Google Nexus One first impressions

[Derrick]

Google Nexus One

The lucky nerds over at Engadget have laid their hands on the highly anticipated Google Nexus One phone (http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/10835.html) a full three days before the anticipated unveiling of the device at a Google press conference.

With Android 2.0 barely out the door, Google has been hard at work on Android 2.1, which will feature on the new phone.

The Nexus One will be manufactured by HTC, and will be equipped with a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU and 512MB of RAM, giving it hefty processing power. The phone sports a 3.7” 480×800 display, but sadly, multi-touch has not been enabled on the User Interface (UI), although it is supported by Android 2.0 upwards.

Along with the expected light sensor, proximity sensor and accelerometer, a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash rounds of the standard features.

All the processing power can be put to good use with the various 2.1 UI enhancements.
Live wallpapers are a new feature which essentially displays animated backgrounds on the interface, some of which respond dynamically to a touch from the user. Of course, all the animation is likely to use up processing power, and while the 1GHz CPU will probably provide plenty of overhead it may also diminish battery life that much faster.

The homescreens that android users have become familiar with can now be accessed using a shortcut, removing the need to swipe across the various screens to arrive at the desired screen, a nifty little time-saver that is bound to be appreciated. Some of the widgets have undergone improvements too, such as the weather widget which now includes a news feed.

Judging from the first impressions from the Engadget video

(http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/02/exclusive-google-nexus-one-hands-on-video-and-first-impressio/) Google Maps seems fairly responsive, probably due in no small part to the powerful CPU. The browser rendering speed appears to be much the same.

In the aesthetics department, the phone is finished with what appears to be a combination of soft touch plastic and brushed metal. The device is apparently slightly slimmer than the iPhone. We can expect a full review from Engadget within the next few days, and can only hope that the phone will be available to South Africans soon after its release.

Android 2.1 doesn’t seem to be much more than a slight UI upgrade with some improved widgets – the real impact of the device is that it is the first Google branded phone on the market, something which will surely go down in the annals of tech history.