First Impressions after having the phone for one day

[TaeKwonDonkey]

I received my N1 at about 5 pm EST yesterday 1/7/10, the build number is ERD79
The phone came with the pouch, headphones, wall charger, usb cable, but no manuals
I'm going to give you the bad first then the good
If I do post up any pictures, I will probably not show the back because I got it engraved with my name and email adddress
keep in mind that I'm probably going to have more on the bad list than the good list as I am a "the glass is half empty" person
BAD:

• My nexus one will not work my yahoo account either through the email app or through the browser
• The touch sensitive buttons do not always register presses and sometimes I have to press more than once.
• The Live wallpapers are absolutely useless and the one that actually tells time and date is not working and causes Live wallpapers to force close everytime I try it
• Card View (the five screens at the bottom) is absolutely useless, by the time it comes up and you choose a screen, you could have swiped there even if you started on the left most screen going towards the right most screen. It would only be useful if there were more than 8 screens.
• The screen is a finger print magnet
• The news/weather widget randomly stops working until I open it
• The connectivity widget that controls wifi, bluetooth, gps, synching, and screen brightness doesn't always have full control of settings. For example the gps one doesn't always turn off the gps. However the wifi one does work which means i didn't have to install that fish app or whatever its called
• I can't find the IM client, I thought it would be integrated into the messaging app but I think thats only text messages. Maybe its because I'm a moron and I can't find but I don't think it came with one.
• The notification system on this phone is really bad. When I get a text the trackball only pulses once and then never lights up again. So far it flashed any color other than white. I would really have preferred to have a BB-esque trackpad
• The new app drawer is weird in that when you scroll down, when it runs out of momentum, it doesn't just stop, it snaps to a certain position so that 16 apps are show evenly, as in nothing is allowed to be half on or half off the viewing level

I'll write the good later

 

[frunkiss]

I like to hear more of this.
This is what potential customers need to know. Too many are just so ga-ga over their phone that they're not looking for the negative. Thanks for posting honestly. I want this phone but I'd rather hear the truth first and weigh out the good and bad.

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for the rest.

 

[Flyguide83]

Damn, thats silly... Half of your features are not functioning... Go to HTC's website for the manual. Also, there probably is no messenger app on the phone... I have been using ebuddy, but it will suck your battery dry..I would look into getting a screen cover like phantom skin or the like.. I just took my invizashield off my droid(smashed the corner and caused it to peel up while in my pocket and get some lintage) I noticed immediately that it smudges WAY more without the cover..

 

[NEXUS1]

I noticed Yahoo email doesnt work either. And the buttons sometimes do not register to touch. I find myself using the talk to text feature a lot though.

 

[anon(6936)]

The buttons on the bottom kinda bug me too. Sometimes you have to press twice, sometimes they activate when I didn't want to (I am sure I drug my hand over them or something) - I also agree the trackball seems out of place. They could have used an optical pad or omit it altogether. The little notification LED at the top right would be a nice substitute (not sure where the logic was to make it only work when charging)

I don't have any problems activating / deactivating the connections (GPS, WiFi, BT) - what I did find is there is a bit of lag from when you touch the icon and when it responds (showing on or off) - so if you're impatient you may get out of synch

For messaging, I only use GTalk and the app for that is on there. (As well as Google Voice) - the app launcher thing, I thought was pretty cool how it worked / looked. For the other stuff you can't find, there are a ton of menu options. I am sure you can tweak most of what you are talking about.

Screen does get fingerprints but a good skin should fix that.

My gripes are the volume for calls & ringer are a bit low. I have mine maxxed out. The lack of multitouch is taking some adjustment and the default layout was weird. It is not as intuitive of an experience as the iPhone (not a fanboy, just that's what I've been using). I quickly figured out how to drag shortcuts and widgets around. I would prefer to see more detail on the weather widget but there's apps for that.

What I really like: voice to text, turn by turn nav, small and extremely well built (initial impression), better battery than the 3GS, clear voice quality & no dropped calls, good camera, tons of options and customizations, background applications and real push notifications are back! btw the Android market and Amazon music store are good competitors to Apple.

You could say I am in a honeymoon period with the phone but - my initial reaction is this is a really cool device. If there were major flaws, I would be voicing them now. I have used Blackberrys for years and a couple of iPhones. I can find pros and cons with all of them but as a contender or 3rd option, this one is good.

 

[frunkiss]

Would you say I would enjoy this phone coming from a Blackberry Curve 8320?







haha. I was kidding. I'm sure I would.

 

[anon(6936)]

Would you say I would enjoy this phone coming from a Blackberry Curve 8320?







haha. I was kidding. I'm sure I would.

no, don't even bother.
even though, if you are stuck on BB's, the 9700 is pre-tty nice.

Another thing I just noticed is the autocomplete for words is MUCH better than the iPhone. It has a learnable dictionary (that you can modify) and many more word choices like a Blackberry does.

 

[TaeKwonDonkey]

Now for the good
GOOD:

• The microphone/voice-to-text feature is amazingly accurate and very easy to use. I was texting my friend and I said dawg into the mic and it knew that I meant dawg as in friend and not dog the pet. Its a real time saver and thank goodness its available in all text fields
• Dolphin Browser (app) is amazingly good for a free app. Its actually fun to use the internet on a mobile device again. The multitouch works fine and there's tabbed browsing. There's also a little hand and the bottom right corner that expands into a gesture area. For example you can draw a backwards L in the gesture area and it will take you back to your previous webpage. It doesn't really save time but its pretty cool.
• The phone just feels right in my hand. I feel like its pretty light weight and I like my devices heavy but its not something that nags me.
• Pandora is actually usable now. On my MT3G, Pandora took forever to play the next song after I skipped or gave a thumbs down for a song. This phone however, switches songs in less than 6 seconds compared to the more than 10 seconds I had to wait on the MT3G
• Downloading apps takes no time at all. By the time you pull down the notification bar, its done. Not having to wait for anything is a great thing.
• The video camera (compared to the MT3G) is vastly improved. There's no more blur or lag when you move the phone which is great. However the actual camera is so-so, the pictures don't look as good as those taken on a BB 9700 and the flash is sometimes overpowering.
• Car home is really cool but directions can take a while to load.
• The facebook app is also a lot better than the one on Donut. There's actually a notification section now and everything loads pretty fast.

 

[Jim]

N1 has potential but there is next no CS support

Unless you are a full blown geek, you may want to wait a while to purchase this device. Not that there are serious deal breaker issues. Its just that if you are like most people, when you have a problem you call the carrier and most of the time a knowledgeable person helps you figure things out. At least that has been my experience with T-Mobile. However, we purchased the N1 directly from Google and if there really are Nexus One CS and tech people, they are, for me, impossible to get in touch with. So if you really like figuring things out for yourself, have at it. If you need a little hand holding, you probably should wait a bit. By then all us early adopters will have complained enough for things to get worked out. And who knows, maybe the price will drop.

 

[CeeDotSmith]

Not being able to sync to my Yahoo account may be the deal breaker... I just ordered mine's and we will see how it works out when it arrives.

 

[frettfreak]

Man.. this thread is really making me consider not buying one..

 

[TaeKwonDonkey]

Not being able to sync to my Yahoo account may be the deal breaker... I just ordered mine's and we will see how it works out when it arrives.

You may not be too happy then, many nexus one users are reporting that yahoo is not working on the nexus one. I hate that its not working either but I'm trying to move away from my yahoo account any how

I'm posting this from my nexus

 

[frettfreak]

Not being able to sync to my Yahoo account may be the deal breaker... I just ordered mine's and we will see how it works out when it arrives.

You can have your yahoo mail import to your gmail (get one if you dont have one) account. This should be a work around but have not seen it in action because i do not have a N1.. however, this is something that is done in your actual gmail account settings not just something on the N1, so it should work. (as long as your yahoo account supports POP3)

 

[frunkiss]

forgive me for sounding like a turd...

but why would not being able to use a Yahoo account on a Google phone be a deal breaker?
I could completely see if it was a POP3 or IMAP account from your own domain, such as charlie@charliemoreno.net but Yahoo and Gmail are both free.

Why not just move over to Gmail?

PS: I have 2 Yahoo, 2 Gmail, and 5 other email addresses from my own domains I dont see why Yahoo has that makes it a deal breaker.

 

[TaeKwonDonkey]

Why not just move over to Gmail?

Maybe because you've already printed your email on hundreds of business cards? That could be a good reason

Anyway here's a photo from taken with the phone of my dog

 

[frunkiss]

I hear you, but again I don't see why you wouldn't just forward your Yahoo account to Gmail or just port it through like somebody else said.

AND I don't see why anyone would put a Yahoo email account on a business card. Domain names start at 0.89 cents on GoDaddy.



Nice pic. Cute dog. (dawg)

 

[KU Kitch]

I got this bad boy on Wednesday as well, so far no regrets. It's a bit different from the iPhone which is taking some adjustment but I think I actually like the keyboard better. The screen is awesome and so is the navigation. I do want the multitouch eventually and I think the touch keys may be a bit off but they aren't too bad. I found the the clock background works on some of the other colors but I like the nexus one wallpaper most. In all, it's a nice change from the iPhone OS honestly. The Google integration is amazing and exchange worked straight away versus not at all on the iPhone. Once they get the calendar going that'll be a plus but calendar sync works well for now. So far, I'd say it was a good switch.

 

[CeeDotSmith]

Got my Yahoo Mail working on the N1

You may not be too happy then, many nexus one users are reporting that yahoo is not working on the nexus one. I hate that its not working either but I'm trying to move away from my yahoo account any how

I'm posting this from my nexus

Well, I got my N1 before I went out of town. I had the Sprint HTC Hero and my Yahoo mail worked fine on there. I just manually set it up using the same information that's on my Yahoo mail settings on my Hero and it worked! So far I'm happy with the N1, no deal breaking complaints. I'm not seeing the 3G/EDGE issue... I was mainly worried about that based on all the complaints. I pick up 3G around my house and the city, but EDGE at work. Which is expected, my Hero does the same thing.

 

[Jeremy]

Who uses Yahoo anymore??? Seriously though, if you are getting a Android device it is in your best interest to switch to everything Google.

 

[Air Force One]

Who uses Yahoo anymore??? Seriously though, if you are getting a Android device it is in your best interest to switch to everything Google.

Exactly. I'm not sure how many people understand this. My brother uses an iPhone and is switching to the Nexus after I showed him the integration with everything google and his jaw was on the floor. He's a huge Gmail user and he realized how natural Android is for a Gmail user, or an "anything google" user.