Phone Review - Quick Nexus One Review (www.TheUnlockr.com)

Hardware Overview of the Nexus One

The Nexus One, a Google-branded device, boasts an impressive hardware configuration that sets it apart from other Android phones. The phone features a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 480x800 pixels, providing a vibrant and clear visual experience. This large screen size makes it ideal for watching videos or browsing the internet. The device also supports multi-touch gestures, allowing users to navigate through menus and applications with ease.

The phone's capacitive touch sensitivity enables smooth interactions between the user and the device. Additionally, four touch-sensitive buttons adorn the bottom of the screen, which are not actual physical buttons but rather responsive to touch inputs. On the back of the phone, a track ball provides an alternative way to navigate through menus or scroll through lists.

The camera module on the Nexus One is equipped with a 5-megapixel sensor and features an LED flash for improved low-light performance. The camera also supports smile detection and geo-tagging capabilities, making it easier to capture high-quality images and keep track of location data. Furthermore, the phone's casing is made from brushed metal, which adds a premium feel to the device.

The bottom of the phone houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the power button is positioned on the bottom edge. The Nexus One also features a microSD card slot, allowing users to expand their storage capacity as needed.

Processor and Performance

One of the standout features of the Nexus One is its processor, which boasts a clock speed of 1 GHz. This fast processor ensures that the phone's performance remains smooth and responsive, even when running demanding applications or multitasking between multiple tasks. According to the manufacturer, this means that users can expect a seamless user experience, with minimal lag or stuttering.

The Nexus One also features 512 MB of RAM, which provides sufficient memory for most users' needs. While this amount of RAM may seem relatively modest compared to other Android phones on the market, it is still more than enough to handle everyday tasks and applications without significant performance degradation.

Availability and Support

As a Google-branded device, the Nexus One enjoys several benefits when it comes to availability and support. First and foremost, the phone is available for purchase directly from Google's website, allowing users to bypass carrier restrictions and manufacturer limitations. This means that users can expect timely software updates, as well as access to exclusive features and apps.

In addition to its availability on Google's website, the Nexus One also receives support from Google itself. In the event of any issues or problems with the device, Google will provide prompt and effective troubleshooting and repair services. Furthermore, when new versions of Android are released, users can expect to receive updates directly from Google, without having to wait for their carrier or manufacturer to release them.

Open Source Nature

One of the unique features of the Nexus One is its open source nature. As an Android device, it is built on top of the Android operating system, which is itself based on an open-source kernel. This means that users can alter the operating system and customize their device to suit their needs. To do this, users must first root their phone, which involves installing a special software package that grants administrative access to the device.

Once rooted, users can modify the device's firmware and install custom ROMs or apps. For example, the Nexus One can be customized with the Desire ROM from the HTC Desire, which adds a new user interface (UI) called Sense UI on top of the original Android interface. This level of customization allows users to personalize their phone to a greater extent than would be possible with standard manufacturer-issued firmware.

Rooting and Customization

For those who want to take full control over their Nexus One's functionality, rooting is an essential step. By installing a root package, users can gain access to the device's underlying operating system and make modifications as needed. This may involve installing custom ROMs or apps, overclocking the processor, adding more RAM, or making other significant changes.

The unlocker.net website provides detailed instructions for rooting the Nexus One, including tutorials and guides for specific root packages and custom ROMs. Once rooted, users can explore a wide range of customization options, from simple tweaks like changing the wallpaper or adding a custom icon pack to more complex modifications that involve installing new apps or tweaking system settings.

In conclusion, the Nexus One is an Android phone that boasts a unique combination of hardware and software features. Its 3.7-inch AMOLED screen provides a vibrant and clear visual experience, while its fast 1 GHz processor ensures seamless performance even when running demanding applications. As a Google-branded device, the Nexus One enjoys availability and support benefits that set it apart from other Android phones on the market. Additionally, its open source nature makes it an attractive option for users who want to customize their device beyond what is available through standard manufacturer-issued firmware.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys it's David from the unlocker.net r.com uh for full specifications and some photos of the phone as well okay so first off we'll start with the hardware of the device we have a 3.7 in am OED screen with a 480x800 resolution it's got multi-touch support it's capacitive uh we got four touch sensitive buttons along the bottom we got back menu home and search again these aren't real buttons they're touch sensitive uh and then we also have a track ball on the back we have a 5 megapixel camera with an LED flash uh the camera also has Smile detection and Geo tagging we have here Google's logo this being a Google device we'll get into why that's important later on um um and then here on the top we have a 3.5 mm headphone jack and the power button on the bottom a micro USB port um and then the casing itself is kind of a brushed metal that wraps around the front of the device on the bottom along here on the sides and then a strip along the back uh the rest of the device is a Teflon coated plastic uh internally the phone has a Snapdragon 1 GHz processor 512 MB of Ram uh supports hsdpa 7.2 mbes 3G has a digital compass an accelerometer GPS Bluetooth and Wi-Fi okay now we'll talk about the software of the device uh it's an Android device so like a lot of other Android devices it's running Android uh the difference is what version of Android that it's running uh unlike most Android phones that are running Android 1.6 and the Droid that's running 2.0 essentially the Nexus is running Google's latest Android version which is 2.1 some of the differences between 2.1 and other versions of Android are uh a new menu button you can see it here normally you used to pull up to bring up your menu now you just tap on it to bring up your list of apps has a cool 3d effect where it goes in and out uh and you can scroll like that uh another difference is that we have five home screens instead of the usual three uh you can navigate through them by swiping like I did or you can hold down on the dots at the bottom right and left of the screen and tap a window you want to get to another thing you'll notice is the background is moving uh in Android 2.1 this is called a live wallpaper uh it not only is a move but you can also interact with it to get it to do other things as well um the Nexus one comes pre-loaded with a bunch of them you can get to them by tapping menu wallpaper and you'll see live wallpapers you can also use regular wallpapers so you don't have to use a live one if you don't want here's some of the ones that are pre-loaded um also now the third parties are creating these liveb wallpapers and you can find them in the market by searching for live wallpaper uh some of them include like this one and say this one is really popular double tap to go faster another cool feature of 2.1 is the contact uh now they automatically sync with Facebook natively you don't have to download a third party app to do that soon as you set up your Facebook account in the uh setup process it will automatically try to link any of your friends to any of your friends in Facebook and put their pictures in automatically another thing Google added to Android 2.1 is this widget here which is your uh news and weather widget so it'll automatically display the the news RSS feeds that you choose and also your weather on the homepage but you can also click on it to get into this um kind of shows you uh your weather your weather forast what it's going to be later on in the day uh also what it's going to be across the week uh and then you can also swipe to go into different categories now these are categories that you have selected yourself um you'll see the ones that I've chosen uh or they have some preset ones like you know top news news in the US Entertainment Sports whatever um but I prefer setting up my own through here and then it'll automatically uh search Google news for any news articles that contain those keywords which is kind of cool okay one last feature that uh Google added into Android 2.1 is the voice to text so in any text box anything that brings up the regular Android keyboard you can click the voice button right here and talk your selection and it will attempt to turn it into text so let's try it hello this is a test okay so it's got to connect to the internet in order to do this so you do have to have a uh data connection of some sort and there you go hello this is a test okay so in this video I'm not going to get into uh the basics of Android um most of you by now already know how Android Works uh and if you've seen any other Android phone the experience is going to be the same the features are going to be pretty much the same besides what I've already mentioned um there are a few things about this phone though that I want to point out um that make it kind of unique and kind of special one is the screen now there are a few other phones that do have uh Amed screens um this is a nice one though 3.7 in makes it large enough that you can see most things that you need to the am OLED does make all the colors much brighter and crisper than say on an LCD screen so that's one two uh would have to be the processor um it's got a 1 GHz processor which is pretty much the fastest processor in a production phone that's readily available at the moment um what does that mean well it means that things just don't slow down I mean you can do what you need to do one thing can move pretty smoothly even tapping things all right it's not too bad do things like watch videos without any stutter just never thought of ourselves mag the angest man I've have ever known Justified PR Tuesday March 16th ATT 10 only on FX okay another benefit of the Nexus one is the fact that it is a Google branded device um now what that means exactly is that it is sanctioned and sold by Google themselves so there's no bloatware there's no you know carrier application carrier restrictions there's no uh manufacturer restrictions or or user interfaces or applications that you don't want it's all Android by itself that's pretty much it um so that means when things go wrong for example there was an issue with the uh radio uh losing 3G coverage on T-Mobile's Network within 2 weeks Google came out with an update you downloaded it over the air you didn't even have to you know wait to download it from your carrier from your manufacturer go to their website nothing just came that's it um now also in the future when new versions of Android come out I would assume that this is going to work the same way Android 2.2 or 2.5 or whatever the next version may be um when that comes out you're probably going to be one of the first people to get it unlike if you got the update uh and you had a G1 or an HTC Hero for example that update comes from Google um and goes directly to the Nexus one as opposed to those other phones it would go to the carrier or to the manufacturer then that carrier or manufacturer has to add in their own tweaks to it their own uis their own whatever they want to put in there and then they release it on their schedule okay last thing I want to mention about the Nexus One um is that like all Android phones um you can alter the operating system since it is open source uh you need to root your phone first um there's always usually a procedure to do that we have them on our site at the unlocker.net once you do that you can change things you can add Wi-Fi tethering you can change the theme overclock it add more RAM via swamp um and a bunch of other really technical things that end up being really cool so I'll show you a demonstration of that so now we have a custom rom uh we have the desire ROM from the new HTC Desire so we now have HTC uh sense UI on top of our Nexus One so again there you go that's our quick review of the Nexus One\n"