The Nexus One is the first HTC phone I have ever owned and as far ass hardware is concerned it is by far the worst phone I have ever owned. Two weeks after I got my first phone the speaker broke and it had to be exchanged. In both of my Nexus One’s the touch screen was absolutely abysmal. But I stuck with it because I LOVED the software. And I still do love the software.
After reading that there would never be a Nexus 2 I thought all was lost and that I would be stuck with a crappy touch screen for another year. I really don’t like those user interfaces that cell phone manufacturers add on to the Android Experience. I just want the plain vanilla android. And after having to exchange my phone after two weeks I wasn’t about to void my warranty by rooting the phone to get the experience that I wanted. So I resigned myself to dealing with crappy HTC hardware. And after trying to get it exchanged for the touch screen, I now know I will NEVER buy an HTC cell phone again.
Then on November 16th, 5 days late, I found out about the Nexus S. The Nexus S is really the Nexus 2 with a mirrored 2 according to Eric Schmidt. When I heard about it I though “OMFG, FINALLY! I no longer have to feel all crappy about my phone!” Then it just keeps getting better! It’s going to have Gingerbread (Android 2.3), It will have NFC (Near Field Communication), it’s going to be coming out soon (more on the “soon” later), It will be sold at Brick and Mortar stores (Best Buy), and most importantly it is NOT going to be made by HTC! I was instantly in love.
I know that as soon as I get back from Hong Kong I am going to throw down 600 dollars and buy that phone and junk my Nexus One on Ebay. The Samsung Nexus S with the “pure google experience” is where it’s gonna be.
So in my excitement I sat down and watched the entire talk with Eric Schmidt at the Web 2.0 Summit and actually say the bad ass phone! But then came the downer. When Eric Schmidt said that Gingerbread will be coming out in the “next few weeks” I was very sad. This reminded me of the Froyo debacle from earlier this year. Google said Froyo would be coming out in a few weeks, or soon, or when it is ready, and it took months after that announcement.
Then I started hearing about hardware issues, and dual core optimized software. Supposedly at the last minute they decided to add a dual core processor to the device but the software is not optimized for dual core. For these reasons they delayed the November 16th release date. But in any case I hope that this phone comes out in time for the Christmas holidays. But with Google’s track record, I am starting to think that it won’t.
I really want the Nexus line of phones to continue because I enjoy the pure Google experience with tethering, no crappy UI’s, no AT&T telling me I can’t install outside applications, the ability to travel outside of the US and use my phone without having to figure out Black Snow and Cydia, and no Man with his foot on my neck! So please, please, please, do this right Google and Samsung. Please get the holiday sales so that this Nexus phone will be both a success both financially and in terms of getting android out there to the public. I know that people like me will buy the phone no matter when it comes out because that’s how we do things. We are Android fan boys and girls haha. But you have to get the normal people on the bandwagon too!
Whenever the Nexus S does come out I will be buying it if I am in the US at the time. I won’t be back from Hong Kong until December 31st!
For all those people who think that “Samsung sucks and they shouldn’t have been chosen to make the phone and HTC makes good quality phones” you obviously haven’t suffered with the Nexus One’s abysmal touchscreen. the touch screen issue on the Nexus One is well documented and all over the internets. And HTC has done what? Zip, Zilch, Nada. In fact they make a big deal about how impossible it is to exchange the phone when you call them about problems. Then when they finally transfer you to the warranty exchange department, the warranty exchange department transfers you back to the tech support as soon as they find out you have a Nexus One. So yeah I am EAGER to get off of HTC.
Even if 99% of your products are great, how you handle that last 1% says volumes about your company. And those volumes about HTC are full of bad tech support and not taking care of their customers.
So anyways, that’s all folks I’ll write something else later!
Tags: Eric Schmidt, Google, Hong Kong, HTC sucks, Near Field Communication, Nexus One, Nexus S, NFC, Samsung, travel