
  -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
15. Re:Critical by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-04 06:06 · Score: 0
  
  unless you want to write with no caps maybe you need a shift key?
16. Re:Critical by Tacvek · 2010-01-04 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  Besides the fact that I'd be very surprised if the phone lacked multitouch (what most android phones lack is multi-touch gestures, especially pinch-zoom, in the built in apps). Android 2.0 (Eclair) has support for multitouch, and a few third arty apps support it, expect more such apps in the future.
  I've seen people return the Motorola Droid for the inferior HTC Droid Eris, because they actively did not want a keyboard, so no surprise there. At least this phone alleged has the high-res screen like the Droid. It also like the droid has the buttons essential to use (the menu, back and home buttons) right below the screen so they are easy to reach.
  
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its engadget... by hitmark · 2010-01-02 16:53 · Score: 0, Troll

they fail anything that do not have a half-eaten fruit as a logo...

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Comment removed by account_deleted · 2010-01-02 17:02 · Score: 3, Insightful

Comment removed based on user account deletion
Nexus six by SoVeryTired · 2010-01-02 17:02 · Score: 4, Funny

Hmm, I think I'll wait a few years for them to release the Nexus Six. Maybe it'll come with a Voight-Kampff machine built in.

--
Slashdot: news for Apple. Stuff that Apple.
1. Re:Nexus six by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-02 17:47 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm, I think I'll wait a few years for them to release the Nexus Six. Maybe it'll come with a Voight-Kampff machine built in.
  Just don't ask me about my mother. I hate it when people do that.
  
  --
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Nexus One by The+Wild+Norseman · 2010-01-02 17:21 · Score: 3, Funny

I can't wait until they come out with the Nexus-6 models. I might even call mine... Rachel.

--
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1. Re:Nexus One by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-02 17:46 · Score: 1
  
  I can't wait until they come out with the Nexus-6 models.
  I might even call mine... Rachel.
  You will need to load it with memories of course.
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
Ok.. by ShooterNeo · 2010-01-02 17:22 · Score: 4, Informative

So you can buy a Nexus One for $530 and pick up a data SIM for $29 a month. You get unlimited voice, unlimited SMS. I think the data SIM is capped at 5 gigs/month....which at 4 minutes/megabyte comes to thousands of 'minutes' a month. 5 gig is a little sparse for watching youtube videos, but more than adequate for finding information and checking maps.
2 year cost comes to $1,226. Iphone 3G two year cost is $1,975. Pretty substantial savings.
I would guess that google voice is/will be a ton more flexible than other voice providers...can probably do VoIP using wifi whenever you are near a hotspot. Can most likely auto-forward to a home VOIP system whenever you are at home or the phone is turned off. If you have wireless internet at home and at work (who doesn't?), that basically means unlimited everything whenever you are there.
Better display and better hardware than the iphone as well.
To be honest, this sounds like a winner. This smartphone can do many of the tasks of a real PC, yet the 2 year cost is about what you'd pay on the cheapest plan offered by a major wireless provider in the United States.
1. Re:Ok.. by JSBiff · 2010-01-02 17:44 · Score: 1
  
  I just wish it had a real keyboard. I have tried playing with the phones with on-screen keyboards, and it just doesn't work for me. I'd love a Nexu One + G1 Keyboard. I like the new OLED display tech and faster cpu on the Nexus One. I love the keyboard on a G1. Wish I could get both in one phone.
2. Re:Ok.. by Darkness404 · 2010-01-02 18:29 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  ...But that is assuming your wireless carrier doesn't mess with VoIP. While I don't think T-Mobile would (heck, they even supported unlocked iPhones for free!) other carriers might not be so forgiving AT&T, Verizon
  
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3. Re:Ok.. by ShooterNeo · 2010-01-02 18:34 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The Nexus one only really supports T-mobile. I did think about that...VoIP on a wireless link does sound pretty unreliable. There might be static, garbled communications, needing to speak loudly into the phone...even dropped calls. Then I thought "just like the kind of service I'm getting for ~$40/month through AT&T right now..."
  At least with google voice, you'll get great reception when you are connected via wi-fi to a decent internet connection (like at home for sure). Probably get about the same quality at home as you'd get on a real landline. And you don't have to pay any sort of long distance charges, or worry about minutes. Plus, all your voicemail gets transcribed and you can read it right there in gmail. Sounds like a winner to me.
4. Re:Ok.. by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 18:44 · Score: 0
  
  I use SIP on my Moto Droid daily. I don't see much of a problem at all with it. Verizon hasn't decided to bill me extra and whatever QOS they are doing doesn't kill it.
5. Re:Ok.. by SuperKendall · 2010-01-02 18:47 · Score: 0, Redundant
  
  2 year cost comes to $1,226. Iphone 3G two year cost is $1,975. Pretty substantial savings.
  Sure but per-month that's only about $32/month savings, and relying on VOIP is kind of rickety for a primary phone. Now purely as a data device, perhaps...
  
  --
  "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
6. Re:Ok.. by farble1670 · 2010-01-02 18:57 · Score: 1
  
  where do you get a data sim for $29 / month?
7. Re:Ok.. by uptownguy · 2010-01-02 19:23 · Score: 1
  
  where do you get a data sim for $29 / month?
  T-mobile. And posting from my iPhone on that very plan...
  
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  I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
8. Re:Ok.. by amRadioHed · 2010-01-02 20:56 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Who says the Nexus One has an OLED? I keep on seeing it from people commenting on articles about the phone, but it's not said in the articles themselves.
  Honestly I'm not sure I prefer OLED for phones. As much as I'd kill for an OLED display at home, it seems like a bit of a problem for something I'll be using a lot outside during the day.
  I agree about the keyboard thought. I would love something like the Droid, but I'm not about to switch to Verizon for it.
  
  --
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9. Re:Ok.. by minorproblem · 2010-01-02 22:44 · Score: 1
  
  Two words, Motorola Milestone (I believe its called Droid in the US). I have played with one so far and was really looking forward to the physical keyboard. But after playing with it i don't think the physical keyboard was any faster than the on screen keyboard, so maybe it is better to make the device thinner and have it a bit more portable =p
10. Re:Ok.. by qwertyatwork · 2010-01-03 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  What math are you using to get $1,975 for the iPhone?
11. Re:Ok.. by JSBiff · 2010-01-03 02:55 · Score: 1
  
  Two words, Verizone Sucks. *grin*
  I've been with Verizon in the past. Their network is great, but I just don't like the way the company operates. I switched to T-mobile about 6 months ago, and plan to stick with them. The great irony is, T-Mobile is the subsidiary of a state monopoly (Germany's Deutsch Telecom), but at least in the U.S. operates the least like a monopoly of the 4 major national mobile carriers. They recently made some plan changes which are downright good to consumers - like introducing plans which give you a cheaper monthly rate if you bring your own phone (or purchase one from them outright instead of subsidizing it with the monthly service plan). So far as I know, they are the *only* carrier which discounts your service if you aren't subsidizing a phone. What a great way to treat your customers.
  Also, they've generally lowered costs on their monthly service plans, to the point where they are the best value of all the national carriers. They have pretty decent customer service from my experience, and a pretty good selection of phones (though, like I say, I still want an updated G1).
12. Re:Ok.. by whisper_jeff · 2010-01-03 03:48 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Better display and better hardware than the iphone as well. To be honest, this sounds like a winner.
  Sorry, but I've heard this argument before in discussion about the iPod. 1,001 times before. Every time I hear it, it clearly tells me the commenter just doesn't get it. You clearly do not understand why the iPhone is successful. Here's a tip: the iPhone wasn't the best hardware when it came out. It's never been the best hardware. There's always been phones with superior hardware offerings. Yet it still is an enormous success. Figure out the reason for that "yet" and you might realize why your "better hardware" point is absolutely meaningless.
  
  Or, to put it more bluntly, this phone might be a damn snazzy phone and absolutely kick ass in a lot of ways but it won't be an iPhone killer.
13. Re:Ok.. by ShooterNeo · 2010-01-03 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/06/iphone-3g-whats-in-a-two-year-price.ars
  That's where I got the 2 year price of an iphone.
14. Re:Ok.. by qwertyatwork · 2010-01-03 16:59 · Score: 1
  
  Unless I'm missing something your comparing a full fledged cell phone plan with text/mms with a data only plan. That's not a fair comparison. I agree at&t is expensive. I have my iphone through tmobile just because of the cost, but this isn't a fair comparison.
15. Re:Ok.. by ShooterNeo · 2010-01-03 17:22 · Score: 1
  
  Well, you can do text/mms via google voice, as well as voice, as well as data.
16. Re:Ok.. by qwertyatwork · 2010-01-03 17:54 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, I know I have gv :) When I first got my iphone I tried to go without a carrier. Didn't work. Gizmo limited me to three minutes, not enough wifi where I live. I'm just saying comparing a data plan to a data/cell/sms/mms plan isn't apples and apples. You compare just the data plans and phone prices, and they are almost identical. But let's not forget about the most important thing. We both have iPhones, so our souls are purer than people who don't. And we both have gv (it sounds like you do) so that makes our souls even purer than people with just iphones.
17. Re:Ok.. by moosesocks · 2010-01-03 18:42 · Score: 1
  
  The Nexus one only really supports T-mobile. I did think about that...VoIP on a wireless link does sound pretty unreliable.
  Although voice traffic isn't directly routed over IP, all GSM and CDMA phones operate on similar principles -- voice signals are encoded and heavily compressed before being transmitted as data.
  Although VOIP would indeed be adding an additional layer of abstraction, I fail to see why this would necessarily suck.
  
  --
  -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Another question by LockeOnLogic · 2010-01-02 18:06 · Score: 1

What's the profit margin on an iPhone compared with Nokia smartphones? Include app store profits and Apple is probably ahead. Apple has generally had the model of selling shiny products with fat profit margins.
The only question I have: by caladine · 2010-01-02 18:37 · Score: 1

When will HTC be releasing the PassionC? I'm pretty happy with my current carrier (Verizon) which means I need a CDMA version of this phone...
Twice as many, 10x harder to develop for by SuperKendall · 2010-01-02 18:39 · Score: 0, Redundant

In Q3 2009 Nokia sold 16.16 million smart phones
That's awesome!
How many of those are Maemo? A tiny fraction you say?
So developing apps, should I target the old and comparatively hard to program (compared to the iPhone and Android and heck even the Pre) Symbian, or give a go to Maemo development even though it's totally new, has nowhere near the marketshare, and is also harder to develop for (needing to use C++ and all with special semantics layered atop)?
If you were interested in personal or commercial development on these things, the choices really come down to Android and iPhone, because they are really the only comprehensive mobile development platforms around and have tons of support. It's just too late for another Linux Mobile OS to come out, even if you are Nokia...

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Roaming? by SuperKendall · 2010-01-02 18:41 · Score: 1

why give the T-Mobile users hardware they don't need
I would take exception to that, what happens when you go into an area where T-Mobile is not and AT&T is? AT&T doesn't have as wide data coverage as Verizon, but T-Mobile is behind further still... even if there were a cost to it, I'd prefer to at least have the option as a T-Mobile user to consider paying for data roaming and it certainly takes a lot of shine of an "unlocked" device that you can realistically only use with one carrier (unless the unlocked does come with greater frequency support?)
You also ignore the very great value of international roaming...

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re:Roaming? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 19:26 · Score: 0
  
  You also ignore the very great value of international roaming...
  My g1 roams internationally (mexico & canada are confirmed) no problem. Seriously, T-Mobile is fantastic. I always have connectivity (west coast & south west) and customer service is awesome.
2. Re:Roaming? by LostCluster · 2010-01-02 20:46 · Score: 1
  
  AT&T is actually a roaming partner of T-Mobile in markets where T-Mobile has no towers, AT&T is on the frequencies they use elsewhere, and therefore can't take customers who get their bills in such zip codes. So, you use AT&T's network and T-Mobile doesn't charge extra for that if you're on a nationwide plan... and who isn't these days?
  In the early days of cell phones, I used to take a CellularOne phone into NH from MA, and it would say "Would you like to enter a credit card to use BellAtlantic NYNEX Mobile?" I then went to college in New York, signed up for the national plan, and could roam onto the other networks with no charge. My phone would say "HOME" and "AWAY" but it wouldn't make a difference to me.
not really? hmmm ... by farble1670 · 2010-01-02 18:54 · Score: 1

the "not really" comment in the article is comparing it to the iphone. i wish people would realize that there will never be an
"iphone killer". android is a calculated chipping-away at the iphone. from TFA, the nexus one sounds like a big chip.
Re:This is a engineering issue, not Googfle's call by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-02 22:12 · Score: 1, Informative

That just isn't true. A tremendous number of phones support all 4 (850, 900, 1800 and 1900) GSM frequencies and all the UMTS freqs. (The iPhone 3G for example. Oddly, the 3GS I have does NOT support all four..)
Gadget Press Still Doesn't Get Android by salesgeek · 2010-01-03 01:19 · Score: 1

It's remarkable that the gadget press still treats each Android phone as some kind of unique product. Reality is that Android phones are "clones" so it's a lot like comparing an ALR 386 vs a Compaq 386 back in 1990. There are differences between models, but Android phones are more of a category that a single product.
Oh, and the gadget press just got jobbed by some great PR work by Google, T-Mobile and HTC. They fell for "ooooh a new Google Phone yet again." (have to answer phone - my G-1 is ringing).

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-- $G
1. Re:Gadget Press Still Doesn't Get Android by ceoyoyo · 2010-01-03 02:25 · Score: 1
  
  Come on, you can do much better with the analogy. Comparing two Android phones is like comparing two computers running Windows.
  The hardware can be just as distinct as any other computer, including all the input devices. Just because everyone is making iPhone clones doesn't mean they have to.
2. Re:Gadget Press Still Doesn't Get Android by salesgeek · 2010-01-04 02:47 · Score: 1
  
  I was hoping that I could avoid comparing Android to Windows as it's a much better product at this point in it's life than was Windows.
  
  --
  -- $G
3. Re:Gadget Press Still Doesn't Get Android by ceoyoyo · 2010-01-04 03:18 · Score: 1
  
  Two computers running Linux then. Even better, two notebook computers running Linux.
  The point is, it's the hardware that distinguishes (or could distinguish) two Android phones.
4. Re:Gadget Press Still Doesn't Get Android by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-04 06:05 · Score: 0
  
  Actually, the hardware is all very similar. It's the packaging, case, freebie software and brand name that are different. The gadget press is trying to create differentiation where there are very small differences.
  It really is a lot like those old PC World articles comparing 386 PC Clones where the Editor's choice award hinged on the placement of the keyboard jack and ease of operation of the thumbscrew on the back of the case.
  The good news is that Google's little play is working out for users and we have an emerging platform!
5. Re:Gadget Press Still Doesn't Get Android by ceoyoyo · 2010-01-04 10:01 · Score: 1
  
  They are, but they don't HAVE to be. So far they're all iPhone clones, perhaps with a mediocre keyboard thrown in somewhere. The hardware is where anything review-worthy is going to be though. Even if it's just battery life.
Electric sheep? by jonaskoelker · 2010-01-03 02:09 · Score: 1

Maybe it'll come with a Voight-Kampff machine built in.
I was thinking the OS would come with a screen saver showing electric sheep :)
Criteria by Gonoff · 2010-01-03 02:33 · Score: 1

Easy to write for? - check
removable standard storage? - check
GSM? - if they want to sell it outside the USA - so check
touch screen? - check
replacable battery? - check
keyboard? - FAIL!
Until they get one of these (not just a picture) these things will not be of much use to people who actually have work to do. A picture of one on a touch screen might be handy for a 3 word text message but I use my blackberry for email.
I am still waiting for something. Surely someone has to want business sales rather than just people who want an iPhone lookalike at a lower price...

--
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
1. Re:Criteria by Almonday · 2010-01-03 05:21 · Score: 1
  
  Hear Hear! While I've been pleasantly surprised with the progress of touch-screen keyboards over the last few years, the lack of a physical keyboard is (and will likely remain) a dealbreaker for me for a very simple reason: any screen area which is devoted to displaying keys is screen area that isn't devoted to displaying text, and I want to see as much text as possible when I write. So my phone is a little thicker as a result...so what?
  
  --
  Posterity, my posterior.
2. Re:Criteria by metamatic · 2010-01-03 07:16 · Score: 1
  
  keyboard? - FAIL!
  So buy a Motorola Sholes. Much the same from a software point of view, has all your other desired features, and has a slide-out keyboard.
  
  --
  GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
AARGH by VMaN · 2010-01-03 04:17 · Score: 1

"iPhone eviscerator"
WHAT THE "#%#&# DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?
A phone that will make every apple fanboy dump their iphone and rush out to buy this?
Even if a phone was worth it's own weight in antimatter, had quadruple HD resolution, with a lifetime rated powercell and software compatibility with every piece of code ever written and a gui that is so intuitive and pleasurable to use that it would herald a new era of human cooperation and focus our attention in such a way that we would solve every problem humanity faces and will ever face, and could make calls OK too..
It still wouldn't be an "iPhone eviscerator"
Now can we PLEASE ... STOP... USING... TERMS.. LIKE ... THAT?
Funny thing is by MemoryDragon · 2010-01-03 04:34 · Score: 1

That the 3d performance is somewhat dissapointing, the device pushes 26 fps on the Powervr benchmark, the Acer Liquid A1 is somewhat faster. Ok the device has to push double that many pixels as the last gen of phones (which showed pretty much the same fps number), but I still wonder why no device maker does a Tegra based phone which clearly is superior to the PowerVR based Qualcom stuff most phones currently use.
I want buttons by Snaller · 2010-01-03 04:55 · Score: 1

I don't want touch screens. I want to be able to feel the buttons in the dark, without looking at the display. Can you do that google?

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If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
1. Re:I want buttons by farble1670 · 2010-01-03 08:36 · Score: 1
  
  motorola cliq. motorola droid. htc g1. yes, they can do that.
Not carrier, but frequency... by SuperKendall · 2010-01-03 05:31 · Score: 1

My g1 roams internationally (mexico & canada are confirmed) no problem.
While that may well be so, I'm more wondering if the Nexus is able to since the frequency range is more limited... I know on the iPhone I get 3G in Europe too, which makes me wonder if the Nexus would.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re:Not carrier, but frequency... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-03 10:45 · Score: 0
  
  While that may well be so, I'm more wondering if the Nexus is able to since the frequency range is more limited...
  Supposedly, just like the iPhone the Nexus One is quad band GSM and tri-band 3G. With the iPhone, the three 3G bands are the two bands used by AT&T and the "international" one used in most countries (1900/2100 MHz). The Nexus One also has the international one, plus T-Mobile USA (1700/2100 MHz), plus the 900 MHz band.
  This is according to eg http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/exclusive-nexus-one-full-specs-detailed-invite-only-retail-sal/
no 5 row keyboard by slmdmd · 2010-01-03 08:27 · Score: 1

A keyboard is an absolute must for me. I hate touch screen keyboards. This is the reason I never bought any of those fat iphones. The best phone till today with 5 row keyboard is the htc g1. The other full keyboard ones are running stupid windows os. Droid and Nexus have impressive specs but does not have the basic functionality where I can type numbers without any additional effort. And yes I do type numbers very often. So G1 still beats all the phones out in the market as of today.
Shareholders? by Kenshin · 2010-01-03 08:33 · Score: 1

Yes, let's cripple a world-leading, forward-thinking American company by taking all the money from possibly risky R&D and hand it over to a bunch of greedy, do-nothing shareholders. Screw the future, the next big thing can come from overseas.
That's one of the main reasons America is on a shit train to nowhere right now.

--
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
Saw the bug again by MichaelSmith · 2010-01-03 11:09 · Score: 1

When you have a thread of sms messages it gives you a text input box at the bottom to compose a reply message but no keyboard. Pressing on the input field sometimes gives you a confusing dialog asking you to select the input method but this dialog seems to do nothing. I finally got the keyboard by frantically pressing on the text field. Maybe a triple click. Maybe the keyboard is pushed off the bottom of the screen by the long exchange of sms messages.

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http://michaelsmith.id.au
Looking forward to this phone by motang · 2010-01-03 16:25 · Score: 1

Looking for to Tuesday as to see how this one will be and how much will it cost w/o contract.
Re:This is a engineering issue, not Googfle's call by mjwx · 2010-01-03 20:50 · Score: 1

T-Mobile and ATT operate on different 3G frequencies. Supporting all frequencies would be prohibitively expensive.
The most popular GSM 3G frequency in the world is 2100 MHz by a country mile, that means T-mo is their only choice in the US. As HTC intend on selling this HW internationally, not just in the US they chose this frequency. The second most popular frequency is 900 Mhz which is included with the Nexus One (IIRC) and not used by any US carrier (again, IIRC).

This is Google and HTC planing for the global market, 2100 MHz limits them in the US but opens up all of Europe and Asia where AT&T's 1700 and 1900 MHz frequencies are rarely used.

--
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.