I finally got my Nexus One last week and after having fallen out of love with Androids maturity after the Hero I was not expecting much. But I must admit to being highly impressed with this phone.
At the same time as getting the phone I was kindly asked to beta test Slidescreen.
Slidescreen is an app that was advertised on the Larva Labs site at least 6 months ago as a revolutionary home screen for Android. But it didn’t exist. It was just an idea. This disappointed me. It could have really been the application to make the rather dull looking Android a serious contender.
But it’s here!
I love the way I have all the information I am interested in on one screen in a neat and not overloaded layout. Each icon on the end of a section symbolises a service and acts as a launcher.
This allows me to call the most commonly used components on a smartphone without having to navigate anywhere else on the phone.
The services available are:
- Phone
- Messaging
- Email
- Calendar
- Google Reader
- Twitter
The middle section of the Slidescreen also acts as an expandable divider. You can drag it up to show all items for any one service that is displayed below it (Google Reader or Twitter) :
Or you can drag it down to show all items for any one service that is displayed above it (Telephone, Messaging, Email, Calendar).
All in all, I believe that Slidescreen heralds the puberty days of Android are closing. Larva Labs have shown that the Android can be as swish as anything else out there. Surprisingly, it does this by mimicking a style employed in the early days of smartphones by adopting a very Palm and early WinMo layout, but the fact is it works.
I just love it and it really sets the Nexus One off. It shows off the fabulous large screen and clarity of the Nexus One.
Another one of my favourite apps is WaveSecure.
Wavesecure help secure your phone by giving you the ability to track where it is, remotely wipe data from it or lock the phone down. It can also sound alarms if the SIM card is switched!
But this application is actually geared towards protecting your data and not your phone. The feature I find valuable are the backup tools. You can backup your contacts AND text messages.
Useful if you hold confidential data on your phone or if, like me, you regularly wipe your phone because you have installed something you shouldn’t. :S
My next application is Trapster.
Trapster warns of speed traps and allows you to upload new speed trap locations to the community of Trapster users.
It’s nice to have on whilst driving. A womans voice warns you when you are close to a speed camera if you can’t see the screen for any reason.
Now onto the low level and system applications.
My first Android device was the Hero. It wasn’t a bad phone, it just wasn’t a great one. It was too small to be considered as a great phone. The software was a little flaky, the processor was under powered and the keys were in a strange position that were not practical.
But the Nexus One and Android have rectified all of these errors. Along with the bigger screen is a high quality screen. The software has matured to have a sleek feel to it. The “clunk” of cupcake has gone. The processor is almost twice as fast as the Hero and the keys are much better placed.
The system applications have been upgraded too. First off, “Running Services”. This is the Android “Task Manager”. But instead of displaying all the processes including the low level processes with ’scary’ names they have been neatly grouped inside section with more user friendly headers.
The ‘Applications’ list now has 3 filters. Downloaded, Running and All. Which makes it easier to scan and read than Cupcake.
The Battery Usage screen is a very useful one. It displays what services used your battery the most. Sometimes it is the display, sometimes it is the amount of calls you made. Other times it could be an application. Either way, you can find out what is making your battery run down.
All in all, I am loving the Nexus One. I love the screen size, I love the look and feel of the phone. I like the fact that it integrates into Google applications so well – as you would expect seeing as Google maintained the development on this one. I love the fact that I can run around the OS as quick as I like with no lag. Not like the Hero. I love the fact I can downclock the CPU and it *still* runs quick.
Is it an iPhone killer? No. But these reason is because it plays a different sport to the iPhone. You can’t compare the two. It would be like comparing the Wii and the PS3, they are completely different machines aimed at completely different markets.
The Nexus One has a quality build physically and technically. A lot of the applications I used to install to solve short comings in the Android system are not necessary any more as Google have fixed the problems.
I would highly recommend Nexus One if you like Android. Sure, it doesn’t have the software support of the iPhone, but it’s only a matter of time…..
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