This is why I'm considering using Google's 14 day return policy

[i.mac]

I got my N1 after owning the iPhone for two and a half years. I really, really wanted to replace it. But I'm not sure if it can and here's my reason:

Screen:
N1's screen is definitely better that the 3GS's until you take it in sunlight. It loses all it's glory, I can't see a thing. And I'm not talking about really bright days, even medium sunlight screws it up. I haven't such a problem with the 3GS, it's not perfect but it isn't that bad.
The N1's screen is like the bermuda triangle for fingerprints, it is really bad and the fingerprints make using the phone in sunlight even worse. iPhone's oleo-phobic display makes a BIG difference!

Body/Form-Factor:
The N1 wins HANDS DOWN! Makes the iPhone look like a prehistoric phone. Kudos to HTC. Minus the haptic feedback buttons and the trackball, both of which I thought were mistakes.

OS:
Alright, here's where I really got hurt. Having used the Magic (MyTouch) at a brief training session, it was love at first sight for me as far as the OS was concerned. But since I started using it more in-depth with the N1, I started disliking it more day-by-day. The OS is not as sleek as the iPhone's, why? I'm not sure, it just doesn't feel the same. The touchscreen isn't as responsive, while transitioning between the different home screens is more often that not, lag-gy. The inability of rearranging the icons in the menu is something I missed. The 3D menu sure is eye candy but not smooth at all. Push notifications is a JOKE, my GMail never pushed with any consistency. MobileMe and Yahoo (or GMail w/ exchange) worked flawlessly with my iPhone. The phone wasn't as easy to use as I though it was, the combination of using the touchscreen and the haptic buttons threw me off at times. Live wallpapers sure are again only eye candy, the only other thing they do is drain your battery. The keyboard is not at par with the iPhone's but I got used to it, so I won't say much.

Media Player:
I don't think I need to comment. After 20 months in existence the so called "OS of the future" does not have a audio equalizer. I though I was free of iTunes, but as it turns out, I miss it. Apple's one-stop syncing idea was pure genius.

Applications:
I'm not going to compare numbers, I'm going to compare quality.
App1: Facebook Again, the "OS of the future" could not build a decent enough app for a service some 250 million people use. Maybe it's too much into the future where Facebook is not important. Now I'm not an Facebook addict but it is the only way I keep in touch with some friends. The interface is mediocre at best when compared to FB for iPhone. Even if I look beyond that, the fact that the App is not self sufficient throws me off. I have to switch between browser and the App every time I want to see a picture or read a message. iPhone's Facebook app is arguably perfect in it's UI and functionality.
App2: Twitter The two apps I compared were, Tweetie and Twitdroid Pro. There was a world of a difference. Both in terms of functionality and UI, Tweetie smoked its Android competitor. In spite of having a bigger and better screen, reading both Facebook and Twitdroid was hard mainly due to the small font size.
App3: RSS I'm a gadget geek and I want to keep up-to-date with my stuff! The two apps I compared were NewsStand/NewsRack and PureRSS. Again there was no comparison in terms of the UI or functionality.
App5: MobileMe iDisk/Gallery vs DropBox I rather pay 7 bucks a month and get decent online storage and push email and gallery and find-my-iPhone that just storage for 10 bucks a month.
App4: NFS, GTA, StreetFighter, Sims Nothing to compare.

What disappointed me was that I couldn't find a single app that would beat an iPhone counterpart. Well, except the Weather app.

App Store:
Before we get into the Big Brother argument, I have to say that Apple's watch over its App Store might have brought controversy (Google Voice is not available in Canada) but has surely insured protection (for the most part) and quality (yes, there are fart apps but there also are the other 50,000 useful ones). The Android App store is still lagging behind in functionality but mostly in quality.

Multitasking:
Well, this is a touchy topic for me. First of all, I'm in Canada and there is NO decent radio app, so please don't give me "listening to Pandora" as an example. All other apps (more or less) rely on push notifications which are readily available on the iPhone. But I'd still give the N1 the upper edge.

"Open Source":
Apart for allowing any app to it's app store which has made it more of a widget store that anything else, the OS is not open source for one reason - Rooting voids warranty. Software warranty I agree with, but voiding hardware warranty is non-sense. I rather jailbreak my iPhone and get 80% of Android's pros'. And, and, and, keep my hardware warranty. Google, don't advertise your OS as open source when you wouldn't support it.

Support:
Apple's customer care and tech support have been much more knowledgeable than Google's. Heck, I wasn't allowed to talk to one unless I ordered the phone. The tech agents that I encountered in my 10-odd calls in the 10 days that I have had phone were not helpful. If I have a problem with my iPhone I can get it replaced in 10 minutes, N1 would take 2 weeks!

Future Development:
In spite of the growing Android base, I see no breakthrough. Why? My 2007 iPhone V1 can do 95% of what the N1 can. I don't see Google or the providers supporting handsets in terms of software development in the long term. I have seen too many examples to believe that it would change. If the OS is SO customizable and SO open source, why can it not be customized to any hardware? Apple still supports and updates a 3 year old phone. While as the 2009 MyTouch is forever stuck at 1.6 unless you want to VOID your warranty - NOT FAIR!

Even after that I still want to keep my N1, but I can't seem to justify $650. I see promise but no results. My smartphone is more than just a phone, I interact with it more that I interact with anything or anyone on any given day, hence I never expect anything less that the perfect.

Hope you would give a reason to keep my N1.

 

[VGPOP]

Thanks for your feedback. Hope everything works out ok with your new phone.

 

[bitxboi]

I got my N1 after owning the iPhone for two and a half years. I really, really wanted to replace it. But I'm not sure if it can and here's my reason:

Screen:
N1's screen is definitely better that the 3GS's until you take it in sunlight. It loses all it's glory, I can't see a thing. And I'm not talking about really bright days, even medium sunlight screws it up. I haven't such a problem with the 3GS, it's not perfect but it isn't that bad.
The N1's screen is like the bermuda triangle for fingerprints, it is really bad and the fingerprints make using the phone in sunlight even worse. iPhone's oleo-phobic display makes a BIG difference!

tried to make your display brighter? I use a quite bright setup outdoors, and no problems at all.

 

[eggdrop]

I see some of your points on why you will not stay with the N1. But some of them also are things that you should have known before stepping into the Android world. Gaming is just not there. One of my biggest concerns was this, but then I checked to see how much I actually play my purchased games and it was not worth it.

I have spent over $100 on games for my iPhone and it just was not worth it. I am a hardcore gamer and these games were never enough to keep my attention and ended up being a waste of money. When I was deciding on going to the N1 I took this into account and just ended up not caring. I only played these games while on the "can", and as of late I have enjoyed reading instead.

The things I have gained coming to Android far out weighs the loses. Gaming, who cares, I have a high end PC and all the consoles for that. Being able to truly multi task is great. Being able to fully customize my phone to me is priceless. I love seeing that my wallpaper is actually my desktop image instead of just a pretty unlock screen. I love having a device that makes me want to come to forums and discuss it. I missed those geeky things while being trapped by Apple for 2.5 years.

The more I get into the phone and the OS the more giddy I get. Finding out that I can put a contact directly on my desktop and actually see all the different ways to communicate with them was amazing. I used Google Navigation last night through the voice search and it took me to where I wanted to go to the t. I used Googles on an image of Gianna Michaels (Porn Starlet) and it found her just by her face!! Just looking at my phone on the table and automatically knowing it was mine because of the desktop and how I customized it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside

All of the experiences I have had so far have been this way. I never had this with either of the iPhones that I had. Obviously it is not all rainbows, Facebook, Music Player come to mind, but it's not enough to get me off this ship. All of this is just personal opinion and should not come off as me selling it, just how I have taken it. For now, Google has made a believer of me and I am happy to be in their camp and not Apple's.

 

[eggdrop]

Forgot to mention an app that deserves mention.

Ringdroid

That the iPhone did not let you use your own music as ringtones and then insulted us more by making us rebuy our own music was a joke. I just made a ringtone directly on my device, down to the exact point where the beat drops using the zoom feature is INSANE! That feature alone is worth price of admission :-D

 

[Eazail70x7]

I use ringdroid too. Awsomeness! That combined with ring extend and shuffletone 1.0 is why I have this phone now. Using my own ringtones. My old phone (nextel i930) could and I wanted this one to do it too. Only its way better on android

 

[i.mac]

Thanks for you reply.

I totally agree with your point. I love the customization, it really brings a whole new dynamic to the game.

I love putting the contact on the home screen, but have you realized that it is actually faster to go to Phone -> Call Log and Dial. I was surprised at seeing a 1GHz processor under-perform.

Lol, the wallpaper thing is good eye candy as well.

I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I enjoy games on my iPhone, they keep me busy while I'm traveling. My N1 is on the other hand in my pocket because I cannot see anything on it, no matter the brightness settings. I haven't regretted spending money on games, they provide what I expect, time pass, and it's worth $4-$10 a month or so!

For me the experience ended at the Home Screen and everything else was a disappointment. Now I'm no software engineer (I am on my way there!) but I failed to see such a well designed OS fail at making common tasks easier. The button + touchscreen gestures could have easily been handled just by the touchscreen.

The thing that scares me the most is the support, both hardware and software.

I guess, Android just isn't for me! :-(

 

[eggdrop]

It wasn't really about speed with me on the contact, it was option. I like seeing my girlfriend directly on my home screen and the ability to email, text, call, facebook, or navigate directly from 2 presses. I really enjoyed some of the games on the iPhone, case in point COD: Zombies. That game is great, but $15 is crazy. I am kicking myself for spending that since that is half the price for that whole game on my PC.

I actually like that there are hardware/soft buttons. It really opens up options on the OS. I like that no matter what program you are in that they still function the same way. Search will always search, either google or within the program. Menu will always show the options in the program. It's just so simple it's stupid.

I loved the simplicity of the iPhone's no buttons but then it was also it's downfall for me. I hated that while playing a game I could not go out and answer a text or email. If I answered a phone call, well there went my high score. I put SmsPopup on my N1 then immediately took it off because I forgot how really intrusive having a pop up was. I was trying to replicate my iPhone on the N1 when it should not have been that way. I like know that when another person is holding my phone that they aren't about to read all my business when a text comes through. These are just things that pushed me away and brought me to the open arms of Android.

 

[Air Force One]

but have you realized that it is actually faster to go to Phone -> Call Log and Dial.

Actually, adding a direct dial shortcut is fastest. With as many as seven home screens available (when considering baked roms and home replacements), being able to allocate an entire screen to direct dial shortcuts is awesome.

 

[i.mac]

It wasn't really about speed with me on the contact, it was option. I like seeing my girlfriend directly on my home screen and the ability to email, text, call, facebook, or navigate directly from 2 presses. I really enjoyed some of the games on the iPhone, case in point COD: Zombies. That game is great, but $15 is crazy. I am kicking myself for spending that since that is half the price for that whole game on my PC.

I actually like that there are hardware/soft buttons. It really opens up options on the OS. I like that no matter what program you are in that they still function the same way. Search will always search, either google or within the program. Menu will always show the options in the program. It's just so simple it's stupid.

I loved the simplicity of the iPhone's no buttons but then it was also it's downfall for me. I hated that while playing a game I could not go out and answer a text or email. If I answered a phone call, well there went my high score. I put SmsPopup on my N1 then immediately took it off because I forgot how really intrusive having a pop up was. I was trying to replicate my iPhone on the N1 when it should not have been that way. I like know that when another person is holding my phone that they aren't about to read all my business when a text comes through. These are just things that pushed me away and brought me to the open arms of Android.

I totally agree with you. Though, jailbreaking the iPhone can provide relief from the Push Notifications pop-ups. My problem is not the UI, I love it, that is the reason I gave up my iPhone. For me the pro's of having a fantastic UI does not out-weight the con's in terms of weak applications.

I think I'll do a video later in the day to better explain what I mean.

 

[i.mac]

Actually, adding a direct dial shortcut is fastest. With as many as seven home screens available (when considering baked roms and home replacements), being able to allocate an entire screen to direct dial shortcuts is awesome.

Oh yeah, agreed! I was talking about the shortcut which gives the different options to either call, message, email and facebook!

 

[shawn1224]

So jailbreaking your iphone doesn't void your warranty? Hmm that's news.

 

[i.mac]

I hope I could afford to keep both.

I'm definitely not going to shun-out Android anytime soon. I just don't have too much faith in the platform yet.

 

[i.mac]

So jailbreaking your iphone doesn't void your warranty? Hmm that's news.

It does not void your hardware warranty, I have experience with that. And a simple reset can bring you back to stock incase there is a problem with the software.

With the N1, you have neither options!

 

[shawn1224]

What do you mean by hardware warranty? So you're saying that if you have a hardware defect and your phone is jailbroken ... they'll replace it?

And with a simple reset won't it still leave traces of being jailbroken?

 

[i.mac]

What do you mean by hardware warranty? So you're saying that if you have a hardware defect and your phone is jailbroken ... they'll replace it?

And with a simple reset won't it still leave traces of being jailbroken?

Yes, if your screen stops working or there is dust underneath the screen or any buttons are not working, they will replace it even if it's jailbroken.

Restoring the iPhone will remove any traces of it being jailbroken.

 

[eggdrop]

Not from my experience. The iPhone does not cover hardware unless it is defective. It only covers very minor things for a year. I have rarely seen a screen go bad besides it getting smashed. And Apple's version of support is a joke. I have had the 2g iphone and the 3g and on both have had to get them replaced. Both were defects and not from wear & tear. They replaced them only because it was so close to original purchase date and not after I had to jump through some hoops. I also went the extra mile on my 3g and bought the applecare, which I must say is a WASTE of money. I first got the 8 gig then switched to the 16g in a day and was not allowed to move my spplecare over. It made no sense! But everyone has different experiences.

 

[MartinS]

It really gets in my nerves when people (and the odd publication - Stuff magazine) say that live wallpaper drains battery. It generally accounts for 2% of all battery loss.

I stopped reading the OP at that point as it was not factually correct.

However phones are personal, like them or not. I hope you are happy with your decision, whatever it is.

 

[outoffocus]

Apple and 3rd party developers have a couple of year headstart. It will take android another year to catch up on apps . That is crazy quick. Meanwhile, plenty new stuff coming out almost daily. I pretty much avoid site specific apps. Why bother with the facebook app when hitting the real site works great? Anyway... if I were thinking of getting back on the walled iphone bandwagon I'd wait for the new phone. Why go with 2 year old technology if you're so anal about your phone?

Good luck with your new phone.

 

[grainysand]

The touchscreen isn't as responsive, while transitioning between the different home screens is more often that not, lag-gy. The inability of rearranging the icons in the menu is something I missed.

And the inability of having anything but endless icon grids on the iPhone didn't bother you? You can put app shortcuts on your homescreens, after all. Whatever other complaints you may have, this one is just downright bizarre. Quite frankly, you should like a Mac user who's spent a while with Windows, throws up his hands and declaring Win7 is terrible because the Windows logo gives him rashes. You're experiencing transitional remorse.

Push notifications is a JOKE, my GMail never pushed with any consistency.

Looks like you're doing something wrong, then. My Gmail pushes perfectly fine.

The phone wasn't as easy to use as I though it was, the combination of using the touchscreen and the haptic buttons threw me off at times.

Cars are harder to drive than a tricycle, therefore tricycles are better vehicles, right?

Live wallpapers sure are again only eye candy, the only other thing they do is drain your battery.

Wrong.

The keyboard is not at par with the iPhone's but I got used to it, so I won't say much.

There's such a thing as installing alternative keyboards. There are plenty of them to go around, from the superior HTC IME to Swype/SlideIT/Shapewriter.

Multitasking:
Well, this is a touchy topic for me. First of all, I'm in Canada and there is NO decent radio app, so please don't give me "listening to Pandora" as an example. All other apps (more or less) rely on push notifications which are readily available on the iPhone. But I'd still give the N1 the upper edge.

Dude. There're more to multi-tasking than push notifications. I don't know what the hell you run on your phone, but I for one appreciate being able to have Google Maps and a browser open at once, among other things, while Tube Downloader fetches, converts and downloads some five clips I lined up.

"Open Source":
Apart for allowing any app to it's app store which has made it more of a widget store that anything else, the OS is not open source for one reason - Rooting voids warranty. Software warranty I agree with, but voiding hardware warranty is non-sense. I rather jailbreak my iPhone and get 80% of Android's pros'. And, and, and, keep my hardware warranty. Google, don't advertise your OS as open source when you wouldn't support it.

It's nice to see how you did your research and read up on all those "my phone got scratched/dust under the screen so I sent it in with an unlocked bootloader and HTC still honors the warranty!" threads, amirite? Wait, looks like you didn't. Hilarious.

Support:
Apple's customer care and tech support have been much more knowledgeable than Google's. Heck, I wasn't allowed to talk to one unless I ordered the phone. The tech agents that I encountered in my 10-odd calls in the 10 days that I have had phone were not helpful. If I have a problem with my iPhone I can get it replaced in 10 minutes, N1 would take 2 weeks!

Oh my shit, no. Apple's sales staff are some of the most tech-illiterate morons I've ever had the misfortune of running into. Go in and ask them if the iPhone can multi-task yet ("you mean multi-touch?") and whether the iPad can run Flash ("uhhhm"). True story: that's the answers I got the last time I went into an Apple store. One of the guys had to look up the iPhone's processor. Pa-****ing-thetic useless wastes of oxygen.

Future Development:
In spite of the growing Android base, I see no breakthrough. Why? My 2007 iPhone V1 can do 95% of what the N1 can. I don't see Google or the providers supporting handsets in terms of software development in the long term. I have seen too many examples to believe that it would change. If the OS is SO customizable and SO open source, why can it not be customized to any hardware? Apple still supports and updates a 3 year old phone. While as the 2009 MyTouch is forever stuck at 1.6 unless you want to VOID your warranty - NOT FAIR!

OMG I CAN'T RUN WinXP ON MY 486 PC, NOT FAIR, WAAH WAAH WAHHHHHHHH. Have you... ever... used a computer? Like, ever? Is Microsoft obliged to give everyone a free upgrade to Win7 to everybody? Oooh, did Apple hand every single Mac owner a free Snow Leopard upgrade? Yes? No?

 

[CodeMonkey]

Push notifications is a JOKE, my GMail never pushed with any consistency.

Then you should check your APN settings, GMail Settings and Provider reliability - maybe something's interrupting the heartbeat..
I've had a G1, a Magic and now have a Nexus One. Push Gmail has always worked flawlessly for me. I have 3 Gmail accounts pushed to the N1 and a POP3 account checked hourly. None of them ever fail to receive email as appropriate.

I though I was free of iTunes, but as it turns out, I miss it. Apple's one-stop syncing idea was pure genius.

Never loaded iTunes on a Windows PC? Slow is not the word. Never had a iTunes sync failure? Never had an iTunes sync take several hours? I regularly solve these types of problems for friends with iPhones and fail to see the need to load such a heavy app just to transfer some files..

Many lightweight free and paid utilities will sync your iTunes playlists to an N1 (or any device with USB access to a storage card). Try Salling Media Sync for example..

iPhone's Facebook app is arguably perfect in it's UI and functionality.

And has had more development time (14 months according to my Googling of app release dates) with more demand due to market share. As Android increases its user base, demand will increase and drive functionality.

...reading both Facebook and Twitdroid was hard mainly due to the small font size.

My Twidroid app offers settings to change the font size

App3: RSS I'm a gadget geek and I want to keep up-to-date with my stuff! The two apps I compared were NewsStand/NewsRack and PureRSS. Again there was no comparison in terms of the UI or functionality.

Try NewsRob - it syncs with Google Reader and does everything I want it to.

App Store:
The Android App store is still lagging behind in functionality but mostly in quality.

At the moment maybe, but it does have freedom of choice... Don't like the way the native Android apps provide email functionality? Download an alternative. Don't like the native Android browser? Download an alternative..

Some developers are beginning to mirror their iPhone apps to Android, offering the same functionality in essentially the same UI.

Multitasking:
Well, this is a touchy topic for me. First of all, I'm in Canada and there is NO decent radio app, so please don't give me "listening to Pandora" as an example. All other apps (more or less) rely on push notifications which are readily available on the iPhone. But I'd still give the N1 the upper edge.

I'm in the UK - no Pandora for me. But then I do write my emails / browse the web / read the news whilst listening to my music...

Apple's customer care and tech support have been much more knowledgeable than Google's.

Never had a complaining post deleted from Apple's support forum then? They won't deviate from the company line - consider the recent yellow screen issues with the newer iMacs...

Future Development:
If the OS is SO customizable and SO open source, why can it not be customized to any hardware? Apple still supports and updates a 3 year old phone. While as the 2009 MyTouch is forever stuck at 1.6 unless you want to VOID your warranty - NOT FAIR!

Read up on Froyo (with Android we don't have to wait for 1 person to officially announce OS changes at some annual show).
My understanding is that updates to 2.1 are coming for 2009 Android phones - eg Spring for the MyTouch


HTH

 

[jsward12]

Nexus one is a great phone, really is nothing to compare to an iPhone. Dont forget if you want to have the best of both worlds go get a itouch and keep the n1!

 

[JBHorner]

I have a Nexus One and a 3GS. I agree with almost everything the OP said. Outdoor use is nothing short of pathetic. I'll say again--nothing short of pathetic. It is such a joke, that I actually had to run to find shade when I had an incoming call the other day. (I was waiting for an important call, and I didn't want to answer any call but that one.) Or, maybe it was when I was trying to make a call.

The multitasking on the Nexus One is nice...until you realize you have some mutant app. that wants to eat up most of the processor at the most inconvenient times. One day, it was the built in mail program.

I've also had problems with Gmail intermittently deciding that push really means stroll.

Anyway, I don't know why people have to get so emotional about these posts. Like the guy who says, "didn't do your research, did you?!" The warranty claims have been all over the map for rooted N1s.

My biggest gripe with the N1, when compared to the iPhone--battery life. Same number of email accounts, same polling frequency. Less than 20% of battery life at the end of the day. (No calls.) My 3GS has, roughly, 60%. Yes, I could always carry another battery. But why stop there? Maybe I could just carry around a nice little generator and charger?

Joel

 

[eggdrop]

At the end of the day it's all the same, "different strokes for different folks". It's all a matter of opinion and experience. I know that if I had gotten a defective phone I would not be as happy as I am now. Same argument can be had about PC vs Mac, it is a never ending battle that people will always be on opposite sides about. Good luck with the iPhone, but I do suggest waiting till the June announcement of it's new iteration.

 

[zetroc]

It does not void your hardware warranty, I have experience with that. And a simple reset can bring you back to stock incase there is a problem with the software.

With the N1, you have neither options!

I thought you could unroot your rooted phone and that would bring it back to stock. Thus not being a huge problem if questions of warranty came up...

Am I misinformed?