Anand's Google Nexus One Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 3, 2010 3:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
The Display, My Love, the Display
If there’s one aspect of the Nexus One that makes the iPhone 3GS feel really dated it’s the display. Let’s look at the basic specs:
| Google Nexus One vs. Apple iPhone | |||||
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Apple iPhone 3GS (ARM Cortex A8)
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Google Nexus One (Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250)
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| Screen Technology | LCD | Active Matrix OLED | |||
| Screen Diagonal | 3.5" | 3.7" | |||
| Resolution | 320 x 480 | 480 x 800 | |||
| Pixels per Inch | 163 ppi | 252 ppi | |||
For very similar screen sizes (the Nexus One is narrower but longer than the iPhone), Google offers a huge increase in resolution. It makes sense given that the iPhone 3GS is still using the same resolution panel as the first iPhone back in 2007.
Recently Luke Hutchison published an excellent article at Ars Technica explaining the subpixel makeup of the Nexus One’s display. Most display technologies we’re used to reproduce colors by using a combination of red, green and blue. Instead of evenly distributing RGB subpixels across the display, the Nexus One has a combination of RRG or GBB for each pixel. This optimization is put in place most likely to reduce manufacturing cost or increase lifespan of the display.
Either way, you’re not getting complete color data on a per pixel basis. Now I won’t get into the argument of whether or not Google should call it a 480 x 800 display. It technically has that many pixels, it’s just that their makeup is a bit odd.
Google also does some pretty standard tricks to make the display look even more impressive. You get oversaturated colors and the usual trickery you can find in the TV section at Best Buy. Whites on the Nexus One aren't quite white but rather a cool blue and reds are often too red.
Compared to the iPhone, indoors, the Nexus One display is just incredible. If there are two things you could describe the Nexus One display as they would be: high contrast, and sharp. Indoors, and above 50% brightness, it’s honestly the best looking display I’ve ever seen on a smartphone. The colors are ridiculously vibrant and they pop because of the super deep blacks.
It really looks that contrasty.
The AMOLED display has no backlight, and thus it’s far more power efficient to display lots of black than it is to display bright whites. For this reason many of the applications use black backgrounds. For example, here’s the email app in Android vs. the email app in iPhone OS:
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Google Nexus One
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Apple iPhone 3GS
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Given that Android is a fairly mainstream OS and not a pornsite, white text on a black background is generally unexpected. Unexpected, but not more difficult to read. The high resolution and incredibly contrasty AMOLED display make sure of that.
In direct sunlight, the lower part of the picture above is what the Nexus One looks like
Outdoors it’s another story entirely. In direct sunlight, the display is mostly useless at its default brightness settings. With the brightness cranked all the way up it’s still washed out but at least legible. Which brings me to my next point. The auto brightness control on the Nexus One is frustrating.
It automatically adjusts display brightness based on ambient light, but it generally picks a brightness that’s too low for my tastes. I just ended up disabling the automatic control and picked something that was around 50 - 100% brightness depending on what I was doing with the phone. I would like the option to have the auto brightness control pick settings that are a little less conservative.
Touch the Screen
Touchscreens have gotten much better over the past couple of years since the iPhone’s introduction. The Nexus One’s touchscreen is very close to as responsive as the iPhone’s but with some annoying issues. There are some situations where holding the Nexus One in one hand and swiping with my thumb won’t let me swipe between screens, and other similar accuracy issues. Getting the home bar buttons to recognize taps is also a pain at times. The touchscreen is definitely usable, just not as good as the iPhone's.
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Chloiber - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
Sorry for repeating myself, but I really look forward to a test of the HTC Sense UI with either the HTC Desire, Legend (slower though) or Evo. I read several reviews and in every single one they were really impressed by the onscreen keyboard.ol1bit - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
I love the android platform. Now my last smart phone was the first Palm ever, so I could be thrilled with anything.The kicker for me was buying my android at Amazon for $49 (3 weeks ago), and now it's only $19!
It's hard for me to grasp how much power is in my hands for $19. Sure I have to have a 2 year contract, but I'd have that anyway.
As far as difference between mine and Goggle's? there's some, but the core functionality is present in both, just like an HP and a Dell computer with their built in thingy's.
Cheers on a great review!
LongTimePCUser - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
Today on Amazon the Motorola Droid is $19.99.Amazing. I bought mine about 3 weeks ago at $49. I thik that it is great and a bargin at the price I paid.
They are practically giving it away now. That tells you how profitable their $30/month data plan is.
naalex - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
Wow, I've got to say: Super Job! Not only did you review the Nexus One, but you managed to simultaneously review Android, review the iPhone OS, compare the two's strengths and weaknesses, and describe ARM's role in the smartphones and microprocessor business (which I never understood). Long yes, but every page was well worth it.After reading all the hyperbolic tech news coming from Engadget, CNET, and PhoneArena, I was under the mistaken impression that Snapdragon was a clear smartphone platform champion, so I found it rather interesting that Snapdragon's integrated GPU was inferior to the PowerVR solution on the iPhone 3GS. If I'm not mistaken, this is the GPU that is used in the TI chip in the Droid, so does this mean that my Droid may be able to keep up with Nexus Ones/Snapdragons with 3D gaming apps, or will there be too much hardware and OS fragmentation for any app developer to create any optimized 3D gaming app for Android.
This is going to be my go-to resource to provide to people who ask, "What is that strange object pressed to your face that isn't an iPhone? Does it cure cancer like the iPhone?" Trying to explain to my clueless tech friends that there are other viable smartphone options out there is an uphill battle, but one that may go a little easier now.
ExodusC - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
Anand, I'll admit, this is the gist of what I expected from your article (I don't mean that in a bad way, mind you--). I own an iPhone 3G, and have for almost a year now. I like it, but I don't particularly love it. I imagine the 3GS would be a more fluid (and therefore more enjoyable) experience. For some reason, tech reviewers tend to not want to get rid of their iPhones for some reason. Even with a device like the Nexus One at their fingertips. I type this from a Motorola Droid right now, and I love it.I agree, I love the fluidity of the iPhone compared to Android devices (why must they be so powerful, but so choppy? That's my biggest complaint), but I love the feature set of Android even more.
I also really want to know, why do you feel Android's pull-down notification menu is awkward? The first time I picked up an Android device and used it (never knowing about the feature), I felt it was very intuitive and a wise design choice.
I completely agree with your general consenus that Android needs some polish, however.
I absolutely love your website, reviews, and attention to detail. Keep up the good work! I just thought I'd share my honest opinion with you. Hopefully you'll have time to respond.
ExodusC - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
Excuse my extra "for some reason" in that post. I was a bit distracted while typing up my reply...Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
It's just an odd construct in my opinion. It's the only place in the entire OS that you pull something down to reveal more notifications. If anything I'd expect a tap to expand sort of deal, but the pulldown seems strange to me.I will say that after using it for a while, it has lost it's weirdness in my opinion :)
Take care,
Anand
DukeN - Monday, April 5, 2010 - link
Love the slide out keyboard - if only this was like the original G1 but with all the new horsepower.The G1 is the first phone that has tempted me away from a blackberry (well...almost) in 5 years.
EazyVG - Monday, April 5, 2010 - link
I have been a WinMo user for past 3-4 years, but I have to agree that Android, not WinMo7, is the replacement for Windows Mobile 6.5, and hence I will be jumping to Android phone (as of today I like the HTC Desire, but want QWERTY) from my current HTC Touch Pro 2.Pitne - Monday, April 5, 2010 - link
wow I cant believe how biased this article is towards apple. Almost every word you used when talking about the Nexus One had a negative connotation. Most of your 'negatives' towards the nexus one are completely false.The notification area for one--this implementation is 100% better than apple or palm and you think its a poor way of handling it? Wtf are you smoking.