by Christina Pomoni

Created on: January 16, 2010

When Google introduced the Nexus One had hoped to launch one of the best Android smartphones currently available on the market. And up to a point they have achieved to release a smartphone that is elegant, fast, and smooth, running on an Android 2.1 OS and being outstandingly better than any other Android phone.

However, it seems that a number of users experience problems with their 3G reception on the Google Nexus One and complain about lacking 3G coverage or often fluctuating between EDGE and 3G network. Customers write their reviews in the Nexus's online support forums and voice their complaints. The problem is mainly encountered with T-Mobile provider and Google is looking for user feedback to identify common issues in customer complaints in order to implement a common policy to solve the problem. However, Google is repeatedly reported as unresponsive in responding to customer complaints, because when customers send an email to ask for help, it takes up to three days for Google to respond.

The Nexus One is Google’s experiment to sell a landmark smartphone to its customers using the online-only/direct-to-customers sales model that has worked pretty well with Google’s online ad sales. However, as hardware products typically have more problems than software and cannot be fixed with a simple patch, it is likely that the 3G connection problem is the beginning of a series of problems for the Nexus One. As the new Android 2.1 OS is not supported yet by many tools, other Android smartphones are irritated because Google is basically a self-regulating monopoly that owns the new OS and practically inhibits other manufacturers to give Android another go.

Another problem encountered with the Nexus One is with its touch screen. Although the resolution is excellent at 480 x 800 pixels, there are 54 pixels missing that are really noticeable in certain apps, let alone expected considering the 3.7" screen size. For instance, red and orange colors look oversaturated and the color balance seems rather imbalanced on the AMOLED display. Particularly, when using the Nexus One during the daylight is rather disturbing because the orange color is even brighter making it difficult to see the Nexus’s screen with any kind of bright light around. Moreover, shooting pictures with the Nexus One on a sunny day seems like shooting pictures with eyes wide shut.

Finally, Google features live wallpapers and animated backgrounds that allow users to interact with and these features are actually extremely intriguing and attractive. On the other hand, these features are rather useless and drain the battery that lasts fairly long. The Nexus’s battery life lasts up to 7 hours of talk time, 250 hours standby, and 5 hours of Internet use on the 3G network, as well as 7 hours of video playback and 20 hours of audio playback. However, interacting with live wallpapers and animated backgrounds when turning on the phone requires charging the device quite often. This is a problem for some consumers.

Regardless if Google’s customer service is automated requiring Google to invest in customer support, the Nexus One is the best Android phone available on the market right now.

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