UPDATE: Read our comprehensive Google Nexus One review
You'd have to have been hiding under a rock for the past week or two to not notice Google is making its own phone and it's finally here: the Nexus One.
Manufactured by HTC but sold by Google, the phone has had early adopters and the casual user alike interested in what it will be like, so read on to find out how the UK version fared in our hands.
A lot has been made of the screen, and it's probably a bit overhyped. Yes, at 3.7-inches it's a little large, but it's not the biggest: both the Toshiba TG01 and the HTC HD2 beat it comfortably.
In our eyes, it's the perfect size for an internet and media glutton – big enough to wander around great expanses of internet browsing and watching videos without eye strain, but small enough that it doesn't get wedged in any pocket you put it in.
Slimmed down
At less than 12mm thin as well, this is certainly more iPhone than any other phone out there – in fact we bet that some Google employees have been hiding these phones in iPhone cases just to use them safely in the street, such is the similarity.
The top of the phone houses the 3.5mm headphone jack, which is nicely tucked away into the chassis. However, it follows the contours of the shell, meaning that when using your headphones there may be some of the jack left exposed.
The bottom of the Nexus One houses the microUSB port, as well as four golden dots, which we assume will be used for docking add-ons (possibly Google Navigation Sat Nav?).
The OLED display is also beautiful, as we've come to expect from this kind of technology – not only do the blacks look super dark and the whites clear and crisp, but the colour rendition is superb. Some early reviews have hinted that the saturation levels are too high, but in our eyes it only increases the beauty.
Your comments (8) Click to add a new comment
garethtbeavis
January 9th 2010
8. @roggit USB fixed - thanks for pointing that out!
Re: multi-touch, Google told us it would not be supported on the device natively - that's what we were referring to, when talking about elements like web browsing.
But if you wait for the UK launch, we get the feeling that might change...
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roggit
January 8th 2010
7. the browser doesnt have pinch zoom but browsers available i nthe app store do. rating a phone by its built in apps is wrong, it would be like rating a laptop as sucky because IE is bad (but anyone worth their salt would download firefox or other browser!!!)
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desaperados
January 8th 2010
6. I've been reading that multi-touch on the Nexus One may be enabled in the European version of the phone:
http://news.nexus-one.co.uk/post/322347193/rumour-report-nexus-one-could-have-multi-touch-in
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roggit
January 7th 2010
5. The nexus one DOES have multitouch. It just isn't used in the apps that come with the phone. Apps from the android market use it. Also the phone uses MICROusb, not MINIusb. Many people confuse these, I wouldn't expect a tech site to though. Fix your review.
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mobilecasemate
January 6th 2010
4. Looks like a pretty sweet smartphone but i won't be trading my iPhone in for a Nexus One any time soon
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tweedskin
January 6th 2010
3. To jamesrave.
Do your research mate. The Nexus One does have a capacitive touchscreen, like most of recent HTC built phones. Android OS also supports multi touch as standard, although google don't include this on their own apps (maybe because of apple, i don't know) but many 3rd part apps in the Market place do use multi touch and pinch to zoom, opera browser being one of them.
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jamesrave
January 6th 2010
2. Not rue about the multi touch. patent.. This handset is built by HTC which have multi-touch on the Hero, because it uses a Capacitive touch screen. Capacative screens work by sensing the electricity on your finger and reacting when it feels your "energy" touching the screen ...
Other Android phones like the HTC Tattoo and the Nexus One have resistive touch screens which work by the actual touch of your finger.
They have two very thin layers with tiny sensors between them which sense where abouts on the screen your finger is. This is why you can use a Stylus or any object to hit a key on restistive phones, but not on capacative phones, like the iPhone for example.
I only discovered this when I bought the Tattoo instead of the Hero and was majorly ********** that I couldn't pinch the screen ....
Capacative screens are more expensive, so seeing as the Nexus One is being sold sim-free from google, if there was a multi-touch capable screen in it, it's price tag would take out a huge chunk of potential market.
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optimaximal
January 6th 2010
1. Apparently, there is no Multi-touch because Apple has slapped a patent on it.
Anyone wanting to even attempt multi-finger interfaces are probably going to have to throw obscene amounts of money at them.
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