Advantages
Advanced hardware & technology, breaks carrier lock-in – caf opines:
I don’t think any Android device could compare to the iPhone before the Droid. The Droid has hardware that matches the iPhone (better in some ways, but worse in others, but overall a pretty good match, especially for those that prefer physical keyboards). And when you consider that the Droid is on a better network, it makes for a good option for some people.
I’ve been saying for some time though, that the pace of development in the Android world is way outpacing Apple. With new devices coming out every couple of weeks or so, there will soon be many Android devices that outperform the iPhone. The Nexus One, for instance, will have twice the resolution of an iPhone screen, and a significantly faster processor, the 1 GHz Snapdragon. It’s thinner, offers better integration with the many free Google apps, and if I never have to use iTunes again, I’ll be overjoyed (Never has such a crappy piece of software been suffered by so many, except maybe Windows Vista).
What makes me most interested in the Nexus, though, is the business model. Will Google finally succeed in breaking the locked-in carrier model? Although others have tried, none have the marketing muscle or connections with buyers that Google has. It irritates me that if I buy an iPhone, or most other phones on major carriers, that I essentially have to buy them on credit. I get a cheap subsidized price up front, then have to pay for hugely overpriced service through the carrier for the next two years to pay back my “loan”. It would be a huge step forward for consumers if we could buy the phone we want, then deal for the best data plan available. Even if only TMobile is on board with the Nexus initially, if they get enough new customers they could force the hand of others. It will be interesting to watch.
Disadvantages
A compilation of Nexus One flaws – Refer to this post at pinoytutorial.com for a list of deficiencies on the Nexus One.
Memory limit – Walt Mossberg says:
The iPhone still retains some strong advantages. It boasts well over 100,000 third-party apps—around 125,000 by some unofficial estimates—versus around 18,000 for the Android platform. And it has vastly more memory for storing apps, so you can keep many more of them on your phone at any one time. On the Nexus One, only 190 megabytes of its total 4.5 gigabytes of memory is allowed for storing apps. On the $199 iPhone, nearly all of the 16 gigabytes of memory can be used for apps.
Multitouch is not enabled on the screen – David Pogue writes:
Sadly, the Nexus One also lacks a multitouch screen like the iPhone’s. So zooming into photos and Web pages is awkward and hard to control.
The Android Market still lacks polish – Garrett Murray reports:
The Android Market is a terrible mess. Nearly every app I looked at had nothing but spam comments. Literally things like, “Follow me on twitter at @blah” and “Ladies, hit me up on AIM at blah” which is embarrassing and sad. Makes the entire thing feel like cheap garbage. When you add the fact that nearly all the apps are free, and most are a UI mess, it doesn’t come off too well.
Poor product support from Google – From PC World’s article,”Google Faces Deluge of Nexus One Complaints“:
Google appears to be only accepting e-mail customer queries, to which it pledges to reply in one to two days — far too long, say most people who are complaining online.
Many people are also turning to T-Mobile and HTC, but getting little help there. T-Mobile is often referring people back to either Google or HTC for answers to questions. HTC is often referring people back to T-Mobile, according to complaints online.
One customer going by the name Roland78 said he was transferred between T-Mobile and HTC four times, spending a total of one-and-a-half hours on the phone with customer service. “T-Mobile also said Google hasn’t provided them with any support documents for the phone. Welcome to direct sales Google!” he wrote.
Cut, copy and paste is not implemented as ubiquitously as on the iPhone; sub-par IM (instant messaging) programs and browser; uninspiring apps on the Android market – Boy Genius reports:
Other issues that I can’t live with day to day? How do I copy text from non-editable field like an email, webpage, or SMS, or even a 3rd party application? Oh, I can’t. Say what you want about the iPhone not having copy and paste for two years — a joke — it’s the single best implementation on the planet for a smartphone and Google’s approach is almost as bad as RIM’s with the Storm-series.
… and …
Android doesn’t make sense as a whole. It’s fragmented, poorly executed, the Android Market for apps is a mess, and developers still don’t care about it. There’s not one single good IM program that I could rely on day to day (I don’t use Google Talk), the browser is decent at best. It’s faster now, sure, there’s a 1GHz CPU under its ass, but it’s not intuitive, and there’s always erroneous touch events; when I want to hit something I hit another link, button or app by accident.
… and …
But in the end, I found that the lack of any meaningful applications for Android really made it a no go from the beginning. I’m talking about quality — re-read the word quality — applications, here. The best VNC and RDP applications on Android are a joke. There’s not a single enjoyable Twitter application, and any application that’s on Android that is available on the iPhone pales in comparison. If you can find an application on the Android platform that’s better than the iPhone counterpart, I’ll send you a BGR Ninja hat.