Submitted by In what is probably the least surprising product launch ever, Google has launched its Nexus One phone, but it’s only available in the US, the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Google has all the specifications, and Engadget has a review. Update by ELQ: Let me just say quickly that I now own the Canon 5D Mark II camera that some of the wallpapers that come with the Nexus One by default were shot with (e.g. this one). These amazing Creative Commons-licensed pictures were shot by Google Android engineer Romain Guy (he wrote the “live wallpaper” engine among other projects) who’s also an amazing photographer.
But it is a bland looking phone, imo. Hearkens back to the late 90s PDAs.
I actually prefer it when the outside is ‘plain’. A phone (or any other device) doesn’t need to look like much, it needs to do a lot.
Mind you, I also like the thinkpad design
so something might be wrong with me.
Well, I like ‘plain’ as well, but that Nexus is just ugly plain
If that makes any sense. And like the other guy said, it does look like a cheap Chinese knock-off. I actually had some generic ‘pda’ a looong time ago that looked almost identical to this thing.
Oh, and Thinkpads are my favorite laptop line
I still use a Transnote.
Edited 2010-01-06 15:10 UTC
The design of Nexus for me looks like those fake phones from China. That metal detail in front has little grains, which was popular ir 90’s.
This looks like a great phone but I’d still choose the Hero over this (because of Sense UI + 7 home screens). I wish the Hero had the same specs as the Nexus One though. I wonder if it’s possible to upgrade a phone’s RAM up to 512? Yes, I know I am asking for too much
Probably experienced modders out there know how to do it.
Edited 2010-01-06 03:31 UTC
Nexus One > Droid > Hero
My mice and trackballs never last very long. Why put something like that on a phone? Something to get oily, dirty, grimy … acids from your skin get inside the phone, etc.
What do you use the trackball in a BlackBerry for?
I am actually glad my Hero has a trackball and I hope every HTC Android continues to have one.
It can be used for highlighting and scrolling. It can even be extended so that when an icon is highlighted, a little tool-tip appears telling you what the icon/option does? I am sure this would be possible. How will you do that without a trackball? You can’t do it with tapping. Also when you want to move the caret in a particular position in a text field, tapping with your fingers can be quite tricky. In fact, thx to the trackball, I have been able to move the caret between letter X and Y. How about Excel spreadsheets and cell navigation? Here is an idea…Oh yes, also taking photos and highlighting files in file managers?
Edited 2010-01-06 11:21 UTC
There are other ways of implementing text select and multi-select, but I see your point. So your trackball has held up well in your other phone?
I haven’t used the trackball in Excel spreadsheets so I am not sure if it works as I described and it currently doesn’t display tool-tips when an icon is selected but what I am saying is, I don’t see why it can’t be done.
As far as text selection goes, yes, on my Hero I have had trouble tapping on a text field to move the caret between the letters I want. I keep missing out the target, I keep tapping either one char position backward or forward and thx to the trackball, I am able to position the caret exactly where I want. Also when you want to copy text, selecting an area of text in the text field is very precise. It also replicates a long tap (same as if you were holding the screen for a few seconds) to popup a menu – you can hold the trackball too.
Edited 2010-01-06 20:35 UTC
Very true. This is the reason that blackberry got rid of the trackball. Eventually it will jam up or break and you can be certain that enough moisture seep through to guarantee voiding the warranty.
That’s what I would have thought. I like to think I am a clean person – wash my hands regularly, but man, my mouse ends up covered in crud by the end of each day, picked up off the table surface.
My Apple mouse wheel used to start failing pretty quickly too, had a few of those and gave them up… same with a trackball at work.
Anyway, I ramble. Sorry.
What’s up with everybody not launching their products in Europe?
I don’t know either, but it pisses me off. I can understand Palm, since they require carriers – but the Nexus One is sold unlocked. I see no reason why they can’t ship it in Europe.
Maybe they have limited amount of phones, so they the wait a while. Probably someone will bring it to Europe as well, I would buy one.
Rest of the androids are so boring, they all run on the same Qualcomm hardware.
Didn’t you know that the UK *is* in Europe? ;-P
I suspect the real reason is the fact we speak English here…
I for one was talking about all of Europe. UK usually gets new and exotic phone pretty fast, like now and with Pre, and Motorola Milestone (droid) for example.
Eugenia, your update … well, its not an update. It doesn’t modify the topic or add any relevant info. Cameras are cool and everything, but save it for a comment.
Agree. While actually kind of neat, it definitely should have been a comment.