Google Nexus One Hands-On, Video, and Impressions 262
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.'"
More vendor/carrier lock-in (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.
The summary sounds misleadingly negative (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.
Critical (Score:5, Insightful)
No multitouch? Okay.
No physical keyboard? Okay.
No multitouch AND no physical keyboard? Sorta fatal combination.
Re:Only one question... (Score:4, 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.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Only one question... (Score:2, Insightful)
Paying $500 + signing a $100/month contract on a phone which may get bricked on the next update because you hacked it: priceless.
Re:Only one question... (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.
Re:Google just trying to see what sticks? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ok.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Only one question... (Score:3, Insightful)
Games? I don't play them on a phone, but a lot of people sure seem to.
Re:I laughed at the live wallpaper crashes (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Re:Only one question... (Score:3, 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?
Re:Ok.. (Score:3, 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.
Re:Only one question... (Score:3, 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.