More impressions after 5 hours hitting N1 hard

[milo47]

In my recent posting about my first two hours with the Nexus One, I promised an update after further tests. Thanks to another session (5 hours this time) with one friend

 

[sooper_droid12]

Thanks for your thorough review, while mostly subjective, you did take a stab at some objectivity. I think you continue to confirm what we have all known and read regarding the N1's display: While brilliant in contrast, it's overblown color saturation makes sacrifices to the overall accuracy of the display's color gamut.

Copy and paste on Android is no where near as good as it is on iPhone. There's no comparison there and hopefully it'll get better over time. But right now, it is the suck. I'm surprised you could not pull off DVD Res on the N1. I have done that and then some on the DROID with no problems with sync. It might be a problem in the decoding process? I'm just guessing at this point.

You hit the nail on the head with the Palm. What you love about your Treo is found in the Pre and soon to be Pre+. This is just one of the reasons why WebOS is IMO the best mobile OS out there. It makes sense in feel, function and utility. It seems second nature and intuitive. Honestly, if Palm had hardware like the N1, it would be insane!

 

[lobug]

A couple of comments:

* Gmail copy and paste

Android allows copy and paste from any editable field, but only the browser allows copy and paste from non editable fields. So a workaround for gmail is to log into your gmail account using the browser. Then you can copy and paste the text you are interested.

Sucks, but at least there is a workaround.

* Calendar

The android calendar app does allow you to add calendars from other accounts. I know this because I have my calendar in addition to my wife's calendar on my nexus 1.

This can be accomplished as follows in the calendar app:

menu -> more -> my calendars. menu -> add calendars

You need to first add the additional calendars from a desktop browser. Then it will show up in android.


The rest of your post is a pretty fair assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the n1.


I also agree with your assessment about the palm pilot. My wife was a diehard palm user, but she successfully switched over to android. Mainly by doing most of her text entries and scheduling using the desktop google PIM and using the android PIM more for viewing and minor editing.

 

[anotherfandroid]

Honestly, if Palm had hardware like the N1, it would be insane!

so true....so true....so true...

the ONLY thing that kept me away from the pre was the small screen! what i find surprising is that the pre plus will neither have a larger screen nor a better physical keyboard. yow sooper, why do you think palm is not increasing the screen and keyboard size?

btw, if i could use one word to describe webOS, it would be brilliant!

 

[sooper_droid12]

Pre (and Pre+) don't have THAT small of a screen. 3.1", same resolution as the iPhone. Honestly, I think they were looking for a tight package. But also, I think they had a very specific intention with the device. Ultimately, I believe they also had to concede to play in this very competitive smartphone market. At CES, they announced a hard push towards 3D games. Inevitably, this will require better hardware. I think they kept the keyboard the size that it is because their target demo are likely blackberry users, where one-handed typing is the way of life!

 

[djclark]

Wanting to get the N1 onto my WiFi network, but not wanting to glass-type a long SSID and security key, I e-mailed them from my PC to the N1 - hoping that I could select/copy/paste each chunk, moving between Gmail and WiFi Settings seamlessly via multi-tasking (utterly impossible with the iPhone, by the way). Good theory, bad implementation.

So much iPhone misinformation on this site. What iPhone did you use ? Every iPhone i've used Mail is one of those apps that is ALWAYS running in the background. Apples apps do not follow the same rules as third party apps ie Apple apps DO run concurrently in the background. Its third party apps that are stopped/started on command ( w/ context ). So even in your case - you could do your copy/paste.

Despite claims to the contrary, I could not select and copy text strings in read-only Gmail messages. Am I just a klutz?

no. that is a limitation of the wonderful ( read : blows ) copy/paste support android has. iPhone Copy/Paste is light years head of the abortion known as C&P on Android.

 

[NowVoyager]

Great review! Being a former Treo-ite, I concur!!! But I love my Android. It simply needs to have an app made for it. I would like Agendus. That is my app of choice. I hope that it's in the works. It took them awhile to get one for the Blackberry and I gather that it may take a minute for the Android too. Thank you for taking time to fill us in on your first impressions with the N1.

 

[sooper_droid12]

"The abortion known as C&P on Android..." What does that even mean? I know you were trying to use hyperbole to make a point, but it doesn't even make sense! (())

 

[raremage]

"The abortion known as C&P on Android..." What does that even mean? I know you were trying to use hyperbole to make a point, but it doesn't even make sense! (())

Presumably they were trying to refer to something that should have been ended before it was begun?

Which is ridiculous of course, but it is admittedly a bit quirky. The elegance of Apple's implementation is you can copy from anywhere (at least, as i recall - been off an iPhone for months now). It just makes sense if you think about it, so presumably it will come to Android eventually. Ubiquitous copy and paste is great to have, but is it really a game breaker? It took years for C&P to hit the iPhone, something that has (apparently) been forgotten.

 

[AndroidsOfTara]

Wanting to get the N1 onto my WiFi network, but not wanting to glass-type a long SSID and security key, I e-mailed them from my PC to the N1 - hoping that I could select/copy/paste each chunk, moving between Gmail and WiFi Settings seamlessly via multi-tasking (utterly impossible with the iPhone, by the way). Good theory, bad implementation. Despite claims to the contrary, I could not select and copy text strings in read-only Gmail messages. Am I just a klutz?

So, I resorted to typing in these long strings - in landscape mode, to minimize chances of making errors.

There's a much easier way to do this.

My wifi AP has a long string of completely random alphanumeric + punctuation characters. No way I'm going to type that in on a virtual or even physical keyboard.

So what I did was to copy a text file containing the key to the SD card, install the Text Edit app in the market, open the file in Text Edit and copy & paste the key into the passphrase field in the wifi setup. Works fine.