The Google Nexus One's honeymoon is over. Read about complaints regarding the phone, a hardware breakdown & a head-to-head against Apple's iPhone.

Nexus One Complaints Mount, Honeymoon is Over

The Nexus One "superphone" revolution appears to be experiencing some backlash. Google's Nexus One has been available for less than a week, yet customers and developers are already amassing a growing list of issues and complaints.

The speculation leading up to the Nexus One launch event, and the hype dished out by Google during the press event suggest that this is not just another smartphone. No, it's not even just another Android smartphone. This is the first Android 2.1 smartphone, and the first Google-branded smartphone, and the first smartphone marketed directly from Google's new online storefront.

While Android has already developed an army of loyalists quick to react to anything less than glowing praise by labeling the source either as a biased Apple fanboy, or an out-of-touch Luddite, there is also a growing chorus of complaints from both users and developers suggesting that the Nexus One honeymoon might be over almost as quickly as it began.

Customer Support

For some of the customers first in line to grab a Nexus One, excitement did not take long to turn into frustration. The Google support forums have filled up with users complaining that the Nexus One 3G connectivity is flaky. Users appear to be experiencing issues ranging from never getting a 3G connection, to Nexus One devices that constantly flip between 3G and EDGE connectivity.

That isn't the real problem, though. The Nexus One is a complex device that performs a variety of functions and users are bound to encounter issues. The real problem is figuring out which entity is supposed to be responsible for answering questions and providing support.

Google touted its market-revolutionizing strategy of selling the devices directly from its own Web site rather than distributing them through a wireless provider. Of course, you could already buy mobile phones on the Web--with or without a service plan--from popular online destinations like Amazon and Best Buy, and you still have to get service from a provider. The only one currently available is T-Mobile which makes the Nexus One purchase experience a lot like buying it from T-Mobile's Web site.

If you buy a Nexus One manufactured by HTC, directly from Google's Web site, and use it with T-Mobile's wireless network--who do you call when you have a problem? Google is only accepting support requests via e-mail, and users are getting bounced between T-Mobile and HTC as neither seems equipped to answer complaints, or willing to accept responsibility for supporting the Nexus One.

Developer Support

One of the leading measures of the success of a smartphone platform is its apps. Android will not challenge the iPhone for most apps any time soon, but the open source platform is popular with developers and the Android Market has over 20,000 apps available.

Developers are disgruntled, though, by the lack of tools for the new Android 2.1 platform. Google apparently wanted to keep the new bells and whistles of Android 2.1 secret for the Nexus One launch.

Now the Nexus One is available, and Android 2.1 will soon be available as an update for existing Android-based handsets, but Google has yet to release an SDK (software developers' kit) to provide developers with the tools they need to be able to develop apps that leverage the new bells and whistles, or just to make sure the apps they have already developed are compatible with Android 2.1.

I am sure Google did not anticipate that jumping into the smartphone market would be all wine and roses, but I suspect that it thought the honeymoon might last more than a week. Google's new venture gives it a lot of plates to keep spinning--working with wireless providers and hardware manufacturers, cultivating developers, and supporting customers.

Apparently, there are a few kinks to work out.

Inside Google's Nexus One

The Nexus One, manufactured by HTC, costs $529 (Rs. 24,100 approx.) unlocked or $179 (Rs. 8,100 approx.) with a two-year T-Mobile contract. The phone itself, according to a new analysis, actually contains about $174 (Rs. 7,900 approx.) worth of hardware -- About Rs. 200 less than the iPhone 3GS.

The analysis is by a company called iSuppli. It broke down all of the phone's components to estimate the "bill of materials," or total hardware cost. The estimate doesn't include manufacturing expenses, nor does it take into account things like packaging, accessories, and royalties. (It also, as far as I know, does not apply to those weird supersized versions of the phone.)

(click on image above to enlarge)

Not surprisingly, the Nexus One's 1 GHz Snapdragon processor is its most expensive part, followed by the OLED display. Here's the breakdown, according to iSuppli:

• Processor: $30.50 (Rs. 1,390 approx.)
• Display: $23.50 (Rs. 1,070 approx.)
• Memory: $20.40 (Rs. 930 approx.)
• Touchscreen assembly: $17.50 (Rs. 800 approx.)
• Camera: $12.50 (Rs. 570 approx.)
• MicroSD Card: $8.50 (Rs. 390 approx.)
• Bluetooth/wLAN: $8.20 (Rs. 375 approx.)
• Battery: $5.25 (Rs. 240 approx.)

The rest of the cost is taken up by parts such as electrical components, power management technology, and other mechanical hardware.

Nexus One Cost Comparisons

On the iPhone 3GS, interestingly, the processor is only the fourth most expensive part; the phone's flash memory, display module, and touchscreen assembly are all higher on the list. (You can see the full iPhone 3GS component breakdown here.)

When it comes to overall cost of ownership, the Nexus One beats out both the iPhone and the Droid -- at least, looking at the current T-Mobile-centric incarnation of the device. The difference there is largely due to T-Mobile's cheaper plans compared to Verizon and AT&T.

Of course, if the 3G service doesn't begin working reliably, that may be a moot point. For a company famous for asking tough questions, Google sure has some pressing queries of its own to answer right now.

Nexus One Loses to iPhone In Touchscreen Accuracy Tests

The Google Nexus One, Motorola Droid, and the iPhone have been put to the test to find out which smartphone has a better touchscreen. But despite overall more capable hardware, the iPhone still has a better display, it has been revealed in a recent test.

The Moto Development Group has tested the touchscreen accuracy of four leading smartphones, three running on the Google Android platform (Nexus One, Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Eris) and the Apple iPhone 3GS. The tests show that the iPhone comes out on top.

The Moto group, which is unrelated to Motorola, claims it has experience developing products that use capacitive touch technology, like the one used on the iPhone, on the Nexus One and on the Motorola Droid smartphones.

'All Touchscreens are Not Created Equal'

Image Credit: Moto Labs

In order to compare the phones, Moto developed a simple test, which implied drawing lines across the screens of all four phones using a drawing application. The tests measured the screens' accuracy depending on various factors, such as applying pressure on the screen with the full pad of the finger or just the dry corner.

Under these circumstances, the iPhone came out first for touchscreen accuracy in Moto's tests, with all three Android devices lagging behind. "On inferior touchscreens, it's basically impossible to draw straight lines," the report noted.

Despite larger, higher resolution screens on both the Google Nexus One and the Motorola Droid, the lines drawn on the iPhone's smaller, lower-resolution screen were more accurate in these tests.

Moto's tests also highlight the phones' screen performance at the edges, where it notes that the iPhone has a sensitivity problem. The Droid Eris was named the winner in this category by the tests.

The group puts the difference in touchscreen accuracy between the four phones on the quality of the touchscreen sensor, which has to have the highest signal-to-noise ratio.

"When a manufacturer gets it right, the device tracks touch inputs almost as if they were connected to physical objects in the real world," the report claims. "Get it wrong and consumers end up with inferior touchscreen systems that are inaccurate, insensitive, and absolutely infuriating to use for typing."