Mayhem & Chaos Blog

 

Cool Tech

Nexus One compared to iPhone 3gs

Last week I switched to a Nexus One phone from Google with service on T-Mobile. My motivations were:

1. I'm sick of Apple's lock-in crap and their shenanigans in the App Store.
2. The iPhone is too closed.
3. To develop for the iPhone you need to pay $100/year. Even if you never release an app, you can't continue running your own apps on your own phone once your dev subscription runs out. Screw you Apple!
4. The T-Mobile version of the Nexus One should work flawlessly on EU mobile networks and make travel for me much simpler.

Here is my list of pros and cons for the Nexus One after a week of use:

Nexus One vs iPhone 3gs

Advantages

• Open. Simply plug in and mount as a drive. You organize your SD card and put what music you want on it.
• You can install applications without paying. And you distribute apps without Google's approval.
• Android versions or some equivalent of all the apps I was using are available.
• No more iTunes!!
• No dicking around with ringtones. Use any mp3.
• last.fm worked great driving in the bay area.
• Pogoplug worked better. Still not awesome.
• Its overall faster. Pages load faster.
• Removable battery, removable sd card.
• Camera is better and has simple flash.
• The haptic feedback (vibrate feedback rather than audio feedback) is really nice!
• The turn-by-turn navigation is really awesome. Really fun on a bike too!
• You can tether your Nexus one!
• Weighs less.

Disadvantages

• External speakers not nearly as good as the ones on the iPhone.
• No OmniFocus client (but not a great loss)
• Screen gets oily and smudged. Need screen protector!
• In bright light, the screen is hard to see! Automatic brightness adjustments are lacking or could be improved.
• No timer app. Finding one means sifting through tons of crap.

T-Mobile vs AT&T

It seems that I don't get 3G as often as I do with AT&T, BUT, overall I would say that the experience of N1 on T-Mobile is overall faster than iPhone 3gs on AT&T. There are tons of factors that factor into this, but as a general overall impression, the 3G service on T-Mobile/N1 is more pleasant. Battery life is about the same on both phones.

Conclusion

I love it and I'm glad I switched. I feel much happier (because its open and not evil) and the experience is overall better. At the price of free and saving $30/month on the plan this was a complete no brainer. Buying a Nexus One as part of a T-Mobile plan should also be a no-brainer if having an unlocked phone isn't so important for you.

A big thumbs up all around!

 

Wireless

Smartphones on Verizon and thoughts on the Pre

Since I'm a big fan of my iPhone several of my friends have asked me when I think Verizon might get a similar phone to run on their network. I'm personally not sure if we'll ever see an Apple phone for Verizon, but now its clear that smartphones have arrived on Verizon and they are powered by Google's Android. Walt Mossberg says:

But this week, Verizon (VZ) is rolling out a device that finally gives it a more credible alternative. This new $200 phone is the Motorola Droid and it’s the first Verizon model to run Google’s (GOOG) Android smart-phone operating system. I’ve been testing the Droid, and while it has some significant drawbacks, I regard it as a success overall. It’s the best super-smart phone Verizon offers, the best Motorola (MOT) phone I’ve tested and the best hardware so far to run Android. I can recommend the Droid to Verizon loyalists who have lusted for a better smart phone, but don’t want to switch networks.

That pretty much sums of what my friends have been asking for -- take a look and see if any of the drawbacks are a deal-breaker for you. I think if you require an outstanding keyboard, then you may need to wait. But if the software flaws are bugging you, then worry not. Google and the open source community are revving the Android software faster than Apple is revving the iPhone software.

A few months ago I was patiently waiting for the Palm Pre to arrive on Verizon's network, but I think Palm has made two significant mistakes that actually threaten their survival in my opinion:

1. It is horribly complicated to get an application published in Palm's application marketplace. Apple has made this easy and they have oodles of applications for the iPhone. A broken app store makes the Palm Pre much less appealing compared to Android or the iPhone. I don't think Palm understands the true importance of the App Store.
2. Piggybacking Sync off iTunes. Palm, who has pioneered sync software for the original Palm Pilot is some fancy footwork into tricking iTunes into thinking the Pre is some sort of Apple device. Of course Apple doesn't like this and Palm and Apple have been playing a cat and mouse game of enabling and disabling the Pre syncing in iTunes. Who loses that game? You, the end-user.

How could you be so stupid, Palm? These mis-steps may very well be the end of Palm, since my feeling is that they bet the farm on the Pre. They got a few things right, but two very critical things wrong. I've loved many of their products and its sad to see the company mis-step so badly today.