Nexus 1...
Hmmm so long time no post... and doing this one mainly as a way to get my thoughts on my new toy out there... in any case:
As a phone:
As with any smart phone, the inability to touch dial is a little annoying but hey, not just a N1 issue. The haptic feedback is nice, at least I know when I've hit a key that registers...
SMS or texting as it is known has the same issue... using the soft keyboard is not something I'm used to... but I'm getting there. The predictive text is fairly good and useful.
Dialing from your contact list is easy. Just choose and hit dial... or msg / email etc. as the case may be. Contacts can be sync'ed with your Google contacts too (auto-sync can be switch on and off...). The standard contact options are available, email, IM, address... and of course you can set a pic and ringtone for every contact... the pics show up on the list and display when a call comes in from them.
Text msg show up as a notification (with sound, vibration and even with the trackball flashing if you want and then is kept on the notification bar where you can see it immediately if you missed it originally.
On the settings, you can switch on and off: GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth etc. from the settings panel or from a simple widget on your main page. There is also an airplane mode which automatically shuts off all wireless connections.
(Yes, the geek in my likes the control.)
One thing I found cool... in the about phone option, the battery use option will tell you how long you've used the phone since you last charged it (down to the seconds ^^;;) as well as what used the most power.
Oh and there is a voice-to-text option that translates your speech to text for anywhere can input text. Of course there is voice search and voice dial too... too bad the translation is done via Google so data charges will be incurred when doing this...
Common complaint seems to be the phone switches from 3G to lower here in S'pore but not sure that is a phone issue... occasionally my wireless broadband does the same so...
As a PDA:
Default apps for PDA functions are the calender (i.e. where you can schedule events, etc.). Not sure if you can get birthday's from your contacts auto included yet (have to check manual) but as a normal planner is ok. Can be sync'ed with Google calender of course (yes, I am aware for all that I bitch about the cult of Apple, this is starting to have signs of cult of Google... and Google stores your stuff... on the other hand, you do have the option of not sync'ing... so...).
Others include the clock for alarms, email (normal client ala eudora, thunderbird), gmail, facebook, maps (google), a new and weather widget and a calculator of course.
Others you can get via Google's market place. My bitch? Paid apps are not available in S'pore. Annoying. But at least some apps have trial versions that you activate via the developers site later on. Case in point, "Documents to Go" where you can edit MS Word, Excel files... do simple edits / create simple Powerpoint files and read PDFs... I have yet to find a simple nice text editor though I have a nice notepad app.
Found some accounts management apps but looks like the one I like cannot be activated via their site i.e. might have to look for alternatives or wait to see if I can buy once in the US. Want to be able to manage my accounts, track payments, transfers, purchases, etc and get reports on balance sheet and most importantly export...
I have a e-text reader and sms backup app too... sms backup backs up to gmail.
A finance app that syncs with my google portfolio too (unfortunately google does not have quote from sgx).
Brought down a e-wallet app but have yet to try...
Util apps include a monitor app that will track how much data you've used (with the option to set alerts) and a task and file manager that shows you process details where you get shut down processes.
As a entertainment machine:
The music player is ok... play lists etc... but might go hunting for one with an equalizer.
Youtube app is standard.. but it allows you to view in high quality if you want, regardless of if you are on wifi or not (heard the iphone does not). Of course as Android browsers allow for Flash, you can video from places other than youtube e.g. twitvid which again... the iphone does not allow for?
For normal video files, unfortunately Android allows for native support of 3GP, m4v and mp4 only. So no divx xvid avis... though there is an app that plays these formats the current trail version seems a little buggy... so no buying full version yet. Playback of Mp4 vids are clear though and very smooth.
For twitter there are a number of clients.. Using Swift right now and quite happy with it except that I can't see followers and the option to follow does not seem to work... though it could have been my connection at the time.
The default browser is ok but I prefer to use Dolphin which has iphone like zoom. Yes, while the system could allow for gesture interface, currenty it does not, so zoom is most apps is a double tap on the screen for the zoom tool bar to appear.
Lots of game apps available but I only have a sudoku game installed right now.
General:
Removal battery + micro SD card slot are of course major plus points... (and apple seems to have caught a clue since there are supposed to be available in the iphone 4G). The ability to simply plug the phone using its USB cable into a PC and have it become a drive is cool... simple way to transfer files: music, documents, vids, photos the whole 9 yards. Currently using the default 4GB card but if that's not enough I do have a 8GB that was on my old phone and a 16GB does not cost that much... 32GB costs more but I don't see myself so much...
Security measures include a security pattern (i.e. not the standard slide to unlock... though is the default) and you can set a sim card lock (which I already did on my old phone so the N1 started with asking me for the key)... Of course all your apps like fb, gmail have your password stored but... 50/50 on that since if they didn't you would have to keep typing it in and on a soft keyboard? It would be very easy for the person next to you to see...
Live wall papers are fun... the default nexus is interactive too but yeah... eats power... so might turn it off... for now though fun...
Camera is a 5MP with auto-focus and flash and it works quite well (latest couple of twiter pics...) but while the video quality is ok, it shoots only in 3gp. The gallery app allows you to view the stuff you've taken as well as other video files on your SD card and allows for direct sharing: to gmail, facebook, etc. and if you have a twitter client... to twitter.
Final thoughts:
I like the phone... As stated, I was looking for a PDA replacement more than a phone but as a two in one gadget the N1 does quite well... I can actually get some work done on it, do basic organization and as a phone it has all I need.
App-wise, it is possible that the iphone has much more but since I don't particularly like installing a lot of junk, what there is, is fine... Only I want to be able to buy some apps damn it.
The size and feel of the phone is nice. Very professional look. The fingerprints are freaking me out but again... any smartphone would have the same problem. No cases / protectors available in S'pore yet so... :(
The side volume control is occasionally a pain since I keep accidently turning up the volume when I'm handling the phone and while the trackball is a little useless in most things.. it is a god-send sometimes when editing stuff... sensitive or not, it is very difficult to tap your cursor into the right place at times... with the trackball you can position it more accurately.
(edit: Ohhhh forgot battery life... so 17 hours and batt life is at 27% after a full charge... on average, since I use it as an Mp3 player and for twitter quite often it lasts around 1.5 days? Not too bad...)
All in all, I have no big complaints...
As a phone:
As with any smart phone, the inability to touch dial is a little annoying but hey, not just a N1 issue. The haptic feedback is nice, at least I know when I've hit a key that registers...
SMS or texting as it is known has the same issue... using the soft keyboard is not something I'm used to... but I'm getting there. The predictive text is fairly good and useful.
Dialing from your contact list is easy. Just choose and hit dial... or msg / email etc. as the case may be. Contacts can be sync'ed with your Google contacts too (auto-sync can be switch on and off...). The standard contact options are available, email, IM, address... and of course you can set a pic and ringtone for every contact... the pics show up on the list and display when a call comes in from them.
Text msg show up as a notification (with sound, vibration and even with the trackball flashing if you want and then is kept on the notification bar where you can see it immediately if you missed it originally.
On the settings, you can switch on and off: GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth etc. from the settings panel or from a simple widget on your main page. There is also an airplane mode which automatically shuts off all wireless connections.
(Yes, the geek in my likes the control.)
One thing I found cool... in the about phone option, the battery use option will tell you how long you've used the phone since you last charged it (down to the seconds ^^;;) as well as what used the most power.
Oh and there is a voice-to-text option that translates your speech to text for anywhere can input text. Of course there is voice search and voice dial too... too bad the translation is done via Google so data charges will be incurred when doing this...
Common complaint seems to be the phone switches from 3G to lower here in S'pore but not sure that is a phone issue... occasionally my wireless broadband does the same so...
As a PDA:
Default apps for PDA functions are the calender (i.e. where you can schedule events, etc.). Not sure if you can get birthday's from your contacts auto included yet (have to check manual) but as a normal planner is ok. Can be sync'ed with Google calender of course (yes, I am aware for all that I bitch about the cult of Apple, this is starting to have signs of cult of Google... and Google stores your stuff... on the other hand, you do have the option of not sync'ing... so...).
Others include the clock for alarms, email (normal client ala eudora, thunderbird), gmail, facebook, maps (google), a new and weather widget and a calculator of course.
Others you can get via Google's market place. My bitch? Paid apps are not available in S'pore. Annoying. But at least some apps have trial versions that you activate via the developers site later on. Case in point, "Documents to Go" where you can edit MS Word, Excel files... do simple edits / create simple Powerpoint files and read PDFs... I have yet to find a simple nice text editor though I have a nice notepad app.
Found some accounts management apps but looks like the one I like cannot be activated via their site i.e. might have to look for alternatives or wait to see if I can buy once in the US. Want to be able to manage my accounts, track payments, transfers, purchases, etc and get reports on balance sheet and most importantly export...
I have a e-text reader and sms backup app too... sms backup backs up to gmail.
A finance app that syncs with my google portfolio too (unfortunately google does not have quote from sgx).
Brought down a e-wallet app but have yet to try...
Util apps include a monitor app that will track how much data you've used (with the option to set alerts) and a task and file manager that shows you process details where you get shut down processes.
As a entertainment machine:
The music player is ok... play lists etc... but might go hunting for one with an equalizer.
Youtube app is standard.. but it allows you to view in high quality if you want, regardless of if you are on wifi or not (heard the iphone does not). Of course as Android browsers allow for Flash, you can video from places other than youtube e.g. twitvid which again... the iphone does not allow for?
For normal video files, unfortunately Android allows for native support of 3GP, m4v and mp4 only. So no divx xvid avis... though there is an app that plays these formats the current trail version seems a little buggy... so no buying full version yet. Playback of Mp4 vids are clear though and very smooth.
For twitter there are a number of clients.. Using Swift right now and quite happy with it except that I can't see followers and the option to follow does not seem to work... though it could have been my connection at the time.
The default browser is ok but I prefer to use Dolphin which has iphone like zoom. Yes, while the system could allow for gesture interface, currenty it does not, so zoom is most apps is a double tap on the screen for the zoom tool bar to appear.
Lots of game apps available but I only have a sudoku game installed right now.
General:
Removal battery + micro SD card slot are of course major plus points... (and apple seems to have caught a clue since there are supposed to be available in the iphone 4G). The ability to simply plug the phone using its USB cable into a PC and have it become a drive is cool... simple way to transfer files: music, documents, vids, photos the whole 9 yards. Currently using the default 4GB card but if that's not enough I do have a 8GB that was on my old phone and a 16GB does not cost that much... 32GB costs more but I don't see myself so much...
Security measures include a security pattern (i.e. not the standard slide to unlock... though is the default) and you can set a sim card lock (which I already did on my old phone so the N1 started with asking me for the key)... Of course all your apps like fb, gmail have your password stored but... 50/50 on that since if they didn't you would have to keep typing it in and on a soft keyboard? It would be very easy for the person next to you to see...
Live wall papers are fun... the default nexus is interactive too but yeah... eats power... so might turn it off... for now though fun...
Camera is a 5MP with auto-focus and flash and it works quite well (latest couple of twiter pics...) but while the video quality is ok, it shoots only in 3gp. The gallery app allows you to view the stuff you've taken as well as other video files on your SD card and allows for direct sharing: to gmail, facebook, etc. and if you have a twitter client... to twitter.
Final thoughts:
I like the phone... As stated, I was looking for a PDA replacement more than a phone but as a two in one gadget the N1 does quite well... I can actually get some work done on it, do basic organization and as a phone it has all I need.
App-wise, it is possible that the iphone has much more but since I don't particularly like installing a lot of junk, what there is, is fine... Only I want to be able to buy some apps damn it.
The size and feel of the phone is nice. Very professional look. The fingerprints are freaking me out but again... any smartphone would have the same problem. No cases / protectors available in S'pore yet so... :(
The side volume control is occasionally a pain since I keep accidently turning up the volume when I'm handling the phone and while the trackball is a little useless in most things.. it is a god-send sometimes when editing stuff... sensitive or not, it is very difficult to tap your cursor into the right place at times... with the trackball you can position it more accurately.
(edit: Ohhhh forgot battery life... so 17 hours and batt life is at 27% after a full charge... on average, since I use it as an Mp3 player and for twitter quite often it lasts around 1.5 days? Not too bad...)
All in all, I have no big complaints...