I’ve owned my Nexus One for over a year and a half now, and that’s impressive. Not only because it’s still very useable so long after its launch but also because I haven’t broken it.
Hardware / Design
This is in-fact one of the standout features of this phone; only older Nokia’s have managed to survive their tenure with me so well. Scratches, cracks and dents are in abundance, but the phone continues to function much as it did when new.
Internals / Display
The 1ghz Snapdragon processor is still perfectly capable of moving you around Android swiftly, while the single inbuilt speaker is pretty poor. Using speakerphone generally requires holding the phone to your face anyway, while ringtones tend to be pretty inaudible too.
190MB internal storage is useless, meaning you have to constantly juggle apps to keep the phone running. It does support up to 32gb MicroSD storage, which works without any major slowdown.
The AMOLED display with the much discussed PenTile subpixel arrangement is a weak point, the edges of text were noticeably less defined, coming from a HTC Hero.
Battery Life / Performance
Battery life has always been unimpressive, almost always requiring a charge every day, although I am a rather heavy user. This has only got worse with age and the phone now finds itself on charge at least once a day, if not twice.
When I first got this phone I was disappointed at its inability to keep up with the 3GS. I feel it would fare better now, with the software update to Gingerbread speeding things up significantly. Applications generally open pretty rapidly, but it’s not uncommon to be left with black screens waiting for things to load. Even on good days the general snappiness of the system can’t match WP7 or iOS.
Camera
It’s pretty bad, even in the best of the light.
Software
While I bemoaned the occasional black screen and general lack of fluidity earlier I am also full of plenty of praise for my phones OS. It’s currently running 2.3.6 gingerbread and it’s never run better. It’s worth mentioning that flash works well, and I do use it. Also most games play happily too, though more and more of the latest titles no longer support this phone.
Wrap-Up
This is a phone that has, with the exception of battery life, only become better with use, perhaps that’s because the software was slightly more flawed than it ought to be when it was launched. The fact remains that I don’t feel as if I’m totally left behind by people with newer phones, even after nearly two years. You can’t say fairer for your money than that surely? One thing you can take from my review is if you like the Galaxy Nexus now, buy it. If Google’s first effort is anything to go buy, you’ll like it even more by the time you are done with it.
The Breakdown
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Design
9
-
Display
4
-
Camera(s)
4
-
Reception / call quality
8
-
Performance
7
-
Software
7
-
Battery life
5
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Ecosystem
9
