Google’s Nexus One: Sounds Like I’ll Just Stick With The iPhone
Google announced a new phone today, via a presentation that sounds like it was limp compared to a Steve-note, was subverted by Apple’s press release of three billion iPhone apps sold, and as fellow blogger JC notes: isn’t revolutionary but just another Android phone that will have difficulty affecting iPhone sales, but just for the sake of being somewhat fair, I’ll give the news some credit with pros and cons from my Apple-phile / iPhone app-addicted standpoint:
Good
- Can choose a carrier other than AT&T (namely, T-Mobile).
- 5 megapixel camera with flash.
- Has a user-replaceable battery.
Not So Good
- No multitouch. Perhaps Apple’s patents prevent this. That’s a long list of apps and games that won’t compare with the iPhone’s.
- Not as good app selection. I’m addicted to iPhone games. The current list of apps currently available for Android is depressingly sparse. And I’d be extremely loathe to re-purchase all 200-something iPhone apps I already paid for, anyhow.
- Not likely to work well as an iPod. Doubtful I could play Apple purchased music and television shows on it.
- Doubt it syncs with iTunes, or the app purchase process is as smooth as iTunes, or buying apps within the phone itself. Apple has my payment info on so many devices (Macs, Apple TV, iTunes, iPhone). Doesn’t seem like Google has any desktop equivalent of iTunes.
So personally, I see very little that would get me to drop the iPhone in exchange for Google’s take. Am just too locked in the Apple way of doing things — and loving every minute of it.
Google phone seems competitive with the current Apple iPhone 3GS — the model from 2009. Yet 2010 just started, and Apple’s fourth generation iPhone isn’t that far away. And Apple will certainly announce something big in the mobile space in mere weeks, including a likely preview of iPhone OS 4.0.
It’s almost a head-scratcher why anybody would purchase a Nexus One right now with January 27 just around the corner. At least wait until then to see what Apple will do to certainly, stay two steps ahead of the Nexus One.
Am pretty certain that with this largely expected announcement, Google has effectively lowered the bar so Apple will have little problem jumping far above.