Stealthgator
New Member
Background:
I've been using a blackberry 8320 curve (T-mobile) for the past two years. Before that I was using the windows mobile (6.0) powered T-Mobile Wing (HTC Herald). The Wing was a touch screen phone with a physical keyboard. I loathed the touch screen on the wing (even if I used the little stylus it wasn't exactly accurate). Last fall I picked up the ZuneHD and was pleased to find that a touch screen device can be functional and rather fun. So let the breakdown begin:
Navigating the UI:
There are two ways to navigate through the UI, with touch or through trackball located just below the touch screen. Honestly this trackball seems pretty useless to me. One, it's located so far away from the middle of the phone it makes it pretty hard to use when using the phone with one hand or two for that matter. 2. There is just to much stuff (widgets/ home screens/menu items) to actually make the trackball useful. You end up scrolling through tons of stuff when you could just as easily open/click a link by touching it directly. It's pretty limited; so don't go in thinking you can just use the t-ball instead. This is a touch screen phone, like Dan’s mom it prefers poking to rubbing (not that there's anything wrong with that).
So sorting through the phones various menus using the touch screen is pretty straight forward and simple. You get five customizable "home" screens. And four haptic feed back buttons between the t-screen and t-ball that vibrate when you select them: Back button (takes you to previous screen), Menu button (brings up situational specific menu items), Home button (takes you directly to main home screen no matter where you are within the UI), and Search button (brings up search field [haven't played or needed to use this to much since search is everywhere in this phone]).
I could see how looking for one item/app could get a little crazy if you downloaded a bunch of apps/widgets but out of the five "home" screens I'm using two. Another con is (and this may just be me being afraid of cracking/breaking the touch screen) sometimes you have to press a little too hard when selecting items/apps.
Texting/typing:
The Wing scared me away from touch screen typing, like Dan's Mom scared me away from oral. You could get the job done, but the work just didn't justify the end result. But the N1 actually makes touch screen typing useable for me. It's like when I went from driving my car in 3rd all the time (and stalling) to realizing that hey maybe I should give first a shot (of course I thought third was first, but that's for another time). But let me be clear, for me I don't see how anything can replace and actual physical keyboard, but typing on the N1 is intuitive. The QWERTY virtual keyboard is nice with all the virtual bells and whistles: shift keys/accents. It does take two key presses to add question marks and things of that nature but so does any physical keyboard (shift/ then desired key). In portrait mode if you have average/larger than average fingers there will be a problem with accuracy, but the more I've used it in potrait mode the more accurate I seem to get. Tilting the keyboard to landscape and the only difference for me, between a physical keyboard, is the speed at which I type.
Cell Service/3G issues:
I've been with T-Mo for about 5 years now. First down @ Ft. Hood, TX and now here in the Twin cities and I've never had a problem with reception for calls. But again this depends on your location. As far as data goes, this is my first 3G capable device (welcome to 2010 everybody!) so anything the I get is a win for me as opposed the EDGE network my 8320 ran on. But some people are having problems with the N1 and 3G. It's unclear if the problem lies with T-Mobile (and there recently updated network) or the actual 3G chip in the N1. So beware that this is an ongoing issue. I haven't had any problems, traveling around S. Minneapolis. I always see 3G when I look at my phone.
Complaints:
To use any of the apps/service (besides cell) Google makes you sign up for a Gmail account (not just a Google account). Which isn't that big of a deal, Apple forces you to use Itunes, and MSFT tries to bully you into using everything MSFT (it's the world we live in).
I really wish there was a Black Berry Desktop Manager-esqe application for Android that allowed you to manage your phones apps/data/contacts via a PC instead of having to do everything directly through the phone. As an Outlook/Hotmail user there was no native way for me to import my contacts into the N1 or Gmail (*That I could find). So I used this little handy dandy program (Note: Works with Win7 but still buggy)
When you have everything turned on (GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi/Cell service) the battery life falls very short of my old 8320. But then my 8320 couldn't do anything as well as the N1 (besides Text) and the apps on the N1 are just crazy fun and or helpful. So for me it's a wash. Supposedly there are android apps out there that help you manage battery life by turning things on and off within the Android OS, but that's just too much work for me. Google doesn’t say what the battery life is with everything turned on so I won’t speculate, but I charge my phone every night and it hasn’t gone dead on me yet. I have come close, but not quite.
They def need an desktop way to pick and choose apps. Searching the store via phone is just one scroll after another. There is a search options, but if you’re new to apps like me how do you know what apps to use unless engadet/gizmodo tell you. I like to discover things on my own and the Android Marketplace definitely limits that.
I refuse to get into a phones “sexiness.” It’s a phone. Dan’s mom isn’t sexy and we all still use her.
The screen is a smudge magnet.
Sometimes the phone just freezes up. It doesn't crash and the freezes always last less than a minute.
The only way to wake the phone up from standby is the power button located at the top of the phone.
Making an actual call requires to many button presses in my opinion. Since search is so prevalent in the UI, I wish they would have replaced the haptic search button with one that took you directly to the phone screen. They treat the phone like an app which can be annoying when your several levels deep in the UI.
Joys:
Like it or not phones are moving in the N1/Iphone direction where they bring everything "social network"-y (an oxymoron if I've ever seen one since you end up socializing less with people), and web 2.0ish into your phone. An the N1 shines here. Twitter clients/Facebook work. T-Mobiles 'My Account' app works for me, but I've read it doesn't work for others.
It's fast, and snappy when moving in and out of menu items (I haven't noticed any lag worth complaining about, at least not worse than the 8320, which was the epitome of LAG).
Text-to-speech Search/Texting:
Though currently pretty gimmicky and doesn't seem to work via Bluetooth. It's just pretty fun to play with in general. If you have a quick search or message you want to send I suggest they virtual keyboard. But if it's something long or difficult to type out, the Text-to-speech really shines. Google says it "learns" the more you use it, and how true that is who knows. But I've "dictated" several long text messages and it get's 90% of the words right. Even with editing the mistakes it makes I found it's still quicker than actually typing the messages out. They really need to implement Bluetooth compatibility here.
GPS:
I haven’t used this feature during actual travel, but I have played around with it. It has the Turn-by-turn directions, Traffic congestion (how accurate who knows), and even allows you to see the location of friends (via Google Latitude). The search feature really is excellent. I say “Applebee’s” and the nearest one pops up on the map, turn-by-turn directions are only a few taps away from there.
So in conclusion, if you want a phone that is just a phone there are plenty of options out there that are excellent in quality but don’t do much of anything else. But if you want a phone that basically doubles as a Search Engine/GPS/App platform then I say go for it. If you can afford the 530 unlocked or T-Mobile actually allows you to get it at the reduced price. Plus it comes with a 4GB SD card.
Hope this review helped. If not just ask to play around with mine and I’ll see what I can do.
NOTE: The phone does allow you to choose a network (after scanning) and AT&T did show up, but apparently the 3G aspect of the phone will not work on AT&T.
Hoped this helps.
Let me know of any editing you feel I should do or items you feel weren't addressed through DM or threa reply.
I've been using a blackberry 8320 curve (T-mobile) for the past two years. Before that I was using the windows mobile (6.0) powered T-Mobile Wing (HTC Herald). The Wing was a touch screen phone with a physical keyboard. I loathed the touch screen on the wing (even if I used the little stylus it wasn't exactly accurate). Last fall I picked up the ZuneHD and was pleased to find that a touch screen device can be functional and rather fun. So let the breakdown begin:
Navigating the UI:
There are two ways to navigate through the UI, with touch or through trackball located just below the touch screen. Honestly this trackball seems pretty useless to me. One, it's located so far away from the middle of the phone it makes it pretty hard to use when using the phone with one hand or two for that matter. 2. There is just to much stuff (widgets/ home screens/menu items) to actually make the trackball useful. You end up scrolling through tons of stuff when you could just as easily open/click a link by touching it directly. It's pretty limited; so don't go in thinking you can just use the t-ball instead. This is a touch screen phone, like Dan’s mom it prefers poking to rubbing (not that there's anything wrong with that).
So sorting through the phones various menus using the touch screen is pretty straight forward and simple. You get five customizable "home" screens. And four haptic feed back buttons between the t-screen and t-ball that vibrate when you select them: Back button (takes you to previous screen), Menu button (brings up situational specific menu items), Home button (takes you directly to main home screen no matter where you are within the UI), and Search button (brings up search field [haven't played or needed to use this to much since search is everywhere in this phone]).
I could see how looking for one item/app could get a little crazy if you downloaded a bunch of apps/widgets but out of the five "home" screens I'm using two. Another con is (and this may just be me being afraid of cracking/breaking the touch screen) sometimes you have to press a little too hard when selecting items/apps.
Texting/typing:
The Wing scared me away from touch screen typing, like Dan's Mom scared me away from oral. You could get the job done, but the work just didn't justify the end result. But the N1 actually makes touch screen typing useable for me. It's like when I went from driving my car in 3rd all the time (and stalling) to realizing that hey maybe I should give first a shot (of course I thought third was first, but that's for another time). But let me be clear, for me I don't see how anything can replace and actual physical keyboard, but typing on the N1 is intuitive. The QWERTY virtual keyboard is nice with all the virtual bells and whistles: shift keys/accents. It does take two key presses to add question marks and things of that nature but so does any physical keyboard (shift/ then desired key). In portrait mode if you have average/larger than average fingers there will be a problem with accuracy, but the more I've used it in potrait mode the more accurate I seem to get. Tilting the keyboard to landscape and the only difference for me, between a physical keyboard, is the speed at which I type.
Cell Service/3G issues:
I've been with T-Mo for about 5 years now. First down @ Ft. Hood, TX and now here in the Twin cities and I've never had a problem with reception for calls. But again this depends on your location. As far as data goes, this is my first 3G capable device (welcome to 2010 everybody!) so anything the I get is a win for me as opposed the EDGE network my 8320 ran on. But some people are having problems with the N1 and 3G. It's unclear if the problem lies with T-Mobile (and there recently updated network) or the actual 3G chip in the N1. So beware that this is an ongoing issue. I haven't had any problems, traveling around S. Minneapolis. I always see 3G when I look at my phone.
Complaints:
To use any of the apps/service (besides cell) Google makes you sign up for a Gmail account (not just a Google account). Which isn't that big of a deal, Apple forces you to use Itunes, and MSFT tries to bully you into using everything MSFT (it's the world we live in).
I really wish there was a Black Berry Desktop Manager-esqe application for Android that allowed you to manage your phones apps/data/contacts via a PC instead of having to do everything directly through the phone. As an Outlook/Hotmail user there was no native way for me to import my contacts into the N1 or Gmail (*That I could find). So I used this little handy dandy program (Note: Works with Win7 but still buggy)
When you have everything turned on (GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi/Cell service) the battery life falls very short of my old 8320. But then my 8320 couldn't do anything as well as the N1 (besides Text) and the apps on the N1 are just crazy fun and or helpful. So for me it's a wash. Supposedly there are android apps out there that help you manage battery life by turning things on and off within the Android OS, but that's just too much work for me. Google doesn’t say what the battery life is with everything turned on so I won’t speculate, but I charge my phone every night and it hasn’t gone dead on me yet. I have come close, but not quite.
They def need an desktop way to pick and choose apps. Searching the store via phone is just one scroll after another. There is a search options, but if you’re new to apps like me how do you know what apps to use unless engadet/gizmodo tell you. I like to discover things on my own and the Android Marketplace definitely limits that.
I refuse to get into a phones “sexiness.” It’s a phone. Dan’s mom isn’t sexy and we all still use her.
The screen is a smudge magnet.
Sometimes the phone just freezes up. It doesn't crash and the freezes always last less than a minute.
The only way to wake the phone up from standby is the power button located at the top of the phone.
Making an actual call requires to many button presses in my opinion. Since search is so prevalent in the UI, I wish they would have replaced the haptic search button with one that took you directly to the phone screen. They treat the phone like an app which can be annoying when your several levels deep in the UI.
Joys:
Like it or not phones are moving in the N1/Iphone direction where they bring everything "social network"-y (an oxymoron if I've ever seen one since you end up socializing less with people), and web 2.0ish into your phone. An the N1 shines here. Twitter clients/Facebook work. T-Mobiles 'My Account' app works for me, but I've read it doesn't work for others.
It's fast, and snappy when moving in and out of menu items (I haven't noticed any lag worth complaining about, at least not worse than the 8320, which was the epitome of LAG).
Text-to-speech Search/Texting:
Though currently pretty gimmicky and doesn't seem to work via Bluetooth. It's just pretty fun to play with in general. If you have a quick search or message you want to send I suggest they virtual keyboard. But if it's something long or difficult to type out, the Text-to-speech really shines. Google says it "learns" the more you use it, and how true that is who knows. But I've "dictated" several long text messages and it get's 90% of the words right. Even with editing the mistakes it makes I found it's still quicker than actually typing the messages out. They really need to implement Bluetooth compatibility here.
GPS:
I haven’t used this feature during actual travel, but I have played around with it. It has the Turn-by-turn directions, Traffic congestion (how accurate who knows), and even allows you to see the location of friends (via Google Latitude). The search feature really is excellent. I say “Applebee’s” and the nearest one pops up on the map, turn-by-turn directions are only a few taps away from there.
So in conclusion, if you want a phone that is just a phone there are plenty of options out there that are excellent in quality but don’t do much of anything else. But if you want a phone that basically doubles as a Search Engine/GPS/App platform then I say go for it. If you can afford the 530 unlocked or T-Mobile actually allows you to get it at the reduced price. Plus it comes with a 4GB SD card.
Hope this review helped. If not just ask to play around with mine and I’ll see what I can do.
NOTE: The phone does allow you to choose a network (after scanning) and AT&T did show up, but apparently the 3G aspect of the phone will not work on AT&T.
Hoped this helps.
Let me know of any editing you feel I should do or items you feel weren't addressed through DM or threa reply.
Last edited:
