Google Nexus One - My First Smartphone

[Funkstar]

Possibly. I'll see if either phone will play ball with no SIM (2 phones, 1 SIM).

the Nexus should. I'm sure I've had smartphones running without a SIM in the past.

Failing that, borrow a SIM from a friend/family member for about 10 min?

[jimborae]

If you've linked your google account with your phone it may be easier to add all your numbers into your gmail contacts then sync that with your phone.

Thats the best way to do it. What I did when I first got a smart phone was to sync the contacts with outlook, then export them in csv (dos) format to gmail and then it syncs from there.

[sleepyhead]

Ahh well, i'll get round to sorting out the contacts later. I been spending all night trying to work out how to get my media to play (mkv files) and i've had to compromise abit but I think I've cracked it! Well the file works on my PC, just not tested it on the Nexus yet however I am 99% certain it'll be fine. Mobile media here I come!

I did the same on the C905 only the dinky screen and low resolution (320x240 perhaps?) really made watching stuff...painful.

I've gotten over 26 hours usage from the Nexus One. Used the web about the house via wi-fi, played some music, sent a few texts, browsed apps store, general larking about with widgets, took some pictures, played with live wallpapers, fiddled with contacts. Phone is charging at the moment and I used it till the phone turned off. That time also includes the time I was sleeping too Oh I turned off loads of stuff I didn't use (which probably extended battery life).

[digit]

Thats the best way to do it. What I did when I first got a smart phone was to sync the contacts with outlook, then export them in csv (dos) format to gmail and then it syncs from there.

Which I had through of exporting to csv would have saved me a lot of time! Did it the long winded manual method of copying contacts to sim etc....

That time also includes the time I was sleeping too Oh I turned off loads of stuff I didn't use (which probably extended battery life).

Glad your expensive dive into the world of smartphones and android is going well. On the saving battery front you can completely turn off 3g if your not intending to use mobile Internet makes a massive saving on battery life. You can leave background sync enabled so when your using wifi your contracts sync up with your gmail contacts

[j.o.s.h.1408]

OpenGL, or just the ES subset?

http://developer.android.com/referen...e-summary.html

Can you build us email & contacts widgets then please similar to HTC's...please, pretty please

Can't find anything in Market that comes remotely close.

Sure, ok. i may do a contacts one.

[sleepyhead]

Well my unfounded confidence from 1:45am was mis-placed...somehow my transcoded media is not playabale on the Nexus One...audio works, video with hardsubs fail...which leads me to think I must have not used x.264 during conversion. I'll have yet another bash...this is more important than sorting out contacts! LoL!

[Lanky123]

Well my unfounded confidence from 1:45am was mis-placed...somehow my transcoded media is not playabale on the Nexus One...audio works, video with hardsubs fail...which leads me to think I must have not used x.264 during conversion. I'll have yet another bash...this is more important than sorting out contacts! LoL!

What software are you using for conversion?

My Pulse wouldn't play any of the videos I tried despite using h.264 (m4v files IIRC) and a low enough res for the pulse, but then using the 'iPhone & iPod Touch' preset in Handbrake worked perfectly (also m4v ). I guess you'll be wanting a higher res with the Nexus so maybe load up the iPod preset and only change the resolution?

[sleepyhead]

What software are you using for conversion?

My Pulse wouldn't play any of the videos I tried despite using h.264 (m4v files IIRC) and a low enough res for the pulse, but then using the 'iPhone & iPod Touch' preset in Handbrake worked perfectly (also m4v ). I guess you'll be wanting a higher res with the Nexus so maybe load up the iPod preset and only change the resolution?

I had to use mkvextract to extract the .ass file, converted that to .srt (for handbrake). I used YAMB to repackage to check the .srt file works and it does. Went back to handbrake, set the resolution, added the video file, added subtitle stream (.srt) and....no subtitles are being imported in. I made sure to select "Default" in the sutitiles tab. I even found a guide, a hex editor and tried to edit the file by changing "text" to "sbtl"...didn't work.

I am using hardbrake and using the iPhone/iPod preset too and changing the resolution.

Now trying to hardsub the files using xvid4PSP, which works as I can playback the file on the PC but the Nexus One shows a black screen with audio yet the gallery picture shows a slide from the actual show. If I weren't so fussy over the resolution of the file, it'd probably be really easy.

EDIT
Sort of cracked it in a roundabout fashion. using both handbrake and xvid4PSP together to get the right output file. It does look good on the Nexus One...oh yes

Guess it's back to sorting out my contacts! Haha.

EDIT 2
Ooo finally had a call from a landline to the phone. have to admit, it is vrey clear, loud and quite a nice phone experience in general. The width to the phone lends well to actually holding it. I likes it.

[sleepyhead]

Friendly bump

Day 1 at work:
Seeing as I'm not supposed to use my phone at work I generally do. So what did I do with it today? Not a great deal, sent out some texts, recieved some back. Watched a 23 minute show at lunch (that I laboured so much over the weekend), missed a call so called my voicemail box. Also made a few other phone calls late on this afternoon between 5pm and 5:40pm. Battery status: 75% It'd probably be less if I could hop onto work's wireless network but I don't know the key.

Just to reinterate, neither work nor where I live has 3G so that has been switched off, and so has anything that syncs in the background.

Slowly I am realising how much of my world can be squeezed into this phone. Anyhow, I currently have no reception issue nor do I have a battery life issue - for what it is, tis good. Really loving the media playback

Reading into capacitive touch screens, it looks like my fingers carry no electrical signals...they be DEAD!

[sleepyhead]

Day 2
Well not charged it so it's been on for 1 day and 20 hours Still had a small portion of power left...(around 24%) so i decided to see how much video playtime I can get out of it. was about 40 ish minutes..that got it down to 7%. Stuck it on charge and lets see how i deal with it tomorrow. Phone mainly used for texting today and as usual, when i got home from work, stuck wi-fi on, hooked up to my home network and browsed the web, looked at apps, installed some, uninstalled some.

My general feeling on what I have read about battery life issues: careful power management nets you lots of extra hours

Oh I been using it as my alarm clock too. So far, enjoying the versatility of the phone; still looking for the apps I really want to install...(ie the keepers)

[ro55o]

I was looking at buying this through google, was ending up around £400, with all the taxes etc. I think I'm just going to stick with my hero for now. I was hoping to move to faster phone on android, but I'll wait to see what else comes out in the next few months. Plus I really should wait until my contract actually ends, for once

Glad you seem to be enjoying the phone, android is a fantastic OS. Hoping the update to 2.1 for the hero makes it an even better phone.

[jimborae]

I was looking at buying this through google, was ending up around £400, with all the taxes etc. I think I'm just going to stick with my hero for now. I was hoping to move to faster phone on android, but I'll wait to see what else comes out in the next few months. Plus I really should wait until my contract actually ends, for once

Glad you seem to be enjoying the phone, android is a fantastic OS. Hoping the update to 2.1 for the hero makes it an even better phone.

HTC Bravo should fit the bill for you when come out around March/April time, same hardware as the Nexus 1 but running Sense UI. It's certainly the next phone i'm really looking forward to. Even compared to the Nexus 1 I still have a lot of love for my HTC Hero due to Sense UI.

On a slightly different note I had a play with a Nokia N900 yesterday which runs on Maemo. Verdict: another crap Nokia smartphone. Even with a new OS Nokia can't seem to get it right, compared to the N1 and even the Hero or even my Magic it's slow, unintuative, bulky and difficult to use. Nokia really seem to have lost the plot these days when it comes phones. After half a day I put it back in the box and handed it back to it's owner, he didn't seem to happy to be getting it back either!

[jimborae]

Day 2
Well not charged it so it's been on for 1 day and 20 hours Still had a small portion of power left...(around 24%) so i decided to see how much video playtime I can get out of it. was about 40 ish minutes..that got it down to 7%. Stuck it on charge and lets see how i deal with it tomorrow. Phone mainly used for texting today and as usual, when i got home from work, stuck wi-fi on, hooked up to my home network and browsed the web, looked at apps, installed some, uninstalled some.

My general feeling on what I have read about battery life issues: careful power management nets you lots of extra hours

Oh I been using it as my alarm clock too. So far, enjoying the versatility of the phone; still looking for the apps I really want to install...(ie the keepers)

Thanks for the update sleepyhead, I'm really going to have to look at better power management as I don't seem to be able to get much more than a day & night out of my N1. However in it's defense I'm using it as my work phone so it's getting constant use on both 3G & wi-fi.

[ro55o]

HTC Bravo should fit the bill for you when come out around March/April time, same hardware as the Nexus 1 but running Sense UI. It's certainly the next phone i'm really looking forward to. Even compared to the Nexus 1 I still have a lot of love for my HTC Hero due to Sense UI.

On a slightly different note I had a play with a Nokia N900 yesterday which runs on Maemo. Verdict: another crap Nokia smartphone. Even with a new OS Nokia can't seem to get it right, compared to the N1 and even the Hero or even my Magic it's slow, unintuative, bulky and difficult to use. Nokia really seem to have lost the plot these days when it comes phones. After half a day I put it back in the box and handed it back to it's owner, he didn't seem to happy to be getting it back either!

Thanks jimborae, that sounds the very phone for me. The lack of sense UI was putting me off the Nexus, so it's good to know there's another one coming out with the same hardware.

[Funkstar]

Thanks jimborae, that sounds the very phone for me. The lack of sense UI was putting me off the Nexus, so it's good to know there's another one coming out with the same hardware.

The Bravo has a small touch pad instead of the roller ball of the Nexus One, a much better system by all accounts.

Availability should be better too, play.com and Expansys will definitely have SIM free options, there is still a question mark over the Nexus One in this regard.

[sleepyhead]

Meh, as far as I can tell the Nexus One is only available through Google themselves. Very sure I read about that Vodafone UK won't have any units in stock or in stores. You just purchase the phone through Google either SIM free on subsidised.

Anyhow, the HTC Hero was a phone I was considering too; I do like the look of it. Not used it so I can't say if I prefer HTC Sense UI or plain vanilla android.

The Nexus One with Wi-Fi on is quite good with battery life. I've turned off 3G as there is no 3G where I live nor where I work!!! Might be able to test out 3G this weekend when I go to another town. I'll also see what happens if I try and sync the bluetooth to a car (if the car has bluetooth that is).

With regards to the ball: it's neither here nor there for me. I use it as a last resort when editing text...I've seen how the iPhone does it and I'd love to see the same implemented on Android.

Either way, as a complete noob-comer to this android stuff, I do like how easy it is to fiddle, play, customise. I'm still getting used to having a touch screen...i tend to leave a thumb on the screen now and then and accidently go back or search or some such!