Nexus One for Blackberry Users

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I've been a pretty satisfied Blackberry user for the duration of my smartphone-usage life, but I still felt like there was something missing. The first week the Nexus One was on sale (through it's virtual store at www.google.com/phone), I was immediately fixated. For me, it takes quite a while before I can really make such an investment, and for the unlocked version, $530 is a lot. So, I waited, waited until last week when I couldn't take it anymore. Well it's a good thing that I waited a little longer because there were several kinks that Google managed to fix:

• screen hue/tint changing
• Android 2.2 (only on the N1)
• major battery issues
• ATT 3G compatibility
• among other things

Well, I was pretty sold once I saw that it supported ATT and was launching Froyo (2.2). Well, this is the update on my previous post all excitement and post-unboxing aside. Here's what I thought:

Pros:

• The N1 has an intoxicating screen, 3.7" of glory
• The N1 really does have a growing marketplace of apps, of which I could find any app or a replacement that I wanted or needed
• Very customizable home screen (WIDGETS!) almost makes all the difference, I hated being constrained on my iPod touch
• Really simple conversion from BB to N1 with a simple SIM transfer
• Did I mention widgets? (my favorite is the power control)
  • The N1 also offers the ability to see battery usage and apps that are launching
  • A simple download of Task Killer will eliminate all background applications (though I'm having some issues with closing my gReader widget and Gowalla)
• Like the BB, I like how the N1 has a removable battery
• Really slick dimensions and a back that is conducive to good grip (though I have the OtterBox Commuter case)
• Great Google app integration - Gmail for push, Google Calendar, Google Finance, Picasa everything - you name it!
  • Push (sync) abilities for Gmail and Calendar are a nice feature
• Voice input is AMAZING, it really gets what you are saying, even when you speak fast, AMAZING....no joke
• Live wallpapers are cool
• 24-hour return policy on apps and no having to input passwords for free apps
• Google Voice integration is simply amazing, though a hassle since it is the only "visual voicemail" for the phone - makes it easier for transcription purposes, but you can no longer have two voicemails for business and personal without hassle
• Portable Wifi Hotspot is the most amazing technology I've seen on a mobile phone to date (kicks Tetherberry for BB's butt)
• Awesome entry choices for passwords
• Pretty sweet dropdown multitasking bar
• Dragging files in is so simple, just drag in your songs and they will automatically appear in your phone when you turn off mounting
• Extremely intuitive to use
• Gives space to increase the size of internal storage in your mini SD (up to 32gb) and you can launch apps straight from the mini SD to save HD space
• Upload videos directly to Youtube
• Upload pics directly to Picasa or to Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Easy wireless backup and OTA updates
• Froyo speed benchmarks are incredible
• N1 voted 2nd best mobile device by RWW

Cons:

• QWERTY, come back! It's been a real hassle for me trying to get used to the keyboard over the last 3 days. It does come with landscape too, but it's just a huge jump from being able to blind type on the BB.
• BATTERY, say it ain't so? The battery hardly lasts a day. I guess that happens with a highly functional phone with a compendium of features.
  • Tip #1: do a full discharge and complete recharge, then let sit idle for at least 5 times a month (I hear)
  • Tip #2: make sure you use the power control widget to turn off features like bluetooth, wifi, etc. when you are not using it
  • Tip #3: make sure you use task killer to kill apps running in the background, ESPECIALLY the camera app - which is ALWAYS a battery drainer
  • Tip #4: make sure you keep your volume low on speaker calls and dim your display to acceptable levels of light
  • Tip #5: don't use immediately after a fresh recharge, after turning on, or when hot
  • Tip #6: put your phone on airplane mode at night or charge it over night
  • Tip #7: clear cache, history, delete old text messages, sign out of apps you are not using (Google Talk)
  • you should get a solid 10-12 hours of power usage if you use these tips
• Doodle Jumpy is $3.99? Are you kidding me?
• You have to manually set up the file directory to put in files - while it is easy enough to use your N1 as a hard drive and drag files in, it doesn't tell you how to put in ringtones and songs, etc.
  • Tip #1: download Astro or plug into your computer via USB and find the /sdcard/meda/audio file, then create the following:
    • /sdcard/media/audio/notifications
    • /sdcard/media/audio/ringtones
    • /sdcard/media/audio/alarm
• Cut - Copy - Paste is VERY sloppy
• BBM is gone :(, but GTalk is very easy to use
• Not really a con, but the trackball doesn't do anything - really even from an old BB user's perspective
• Since the N1 really turns off when you turn it off, it doesn't wake up from off when your alarm goes off (the BB never sleeps!)
  • Tip #1: just turn your phone to airplane mode and the alarm will still work
• No LinkedIn or TweetDeck app
• Pretty difficult to drag an app or widget across page
• Not great PUSH for POP or IMAP email that isn't Gmail

Extra Tips:

• easy to silence the phone with a long-push on the lock button or sliding a tab to the right on the home screen
• long-push the home screen to put in a widget, folder, shortcut, etc (you can shortcut contacts too which is cool)
• long-push an app in your directory to place it onto your dashboard
• hold the touch search button to launch a voice search over your cnotacts
• the inbred search widget lets you search browser, contacts, marketplace, etc.
• long-push the home button to see recent apps in any state (like a multitask feature to see recent apps and switch back between email and calendar, for example)
• long-push the lock button to silence, turn to airplane mode, or turn off
• go to your Google Voice dashboard on your computer to make your VM the default for your phone, all VMs aggregated in once place and transcribed!
• get the widget about how to start and how to conserve battery, if you need them

So you make the call. At the end of the day, these two phones are very different beasts. The N1 is a feature powerhouse with functionality that the BB couldn't dream of. The BB is a working machine, getting you push emails from ANY address at blazing speeds, which is complemented with the blazing typing speeds you can reach on the QWERTY keyboard. It really comes down to what you want to do. Do we even really know? Maybe if RIM decides to make something with much faster speed and capacity capabilities (with a slideout keyboard, ooh that's nice) then I might switch back, but for now I'm satisfied with this N1.

Posted via email from boochikan's posterous

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New Gadget: Nexus One "Google Phone"

Hey guys,

So I was debating on whether or not to make a video unboxing of my new Nexus One, which just arrived from Google this afternoon, but since my Flip Mino was running low on battery, I thought I'd just write a blog post and attach some cool pictures. So, as some of you may know, this phone came out quite a while ago. It came out in January earlier this year after much hype from Google, but sales tended to flounder. For all of its life, the N1 was pretty unpopular, not because of the hardware, software, looks, or anything like that, but because Google decided that they would go a different way and circumvent the traditional means of selling in store. In fact, I felt like Google was trying to detach itself from traditional wireless plans and this was their first efforts to "test the waters" as we should say. However, I'm sad to say that all people aside from early adopters weren't ready to buy a phone, especially one for nearly $600 after tax (unlocked). Well, I bought it anyway, but that might have to do with the fact that I am an early adopter for merchandise, SaaS, you name it.

In any case, I decided to get this phone, after much debate and deliberation because of the potential I see in Google's mobile OS - Android. With its 3.7 inch widescreen AMOLED touchscreen, 800 x 480 pixel resolution, and slender size, the look was already there. I know some people criticize the design, but I'm not partial to the unibody iPhone look, and personally, the iPhone 4 looks worse than its predecessor. In any case, the phone comes with all the hardware specs I need, the 1Ghz Snapdragon processor I need for speed, and comes in a package that is infinitely smaller than the dominating Android OS phones out there today - Droid X, EVO 4G, etc. If I wanted a mini iPad, I would have gotten an iPad. But I think part of the reason I got this phone was because I'm an admitted Google fanboy/iPhone hater (I'll say it now so you don't call me it later).

Anyway, it took me that long to finally put aside my Blackberry Bold 9000. It was a great phone, but I felt like it wasn't cutting it for functionality and entertainment value. The Bold was perfect for writing emails on the go, getting push business and personal email (also a curse), but most of all it was the fact that the physical keyboard allowed me to type blindly that kept me hooked. Needless to say, not hooked enough, but I guess we never know if I'll revert back because a virtual keyboard is unbearable? In any case, I thought the N1, with it's "useless" little trackball would be a perfect transition from my Bold. It also didn't hurt to have Google's talk to text feature for all text fields, which will limit the need to type, and with Google this feature is extremely accurate.

Here are some of the specs:

• A removable lithium ion battery (which was missing from iPhones until this latest generation, which also admittedly has a lot of issues, right Steve?)
• 10hr talk time on 2G and 7hr on 3G, which means 5hr internet time on 3G
• It comes with Wi-Fi and bluetooth features, and with the new Froyo 2.2 (shall I mention exclusive to N1 OTA right now) has tethering and supports the feature of Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 7 devices
• It has a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, typical of higher end Android devices today
• Hardware includes 512MB flash, 512MB RAM, 4GB slot for microSD, but expandable to 32GB
• Supports ATT 3G bands (unlocked version) and T-Mobile through a plan
• It also has the usual accelerometer, digital compass, AGPS, etc.
• It has a 5mp camera, LED flash, 2x digital zoom, and HD video capture at 20 fps
• Also comes with a cute little Android neoprene sleeve, but I've put my order in for an OtterBox commuter case ON SALE at Amazon
• The phone comes REALLY minimalistic with small and slim buttons and regular jacks
• Live wallpapers and widgets are also pretty awesome
• Call Quality (because it's a phone) is EXCELLENT - no white noise, which is probably due to the double mics, one for noise cancelling and the other for input (the software also helps out)
• The capacitive buttons are reportedly unresponsive, but these buttons were really meant to be pressed and slid, which many non-N1 users don't know and therefore call it annoying
• Moreover, it covers all the OS bases of the iPhone and more - though I admit that multitouch and scroll isn't as smooth and seamless as the iPhone

...and that's off memory, so you KNOW how long I've been looking at this phone.

I also love the fact that it has an OS that has had multitasking functionality from the beginning. It also has push email, though I admit that it lacks with POP and IMAP email servers, but it doesn't really hurt me because I've worked with Gmail for a while now and my business line is with Google Apps, phew. Otherwise, I'd have to wait for email to come at refresh just like another phone I know, which would drain battery. This phone also boasts the most popular and growing OS on the market now and an Android Marketplace that is growing at tremendous speeds. As for apps, I'm excited to see Google App functionality - especially with Google Voice. I'm also excited to see newer apps like TweetDeck and my favorite Foursquare - though I might actually be able to make the switch to Gowalla as soon as I'm up and running since it doesn't work very well on the Blackberry.

I've uploaded a picture of a whiteboard that I used to write down the details - pros/cons - about each phone, which still didn't help me. I think it was finally the push from Google itself which announced the discontinuation of the phone that made me take the leap - I mean what kind of Google fanboy doesn't own the one and ONLY "pure" Google phone. This thing reeks of Googliness and doesn't come with the bells and whistles aka "bloatware" that you find with other HTC made phones. Now if a Google interviewer asks me what phone I use, I can answer with confidence :). So that's a little about why I got it and what decisions I had to make up to this point. Trust me, I considered the alternatives:

• Samsung Galaxy S (pretty neat phone)
• EVO 4G (too big, on Sprint)
• Droid X (too bigger, on VZW)
• Droid Incredible (on VZW, not impressed with HTC Sense)
• iPhone 4 (eeks, but yes, I thought about it for a split second)
• Blackberry Bold 9700

So if I convinced you and if you'd like to grab your own...hurry up, these phones are going to be gone forever, really soon! Yeah, and you'll have to find it here: http://www.google.com/phone - a little unconventional to the not so early adopter. For more info, I really like Jon4Laker's coverage of Android 2.2 (Froyo) and his EXCITING comparison between iPhone 4 and Nexus One.

Pics to come when I get my OtterBox Commuter case!

Posted via email from boochikan's posterous

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