If you’re looking for a consensus you will be sorely disappointed. There is both plenty to love (Snapdragon 1GHz processor) and grouse about (where is the multitouch?) with the Nexus One.
(Read PC World’s complete review: Google Nexus One )
Here’s a rundown of what reviewers are saying about the Nexus One.
The Aesthetic Appeal
Across the board, reviewers are impressed by the Nexus One’s sleek design. The screen 480 by 800 pixel 3.7-inch touch screen is gorgeous. PC World said in its own review of the phone, “The Nexus One’s 3.7-inch AMOLED display has drawn a lot of attention, and for good reason: The display is superb. Indeed, photos and videos of the phone don’t do it justice. You need to view the display in person…”
Engadget is similarly impressed: “The Nexus One is nothing if not handsome. From its ultra-thin body to sleek, curved edges, the phone is absolutely lustworthy.” TechCrunch‘s Michael Arrington loved it so much he claimed it was better, in many ways, than the iPhone. He wrote that the Nexus One is the most “elegant smartphone on the market today, solidly beating the iPhone in most ways.”
Afraid of the Light?
It’s evident that aesthetic appeal is huge when it comes to smartphones. Consumers aren’t content with powerful machines that look like castoff garbage; we want a device that glimmers and wows; an accessory like any other that makes our friends jealous. In this regard, the Nexus One performed well.
Underneath the Hood
The New York Times was impressed by its “instant, smooth response when you’re opening programs and scrolling.” If nothing else, the Nexus One bests all other Android handsets. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “The latency I had seen in earlier Android phones is gone, due to a slicker version of the operating system and faster chips.”
The Camera
Ars liked it, and added a caveat. “The built-in LED flash works adequately as a supplemental lighting for objects only a few feet away, but I would not trust it any further than that.”
The Keyboard
Big yuck here. Our reviewer “desperately [wished] for a hardware keyboard.” And forget about multitouch: “The native Android soft keyboard is in desperate need of a redesign. And throwing in multitouch–to enhance the navigation and typing experience–wouldn’t hurt.” Gizmodo’s mostly negative review of the Nexus One also groaned about multitouch’s absence.
When it came to the word-suggest feature — a life-saver on the iPhone’s occasionally difficult keyboard — the Nexus One did okay. Gizmodo didn’t think so, but offered a helpful alternative. Though the keyboard was an improvement, they’re “still not big fan of typing on Android’s virtual keyboard. Sure, the keys are actually responsive now, thanks to the muscle of the 1GHz Snapdragon processor, but somehow Google’s word prediction still lags behind the iPhone’s, and gives you strange options for when you’re typing really fast on the phone.” Gizmodo does supply a helpful work-around to this problem by downloading the iPhone-style “Better Keyboard” from the Android Marketplace.
The New York Times actually preferred the Nexus One’s suggestions over the iPhone’s. “As you start typing a word (‘unfo’), the Nexus displays an entire row of likely candidates (‘unfortunately,’ ‘unfortunate,’ ‘unfolding’), which you can tap, thus saving yourself more fiddly typing-on-glass.”
Google Voice
Voice-to-Text Input Feature
Reception
The Nexus One may have gotten away with spotty reception, dropped 3G and garbled calls, but the public has loudly spoken, and these problems have been highlighted in many news pieces. Operating on T-Mobile’s network, the Nexus One continuously shifts from 3G to EDGE. Also, we found another upsetting and ironic trend: the failure of Google accounts. “Most disturbingly, my Google account sometimes wouldn’t load. I also endured several failed attempts to upload image files to Picasa, due to a ‘network error.'” How can a Google phone fail to access a Google account?
Apps
The Android App Marketplace (20,000+) has nothing on Apple’s (100,000+), and the Nexus One, for some reason, cuts off the amount of apps you can store on your phone to a paltry 190 megabytes of storage for downloaded apps. Though these apps can now be spread across five pages (instead of the Droid’s three pages), it seems ridiculous that, given the public’s love affair with apps, the Nexus One would do such a thing.
Overall Problems
Here’s a quick blast of other technical foibles that keep the Nexus One from being, as Google calls it, a “superphone.”
- No Outlook syncing
- Android 2.1 not a huge improvement over previous versions, only prettier
- Gaming is “abysmal” without multitouch
- The unlocked phone is too expensive
- The battery drains quickly, even for “iPhone standards”
Final Judgments
After all is said and done, how do these reviewers actually feel about the Nexus One?
We said that when it comes to being the best Android phone on the market, the Motorola Droid “has a slight edge.” We also suggested that “if the network issues with T-Mobile continue to crop up, you may be well advised to resist picking up a Nexus One until the CDMA version comes out this spring.”
Engadget called it “just another Android smartphone.”
TechCrunch gushed “Unlike previous Android phones, and I’ve used most of them, the Nexus One has no obvious flaws or compromises. The phone is the state of the art in mobile, and I will use it happily. Until, as I always say, something better comes along.”
And Ars said, “The Nexus One is the best smartphone on the market at this point for general use.”
So when you boil it down and look at the Nexus One based on reviews, you might become a little hesitant to purchase the device. Though it has its flaws, it also has its high points, and most certainly signals a change in the market for Google. Early adopters often run into the problem of buying a subpar device just because it’s shiny and new; it’s best, perhaps, to watch the Nexus One evolve, become the Nexus Two, and see how Google listens to its customers and improves its product.