Nexus One

Google officially announced the Nexus One yesterday night (Singapore time). There isn’t any surprises during the event. We already seen the review on the Engadget. It is more like confirming the rumors and giving us the finer details like pricing and shipping.

The Nexus One is the first AMOLED Android phone. They didn’t mention how many colours, but I sure hope it is able to do 16M colours. It has a 3.7 inch screen like the Motorola Droid. 1Ghz Snapdragon processor. Android 2.1, which means there is turn-by-turn driving directions. There is a Voice-enabled keyboard for all text fields. Sounds cool, but I wonder how accurate is it. Would be cool to be able to SMS while driving using voice command.

The Nexus One does not have multi-touch yet. The hardware does support multi-touch but it is not included because of the Apple patent. Android chief Andy Rubin revealed during the launch that they will consider multi-touch support as an update. Actually, it is a software issue which hackers could hack to make multi-touch work on Nexus One. I guess it’s just a matter of time before you see multi-touch on Nexus One, be it officially or non-officially.

We all know that the Nexus One is made by HTC. But it will be sold on Google online store. Currently available in US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. Yes, Singapore is one of the 4 markets that Google is selling the Nexus One. Cool huh?

Another thing interesting about the Nexus One is that consumers can buy the Nexus One without the phone charger. Finally! This is perhaps the first phone available in Singapore market that allows consumer to buy without a charger. Since the Nexus One is using the standard MicroUSB port to charge, you can use back your old charger (if it is also a MicroUSB charger). The savings may not be a lot, but it’s good for the environment. All phones should start using MicroUSB and sold with an option to exclude charger.

So how much does the Nexus One cost? The phone itself cost US$529. Charger cost US$19.99. DHL shipping cost US$28.32. Total cost is US$577.31. So depending on the US exchange rate, it would cost you around S$810. (Plus minus here and there) You will need a Google account in order to buy the phone as payment is via Google Checkout. (Well, who doesn’t have a Google account these days?)

There is no news on whether Google or HTC will be working with the 3 local Telcos to sell the Nexus One locally. Afterall, Singaporeans are used to buying handphone from the Telcos which provides subsidies when you sign a 2 years contract.

I wonder if I can get my hands on a review unit soon.

Update: I managed to play with the Nexus One for around 5 minutes while I was at Google Singapore office for a Chrome OS event. (Hee hee)

The form factor is great. The phone is pretty responsive. The animated wallpaper looks impressive. But personally, I would turn it off. Why waste resource on it? Maybe I’ll just turn it on to show off.

The screen looks good. But somehow, I feel that it might not be 16million colours. The screen doesn’t look as vibrant as the Samsung Jet. Or maybe it is just me. I still trying to find how many colours can the Nexus One display.

There are 3 little dots at the bottom of the phone. Not sure what are those. I suspect those are connector points for a dock. Did HTC/Google announce that they have a dock for Nexus One? I didn’t hear any.

The Nexus One that I tried is a Google Employee set. The only difference is at the back of the phone. For Google Employee, the back of the Nexus One is a picture of an Android holding a flag of a QR Code. For those who buy from online shop, the back will have the word “Google” at the top and “HTC” at the bottom. You can request to engrave 2 lines at the middle area.

And although the mainstream media has been calling this the Google Phone, it is still very much a HTC phone. HTC is handling the customer support for the Nexus One. I must say that it is a good decision. Google should never make their own Android phone. Instead, the best way to go is to work closely with their partners. We can see that the Nexus One is their first attempt to work closely with partners. We can expect many more such phones in the future with other phone makers like Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson etc etc.

I didn’t dare to explore too much into the phone because this unit belongs to one of the Google employee. Don’t want to accidentally open or see something personal. I forgot to try if there is Multi-Touch. (Damn)

As a whole, I’m very impressed by the Nexus One. Google & HTC are definitely going the right direction with the Nexus One. The only thing I see lacking now is the Android Marketplace. Google need to push for more developers and also allow paid apps outside US.

Will do a more detailed review when I get my hands on a Nexus One.

PS: If you have 3G connectivity issue on the Nexus One, check out this blog entry.