Earlier today, Google officially unveiled the latest in a growing number of Android-based smartphones: the Nexus One. This is a big deal, in a few ways, but Google is still missing the boat a few others.
The Good:
- With a 1 GHz CPU, the flagship Android phone finally has the power to shine. The biggest complaint I’ve heard from Android users (and users of Palm’s recent webOS handsets) is that they’re slow. From what I’ve read, the Nexus One finally solves that problem.
- The handset itself is very attractive and, based on what I’ve read, a very well-built. It seems to have taken a few hints from the iPhone, but they stopped far short of blatantly ripping off the iPhone’s design.
- The 5-megapixel camera seems to be very solid, although the camera app seems to be getting mixed reviews, most notably due to its sluggish performance.
- Android, itself, is becoming a very solid platform. It’s not quite on par with iPhone OS yet (in my opinion, obviously), but it’s close. And it’s far beyond the touch-based offerings from BlackBerry and Palm.
- In selling this thing directly to consumers (via google.com/phone), Google is trying to break the current model of “this phone is only available through this carrier” that we have to put up with here in the US. Most of the rest of the technologically-advanced world does it the other way around: they pick their phone, then use it on whichever carrier they want.
The Bad:
- Android still doesn’t have a multitouch-capable device. That means no pinch-to-zoom, for example.
- “It’s the apps, stupid.”
- Why is the trackball included? I can’t find any real reason for it.
The Ugly:
- T-Mobile? Are you f—king kidding me?
- You can buy an unlocked phone directly from Google, and use it with any GSM SIM card you may have, but it won’t work with AT&T’s 3G network. That’s simply inexcusable.
I bought an iPhone 3G (and one for my wife) shortly after they were released in mid-2008, so I’m due for a new phone sometime this summer. If that’s the new iPhone (presumably running iPhone OS 4.0), great. If Apple is still stuck on AT&T, however, I very sincerely doubt that I’ll be buying into another 2-year contract with them.
If that’s the case, I’ll probably buy the best Android phone I can get from Verizon. As of today, that would be the Nexus One.
(Yes, I recognize that keeping the phone I have and maintaining my current agreement with AT&T is an option, but what kind of geek does that?)
That’s not to say that I’d be completely satisfied with buying an Android phone. On the contrary, I’d have to completely rethink the way I do a few things. Sure, I would dump MobileMe for Google Sync to keep my contacts and calendars all up-to-date and synchronized over-the-air, but I’d lose two of the best features on my iPhone: iTunes integration and the App Store.
Android’s Marketplace is coming into its own, but it has a long, long way to go before it begins to hold a candle to Apple’s monolithic App Store. Even then, I wouldn’t be able to buy some of my favorite and most-used apps (Tweetie, Camera Bag) and games (ZenBound, Flight Control, geoSpark). I’d get over it, eventually, but I wouldn’t be happy about it.
Losing iTunes synchronization is a bigger problem for me. I’ve almost forgotten that time before 2003, where putting music on my MP3 player became as simple as plugging it into a USB port and waiting a few minutes (or seconds!) while new files find their way into my iPod. The idea of copying music onto my phone the same way I’d copy it onto a portable USB drive makes me shudder. I’ve grown accustomed to Apple’s way of doing things and, quite frankly, I’m not looking forward to the possibility that I might have to give that up in the near future.
Both of these problems would only be compounded by the fact that Android lacks multitouch. It seems like such a simple thing, but not being able to pinch-to-zoom in the Google Maps app would be enough for me to want to throw the damn thing against a wall.
Yes, seriously.
So, bottom line: The new phone from Google looks cool, Android is shaping up to be a solid platform, and I still adore my iPhone. But I hate AT&T. I’m hoping that Apple won’t force me to go through the frustration of moving to an Android phone, but I’m not willing to endure AT&T’s gross ineptitude any longer than I have to.
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