Android/Nexus One: First Impressions

One aspect I love after years of iPhone use is the SD card! I don't bother syncing with a computer now. (well apart from the occasional drive backup)
Is just so easy if you use spotify, kindle etc. When you get a new phone just pop in the card in and away you go, they even store the login details.
Great stuff!
 
I think the OP has been a bit mouthy in some parts of the thread but I gotta agree. I've just switched to an iPhone 4 after owning two android phones for six months each (magic and nexus) and having extended time on both the hero and desire, in my opinion Android still needs more work before it's better than iOS.

The main issues are concerned with the level of polish on the OS and the range of applications on the Market.

Stock Android looks terrible. I spent most of the time I had my Android phones trying to theme them in some way because the OS is so poorly designed. It's like stacking Windows 98 up against Mac OSX... No contest. Now that doesn't matter to a lot of people... hell, some people are happy with command line and don't complain. The problem is that an OS that is good looking and well designed creates an emotional bond with the device. You enjoy using it. And whilst the underlying mechanics of the way android operates are better than iOS, it constantly feels like it's been put together by engineers, and it has!

Whilst the android marketplace has come on a lot in the year since I first used it, it still has a long way to go. Big publishers and companies need to get on board, and there needs to be a better standard of quality overall.

I guess all this might change when android 3 launches, but until then I now know why iOS is better, and although it pains me to say it, android ain't there yet.
 
Thats the beauty of it though, to many people.

IT is appealing how low down you can go with command line etc and transform your phone, rather than been given something that you cant change.
 
stoke1863 said:
I cant help you because i just set my wifi to turn off when screen goes out and itstill works. Also never had problems with the screen. then again im using custom rom

Sorry
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The touchscreen issue is inherent on all Nexus Ones.

They used an old deprecated panel which struggled with multi-touch. This is pretty much well known.
 
Psypher5 said:
Thats the beauty of it though, to many people.

IT is appealing how low down you can go with command line etc and transform your phone, rather than been given something that you cant change.
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Yeah, see, I loved that but I'm just not sure I care about it anymore. There are only a few things I don't like about iOS enough to want to change.
 
Cuchulain said:
It's fairly obvious the OP just wants another iPhone and is making excuses to justify having one, save your breath folks, at least this way he'll only whinge in the Apple sub-forums.
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I had a Nexus One for 6 months and I agree with Paradigm.

It isn't quite there. Looking bad the N1 was awful and I'm glad that I sold mine.

And really...I never actually hit the limitations of the IP4 and I find that it does everything to a better standard than my N1.
 
reflux said:
And whilst the underlying mechanics of the way android operates are better than iOS, it constantly feels like it's been put together by engineers, and it has!
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I have to say that I disagree. I see nothing that makes Android a better "OS" than "iOS".

Underlying mechanics or not.
 
Robert said:
I have to say that I disagree. I see nothing that makes Android a better "OS" than "iOS".

Underlying mechanics or not.
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Well, the notifications system is heaps better, and it gives you widgets and proper 'desktop' system instead of just one big menu screen.

iOS 5 needs to fix notifications at the very least.
 
reflux said:
Well, the notifications system is heaps better, and it gives you widgets and proper 'desktop' system instead of just one big menu screen.

iOS 5 needs to fix notifications at the very least.
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I have to ask... which part of the notification system is better on android?

Given that most people (inc me) install apps (that don't feel 100% right) just to get to the same level of notification as iOS, how is iOS flawed?

Also, lets take a look at handcent. People install that to get a more iPhone-esque SMS interface, and look at it. The text doesn't align correctly with the speech bubbles, the whole feel of the app just isn't "right". You can see where people are trying to go with Android, but IMO it suffers that plight of desktop Linux distros, and that is a lack of standardization.

Without standardization you will ALWAYS be held back as far as polished and fluid interraction goes.

Android has a way to go before this happens, and that even assumes that it will ever happen.

Vicious circle of being fully open-source.
 
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Robert said:
I have to say that I disagree. I see nothing that makes Android a better "OS" than "iOS".

Underlying mechanics or not.
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If someone made a check list like the following for Android vs iOS:

Code: 
                               iOS 4.0         Android 2.2
Adobe Flash support                              X
JScript V8 Support                               X

With no rooting/Jailbreaking or installing of extra applications, I would be very confident Android would come out with more ticks than iOS.

I can say without a doubt though, that Android can certainly do more out of the box than iOS from my experience as a previous iPhone user.
 
paradigm said:
I have to ask... which part of the notification system is better on android?
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By the fact that when you receive a notification, it appears in the title bar and thus you can choose when and if you want to deal with it. It doesn't force you to deal with it, and you can leave it for later if you want to. Unlike on my iPhone which forces me into the messaging app when I get a new text.

You can also see things new emails, missed calls etc in the notifications bar, whilst the phone is locked, unlike the iPhone lock screen. In fact, the notifications bar provides easy access to any new items, when you're using any app. You don't need to exit the app to see them.

paradigm said:
Given that most people (inc me) install apps (that don't feel 100% right) just to get to the same level of notification as iOS, how is iOS flawed?
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Eh, what level of notification? The iOS notifications system consists of a single popup and some numbers - big whoop! Most people who jailbreak seem to install apps to get the same level of notification as Android!
 
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It took me a week to discover you could drag the status bar down (and click the notifications) :D That was a real 'oh snap' moment for me, it also made me wonder why apple has kept it so basic after several years.
 
reflux said:
Stock Android looks terrible. I spent most of the time I had my Android phones trying to theme them in some way because the OS is so poorly designed.
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I disagree. I prefer the look of vanilla android over the Sense UI, or Timescape. Could Android look better? For most people I'd agree, but whether it's terrible or not is subjective.

And as for theming. I'd say most people who theme Android do so not because it looks terrible but because they CAN. I'm sure if iOS was themable whole swathes of users would be doing so.
 
CSlater said:
I disagree. I prefer the look of vanilla android over the Sense UI, or Timescape. Could Android look better? For most people I'd agree, but whether it's terrible or not is subjective.

And as for theming. I'd say most people who theme Android do so not because it looks terrible but because they CAN. I'm sure if iOS was themable whole swathes of users would be doing so.
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Totally agree. I don't like the sense UI either, at first when I was looking at it, I thought it was rather nice but after using my i5700 with stock android and having a wee play with my friends desire, rather have stock android any day :D :cool:

Also prefer the white stock android notification bar instead of HTC black notification bar.
 
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Nexus18 said:
Totally agree. I don't like the sense UI either, at first when I was looking at it, I thought it was rather nice but after using my i5700 with stock android and having a wee play with my friends desire, rather have stock android any day :D :cool:

Also prefer the white stock android notification bar instead of HTC black notification bar.
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Stock Android with LauncherPro and a few widgets blows iphones mess of shortcuts away, and the notification system is far more elegant.

iOS may be polished, but a polished turd is still a turd.

You've also got to factor in that the iPhone has at least a 50% higher TCO.
 
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