“Calling it their ‘superphone,’ Google unveiled the Nexus One on Tuesday, marking the online search giant’s first leap into the smartphone market,” Doug Gross reports for CNN.
MacDailyNews Take: And just like that, Motorola and the other has-beens have been PlayedForSure™. Now, to the left we have yet another rectangular device with one face comprised mainly of a touchscreen upon with icons of a certain size are arranged in a grid. Where, oh, where have we seen this before? This particular iPhone wannabe, like all other Android phones, also has some superfluous buttons thrown in along the bottom of the screen because HTC’s and/or Google’s “designers” either couldn’t figure out how to do things as efficiently as Apple or were prohibited from doing so by Apple’s patent portfolio. Oh, we almost forgot: Nice wallpaper.
Gross continues, “The phone, which goes head to head with Apple’s darling of the market, the iPhone, is sold only through a Web store operated by Google and, unlike the iPhone and most other current smartphones, is available either with or without mobile service.”
“T-Mobile is the initial service provider. Verizon in the United States and Vodafone in Europe will be coming on board later, and more operators are expected,” Gross reports. “Already available Tuesday, the phone costs $180 with a contract or $530 unlocked… It is be a global-system device with a 3.7-inch touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, an accelerometer and a compass… Nexus One runs the latest version of the Android operating system, Android 2.1.”
Full article here.
Nancy Gohring explains for Computerworld, “While the Nexus One is being sold unlocked, it is essentially a T-Mobile phone, at least initially. Customers can buy the Nexus One at a discounted price with a contract on T-Mobile’s network. If a consumer buys the phone unlocked for $530, the customer can use the phone on AT&T’s network, but without access to the high-speed 3G network. The phone can’t be used on Verizon Wireless’ or Sprint’s network currently.”
“The Nexus One also won’t support tethering, a much sought after feature. Rubin said the lack of tethering isn’t a technical issue but a business issue. That could mean that operators are pressuring Google not to allow it for fear of overloading their networks,” Gohring reports. “The Nexus One also doesn’t support multitouch, like its competitor the iPhone.”
Full article here.
Walt Mossberg reports for AllThingsD, “I’ve been testing the Nexus One for a couple of weeks and I like it a lot. It’s the best Android phone so far, in my view, and the first I could consider carrying as my everyday hand-held computer.”
“The iPhone still retains some strong advantages. It boasts well over 100,000 third-party apps—around 125,000 by some unofficial estimates—versus around 18,000 for the Android platform. And it has vastly more memory for storing apps, so you can keep many more of them on your phone at any one time,” Mossberg reports. “On the Nexus One, only 190 megabytes of its total 4.5 gigabytes of memory is allowed for storing apps. On the $199 iPhone, nearly all of the 16 gigabytes of memory can be used for apps. In fact, the $199 iPhone 3GS has roughly four times as much user-accessible memory out of the box, though the memory on the Nexus One can be expanded via memory cards.”
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, Uncle Walt actually remembered to write about something important this time around. Wonder what prompted that?
Mossberg continues, “Apple also has a more-fluid user interface, with multitouch gestures for handling photos and Web pages.”
“There are some downsides to the Nexus One. Like all Android phones, it relies too much, in my view, on menus that create extra steps, including some menus that have a built-in ‘more’ button to display a secondary menu of choices. I also found the four buttons etched into the phone’s bottom panel sticky and hard to press,” Mossberg reports. “In addition, although the Nexus One claims seven hours of talk time versus five hours for the iPhone, most of its battery-life claims for other functions are weaker than Apple’s.”
“In addition, the Nexus One, and other Android devices, still pale beside the iPhone for playing music, video and games. The apps available for these functions aren’t nearly as sophisticated as on the Apple devices,” Mossberg reports. “Finally, the iPhone is still a better apps platform. Not only are there more apps, but, in my experience, iPhone apps are generally more polished and come in more varieties.”
Full review here.
Karl Denninger writes for The Market Tracker, “You’ve got to be kidding… Sorry, but with this pricing this thing is dead on arrival… They also, IMHO, made a huge mistake not insisting that the 3G frequency set be compatible with AT&T’s frequencies.”
“In addition watching the webcast was literally painful,” Denninger writes. “This company – with a $623 per share stock price – put presenters on the stage that appeared to have EXTREME levels of stage fright, didn’t know the product and what’s worse, their camera-man (or men) were beyond incompetent and made the presentation look worse than the ‘Morning News’ from my kid’s grade school ‘broadcast TV!'”
“To be blunt I was stunned at how poorly this ‘announcement’ was handled,” Denninger writes. “If this is indicative of what Google has become over the last two years their stock is overvalued by 95% or more.”
Denninger writes, “It really was that bad.”
MacDailyNews Take: Ooh, now we’re awake. Let’s take a look:
Direct link to video here.
MacDailyNews Take: Cringe.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, at least Eric T. Mole learned something while sitting Apple’s Board: “Superphone” certainly sounds better than “Rebadged HTC.”
[Apple’s iPhone] goes beyond smartphones and should be given its own category called “brilliantphone.” – Tim Bajarin, January 09, 2007
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H.” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take:
You think tech expert Walk wouldn’t get “memory” and “storage” mixed up. He’s just confusing his readers.
one answer – i checked the specs:
Droid: 854×480 resolution, 16:9 aspect
Nexus: 800×480 resolution, 15:9 (5:3) aspect
close but no cigar. ah! fragmentation.
the iPhone, btw, is 13.5:9 (3:2) aspect @ 480×320. we know the new Tablet will scale that up to – 1440×960? and maybe the 2010 iPhone will then upgrade to 960×480?? reportedly iPhone 4.0, soon to be released as SDK, will support more than one resolution.
@NCG598
Let’s have a short lesson in reading comprehension, shall we? Mossberg says the following: “I’ve been testing the Nexus One for a couple of weeks and I like it a lot. It’s the best Android phone so far, in my view, and the first I could consider carrying as my everyday hand-held computer.”
The subject of the second sentence in that quote is “it”, and “Android phone” describes that subject: “it”. Therefore, when Walt says “and the first I would consider carrying as my everyday handheld computer” he is referring to “it”, that being the “Android phone”. Therefore, what he is really saying in the sentence is that the Nexus One is the first ANDROID phone that he would CONSIDER carrying every day as a hand-held computer. He already carries an iPhone, obviously.
This phone, for all the hype surrounding it, does not impress me in anywhere near the same way that the original iPhone did on launch day. The thing still cannot store more than 512MB of apps, making apps in general totally worthless on it. And, it’s not multi-touch. The screen looks washed out in daylight, and it is slower than the iPhone in browsing. Nothing special here at all. It may erode a bit of WM and RIM market share, but I’m not worried about the iPhone one iota.
–mAc
@mAc – you are correct as to what he meant, but Mossberg’s writing is sloppy. one could read either “… the first [Android phone] …” or “… the first [phone] …”. good composition avoids such potential misunderstandings.
Am I the only one that thinks “D” = slang for “dick”? “AllThingsD” is hilarious to me, always.
It never ceases to amaze me how many companies fail to learn from history. How many companies have tried to copy the iPod after Apple kicked the original walkman in to touch and failed?
How many companies have tried to copy the iPhone after Apple copied the laudable Windows mobile effort in to touch?
The horse has bolted, trying to catch it is a waste of time and money. Why can’t they learn to innovate and give us, the buying public, something to get excited about rather than another also ran.
God these copies are so boring…….
b
Bob:
Don’t sniff at it. This is the first real competitor to the iPhone…Competition often brings benefits to consumers. Now that Apple finally has a legitimate competitor, we can expect that our favorite company’s next move will be to up the ante quite a bit. This may also be the catalyst to see if Apple offers the iPhone to other carriers in the US.
Bob is right. I’m sure the next version of the iPhone will leapfrog the current one in terms of speed and usability. Without Google and other competitors, it might not have progressed as fast.
According to some reviewers (notably Engadget), the Nexus One is stunning, but has a few flaws.
They say its lack of multi-touch capability impedes its “phone” use as far as texting and sending email. Engadget says the virtual keyboard is harder to use than an iPhone and suggested Android is better when used with a physical keyboard.
In addition, they say the Nexus One’s AMOLED display isn’t usable in daylight, and it oversaturates red and orange colors.
Overall, though, they say it’s a great effort by Google that will get better. As will the iPhone, and all of us will benefit from that.
**Oh, and it looks like the iPhone may arrive on Verizon’s network sometime in the spring! I’m looking forward to that.
First post!
Yeah bitches!
Nexus One is not to compete with iPhone – unless the buyer is stupid.
But lookout Blackberry, Palm, Motorola and Nokia…there’s another train coming down the line.
Competition is good but I expected more from google. iPhone is the only reason I broke down and bought a cell finally. I’d wager there’s a lot more like me. It doesn’t seem to me like android entices anyone but ubergeeks who salivate over google. For the average person, the iPhone ads and apps are much more accessible and enticing. I think it’s good for Apple to be pushed to do better but why do I sense the announcement later this month or at the very least, the next version of iPhone will make this look even more lackluster.
You all laugh, but Google owns 100% of the Superphone market. The iPhone is just a “smartphone”. At least its volume control goes to “11”.
G4Dualie, I LOL’d
190 megabytes for apps? Kidding right?
Yeah for how many decades was windows limited to 64k?
Stupidity here I come!
Nexus One app… (space limit) otherwise superphone
haha
Is my understanding incorrect regarding system upgrades? I thought I read that an Android phone cannot be upgraded from 1.6 to 2.1 or 3.0. I also thought I read that there will still be phones released as late as this summer that will only run Android 1.6.
So if I buy a Nexus One today and the Android 3.0 comes out next summer my phone is now obsolete and no longer supported in software? Who the hell cares how quickly the software updates come out if I can’t use them. Is this really true? If so this is a major Clusterfsck.
@Bob Loblaw ,
It’s called a “Hardware Abstraction Layer”.
That’s what let’s you and me go into a software store and buy the same version of say, Photoshop, and it will work on both of our systems. Even though you may have an iMac with 20″ screen and I have an 8 core MacPro with a totally different video card and multiple 30″ screens.
This has only been an issue because all first gen Android phones had the same specs so no one included for a larger screen. But with an update of the app to work with 2.0 and above all the apps will work on a small phone, a large one, or even the new Android tablets. No more of a need for 256 versions of an app than there is for 256 versions of Photoshop or iTunes.
@Digital Mercenary,
Your understanding is incorrect. All phones currently out right now “can” upgrade to 2.0 or 2.1. Many of them, that are rooted (jail broken), already have.
The real question comes down to “will the carriers officially allow the upgrade or not?”. Since Nexus One is a straight out Google phone I’d guess you’ll be able to get all updates directly from them.
I suppose if your phone can’t actually be ‘Smart’, you might as well obfuscate and call it ‘super’. It’s merely more desperation in the cell phone bizinizz trying to catch up with the iPhone.
Bad Google! Evil Google!
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