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Ask HN: Should one buy the N1 ?
27 points by Murkin on Jan 10, 2010 | hide | past | favorite | 60 comments
I admit, I have a crappy old phone (SonyErW910). Everyone seems to be running around with shiny new iPhones. But I can't figure out if the N1 is really worth it.

Has anyone used the Nexus One ? The reviews about it appear to be divided.

Or would you recommend going for Droid/iPhone ?

Thanks

*Disclaimer: This post was not A/B tested nor optimized for maximum viewing.




I've had my Nexus One for four days now.

The hardware itself is outstanding. The screen is gorgeous, I like the haptic feedback, and there are lots of nice touches like the trackball that lights up.

The software has a few great points too. The voice recognition is incredible. I like having the choice to run background apps.

This is also my first Android phone. After hearing early complaints about the OS, I thought I'd put it off until it's fully baked. The fact 2.1 was touted as a great OS update gave me the feeling it's time to try it out.

Well, I can say there are a lot of annoyances that are piling up.

Scrolling, especially flick scrolling, is inferior to iPhone 1.0. It's jerky and fickle.

The onscreen keyboard feel less accurate. I don't mean the predictive typing, I mean the prediction of what keys I'm trying to hit.

Navigating text fields is bad. When the voice recognition gets one word wrong, it's a pain to go back and fix it.

No multitouch. This is a pain in maps or zooming in on a web page. I know there are patent concerns, but as an end user, I don't care.

In general, I feel like the OS is half done. Someone cranked out a feature and performed zero refinement. I have to load a submenu to stop loading a web page? I would sacrifice wizz-bang features like voice recognition to fix all these little annoyances.

I'm going to give the phone a few more days. If I still haven't adjusted, I'm selling it.


I've had mine for four days too. As far as navigating text, a friendly Blackberry user pointed out to me that I should use the goofy trackball for navigating textfields. Works better than repeatedly trying to click in the right spot.

I came from a iPhone 3g. The spit and polish just isn't there on Android like it is on the iPhone OS. I'd rather have a little less spit and polish in exchange for a little less parental intervention. I want my Google Voice and don't want to wonder if Steve Jobs will decide to allow my phone to have the "next big thing."


Specific response:

> I have to load a submenu to stop loading a web page?

The icon up by the location bar doesn't turn into an "X" for you while a page is loading? (When the page is fully loaded, it's the bookmark icon; when the location has focus, it's a search icon. This is on the Droid, though.)

In general: your points might be right, but it's also tough to tell how many of them come from being used to the iPhone, vs what your experience would be like coming from a blank slate. I'm certain some of that comes from falling short of Apple's high usability standards, but I'm also certain some of it may just be that you've gotten used to The One Way To Do Things. ;)

I've never used the iPhone but in the few weeks I've had a Droid, I've been annoyed very rarely and impressed more often.


I just tested.

I loaded a web page I'd bookmarked on my home screen. The top part of the screen shows the loading bar. The bookmark button is still a bookmark.

When I click a link, it doesn't change into a stop button until the actual page has started loading.

But it looks like loading the bottom menu shows me stop consistently.

The "you're just not used to it" argument constantly rears its head when people criticize usability. That's why I was careful in pointing out the deficiencies.

I can understand that the keyboard takes adjustment. Notice I didn't criticize the android "word menu" auto-complete.

The poor scrolling is a technical failure. Nobody wants jerky scrolling.

And the lack of pinch-and-zoom has repeatedly been covered as a patent issue, not a UI choice.

"You're just not used to it" is extremely dangerous reasoning.


> "You're just not used to it" is extremely dangerous reasoning.

I wasn't quite trying to say exactly that, at least not in a blanket manner.

But, let's take scrolling as an example: I haven't noticed that the android scrolling is jerky, not even a little bit. This is probably because I've never used something as silky as the iPhone. ((Or, perhaps, if I did try an iPhone, I would find its scrolling too smooth with no satisfying 'thump to a stop' at the end of a scroll or 'jump into motion' at the beginning.))

In other words, it's not "You're just not used to it" -- it's "without the other point of reference, would you even notice it?"


Your line of reasoning flawed, in that it can be applied to anyplace where one option surpasses the other. Without a car as a point of reference, would you notice a horse and buggy are so bad?

Yes, I would live with the scrolling on the Android, because I'd say to myself, "That's pretty good for a mobile phone." However iPhone 1.0's scrolling was vastly superior to today's Android. That's over two years ago. I think it's safe to declare iPhone 1.0 as the bar.

And, again, I'm not criticizing the thump-to-a-stop behavior. I'm criticizing the frame rate and responsiveness.


I'm not going to say you're wrong, because I'm not really in a position to argue that. However, we're talking about Volkswagen vs BMW here, not horse and buggy vs car.


I think you're completely right re usability depending on what platform you started on. It reminds me of the kind of complaints people have when switching from Windows to OSX or from Outlook to GMail, etc.


I think this article may be relevant to the discussion.

'The Switch From iPhone To Android, And Why Your First Impression Is Wrong'

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/09/android-iphone-switch/


I have had my N1 since Google gave them out to employees. I also spent several months with Android last year. My second and third impressions were the same as the first -- that it's quite poor compared to the iPhone, and that its only redeeming feature is that it has a few applications that the iPhone does not. Are those impressions also wrong?


> Are those impressions also wrong?

Individually no. Your experience provides a sample of one case against the their proposition (at least for periods up to a few months). Whether this can be reliably generalised to others is still in question. To do fair test you would need also do a good sample of people trying to move from (up to years usage of) the N1 to the iPhone. You could see how they are doing after a few days, weeks, months...

It seems that for a some people, their first use of the iPhone was a life changing experience and it is possible that they have been so marked by it that they will always prefer that interface. Also different interfaces are probably a better fit for the way different people's brains work

(Edit : From my experiences the strongest iPhone fans seem to have a more personal/intuitive approach to things rather than being focussed on statistics or logic. Exactly the group who would be least impressed with the arguments I'm making).

With so many matters of personal taste/preference/experience involved I'm not sure if anyone's proclamation of 'the best interface' has more value than the 'best food' or 'best movie'.


> With so many matters of personal taste/preference/experience involved I'm not sure if anyone's proclamation of 'the best interface' has more value than the 'best food' or 'best movie'.

http://www.paulgraham.com/taste.html


I don't think that linking to a PG article somehow makes the issue 'settled'. This isn't a religion you know.

To truly escape the realms of relativism the article should have included 'Good Design is Measurable'. In many ways of course it is measurable - you can ask people to rate their experience or measure how long they take to learn to perform various tasks. These measurements would not necessarily be universal though for the following reasons

* They would apply only to the segment of the population being measured (may not generalise to other populations such as Chinese nationals)

* Within the measured populations there will be differences in preference. If a particular subgroup or individual exhibits different preferences does that make them 'wrong'.

* Different UI's might serve different purposes better. One may be easier to learn but another more powerful once learned.

There would be chefs, movie makers, authors, musicians who would argue even more strongly that there is a definite 'good and bad' in their fields as well. To me there argument is just as valid as for UIs.


Of course it's not settled. But the article says what I wanted to say better than I could say it. I don't see any benefit in restating what has already been said, worse. Think of the article as a library function I called.

It's an obvious point that there will be some rare souls who prefer Android. For example, if the importance you put on a working Google Voice implementation counts for more than the sum of all possible other goods a phone might offer you, then maybe the iPhone is not right for you. Likewise, a child who will eat nothing but fish sticks will likely prefer them to the best filet mignon ever cooked. But for the most useful definitions of "good," there's still an order on the set in both cases.

It probably won't surprise you that I mostly agree with the hypothetical chefs and authors you cite.


> Likewise, a child who will eat nothing but fish sticks will likely prefer them to the best filet mignon ever cooked.

Actually the child in your analogue more closely resembles a devoted iPhone user than anything else. The image of a reluctant child being encouraged to try a new food is quite a good match. 'I TOLD you I wouldn't like it' they say.

Of course in the case here we aren't comparing frozen food with high cuisine where 'better' really is obvious. We are comparing the meals of 2 of the most accomplished chefs in town. In that case individual differences in taste are often likely to be the deciding factor.

> It probably won't surprise you that I mostly agree with the hypothetical chefs and authors you cite.

Correlations in taste are to be expected. Within a cluster of highly correlated tastes the notion of 'better' will make more sense. If you chose to define your cluster as being 'better' then by extension you could say that their/your tastes are 'better' in some absolute sense.


I'd like to see someone who has a real crap phone review one of these smart phones. I have an old Nokia 6101 and believe most of the reviewers to be spoiled (no offence intended). Reviews are always in comparison to an iPhone or a crackberry. If I haven't used one of those, will these minor annoyances mean anything to me?

My 6101 does what it's supposed to do and I think it does well, especially in my fringe area. On that note, why are radio specs never included? I've had 2 other phones and had to go back to the old Nokia because reception sucked.


I just got a Droid after having the same old Motorola phone for several years. The Droid has pretty much knocked my socks off. Contrast my old phone, that could make calls, text message, and take awful pictures, with the Droid which can be used as a phone, an email client, a web browser, an OS for a ton of applications, and even a metal detector (haven't tried that app yet). The one thing I would say that I do miss is a real keypad. I used to be able to punch numbers by feel alone, so if I had to make a call from the car I could just key several numbers of the speed dial without looking (and yes, I do use a headset).


Thanks. Listening to the other reviews makes me nervous about buying anything new. I wonder if those reviews actually provide a service to most consumers or are more suitable for the suggestions box of the manufacturer.


I moved from a crappy old phone to the Droid, and am quite happy with it.

No matter what you end up with, I'd say that the differences by upgrading far outweigh which particular 'cutting edge' phone you end up going with.

I didn't think much about the transition -- just aiming to phone and portable web browser. In less than a month, though, it turns out I've got:

- a suprisingly decent point-and-shoot camera, as long as it's not dark

- a hiking/biking/skiing GPS

- a car-nav GPS

- a guitar tuner

- barcode scanner & product nutrition database

- portable music/video library

- and more! ;)

Really, it's a general purpose computer that happens to be bristling with both sensors and telephony capabilities, and an almost always-on connection to the internet. Regardless of whether it's 95% as slick as it could be and more 'open' (Android) or 98% slickness level and less 'open' (iPhone), they're still pretty much equally revolutionary.

(N.b. as a developer it was very nice to be able to write software for my phone from day one, without having to jump through a ton of hoops.)

(Edit for bullet points.)


i've had every iphone, the google adp1 (g1), mytouch 3g, nexus one, nokia e71, blackberry curve, blackberry bold, blah blah blah. i hate all of them. i use whichever one i hate the least, until a new one comes out. i try it, find things that bother me, sell it, and repeat.

my only advice is to try the phones yourself (preferably without having to buy them) and see how you like each one. go to a store, find a friend with one, whatever. but try them yourself without having someone standing there trying to "sell" it to you (literally or just trying to get you to get what they have).

these modern smartphones are so complex and powerful that asking for someone's opinion is like asking "what kind of car should i buy?" there are things you may like about a particular phone that others hate. there are things that will matter more to you than to others. you may require some functionality that someone else doesn't, and vice versa.


i hate all of them

Wow, I find that surprising. Smart phones are just incredible pieces of technology, and have made my life a lot more convenient in lots of little ways. Obviously there is tons of room for improvement, but I think you'd have to be pretty jaded to truly "hate" any of the smart phones. (Value-for-money is another question, but you can always choose not to buy one.)


Actually, I've hated all the smart phones I've used. Typing on a cell phone is, to me, a really inefficient time suck that people don't notice because they're used to it.

Fundamentally, I just want to make phone calls on my cell phone - for everything else I want a laptop with a 3g card.


Does T-Mobile provide good service where you live, work, drive, and play? If not, don't get a Nexus One. (assuming you're in the US.)

Android vs. iPhone is a religious debate, and it's unlikely you'll receive enlightenment from flames. Android 2.X (N1, Droid) is a big improvement over Android 1.X (everything else).


Thanks for the input

I am not from US and we have excellent GSM coverage here.

The Droid's keyboard sounds like the big winner. Especially with all the stuff about no multi-touch on N1.


If you have any servers that you SSH into regularly, I highly suggest getting an Android phone with a keyboard. ConnectBot (a SSH client for Android) is the reason I got my G1.


Counterpoint: the iPhone is God's own portable VNC client. Using any kind of remote-desktop functionality without pinch-and-zoom sounds painful, unless other phones have a clever UI paradigm I'm overlooking.

If you're mostly interested in command-line work over SSH, though, I can see how a phone with a physical keyboard would be the best tool for the job.


The N1 does have multitouch support at the hardware and API level, and the on-screen keyboard uses this support. The fact that the maps application and browser don't support multitouch is probably mostly due to legal issues.

[1] Multitouch API added in Android 2.0: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3323 [2] Multitouch keyboard in Android 2.0 (in section "Android virtual keyboard"): http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.0-highlights.html


I don't think you can go wrong with any of these three, but I went with the Droid. Reasons:

- Better screen than iPhone

- Physical keyboard

- Verizon service (I guess this doesn't apply as you aren't in the US)

There's no question that the iPhone OS is slicker and easier to use, but the Droid lets you do more at once.

I'm not sure why you'd want to go with a Nexus One right now. Droid is about the same price, gets better network coverage (clearly that will change when the Verizon N1 comes out), and has a keyboard.

My only real complaint with the droid is that I wish the microphone was a little better. It's possible that the Nexus One has that advantage with their two-mic noise control system.

Edit: iPhone's biggest advantage imo is the app store. Android Market just isn't there yet.


I think that part of the reason why the apps for the iPhone are better is due to the Android platform in general. No one codes Java for fun or for cool points. You don't see companies popping up like Tapbots where the UI's are carefully constructed pixel by pixel for Android. The coolest thing to hit Java for a long time is Clojure, and that's only for data nerds.

The mac is cool, OS X is cool, developing for the mac is cool. That's why people like the iPhone. It's cool. People want their shit to be rad, and they want others to think that they are rad too. You don't get this with Java, so I don't think we'll ever get this on Android.

Suffice to say... I have a Nexus One (previously I had a MyTouch 3G, and before that an iPhone 3G) and I love it!


I think Android is heading in that direction, though. Clock, Car Home, and the new Gallery application all show signs of a potential new direction for the Android UI, and it looks good. Gallery in particular: Check out what happens when you hit the share button in the app. It's a very Mac-like look and feel.


Very good point. I've noticed all these things and really like them. I like how Google has kicked it into high gear and I hope that independent developers do too. I think we need a better UI framework or just app framework in general for building Android apps... I'm not satisfied with the way things work right now.


What iPhone apps do you wish you had on Android? My experience is that Android apps cover everything you would want to do with your phone, and they are usually free.


To get that discussion started, any decent games on Android would be nice.


Well I had you beat in terms of crappy old phone ownership. I just upgraded from my good old Sony Ericsson w800i (had it for ~3 years) to an iPhone 3GS. I thought long and hard about this move, I've seriously pondering upgrading my phone for about 3 - 4 months now. I finally went with an iPhone mainly for two reasons:

1. I bought myself a Mac desktop last year and I love it. I felt the iPhone would compliment nicely.

2. They've had a couple of iterations to sort out the kinks in the iPhone now and IMHO it shows.

The 3GS feels very polished to me and I don't regret my decision. I've only had my iPhone for about 10 days and I already have Google Sync set up for email/calendar syncing, I've used it as a Skype VoIP handset (in conjunction with my home Wi-Fi), I've got games on my phone that are actually worth playing, mobile Internet access that's actually practical to use and I've got an awesome remote for use with the VLC media player.

I've even made a few phone calls.

I really thought about getting one of the slightly less mainstream phones that might give me more "geek cred" or something. But in the end, I just want as good a user experience as possible and I felt I would get that from the iPhone. YMMV.

Granted, upgrading from a SE w800i I probably would be more than happy with any of the current generation of phones and I can't directly comment on the N1. But all my research led me to the conclusion that if you're looking for polished, go with the iPhone. If you're wanting a little more bleeding edge and experimental, go for one of the other options.


I have both an Android handset and an iPhone 3G. Both are good enough for e-mail, browsing, texting, calendar and all the fundamental stuff you'd expect from a modern SmartPhone. So whatever choice you make I don't think you'll be disappointed.

My personal preference is still the iPhone for a variety of reasons. The biggest one is the UI is entirely touchscreen driven. Android phones have 4 or more physical buttons so as you're using the phone you have to switch between the touchscreen and buttons. It may not seem like a big deal but I find it makes most applications less obvious to use since they don't have to represent all their features on the touchscreen where my attention is focused. Sometimes I have to remind myself there are 6 buttons on my Android phone and explore what each one does in each different application. Lots of functionality is revealed when you use the Menu button so I frequently have to stop using the touchscreen, hit the menu button, and go back to using the touchscreen again. It's not hard to find and press the menu button, it's right there, but it interrupts the flow of what I'm doing and I don't like that.


What do you want to do with your phone? This is the important question. If you are just using it to call people, send messages, browse the net... so you don't need an expensive one.

Precise what you need and then decide each one to choose


I've been using it since mid-December and really like it. It's sleek, it's fun, and it has some nifty features. I love the voice recognition, I love that they fixed the Webkit bug that prevented me from browsing HN while logged in, and I like that "unlock screen" is now a slide-right gesture instead of a button, which virtually eliminates pocket-calls and embarassing MP3 plays.

Battery life could probably be better - it seems to be about on par with the G1, maybe a little better. I get about 4-5 hours of heavy game playing or navigation/GPS use, 2-3ish days on standby.


I've had a Nexus One for a few days now as well (ordered on launch day) and I can say that it's a fantastic device. The aura of excitement I had with the experience on my first day owning it was akin to the one I had after coming out of the IMAX 3D theater after seeing Avatar. It's just cool. Let me elaborate.

I'm a Mac nerd. I hack on my mac, I worked at an Apple store for a couple of months for fun, and I really believe that they have their shit together and produce magnificent products. I never owned an original iPhone, but had a 3G the day they were released (see a pattern, like many of you I am a gadget freak).

I eventually just got bored with it. It's a great device, but like I said I'm a gadget freak so I needed a new fix. Android was an attractive platform because of it's tight integration with Google (I'm an apps user), and T-Mobile offered much cheaper plans. My girlfriend is also on T-Mo, so the path was clear. I bought my first Android device in October of 09, a T-Mobile MyTouch 3G. It took a lot of getting used to. I figured that since the iPhone was the gold standard for smart phones, a lot of the Android experience would be a copy and therefore I'd learn it quickly. Sort of... but no. Unlike the iPhone, there are many devices running Android and most of them have a lot more external buttons. The UI depends on it. The back button for example, and the menu button, are critical on Android. Being a UI guy I learned things quickly, and after hacking and tweaking the phone with Cyanogen's mod, I came to like it. I missed my iPhone though, and longed for a better android experience; especially after the Droid came out, running Android 2.0. Unfortunately I had unlocked my iPhone and given it to my girlfriend, so I wasn't about to take it back.

Enter Nexus One. I had known about the physical device for a long time. Most people referred to it in the HTC community as the Passion. I was pretty damn excited when the Nexus materials started to leak. The device was gorgeous, and the specs were fantastic. I quickly sold my MyTouch on Ebay and bought the Nexus as soon as I could.

Best $530 I have ever spent, by far. The new OS is an amazing improvement on the old. The experience has almost done a 180. Everything is smoother and quicker. Things are more convenient and not as convoluted as they once were. I'm sure the 512MB of ram and 1GHz processor have a great deal to do with that, but I'm not complaining. The hardware is gorgeous too. It feels great in your hand (much like an iPhone) and like many say the screen is beautiful.

I've never owned a Droid but I've played around with one. I don't like the hardware keyboard and the device is slow. It doesn't have the OS that the Nexus has (2.0 compared to 2.1) and there's a big difference. The snapdragon processor is amazing. This thing screams compared to a Droid! Unfortunately... if you're on Verizon you have to wait a while for the CMDA version... but it's worth it! The Droid was a great effort, but it's not as nice as the Nexus.

tl;dr - I went from iPhone to Android (with a MyTouch 3G) and was unimpressed. I'm a UI guy so I'm real picky. I just got myself a Nexus One, and I'm finally able to say that the Android experience is on equal playing field with the iPhone. No other Android device can say that, except the Nexus One.


The speed doesn't come from Android 2, it comes from having decent hardware. Android 1.5 and 1.6 on the Archos tablet run fine, because the Archos has a decent (800MHz) processor. The Dream / Sapphire / Hero / etc. are massively underpowered and would probably have trouble running Windows 3.1 properly.

It is nice that Android devices are finally getting hardware on-par with what Apple ships.


"like I said I'm a gadget freak so I needed a new fix"

I'm the same way Michael.. I've owned the iPhone, 3G and now 3GS.. and I'm getting bored with it. But there are a few apps I've grown to love and can't be without (iKindle is one of them) so I will be sitting tight for a while.


Yeah... I think that's the biggest problem. There aren't a ton of apps out for the device. Like dropbox, and kindle, to name a few. I still think it's because of Google's choice on Java, or at least the way the apps are built. XML files are the first bad sign.

People complain that the $99 fee and approval process of Apple is so bad, that the $25 and no approval process of Google is the way to go. Problem is... many of the apps you see on the iPhone are quality apps. They look great, they function great, and they make developers a lot of cash. While you still see similar things on Android, it's far far less common.

The Facebook app is a prime example. Comparing Facebook on iPhone to Facebook on Android is like comparing a Bugatti Veyron to a 1989 Taurus SHO.


How in the world does anyone get "bored" with an iPhone, or any other current-gen smartphone for that matter? Adult ADD? There may not be an app for that, but I'm sure there's a prescription.


Gadget freaks are not like you or me.

(What's funny is that most of my acquaintances think that I am a gadget freak. I, who own an original 2G iPhone! By the standards of the true gadget freak I am a hopelessly mundane fuddy-duddy.)

What you have to realize is that an actual operating gadget that one uses from day to day is a disappointment to gadget freaks. I suspect that a gadget freak's favorite moment is the one right before he or she opens the box... the moment when the device is fully alive in the imagination, the moment before one's dream collides with the drab reality of the actual world and the inevitable letdown begins. That, I hypothesize, is why there's such a fetish for "unboxing" videos.


Perhaps you should consider channeling that energy into creating your own gadgets. Maybe you could create a gadget that doesn't disappoint.


30, 40 years ago, there were a lot more guys out in their driveway working on some old car on an average Saturday afternoon. Those folks [and their modern counterparts] need something to do.


This is more like going down to the dealership every Saturday afternoon and buying a new car, just for something to do.

Fun stuff if you have the cash, I guess!


If you view your phone as more of a toy, rather than a tool, I suppose boredom applies.


I see it as a way to enable other activities, I guess. I can use the phone to plot a new route for a bike ride, keep track of where I am with GPS, check the local NOAA weather radar, and then navigate by the stars on the way home if it's clear. If I get hungry, it can find food nearby. If something breaks, I can call a cab. If I ride by a nice-looking house for sale, I can stop and look inside on the realtor's site, and send them an email making fun of the asking price. Boredom is pretty far down the list of stuff that becomes possible with a modern smartphone.

Or I could just stay home and play with the SDK if I want. To me, the technology in the phone itself is nowhere near as interesting as what it enables.


I would recommend neither of the three phones mentioned, but HTC HD2...in my subjective opinion, having the 4.3" screen, with other things being similar, could make it a best option. If you are from USA, I suggest you wait for it.


Ah, windows mobile, combining the usability of Android with the joyful development experience of the iPhone. Who could ask for more?


But you don't see much of WM there. There is one software layer above WM, HTC Sense.


Are you asking if you need mobile internet?

Would be interested in answers to that, too. I haven't joined the fun yet, but I wonder if there really is anything life changing about it (yet)?


The best thing for me is that you don't have to worry about getting directions or knowing where you're going to go. There's also the ability to instantly pull up info--you never need to forget who that actor was, and discussions don't get derailed by pointless quibbling over facts that could easily be looked up.

And yes, you can browse HN on the toilet. Life is good.


I originally read the title as "Should someone by H1N1". Oops.


The N1 is going to be crappy, just like the original iPhone was crappy. If you want to support the Droid movement, buy the Nexus. If you are willing to wait a while for your phone not to suck, buy the Nexus. If you are blown away by speech to text, buy the Nexus.

If you want the best current smartphone (and AT&T works in your area), buy an iPhone.


We need to make a distinction here. Are you saying the N1's hardware will be crappy, software will be crappy, or the interaction between the two?

The Android software has been in the wild for more than a year now and it's pretty well developed, so it's not accurate to compare that to the original iPhone software. The N1 hardware appears to be top-notch so I think the word crappy applies even less to that than the software. So then I guess you are saying the N1 will suck for awhile until they work out problems with the interaction between the hardware and software. That's a fair criticism I guess, although I think unfounded.

I can tell you that this phone does not suck. My girlfriend works at Google so I've played with this phone since the beginning of December. It is most definitely the best smartphone on the market right now. I'd say if T-mobile has a decent presence in your area you'd be a fool to go with an iPhone over an N1.


1) The hardware is nothing without the software. Even a nice capacitive touchscreen needs the right programming. So, I don't think I really need to draw a distinction here. Also, I think everyone is using roughly equivalent, commodity hardware.

2) All Droids lacks the wealth of apps the iPhone has.

3) All Droids lack years of market testing like iPhones have.

4) If your girlfriend works at Google, you are certainly biased, and I think anyone who has touched all the major smartphones can't really say any of them are the best except the Blackberry or the iPhone, depending on the application. All Droids and Palms are just me-toos trying to catch up right now. I'm not saying Android and its phones won't get there, they just can't be there yet.


I'm mostly trying to point out that the N1 is not a new phone in the sense that the original iPhone was, and your entire first post indicates an overly simplistic view of the phone and its software. When Snow Leopard was released and started shipping on new Macbooks (with newer hardware) it would have been ridiculous to suggest that this "new computer" was "too new" and will suck for awhile thus we should wait a couple of iterations.


The Motorola Droid is pretty awesome. If you want to support the Android movement, that's just as good. Also, if you like pull-out keyboards with real buttons, then that's pretty nice.


While I would love to get the "cutting edge". Droid keeps coming up as the most comfortable alternative.

Or waiting a few months for the next release of N1.




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