Ubuntu Tips n Tricks

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Google Phone (Nexus One) is Finally Here

Posted: 06 Jan 2010 02:34 AM PST

The highly anticipated smart phone from Google has arrived. The Nexus One was officially released several hours ago and is now available for consumers in selected countries. The device serves as Google's debut into the hardware market. Does Nexus One have what it takes to succeed?

Though manufactured by HTC Corporation, Nexus One has a touch of Google's simplicity and a look that can beat the iPhone. It has a sleek body with a solid design. It weighs around 130g (about 4.6 oz.) and has size dimensions of 119x59.8x11.5mm. The Nexus One features a 3.7in AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display (800x480 resolution) with 100,000:1 contrast ratio and 1ms response rate. It has an illuminated trackball that can emit different colors of light based on the type of notification being received.

The Nexus One features a 1GHz Qualcomm 8250 processor, 512 MB of RAM, 512 MB of internal Flash storage, and comes with microSD slot capable of handling up to 32 GB microSD card. It also has a 5 Megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and digital zoom, GPS receiver, light and proximity sensors, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and 802.11b/g/n Wifi capabilities.

The operating system of Nexus One is Android 2.1 "Eclair". This latest version of the OS includes a few functions and aesthetic changes such as "Live Wallpapers". --The cool animated wallpapers run in the background and react to different user inputs. The "Application Drawer" is replaced with a simple button that can be pressed to access the list of applications installed on the phone. This thumbnail list can be scrolled up and down and as it is scrolled, the applications roll up into a 3D cube.

The Nexus One provides hardware decoding for H.263, H.264 and MPEG-4 video, and is able to play MP3, AAC+, Ogg Vorbis, WAV and MIDI audio, and can display the JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP image formats.

One of the things that I like most about Nexus One is that it's pretty much open for hacking and modifications. Users can root the device by unlocking its bootloader using the fastboot command "fastboot oem unlock". Unlocking the bootloader will let the user install other firmware images and even other bootloaders. Gaining root privileges enables a user to override protected operating system features, install arbitrary software and enable internet tethering to share the phone's 3G network connection over Wifi among other things. Upon running the fastboot command, you will be warned that unlocking the bootloader will void your warranty.

The Nexus One is priced at $529 (unlocked) and $179 if subsidized by T-Mobile with two-year contract. If you are from the US, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, you can buy the phone from HERE.

With its gorgeous look, great features, and powerful OS, Google Nexus One has the right formula to be on top of the smart phone market. If I have the budget, I will definitely be getting Nexus One, and if it's really that good, it's time for me to sell my iPhone on eBay :-)