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by revaaron 5877 days ago
I'd only used an iPhone for 6 months, but the experience was positive enough that I'm still in the headache phase with the N1. Largely over hardware problems that will likely never be solved until a later revision: battery life, AMOLED screen being unreadable in direct sunlight, the camera can take 1-4 seconds before snapping a photo, dust under the screen, low-end multitouch sensor, and flaky touch sensing (often thinks I'm pressing an inch down). I feel sort of ripped off when I think of some of those aspects.

Don't get me wrong, there things I prefer, even over a jailbroken iPhone- especially the notifications system. That's genius, IMHO.

My trough is the Facebook app- I went from making a few photo posts a day, mostly of my kid, to one or two over the last two weeks. Never bothered to update Feacebook until I got an iPhone- it's rough enough on Android that I've stopped.

2 comments

N1 software still isn't quite as good as iPhone. But here are 4 reasons I prefer my N1:

1. the navigation app is better than what you can get on iPhone (use it almost every day) 2. Native Google Voice App 3. 5 megapixel camera phone (for me this was the threshold where I never carry a separate digital camera anymore, 5MP is enough for facebook) 4. I can use t-mobile instead of AT&T

Given the software isn't quite as good, these 4 features make it about a tie with the iPhone in my opinion. The fact Apple is irritating me lately makes the N1 a win.

I'm a proud father of a two year old the long lag of the N1's camera makes it near worthless. Doesn't matter if it's 5 or 10MP as long as it takes over a second to snap a photo.

I was impressed by the iPhone's camera, but that's only because I was coming from an HTC Mogul, which had a horrible 2MP camera.

That I can (mostly) do what I want with my N1 without relying on a jailbreak is what makes the N1 a win, overwhelmingly. That said, it is ironic and frustrating that your warranty is voided when you unlock your bootloader, a part of rooting a N1. It doesn't matter if there is dust under the screen, they see the "unlocked" icon and turn down warranty requests.

At least, they were- I'd love to hear that things have changed... Unless that changes I won't be rooting my N1, and I'm glad I didn't do that first thing- I just had to send my two week old N1 in for a swap to HTC because of dust under the screen. :/

The lag your experience with the camera is mostly likely do to the autofocus/exposure whatever stuff. When I first got my N1, I would "click" the onscreen shutter "button" quickly like it was a hyperlink or something. Instead, you need to hold the onscreen shutter "button" down until you hear a tone and get a yellowish outline around the picture preview area. Then let go of the "button" and the picture will take instantly.

Of course, your mileage may vary. :-)

Bob, you just solved one of my problems with the N1. That technique works perfectly for me. Thanks!
See dimensions of the photo you have on FB. Most likely 5Mpx is 10x that.
headache phase

I heard the same thing from several other people about the N1. I ended up buying it anyway - I really needed a smartphone, and I'd never been quite willing to go for the iPhone, mainly because of what my friends told me about their monthly bills (I like to prepay on a fixed-rate plan and not have to think about it).

So I was pleasantly surprised to find how easy everything was, apparently because it was all new for me. battery life was the only thing that upset me at first, but after juggling setting a bit I'm happy with that. Haven't had a problem with the other things, other than the flaky touch sensing - I'm pretty sure this is a software problem, because when I run into it (once ever 2-3 days) I've gotten into the habit of sleeping and waking the phone with the top button, which seems to fix it.

The poster above is right about it being a little 'scruffy' in terms of not having a completely smooth user experience...but like him, I'm OK with that because I like having a pocket computer rather than an appliance. It reminds me of the home computer v. game console debate in the 80s, actually, with Android as in the role of MSX.