LAS VEGAS—On Wednesday night, I spent 20 minutes poking around on the Google Nexus One, the latest smartphone to run Google’s Android operating system. As a Motorola Droid owner, I was upset with the fact that my handset is now only the second-fastest Android device, though I was eager to take the Nexus One for a spin – and definitely liked the ride.
The OLED screen on the Nexus One is spectacular—blacks looked inky black. Next to an iPhone and Motorola Droid, the colors on the Nexus One were vivid.
I didn’t find the body of the Nexus One to be as spectacular as its display, but it’s just my taste. It’s thin and sleek like an iPhone, but has a plastic feel whereas every part of the iPhone feels like a sheath of glass.
The Android experience is just flat-out fast. Not to say my Motorola Droid is slow; applications consistently load and close extremely fast and applications fly. But what is not consistent are the flashy graphics transitions that take place when I close applications. Sometimes an application will dissolve into the homescreen; sometimes it will just flash to the homescreen. The dissolving transitions on the Nexus One were consistently smooth, though I don’t know if it’s because it has a faster processor or because it has the newer software build, Android 2.1 versus the Motorola Droid Android 2.0.1.
A few new additions in Android 2.1 include a quick view of all your homescreens, a weather and Google news app and a revamp of the screen where all of the applications are laid out. They were all svelte. There’s also animated wallpapers which are cute, but feel gimmicky and probably are just a waste of battery.
The touch screen keyboard was terrific, though it didn’t feel radically better the Motorola Droid.
Nitpicks aside, you’re dealing with a spectacular handset. Bottom line, the Google Nexus One will likely not disappoint.
The Google Nexus One will be sold directly through Google’s website unlocked for $529.99 or $179.99 with a 2 two-year service plan on T-Mobile. It will also be available on Verizon Wireless in the spring, though pricing was not yet announced.
For more on the Nexus One and the Google Phone Store see Mobile Analyst Sascha Segan’s column
Need an unlocked phone that doubles as an accurate GPS device? The Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition could be what you’re looking for. Unlike the Garmin nüvifone G60 on AT&T, which was a total failure as a phone, the Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition began life as a full-featured, unlocked smartphone. This new package rings in at a reasonable $299, with no cell-phone contract required and a lifetime subscription for GPS service and map updates. It comes with everything you need for in-car navigation. In testing, I found it gets the job done, despite a weak touch-screen interface and some missing GPS features.
LAS VEGAS—It’s been long overdue, but the Lenovo Thinkpad T-Series laptops are finally getting some significant changes across the board. At CES 2010, Lenovo announced the new Thinkpad T410, T510, the T410s, and W510. Most of the updates revolve around Intel’s latest Core i7 and Core i5 processors, but there are some feature add-ons and design changes worth noting as well.
The Thinkpad T410 and the T510 are Lenovo’s flagship corporate laptops, and the biggest improvements here involve speed. They bid farewell to the Core 2 Duo processors, welcoming either an Intel Core i5-520M (2.4 GHz), a Core i5-540M (2.53GHz), or a Core i7-620M (2.66GHz) processor. DDR3 memory will be the only format supported (up to 8GB on certain models), and each of these laptops will use switching graphics technology, with an Intel integrated graphics chipset (now on the processor package) and an Nvidia discrete GPU. As with their predecessors, 80-Gbyte and 128-GB SSDs, as well as fast spinning hard drives, will be available as well.
Magnesium metals are no longer used, as they are costly. Instead, the new Thinkpads are now designed around tough ABS plastics, which isn’t necessarily an improvement over the metal the company previously used
For months the technology world has been gossiping about Google’s most closely guarded secret — the arrival of its first very own mobile phone.
Despite the growing anticipation of a smartphone rumoured to be capable of challenging the iPhone’s market dominance, no previews have been given and leaks about it have been few and far between.
Tomorrow the clamour will end when Google reveals the Nexus One, its touchscreen phone named after the “replicants†in Ridley Scott’s science-fiction film Blade Runner.
The phone, which uses Google’s Android mobile phone operating system, marks a significant step for the search giant that, until now, has offered phones only in partnership with other companies.
Reports suggest that the Nexus One will be sold online at around $500 (£310). The Times understands that it will be available initially in the US and later in Europe.
While the phone is being manufactured by the Taiwanese company HTC, Google has taken the lead in designing the Nexus One’s hardware and software.
Smartphones are turning into the gatekeepers of how we access the internet. Google has its sights set on Apple’s iconic iPhone, which has become, since it launch in 2007, the benchmark in the rapidly growing market. Google revealed its open-source Android operating system nearly two years ago. Since then a dozen Android phones by companies such as Samsung and Motorola have been launched, including the recent, heavily promoted Motorola Droid.
Google wants more people to use its Android system because it is optimised for Google software applications. Mobile search has huge potential for growth as more people go online using their mobile phones and Google aims to deliver more ads to them.
Reports suggest that the Nexus One has a slightly larger screen than the iPhone, an exchangeable battery and offers consumers the option of adding a memory card. Consumers will be able to access the web, play video games and use Google’s free GPS navigation software. The smartphone will also have a 5-megapixel camera and wi-fi connectivity.
The Nexus One’s unlocked version will allow consumers to use a supplier of their choice to provide wireless service. Google is thought to have already approached T-Mobile and Vodafone in the UK.
The Google briefing tomorrow’s at a media event at the company headquarters in Silcon Valley is likely to overshadow the opening on Wednesday of the world biggest gadgets show, the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas.
Later this month Apple is to try to open up a new market in the mobile devices arena by launching a tablet-style computer, possibly called the iSlate.
Motorola making a device in more that one color? You don’t say… One of our connects sent us the above photo of the Motorola Calgary / DROID Devour / Whatever, and confirmed the specifications we posted a few months back. We also received some more feedback on the device — hit the jump for the goodies!
We’re told the keyboard was “nice†and the phone itself was “easier to use†compared to the Motorola DROID. Obviously that’s personal opinion, and maybe the BLUR OS simplifies things for some people, but the trackpad apparently is killer as a navigational input device. Oh? The device has Wi-Fi, GPS, a 1420mAh battery, but unfortunately no SIM card slot as it is not a global device. Whether the unit will come in multiple colors or not is not confirmed as these are still non-final units, we’re told, but we’d probably bet on it being available in black as well as silver. If only they kept that RAZR-keyboard…
BlackBerry users in North America faced delays in receiving e-mail on their devices Thursday.
The company that makes the popular messaging phones, Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM-T67.05-1.34-1.96%) , later said technicians isolated and resolved the issue. The company said it is investigating the cause.
RIM said users were still able to make phone calls, browse the Internet and send and receive text messages. RIM didn’t say how many users were affected or how long the outage lasted.
RIM’s system is relatively reliable, but its centralized structure means that any problems can affect millions of users.
In February, 2008, an upgrade to the wireless system apparently caused a three-hour service disruption. In April, 2008, a minor software upgrade crashed the system. A software glitch also caused a smaller disruption in September, 2008.
After initially focusing on corporate customers, RIM has expanded its reach into the consumer market in recent years. The devices face increasing competition from devices such as Apple’s iPhone, Palm’s Pre and the Motorola Droid.
The outage came the same day RIM, which is based in Waterloo, Ont., was to release quarterly earnings.
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