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Google Nexus One: Oh Look Another iPhone Killer!

Google Nexus One: Oh Look Another iPhone Killer!

I am waiting with baited breath for the Sony Erricson Xperia X10. I am as excited as I was for the Blackberry Storm2, the HTC Hero and the Motorola Droid.

All these phones have been positioned to be the David to the iPhone’s Goliath. But so far they have not quite got there, and the iPhone still topped the Christmas wishlist of every person who didn’t have one and even some that did.

Assuming the Xperia doesn’t deliver, it will be left up to the next contender in line to take on the multimedia giant. The new slingshot is called the Nexus One, from none other than Google themselves

This slingshot is powered by a company even more ubiquitous than Apple in everyday life, Google. While this isn’t the first phone to be powered by Google’s Android OS, or have a Snapdragon processor and be designed by HTC, It is the only one which is supported by a company so ingrained in our everyday life, that its name is now a verb.

In terms of design, it is definitely up there with the iphone, save a rather out of place track ball where the iPhone has its one “Home” button, which rather detracts from the sleek look. It does have four touch sensitive shortcut buttons, ie back, menu, home, and search, which aid in multitasking, which is the iPhone Achilies Heal.

Its 1Ghz Snapdragon processor combinded with 512Mb of RAM have made it fast, very fast, greased lightning in outer-space fast. It offers up to 32 GB of memory space, and a 3.7 inch OLED display which despite poor reviews of its ability to cope with oranges and red (we’re not joking) seems to provide a very usable and very watchable touchscreen. It even beats the iPhone in the camera department, where its 5 megapixel device knocks in the teeth out of the 3GS’ little 3.2MP plaything, as well as having a flash to boot.

Its main draw however, is the Nexus’ software. The Google phone will appropriately run the latest version of Android (v2.1 if you are keeping track). This version of Andriod is almost completely reworked and is undoubtably smoother, simpler, and yes smarter than anything currently availiable in South Africa. One of the most noticeable changes is you no longer slide your finger upwards on the screen to get to your applications. There is now a handy “home” icon which zooms in your icons over top of whatever homescreen you’re on. (Multitasking – take that 3GS!) You can scroll up and down through those icons, which is now accompanied by a cute 3D animation where the items slide over the top and bottom edge, like wrapping a piece of paper around the side of a table. It’s looks pretty, but adds no real functionality, at the end of the day it’s an menu.

In short, this phone has a very realistic chance of becoming the giantslayer and eventual king of the market, but for all its higher processing ability and the flexable, multitasking Android OS, at no point have I felt the sense that I would want one more than I would want the iPhone. It’s often said that Apple sells its brand as much as it sells products, and in all fair play to the world’s carrier of information, Google just hasn’t given us the same reason to disregard other media phones, that it did to make us bin AltaVista and yahoo all together. A great phone? Probably the best of the decade so far. But more popular than the iPhone? Only time will tell.

[Thanks: http://www.techhuman.com]

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