My Nexus One Review
My Nexus One
I bought a Nexus One phone last month, but it took me a few weeks to get it shipped from the UK. It cost just under 4000 RMB, but I would buy it from Expansys.com.hk in the future or PDA Dream at Cyber on Huai Hai Road. You can buy a Nexus One in shanghai for 4600 RMB without waiting several weeks.
I could have bought an I phone, but I like linux and wanted to be able to run multi tasking.
I have been using my new phone for two weels. This is what I like about it:
The phone feels great in my hand and is beautifully designed.
The amoled screen is crisp and at 800 by 480 is good for reading text and watching movies.
GPS is amazing. I have had fun tracking my location on Google Earth and Google Maps.
I like the choice of apps from the market place. I have been using Seesmic for Twitter Guardian Anywhere, Gmote to remote control my computer and Listen for podcasts.
Mobile web browsing looks great.
The camera is really good for pictures and videos in natural light.
The syncing of Google contacts, calendar and Gmail is seamless.
Android is easy to use and easy to customise compared with Windows Mobile.
Multi touch lets you pinch and zoom when browsing and viewing photographs.
The noise cancelling microphone makes call quality very high.
Battery life is very good (all day) if you manage the phone properly by turning off animated (live) wallpapers, dimming the screen brightness, regularly using a task manager to kill background services and turning off gps, wifi, bluetooth and 3g when not needed.
There are a few kinks and issues that need to be figured out for Android to be perfect rather than merely very good.
Android needs Audible audiobook support. I have to use Macosome Audiobook converter to listen to my Audible collection on my Nexus One.
You need third party software to sync Itunes with Android. Doubletwist works fine on my Mac, but it cannot handle smart playlists.
Android does not yet support many video codecs. It supports h264, m4v and mp4, but I had trouble playing the mp4 files I downloaded from BBC Iplayer Downloader only rectified using Handbrake.
Copy and paste is awkward. It is buried in menus for browsing and is not available in the native gmail app.
The virtual screen keyboard takes a lot of getting used to after a physical keyboard on the HTC Tytn. I have recently installed Swype, which is much better than the native keyboard.
Paid apps are only available from the Android marketplace in a few countries (not China). I had to pop in a UK sim card and use a vpn to download paid apps such as Pixelpipe Pro and The Egg talking timer.
There is vpn support, but you need to root your phone to use openvpn. Chinese isps keep cutting my pptp connection after a few minutes.
These are a few minor gripes amplified by living behind the GFW. I am sure they will be fixed or worked around as Android develops and matures. This is still the best phone I have ever used, although I have never owned an Iphone.
Posted: March 7th, 2010 under technology.
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