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