Nexus One first impressions

[omatix]

So, I just received my Nexus One a few hours ago.

Some stuff:

Battery life seems like it's going to be decent, but not spectacular. I've been playing with it for a few hours, and the battery is down to around half. I'd guess it's not going to have any Pre-style problems with getting through a day. It'll be a while before a proper answer comes out on battery life, obviously.

The screen doesn't seem to be oleophobic. Sadly, it's a total fingerprint magnet.

The trackball notification light is cool - pulses white when a new message or email comes in. Repeats every few seconds if the phone is on standby (this is an option).

It's incredibly fast at everything.

I'm using a T-Mobile T-Zones $5.99 plan on this. I ordered the phone unlocked and just stuck in my old SIM card. No problems at all - seems to be full 3G. Didn't even have to enter any settings.

The reports about the touch-sensitive buttons on the front being a bit flaky might be accurate. I think it's a combination of two things: sometimes they genuinely don't respond, but mostly I think it's that they need a longish press to be activated (not just a tap) so that they aren't accidentally pushed.

Speakerphone is loud and clear. I haven't made any calls on it yet to check how the noise cancellation works, however.

Trying to switch my T-mobile voicemail to Google Voice through the Settings interface fails every time ("Voicemail number change unsuccessful. Please contact your carrier if this problem persists." This means that hitting the voicemail button goes to the unused T-mobile mailbox number. I'd already manually routed all my voicemail to my GV number anyway, but it'd be nice to have that last leg of phone integration to it. No idea why manually routing worked - presumably it's just re-sending the same codes, right? Is there a menubar VM notification from GV if I get this working (i.e not just an SMS)?

Coming from an iPhone 2G, the phone seems super fast, and the OS is plenty "polished". Things fade in and out, little neat notifications appear and the fonts and icons are pleasingly clear. No complaints at all on that front. I can't get over listening to internet radio while surfing the web at 3G speed... pretty nice.

All in all, I'm very very happy.

Shoot me any questions - happy to answer.

 

[XM_JDM]

Here is my question...How come you didnt add this to the other thread titles, first impressions...

 

[samson_420]

How is the keyboard compared to the iPhone? Is it the same size or bigger?

Do the keys seem to stick or not respond 100% at all times. . . ?

 

[omatix]

It's similar in size to the iPhone's, although the keys have slightly less space between them. Occasionally it seemed to miss a tap, but I quickly installed Swype, which is fast and easy.

 

[omatix]

Sorry about starting a new thread - feel free to merge if any mods are on.

 

[lithium1330]

Thanks for the initial impression! Did you say you are getting 3G speed with your standard internet/data plan? Can you do a speed test? Also, it would be great if you can provide an update on the battery life. My WinMo (T-Mo Shadow) barely lasts a full day (I have exchange sync setup for instantaneous update). I really need a phone that will last a full day (12 - 16hrs).

 

[omatix]

No problem. It's for sure more than EDGE speeds. The Speedtest app gave downstream of 538 kbps and 364 up. A far cry from 7.2Mbps, for sure, but seems to be 3G for me. From what people say, though, those speed tests seem to vary a lot from test to test. (second try was 685 down, 424 up).

I'll let you know about the battery.

 

[rookie1082]

It's similar in size to the iPhone's, although the keys have slightly less space between them. Occasionally it seemed to miss a tap, but I quickly installed Swype, which is fast and easy.

Where can i download swype?

 

[omatix]

Where can i download swype?

Follow the instructions on this site:

Swype keyboard preview for Droid leaked DroidMuff.in

Really important point that isn't clear from the instructions there:

Once you've followed their instructions, go to a text field anywhere. You have to hold you finger down on the text field, and choose "Input Method" in the menu that pops up. Then choose Swype to activate it.

 

[nccruz]

does swype have the microphone key?

 

[JamesC]

Hey! I've been looking everywhere for an answer to this (as well as a few others I've found asking on google's mobile forums), but no one seems to have answered it yet. Is the AGPS chip AGPS and GPS or just AGPS. I.e. do you need to have cell phone signal or wifi to get a lock? I understand it'll take longer, but if you're in the woods (or without a data plan) is the gps useless?

Google maps won't work without internet access, but there are programs to cache maps. It would be quite helpful if this could function as a backup gps unit, and everything I've found so far is somewhat vague in this regard. Most of the early reviews just briefly mention the map capability, and nobody has really commented on the gps.

Thanks!

 

[James Bell]

@JamesC:
AGPS speeds up the initial GPS lock but does not make much difference (any?) after that. I had a Nokia phone with no AGPS and it took 2 minutes to get a GPS fix. Later when I got AGPS working that time was about 20 seconds. There was no difference in performance after the initial lock though.

 

[omatix]

does swype have the microphone key?

No, but it's a prerelease. I'd guess that the final version will.

 

[boosterman]

So... Will T-Zone work instead of Android Data Plan?

 

[cdmta]

are you guys able to get insurance on your phones thru t-mobile or google?

 

[pjmurphy77]

nice recap- i've had mine about 24 hours and am having similar experiences. two things:

1) the tmo plan we are on does not allow for number forwarding. since we are on "flexplans" they have disabled the forwarding feature which i think is completely bogus
2) when i have the phone in my car, i tend to keep it in my cupholder. However, the way it sits, i cannot see the trackball light up for notifcations. Has anyone found a way to get the small led on the top right to blink like it does on the droid ?

thanks!

 

[raremage]

Also, it would be great if you can provide an update on the battery life. ... I really need a phone that will last a full day (12 - 16hrs).

I think it will be several days or even weeks before we start to get good info on battery life. As the N1 starts to get into more and more hands, the data will firm up.

 

[chalito]

Anyone knows if I'm in Puerto Rico how can't I get the updates to the nexus1.

 

[summerboy18]

How do I ge t-zone data plan? I'm currently on AT&T and would love to Ty out my first android dvice with cheap plan on tmobile with 3g speed any help would be apprexciated

 

[lithium1330]

How do I ge t-zone data plan? I'm currently on AT&T and would love to Ty out my first android dvice with cheap plan on tmobile with 3g speed any help would be apprexciated

T-Zone is no longer available as an option and T-Zone is not 3G, but EDGE. That means speed should be the same/similar to you putting your ATT SIM into N1.

 

[summerboy18]

T-Zone is no longer available as an option and T-Zone is not 3G, but EDGE. That means speed should be the same/similar to you putting your ATT SIM into N1.

Thanks for your answer

I have anothr question to ask however

would it be worth to get nexus one and just pop in my AT&T sim card? I usually around wifi most of time and is it possible to tether nexus one to iPhone ?

 

[samson_420]

T-Zone is no longer available as an option and T-Zone is not 3G, but EDGE.

That is 100% Crap. . . .I know from experience. . .

I still have my grandfathered 5.99 T-Zones and I am able to get 3G where ever it is available on my Behold 2.

But, it is only available after badgering the shit out of a T-Mogul Supervisor. . . . .

 

[lithium1330]

would it be worth to get nexus one and just pop in my AT&T sim card? I usually around wifi most of time and is it possible to tether nexus one to iPhone ?

Ask the T-Mobile guy if it's worth it running iPhone on T-Mo's network. I read just today tethering (to PCs) is not supported by N1 today. Kinda a bummer.

 

[scottricketts]

It's so sharp and fast you almost don't believe it.

 

[samson_420]

Ask the T-Mobile guy if it's worth it running iPhone on T-Mo's network.

No shit. . . . I think it's in the verbatim they have to say. . . .

Yet, my iPhone 2g and 3g will keep up with a phone running on a 3g network(almost).