Anand's Google Nexus One Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 3, 2010 3:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Performance: Faster but Choppier
Much like the display, the Nexus’ performance can be frustrating at times. First, the bad. Switching between pages on the home screen and scrolling through applications is downright choppy. The scrolling process isn’t slow, but the animation isn’t smooth - which makes the phone feel slower than it is. It’s a framerate issue that’s been present on every Android device I’ve used (for the life of me I can’t remember whether or not it was present on the Motorola Droid). It varies depending on the app as well. Scrolling through contacts is perfectly smooth, scrolling through Facebook isn’t. I doubt it’s a hardware issue but rather a software optimization/driver problem. Why it hasn’t been fixed by now is anyone’s guess.
Another inexplicably slow part of the Android experience involves getting the virtual keyboard to appear. The keyboard appears whenever you tap in a text input box. Doing so upon first entering an application (e.g. the SMS app) usually takes several taps before it’ll actually respond. It’s frustrating beyond belief and inexcusable given the horsepower of the Snapdragon SoC in the Nexus One. Again, this just seems to be a software optimization issue rather than an inherent platform limitation.
Now the good news. When launching and interacting with an app the Nexus One feels lightning quick, going back to the iPhone 3GS afterwards feels much slower. Applications respond with a sense of urgency that no other smartphone I’ve used can offer. This is a pure clockspeed thing thanks to the 1GHz Snapdragon from Qualcomm.
| Applications Processor Performance | |||||
|
Apple iPhone 3GS (ARM Cortex A8)
|
Google Nexus One (Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250)
|
Advantage Nexus One | |||
| Load www.anandtech.com | 6.9 seconds | 6.7 seconds | 3.0% | ||
| Load www.digg.com | 12.5 seconds | 9.0 seconds | 38.9% | ||
| Load www.arstechnica.com | 12.1 seconds | 10.8 seconds | 12.0% | ||
| Load www.engadget.com | 17.7 seconds | 13.3 seconds | 33.1% | ||
| Load www.gizmodo.com | 20.8 seconds | 13.7 seconds | 51.8% | ||
| Load www.techreport.com | 6.2 seconds | 5.0 seconds | 24.0% | ||
| Launch Web Browser | 0.7 seconds | 0.7 seconds | 0.0% | ||
| Launch Email App | 0.7 seconds | 0.7 seconds | 0.0% | ||
| Launch Maps App | 5.0 seconds | 2.0 seconds | 150% | ||
| Launch Camera App | 2.8 seconds | 2.0 seconds | 40.0% | ||
Loading web pages proved to be anywhere from 3 to over 50% faster than the iPhone 3GS. Launching simple apps didn't move any quicker on the Nexus One, but firing up the Maps and Camera apps (and waiting for them to be usable) was much faster on the Nexus One. The more processor intensive the task, the more the Nexus One can flex its muscle.
Those applications that spawn other apps (e.g. clicking on a Google Maps link in the browser and having it spawn the Maps app) also do so very quickly. If it weren’t for frame rate issues, the Nexus One would be perfect from a performance standpoint.
It’s weird, the flexibility that Android offers is very PC like. And by that, I mean that the platform really does feel like a condensed version of Windows or Linux running in a smartphone. Unfortunately, the weird quirks also seem to come with the package. In fact, I’d say Android really does feel like a more modern version of what Windows Mobile used to be rather than an iPhone, webOS or Windows Phone 7 competitor.
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Mr Alpha - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
To me it looks like the percentages in the website and app loading table are backwards.Dark Legion - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
Is there any way you can perform a test to see how long the battery lasts while the GPS is being used? Thanks...Barack Obama - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
Nice article, thanks...Will be interesting to see WinMo 7 when it comes out. Definately an exciting time for smartphones.
dguy6789 - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
Very thorough, very informative. Probably the best N1 review I have read.Just wanted to point out two things.
When you web browse on the N1, double tap the text that you want to read and the website will shape up to be perfectly readable on the N1 in portrait mode. Landscape isn't necessary for web browsing.(I thought it was at first too until I learned of the aforementioned feature)
Typing on the N1 is infinitely better if you use landscape mode. I pretty much always turn it sideways and type with a dual thumb method very quickly when I need to type something lengthy such as a text message or email.
A5 - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
The voice recognition system does more than just what you mentioned - you can use it to launch some other programs, especially Nav. For example, if you say "Navigate to (Wherever)" it'll open Navigation and (if it's ambiguous) show you a list of options based on a Maps search of what you said - pretty cool stuff.Affectionate-Bed-980 - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
The NExus One LACKS multi touch in its keyboard. That's why its 100x harder to speed type than on the iPhone. Trust me. I've spent HOURS in front of my Droid and Nexus one testing multitouch, comparing it to an iPod Touch/iPhone 3GS. It's night and day without multi touch.This is the REAL multitouch many people forget. Sure you can pinch zoom maps and pinch zoom browser, but honestly those aren't as important as having a multitouch keyboard. If you really want to type on an onscreen keyboard, you NEED multitouch. Currently, the only market solution is Smart Keyboard Pro that offers Android 2.0's multitouch capabilities.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
I did neglect to mention the missing multitouch on its keyboard, I'll add that in. But if you remember, the iPhone lacked multitouch on its keyboard at first - something that really bothered me after using a Blackberry for so long. For me, that's not what's limiting my typing speed today though. The predictive text/autocorrect on the Nexus One by default just isn't as good as the iPhone's.Take care,
Anand
spideryk - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
Swype is the answer to text input on a smartphone. once youve gotten used to swype, you can type one handed with out looking at the keyboard.strikeback03 - Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - link
Maybe it is just how Swype works on my Diamond, but I certainly can't reliably type one-handed without looking. Swype is the only keyboard I have found that does not require rotation to portrait mode on the Diamond to type, but just testing a Droid in-store I would say I was about as fast using the software keyboard as I am after 5-6 months with Swype.Affectionate-Bed-980 - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
Also Anand, if you read up a little abou the choppiness in scrolling it's due to the dithering of images and stuff. If I recall correctly, 2.0 had dithering implemented properly so smooth scrolling was not an issue.2.0.1 and above has failed to deal with this. There are fixes for this, and I've seen Droid and Milestone users use it. I'm almost positive it can be applied to the Nexus One.