There’s been a lot written about Google’s new Nexus One a week ago. Some tech sites seem to have have a clear agenda to rubbish the device, whilst others are giving it more positive reviews. We thought we’d lend a Nexus One to a typical user for a week to find out what they think of the new smartphone.
Jez Currin, creative director of the Media Collective, has been living with the Nexus One since monday. He knew nothing about the phone before we asked him to try it out for us and has never used an Android phone before. He uses Apple computers exclusively at work and at home, including an iPod Touch, but has never gotten around to buying himself an iPhone. We caught up with him after 3 days with the Nexus One to find out how things were going:
First Impressions:
Jez admits that for him as an Apple user, the interface took a little getting used to. He didn’t at first realise that the Home screens on the device could be customised, and thought that the few default applications placed there during setup were all that were available. Once he discovered where he could access all the applications and settings he was actually impressed that there was so much customisation on offer.
The nice thing about the home pages is that you can actually put anything you want on there. You can save for example, a map direction there. Touching or holding, I can add a new widget or shortcut or folder. And so, I can see how that could be quite handy. I can setup home pages to group different tasks that I do so it’s good for managing the way that I use the device. My iPod touch just gives me a straight list of applications that I have to scroll through so I appreciate the freedom to customise this.
Setup:
Jez is a Gmail user and tells us that the phone was a breeze to set up. It imported all his contacts from Gmail and adjusted the phone settings accordingly as soon as he inserted his UK SIM card. He also said that he’s had no connectivity issues, with the device auto discovering the WiFi networks in his home and office, something he’s had trouble with in the past on other devices. Neither has he had any of the issues with 3G that have been reported by Nexus One users in the US.
Voice Input:
We were interested to know whether Jez has found the Voice Input feature on the phone useful. He reports not having a lot of success with it, joking that he maybe needed an American accent for it to understand him. He says that he hasn’t used it much as he finds that he has to spend more time correcting mistakes than speaking. In a brief demo whilst we were talking to him he tried to voice input “I am chatting to Dave” which was interpreted as “I’m talking to Guy”. Another attempt to input “I think my new phone is great” resulted in “Eisenmann, your phone is great”. So whilst voice input has a lot of potential it seems that it’s got a way to go yet.
Text input via the keyboard however seems to be good. Jez notes that the keyboard is much easier to use and more accurate in landscape mode, and that the predictive text prompt is intelligent and easy to use, making keyboard input quite painless.
Other features:
The overall impression is that the phone copes well with all the things that you’d expect it to. Browsing and scrolling webpages is snappy for a mobile device, navigations works well and maps are impressively quick. Camera and video performance seem respectable although Jez admit’s not having really put the camera through it’s paces yet.
Would you buy one?
With three days use behind him we asked Jez whether he’d consider buying a Nexus One. Whilst his overall impression of the device is positive he admit’s that he’s not rushing out to the shops yet. But if he was going to buy a new smartphone it would definitely make him think twice about an iPhone. In the Nexus One’s favour, he told us, would be the removable storage card, the fact that he could buy it unlocked and the increased customisation.
Another important factor for him in buying a new smartphone would be how well it could integrate with the Apple Contacts and iCal applications which he regularly uses. He hasn’t gotten round to trying this yet with the handset that we loaned him so we’ll have to wait for his final impressions at the end of the week to find out how that goes.
In Summary:
So after three days with the Nexus One the overall impression that we got from Jez was that he was impressed by the phone, whilst not being totally wowed by it.
It’s an extremely capable device, which takes a little getting used to if you’ve not used Android before, but it also offers more interface customisation than I’ve been used to. I’m definitely looking forward to spending the rest of the week with it.
We’ll be interested to find out how Jez feels at the end of the week after some more time using the phone on a day to day basis, and whether or not he’ll want to give it back to us. More to come on that after the weekend.
