Nexus One

During Motorola’s recent conference call to discuss it latest quarterly results Chief executive Sanjay Jha confirmed that the company is working on a Google-badged phone. He announced during the call they have 20 smartphones on tap for the year and that one of them will be a “direct to consumer device with Google,” much like HTC’s Nexus One.

No information was given with regards to hardware or availability but there’s a couple of likely form factors which the device could take. One possibility is that it could resemble the recently announced MOTOROI whilst other rumours suggest that it could incorporate a slide out keyboard similar to the Motorola shadow. Needless to say, we’ll keep you posted.

Reported Nexus One 3G performance issues software related: fix expected this week

It looks like Google has come up with a fix for users reporting problems with the Nexus One on T-Mobile’s 3G Network in the US. Google have written on the support forum that an over-the-air software fix is expected to solve the problem some time in the next week or so. For the sake of anyone who’s affected by this, we’ve got our fingers crossed that this will resolve the issue.

I wanted to post an update to the Nexus One Help Forum to let you know what we’ve been working on to help address the 3G issues some of you have been facing. I also wanted to thank you for being patient as we work to investigate the problem, an effort which has included our hardware partners.

Our engineers have uncovered specific cases for which a software fix should improve connectivity to 3G for some users. We are testing this fix now, initial results are positive, and if everything progresses as planned, we will provide an over-the-air software update to your phone in the next week or so. It may be, however, that users are experiencing problems as a result of being on the edge or outside of 3G coverage, which a product fix cannot address.

Thanks again for your patience and for your feedback, and we will continue to keep you informed.

Responding to complaints about it’s Nexus One upgrade pricing on T-Mobile in the US, Google has dropped the price of the upgrade by $100 to $279 and is refunding all those who paid $379 for the phone. Refunds will be made via Google Checkout for early adopters who paid the original upgrade price.

This means that there are now three price bands for the Nexus One: $529 unlocked, £279 for existing T-Mobile subscribers and $179 on a new T-Mobile 2 year contract. This shows that Google is listening to customer feedback - let’s hope that they will also do something for T-Mobile family plan subscribers who are not currently eligible for the upgrade deal.

Nexus One 3G performance issues being addressed by T-Mobile

T-Mobile have given advice to their support staff to address reports by customers that the Nexus One seems to have a problem maintaining a 3G connection on it’s US network. The company posted on it’s forum a few days ago, saying that it was looking into the reported issue, and has now published an internal document which seems to suggest that that an issue exists.

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T-Mobile acknowledges issues with the Nexus One on its 3G network

A page on the T-Mobile forum seems to acknowledge reports of Nexus One 3G connectivity issues. A note at the top of the page reads:

Google and T-Mobile are investigating this issue and hope to have more information for you soon. We understand your concern and appreciate your patience.

Nexus One users in the US have been reporting problems with the device constantly switching between 3D and EDGE, and in some cases no 3G available at all. Whilst it’s still not known how widespread this issue might be it’s reassuring to see that Google and T-Mobile appear to be taking it seriously.

Truphone application provides VoIP for Nexus One

VoIP provider Truphone has announced that version 3.0 of its software will now be available for Android phones. The application allows users to place low cost international calls and free calls to other Truphone, Skype and Google Voice accounts when connected via Wi-Fi. It also offers IM for Skype, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo, MSN and Twitter integration.

The application, is available as a free download direct to your phone from the Android Market.

Nexus One: UK Price Details Confirmed

We’ve had a lot of questions from UK customers about whether they will be liable for tax and import charges if they order a Nexus One from Google’s phone website. Google doesn’t provide any clear information about this so we’ve had to wait for orders to begin arriving in the UK before we could attempt to answer this question.

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Reports have been surfacing across the internet of Nexus One customers struggling to find answers to support queries and problems. The volume of unanswered queries on their points to the problem that Google now faces as it seeks to sell phones direct to the public though its online phone store.

With customers buying their handsets direct from Google, they are now turning to the company for support, and it seems that Google doesn’t have the kind of customer support that mobile phone users are used to.

Google seems to be only accepting support queries via email, and promising a one to two day response time, far too long according to many customers who are complaining online.

Many of the complaints in the US seem to be to do with the 3G performance of the device, whilst customers in the UK have been frustrated with lack of information over the status of their order. We’ve had reports from readers who say that they’ve had to wait up to 70 hours after placing their order on the phone store, before receiving email communication from Google regarding shipping status.

Many are turning to HTC, the manufacturer of the device for support, or their carrier and apparently being referred back to Google for answers to their questions.

We decided to contact Google to try to clarify what their position was with regards to support, and have so far received no reply.

If you’ve got any outstanding support questions regarding the Nexus One share them here and we’ll try to work out some community answers. We’d also be interested in hearing if anyone’s managed to get any response from Google themselves to queries regarding the device.

Update: HTC’s support page indicates that all hardware support and repair enquiries should be directed to them. Phone numbers are listed for each of the countries that the Nexus One currently ships to.

Vodafone, T-Mobile, 3 UK networks to carry Nexus One: O2 support looks unlikely

Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3 UK have all announced that they are in negotiations with Google support the new Nexus One smartphone from spring 2010, whilst O2 UK has stated that they currently have no plans to sell the phone.

“We are in talks with Google and hope to have something to announce soon,” a T-Mobile spokesman told Total Telecom. David Kerrigan, head of Internet services at 3 UK has also said that the mobile operator is “in talks with Google on ranging the Nexus One. It’s a great Internet phone and we expect plenty of people to import it to the U.K. We see this as a natural platform for our unique Skype, Windows Live Messenger and Spotify offers,” he said.

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Nexus One non-US Pricing

The Nexus One was launched today and is initially available in 4 countries - the US, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong. Orders shipped outside the US are still billed in US dollars but subject to tax and shipping. For those outside the US wondering how much they will have to pay for the phone it breaks down like this:

• Nexus One Phone $529.99
• AC Adaptor $19.99
• Shipping (DHL International) $29.65

Duties and taxes will be payable to the courier on receipt of order:

• Hong Kong:  no VAT or GST!
• Singapore: 7% Goods and Services Tax on the Cost, Insurance & Freight
• United Kingdom: 17.5% VAT on the total cost of order including all shipping costs and insurance.

Google have said that there will be a subsidised version of the Nexus One available in Europe through Vodafone this spring.

Update: We’ve posted another article with further details for non-US customers.

Google launched their much anticipated Nexus One handset to a at their Mountain View headquarters today. The device, which the company has dubbed a ‘superphone’ is now available to buy for shipping to four countries - the US, UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Google announced their intention to ship to more countries in the near future, although the only timeframe they were willing to give at the press event was ‘soon’.

The phone will cost $530 unlocked for use on GSM networks, or $180 on T-Mobile (US) with a 2-year contract. Shipping is free within the US and customers can choose to add custom engraving to the lower bezel during the online purchase process. To buy the phone online you’ll need a both a regular Google Account and a Google Checkout account.

Nexus One could debut new Android data backup service

Included in the leaked sales documents discovered yesterday is a description line for the Desktop Dock which reads: ‘Charge your phone whilst streaming music and backing up your data’. are speculating that this is referring to a natively supported backup option for the phone.

Up until now Android hasn’t had a native backup solution. Unlike the iPhone, which backs up your data every time you plug the device into a computer, Android simply mounts your device as a USB drive. Granted, you could drag and drop these files to your computer’s desktop if you wanted to, but that’s hardly an intuitive solution and it doesn’t let you selectively update only the files that have changed.

Google does a great job integrating contacts and calendar with Gmail, but leaves the rest up to you. Mobile backup services are becoming more and more available through online companies and third-party apps but it would will be good to see native Android backup software included with the operating system.

Rumor Report - Nexus One sales page screenshots suggest $530 unlocked

Screenshots of designs for some of Google’s Nexus One sales pages posted via a tipster suggest some interesting details about the new device. If authentic they reveal that the phone will be available unlocked and unsubsidised from Google for $530 and $179.99 with a T-Mobile plan.

The $530 unsubsidised price would seem to disprove speculation that Google may choose to heavily subsidise the phone in order to fuel sales.

The $179.99 subsidised version of the phone would require a 2 year contract with a single rate plan of £39.99 + Text + Web for $79.99 total.

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