The Google Phone – a slippery sucker
I left Nokia last week after six fun-filled years to pursue new challenges, and am currently exploring a range of these - will post updates when there's more to report. However, one of the advantages is that I can now (with a clear conscience) use non-Nokia phones. Now for a mobile guy, the choice of one's first (for a while) self-purchased and paid for primary mobile device is not a trivial issue - and after much to-ing and fro-ing, the shortlist was the iPhone or Google's Nexus One. Blackberry seemed too corporate and while I've heard good things about the new Palm OS, I wasn't convinced there'd be enough of an application base to try out the cool new augmented reality apps etc.
The uppers
I went for the Nexus One due to the novelty factor, a better camera with a decent flash, and tight integration with Google's services, without which I can hardly get out of bed. At first it didn't disappoint - when you set it up it's blazingly fast - just enter your Google username and password and the thing magically works and is synced with your emails and pictures. The value of the phone is now pretty much in the cloud - apart from the replacement cost and delay, losing this phone wouldn't bother me, as I know I can get my data from anywhere. The usability, speed and intuitiveness of the OS puts Symbian to shame - things work how you expect them to work, and I can't think of a prompt coming up when it shouldn't (such as Do You REALLY Want To Go Online, just after you've asked it to, or Packet Data Active beeping up on every call). Other plus points are the fit and finish - it's robust, sleek and smooth.
The downers
But, boy is it smooth. This is the biggest downside - the thing slips out of your hand. Ok, I've got bigger and maybe even sweatier hands than normal, but I've already dropped it three times as I move it from ear to hand and back. The iPhone fits better in the hand, and this starts to matter. Also the screen while great inside, is completely invisible in sunlight. My gripes aren't limited to the hardware though, lest Google feel they can relax. The messaging and call handling is clearly done by a newbie to mobile phones. I may be asking for trouble because I use Google Voice which makes things a bit complicated, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to find sent messages, or take a specific message and forward it on, or cut and paste. Call handling via Google Voice is also at times a farce - the call comes in from a number I know well (e.g. my wife's) and yet it still screens it, and forces me to find the screen (impossible in the sunlight as noted above), switch over to Dialpad, enter in 1 to accept then put it back to my ear, without dropping it. Many people have just hung off by the time I get that done. And for numbers in my contacts book, why does it even bother to ask me to approve - let them all dial direct, please Mr Google.
So while I think Google and HTC have done an excellent job in creating a mobile computing device, Nokia still makes a better phone. If they could just merge the form factor for the E72 with the Android OS, I'd be happy. As for iPhone, when the next version comes out with a >5MP camera and decent Flash, I'll have another hard decision to make.