Why I’ve Fallen in Love with the Nexus One
horsepigcow.com
horsepigcow.com
Frankly, I think that Google already has too much of my information, and the recent Buzz debacle demonstrates that they can't really be trusted with it.
No thanks. I'd much rather sync with my local address book.
currently there is no way to create and store local calendars or contacts. everything must be tied to an account, which currently limits you to a google account or an activesync/exchange account. i setup z-push (http://z-push.sourceforge.net/) on my server to act as an activesync server so i could at least sync my contacts to my own machine, but it doesn't yet support calendars. of course the built-in calendar app has no support for ical or anything standard, and expects you to do that all from google calendar's web interface and then sync that to your phone.
i just updated the "listen" application on my nexus one, which is a google-built application for downloading and listening to podcasts. with the new version released yesterday, it now forces you to store your subscriptions in google reader instead of just on the phone itself.
i'm sure there are many that have no problem trusting google with all of their data, relying completely on them for email, chatting, searching, reading rss feeds, and making phone calls through google voice, and so all of this automatic syncing with google is neat and useful. but there are those of us that would like to use alternatives or just prefer to keep everything on the phone itself.
as bad as apple is with their strict control over the iphone and its applications, at least they don't force users to use their .mac service. calendars, contacts, and every other application can be used without giving apple control over all of your data.
So use alternatives. Searching Android Market for "calendar" and "podcast" comes back with lots of results. Unlike Apple, Google won't reject submitted apps for "duplicating functionality".
otherwise, it would be creating a calendar that only that application can manipulate, which would not work with all of those other widgets and things that tie into the phone's data.
If they get over their iphone-centric view, they'd find Android has many strengths. The standard buttons (home, back, menu) actually improves usability immensely, since you never have to care how a specific app wants to place its navigation elements or options etc. You know the back button will almost always take you back/cancel, you know that if you're ever in doubt, the menu button will save you etc.
I also very much appreciate the fact that the phone doesn't treat me like a dumbass. For example, while the iphone is easier to unlock the first time around (pretty hard to miss the SLIDE HERE TO UNLOCK message), it becomes stupid and annoying after awhile and takes away from the aesthetic appeal. Or the fact that the only allowed customization you can make is to re-arrange your icons, rather than making the phone YOURS and seeing what you actually want to see.
The joy of differentiation!
In cases where the designers can make a choice for me that's the "right" one, I'd much prefer them to just do that and remove any cognitive burden from me: I don't WANT more things to make a choice about in my life, it's complicated enough as is.
I certainly understand that other people feel differently, and I'm happy that they enjoy their Android phones. But I think our industry has labored for far too long under the assumption that everybody wants to tinker. The fact is, most people actively don't want to tinker; tinkerers are just vastly overrepresented in the group that designs these devices.
http://www.simonblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/1...
http://www.thesearethedroids.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/...
The nexus one is far more subtle - first time users have no obvious way of knowing they have to drag the green unlock button except for a small green dot that appears when you press. The iPhone is certainly more user-friendly here...except after that first time, it becomes annoying, whereas the N1's button remains pleasing. This isn't about replacing the lock screen, its about how the default works. This is one small example of how many other things work. In their endless praise of the iPhone, people are not aware (or refuse to acknowledge) the sacrifices and tradeoffs that go into making things obvious for first time users.
"That is to say, if I wasn’t addicted to using every Google app out there (calendar, mail, docs, maps, etc.), the phone may not have wowed me so much, but I AM a Google girl, so it fits beautifully into my lifestyle."
Plus, what I do gather is more repulsive than attractive. Google is building a device to [ultimately] lock us into their services and devices (or make their services available solely via their devices)? This is great?
Same concern with Apple. I worry about the fans of both behemoths.
Didn't say you did.
> Google is building a device to [ultimately] lock us into their services and devices (or make their services available solely via their devices)?
By providing an unlocked phone that doesn't require you to use their services? I can see being afraid of Google because they have access to so much of your information, but lock-in seems to be the province of companies like Apple and Microsoft.
And, shameless plug: Did y'all try the free Hacker News reader app I uploaded to the Market?
http://ifdefined.com/blog/post/A-Hacker-News-app-for-Android...
That, and I love the multitasking, and that the notifications are (in my opinion) much more useful since I can see that I have new emails or texts without having to actually unlock the phone.
I'm also very impressed with the navigation feature. The interface on it pretty much destroys that of every other GPS I've used, whether it was a stand-alone device or an iPhone app. Quick to load, extremely accurate, and surprisingly quick to notice and reroute if you don't take a turn.
I know a lot of people like the iPhone, and it's still a nice device, but I think this is a much better choice for me; I'm a heavy Google user (and have more loyalty to Google than I do to Apple) and I wanted fewer limitations.
The N1 however requires one simple command (which can and probably does void your warranty, depending on how nice HTC/Google feels like being) and then you can flash whatever you like.
For other phones, there's usually a nonsupported hack that will let you do the same.
no physical keyboard
NB: I have all kinds of conflict here.
When I first switched, several people with keyboardless phones told me that I would get used to not having a physical keyboard after a while and not miss it. Five weeks later I'm not sure that's the case - I've gotten faster and more accurate with the virtual keyboard than I was at first, but I'm still a lot slower and less accurate than I was on the Blackberry (or the Palm Treo that was my primary phone before it). I absolutely cannot use my N1 to compose any sort of text unless I'm sitting still; with the Blackberry I could fire off a message while walking down the street.
For day-to-day usage, I think the increased utility from the web browser and other apps (Google Voice rocks!) probably outweighs the decreased utility from quick/easy SMS and email replies, but like everything in the engineering world there's a trade-off.