I ordered my Nexus One in the middle of the press conference, just as the http://google.com/phone site went live. It arrived quickly, as expected, overnight. From shipping information (01/05 4:11p) to arrival (01/06 1:12p), less than a day (FedEx 429951121750). The FedEx truck arrives around 1:30p at the local UPS store where I send my delicate goods and was leaving just as I arrived. I saw him put down two items, a flat and a box. That box was mine.




The included apps are great - first the fact that there're included and second because some have additional features from my G1 Android 1.6 versions.

Google Voice, Maps, and Mail are all solid. Google Mail has the ability to handle multiple Google accounts, which is fantastic. Previously, one had to use IMAP on the generic EMail application to connect to Google accounts other than the primary that's needed for the phone. The Google Maps application shows accuracy on the location ("accurate to 5000 meters"). Google Voice can be set up to replace your cell service's voicemail.

The Contacts app is integrated with social media - Facebook, in particular. If you so choose, Contacts will match up Facebook profiles with your Google contacts. You can jump right to a connected contact's Facebook profile and even see an excerpt of their last post. I haven't used the Cliq interface, but this level of integration between different apps is subtle, just useful enough, and not intrusive. Well done.

The Gallery app That's been demoed in the release press conference is also great, what with its connection to Picasaweb and it's ease-of-navigation. There's another app called "Car Home" which has big icons sort of in the style of what you see on car GPS's these days - Voice Search, Navigation, View Map, Contacts, and Search - all geared towards being used while in a vehicle (not driving, of course).


Additionally, there's some haptic feedback when you choose an app - a short buzz before/as the app launches, and that's a nice touch, if you pardon the pun.

The lack of the keyboard was a major concern for me - I've been a keyboard partisan since my Nokia E70 with it's flip out keyboard. Texting, e-mail composition, web browsing, pretty much everything was better with a keyboard. I've used the virtual keyboard on the G1 and found it to be sluggish and slightly inaccurate (not as inaccurate as my iPod Touch's, but still). The virtual keyboard on the Nexus One's still a virtual keyboard, but I've been able to message and compose e-mails on it without too much trouble. My main issue with the virtual keyboard is accuracy and the fact that I have to watch the keyboard to see what I'm typing (and to verify that I pushed the right letter). With a physical keyboard, the layout's familiarity is enhanced by the tactile feedback of the keys themselves. I hear the Droid's keyboard is flat as a Judy Blume character and that'd be pretty disappointing. Of course, new phone means I give it a wide berth. We'll see how it does during the day to day use.

The two touted benefits - speed and graphics - are great and need no mention, really. They're great and it's fantastic to have a first-class device (tech specs). The speed is a huge improvement from the G1 and allows the device to more or less melt into the background. There's no longer a lot of waiting for things to start up. Other reviews state there's a slight but noticeable delay when flipping between home screens, but it's not really that annoying at all. The graphics, with the dynamic wallpaper flare and the zooming, scroll-wrapping app list, are wonderful and really gives me the comfort that I'm using a device that's been built with the user's pleasure in mind. Neither the Cliq or the Droid, with add-on UI interfaces from Motorola, or the initial G1, really had a feel of continuity to them. Google stepping up and making a set of core apps that work well and are consistent is a major boon. This set of comments is what people focus on when they talk about comparing the Nexus One to the iPhone - the consistency and premium device featureset. From that aspect, it's definitely a really good asset to the device market. 

The G1, even with its keyboard, was underpowered and sometimes struggled to run Android and, a year and a half ago, there really weren't a core set of solid Android apps. The Android Market is a phenomenal cornucopia, without a doubt, but without a core set of apps out of the box, it's tough to navigate the wilds of free (and possibly poorly coded) apps when looking for common functions.

Google's added a bunch of videos on YouTube about the Nexus One features. Take a look.


A further nice touch was a set of mp3's that was included from a bunch of artists, all but one I'd never heard of: 17 Candle, Ali Spagnola, Amanda Blank, Brett Dennen, Jackie Tohn, Lissy Trullie, Marcus Miller, Miike Snow, Mos Def, Really Addictive Sound, White Denim, William Fitzsimmons, Zack Borer.