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iPhone vs Nexus One

After almost 3 years of owning 3 generations of iPhones, I recently decided it was time for a change. The release of the Nexus One finally put me over the edge. I received my Nexus One in the mail a couple days ago and was able to compare it head to head with my iPhone 3GS. The iPhone does have features I will miss, but overall I am much more impressed with the Nexus One.

Benefits of the Nexus One:

• When connecting both phones to the same WiFi network and visiting the same sites at the same time it is clear that the Nexus One is typically loads web pages 1-5 seconds faster than the iPhone 3GS.
• Despite having more powerful hardware, the Nexus One is actually thinner and lighter than the iPhone 3GS.
• The clarity of the AMOLED screen on the Nexus One makes the iPhone’s LCD screen look washed out and cheap.
• The Nexus One’s casing and screen is MUCH more scratch resistant than the iPhone. Click HERE for a demo.
• The built in “Voice To Text” feature is extremely accurate and translates your speach into text allowing you to text without actually typing.
• The Android operating system is much more customizable than the iPhone’s operating system.
• Like many others, I have all my contacts, calendars and e-mail synced with Google through Gmail. Since this phone was made by Google, constant syncing of all of this information is much more fluid and easier to setup on the Nexus One than it was with the iPhone.
• T-Mobile offers $6/month insurance for the Nexus One which covers losing the phone, theft, and physical damage. Neither Apple or AT&T offer any sort of insurance like this for the iPhone so if you lose or break your phone you are “S.O.L”.

Benefits of the iPhone:

• Built in “Visual Voicemail” enabling you to see your voicemails on the screen and listen to the ones you choose while ignoring others. ** T-Mobile offers this feature for the Nexus One but they make you jump through hoops to get it activated.
• The speaker is located on the bottom of the phone allowing you to hear when someone is calling or texting even with the phone laying on its back. The Nexus One’s ringer is on the back of the phone and while laying on it’s back, the ringer is impossible to hear. This design flaw has forced me to miss a few calls already. ** The simple fix is to lay the phone on it’s face when you set it down.
• There are over 90,000 apps available for the iPhone. There are only 20,000 available for the Nexus One.

DuaLink

The DuaLink Splitter Cable allows you to charge and sync two of your apple MP3 devices at the same time. Some people might think it’s overkill to have two or more iPods. But I’d argue that many of us use multiple iPods regularly. I use my iPhone to play music while I’m snowboarding or at the gym and I use my iPod Classic as the standard music source in my car. When I download new music it seems to be a pain to constantly keep both devices updated. This cable allows me to kill two birds with one stone. A great deal at $26.

Source: Engadget

Nexus One Announcement

Google just announce their newest phone, the Nexus One. The phone will be available to purchase unlocked for $529 and with a T-Mobile plan for $179. It will also be available for purchase with a Verizon or Vodafone plan starting this spring.

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The phone is being released in the U.S., UK, Hong Kong, and Singapore as test markets.

Features:

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Nexus One vs. iPhone 3GS
- 5MP camera                 (iPhone 3GS – 3MP camera)
- 3.7″ display                   (iPhone 3GS – 3.5″ display)
- 1GHz processor           (iPhone 3GS – 600MHz processor)
- 512MB of RAM            (iPhone 3GS – 256MB of RAM)
- 11.5mm thick               (iPhone 3GS – 12.3mm thick)

To get your Nexus One just visit: www.google.com/phone

Source: Engadget

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A friend of mine recently clued me in on an excellent web browser plugin. Readability is a “bookmarklet” that can be installed into most web browsers and erases the advertisements and clutter surrounding articles that you are interested in reading. I have successfully used it in both Safari and Firefox on my Mac.

To install Readability, simply go to the link mentioned above and drag the bookmark to your bookmarks bar. Then, when you open an article that you wish to view without all the clutter of advertisements, just click the ‘Readability’ button in your bookmarks bar and it instantly removes everything found around the article, making your online reading much more enjoyable.

Sources: Devon Meek | NY Times

Facebook

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If you’re as addicted to this social networking site as the rest of the world then you should probably get their free app. There have been many updates and improvements and the newest version of the Facebook app has an excellent interface for updating and viewing statuses. (FREE)

Google

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Google’s iPhone app makes searching the web as simple as possible. If you know how to use Google on your computer you will have no problem using this app. (FREE)

RedLaser

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This app allows you to scan the barcode of items you find in retail stores. It will then pull up a display telling you the pricing of the identical product online, which is usually much cheaper. This app has saved me quite a bit of money and is very much worth the price. ($2)

RunKeeper

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With this app you can track your fitness activities, including distance, time, speed, pace, calories burned, elevation, and path traveled on a map. It also stores your workout history so you can keep track of your progress. There is a free version and a paid version available in the app store. (FREE) | ($10)

mSecure

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If you are like me and have a ton of various logins/passwords to keep track of then this app is perfect for that. It also allows you to store credit card information, frequent flyer info, etc. This app gets better reviews than its competitors because it is more secure and does not allow “back door entrance” for hackers or even government agencies to get into your information. ($3)

Shazam

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Do you ever find yourself listening to a song on the radio, at a friends house, at a restaurant, in a store, etc. and realize that you want to download it but you cannot think of the artist or song title for the life of you? Well Shazam is an excellent solution to this problem. This app has amazed me time and time again on it’s ability to listen to a few seconds of any track and pull the artist name, song title, and album name. Once it finds the information it stores it for you so you when you get home you can open the app back up, find the information you need, then download the song or album… legally of course. (FREE) | ($3)

Pandora Radio

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If you’re a fan of listening to Pandora Radio online then you’ll love this app. You can plug your iPhone into your home stereo or car stereo, open Pandora and begin streaming your favorite stations without having to rely on your computer. You have to have a 3G or WiFi signal for it to work without lag but these days you should have access to one of the two wherever you go. (FREE)

Amazon.com

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I do a lot of my shopping online because it’s usually much cheaper than buying it in a retail store. And I’ve found that I can find majority of my purchases on Amazon.com. Their new app makes it possible to make your online purchases while on the run. There are times that you will find a product in a retail store and discover that RedLaser cannot scan the item because the store has covered the manufacturer’s barcode. Have no fear because all you have to do is type the brand/model of the product you are looking for in this app and *voila*, tons of online options at your fingertips with a simple “one button checkout”. (FREE)

Remote

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The Remote app allows you to have full control of your computer’s iTunes music library from your iPhone. As long as the phone is on the same WiFi connection as the computer you can change the song, playlist, or even turn the volume up or down from another room. (FREE)

USA Today

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Browse all the latest headlines, watch news videos, check weather conditions, or see the new sports scores while on the road. (FREE)