I have personally never used a Google Nexus One so I can’t say. Below is a letter I was emailed by a friend who purchased a Google Nexus One and is sending it back and his frustrations with it. This is completely un-edited by me, I’m just relaying what he said. So, take a minute to read it and let us know your experience with the Google Nexus One. Does it indeed ‘bite’?
Why the Google Nexus One bites;
Touch Screen bites…
Touch Screen really bites… a 2G iPhone has a 10 times better touch screen and it has been out for 3 years.
Trackball? What the? Make a touch screen that works and kill the stupid ball.
Keyboard bites (maybe because the touchscreen bites, but I’m pretty sure they both bite)…
Spacebar key on the keyboard really really bites… 50 percent of the time it doesn’t work, 40% of the time it
takes me back to home (button below it). But hey, that means 10 percent of the time it works.
Missed call list? Where do I start… It takes about four steps to get to where you can call the missed call back.
Plus, when it takes you to the missed call list it doesn’t take you to the top (which is where the last missed call
is), but it takes you to where you were the last time you viewed the list… Are you serious?
4 GB stock memory? Neat that you can upgrade… but $500+ for this phone and it comes with 4 GB?
Live wallpaper vs. iPhone copycat screen? Just give me one or the other… searching around for which one my
app was stored on got really old after the first day.
Battery Life… embarrassing… imagine what would happen if I actually liked the phone and used it? The battery
might die by noon instead of the 3pm.
Apps? ESPN radio doesn’t even have an App… You will find a lot of little “gadget games” for the nerds to play
with, but I didn’t find a single app in 13 days that I thought was “cool”.
Microsoft Exchange… Not an option with the Nexus one. This one is actually hard to believe. Google, in their
all-powerful arrogance, thinks that we are going to be happy using Google calendar instead of Microsoft
Outlook. I was able to pull in my contacts from outlook, but of course those mixed in with my gmail contacts (of
which there were tons of duplicates). However, the calendar is a no-go. But wait, there are Apps to assist with
pulling in your Outlook calendar… yea, they bite also. A small band-aid on a big problem…
Phantom 3G coverage. It’s neat that the 3G icon shows on my phone, because we all know how cool 3G is.
However, most of the time when I go to use something requiring 3G, the logo mysteriously transforms to a
capital “E” (which means slow boat from China edge network for those of you wondering).
Support… Yeah, it bites too. Good luck calling someone for service. T-Mobile can’t help you, because it is not
their phone. Google won’t give you a phone number, but they require you to start the process with an email.
When their return email comes, they give you a number to call HTC (even though Google is the only retail seller
of the phone). HTC had a 25 minute wait time (I wonder why). When I finally got through to an HTC
representative and told her I would like to return the phone, she asked for a reason. My response was “Do you
really want me to get started?” to which she said, “Actually no, this phone isn’t for everyone.” Everyone? I’m
wondering if it is for anyone.
Then, after she processes my return, she informs me of a $45 restocking fee… Throw a little salt in my open
wound please.
So… What (if anything) is cool about this phone? It has an amazing display screen, and a fantastic camera. (In
fact, when someone who was duped in to buying one of these phones wants to have you join their misery, the
screen will probably be their selling point used to try and “wow” you).
But those two items were not enough to get me past the 14 day no-return policy. At day 13, I took my $45 hit,
and sent the phone packing.