Why The Google Phone Isn’t That Great
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Google's Nexus One Mobile Phone
Ready or not, the “Google Phone” aka Nexus One is here and it is poised to revolutionize the playing field. So far, no mobile phone has been able to successfully challenge the current ‘king of the hill’, Apple’s iPhone. Maybe the Nexus One can challenge the iPhone, but I think the Nexus One isn’t all that great in the grand scheme of mobile phones. It certainly is a revolutionary step forward in mobile communication sales, but not technologically.
About a year ago, Google developed and released a mobile OS platform known as Android. Unfortunately, Android is NOT an actual device. Rather, it is a technology that is supposed to rival the iPhone’s OS. Unfortunately, due to manufacturer’s own goals, I believe that the user experience on Android is not as consistent as Apple’s iPhone. Each manufacturer is developing their own interface with some consistency across the board. However, the interfaces themselves are also “fine-tuned” by the carriers as well.
I’m not here to talk about the interface, technology, or the innovation that the Nexus One brings to the table. Rather, I want to talk about the lack of ingenuity that the phone is taking, but at the same time how that lack of ingenuity will drive the economy in a different direction.
There are two key factors that will hold the Google Nexus One back:
- Limited 3G capability
- Price of unlocked phone
3G: Only on the Nation’s Weakest Network
Nexus One has 3G, which means it lets you browse the web at fairly decent speeds. However, there’s a catch. You can only get 3G on T-Mobile if and only if you live in an area that T-Mobile supports 3G. So if you’re out in the middle of nowhere, you’ll be stuck with EDGE speeds or, heaven forbid, GPRS speeds (which are painfully slow, worse than dialup).
As technologically advanced as some critics and even Google claim the Nexus One is, it does not even support all GSM based 3G networks in the US. What that means is that if you buy the unlocked phone from Google and decide to use it with AT&T, you will never have 3G speeds – even if your area has 3G with AT&T. The problem is that the Nexus One does not have a 3G chip in it that supports AT&T’s 3G network.
Say what you will about AT&T’s 3G network, but I think it is fairly lame that a neat phone from Google can’t even support multiple carriers’ data services. LAME!
$530 isn’t new
Nokia has been selling almost all of their unlocked ‘smartphones’ for about the same price for over a decade. In fact, you could find other unlocked ‘smartphones’ from other manufacturers ranging from $300 to well above $1000. So when Google markets an unlocked phone for $530, forgive me, I’m not really impressed since Google isn’t doing anything innovative. The only ‘innovative’ action that Google has taken is show the ignorant American consumer that you can buy the Nexus One without having to sign an abhorrent two year contract with T-Mobile.
The other benefit is that if you are an AT&T customer and you don’t like the iPhone, the Nexus One is definitely a worthy alternative. And Google has taken the extra step to make it convenient for you to purchase an unlocked Nexus One, for a price. This is something that Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and others failed to capitalize on. That doesn’t impress me much.
The Model Will Change
Currently, most wireless providers ask force you to sign a two-year service agreement in order to purchase a phone at low prices. Now that customers have the option of purchasing the Nexus One unlocked, you could buy the phone and get T-Mobile without a service agreement. Here’s the best part: if you don’t like T-Mobile after five months, you can dump them with no penalty. Sounds good doesn’t it?
Once this concept catches on with the American consumer, you can bet that wireless providers will change tactics. Rather than rely on your stupidity to purchase phones at insanely cheap prices by signing your soul to the devil for two years, these carriers will force you to sign two-year service agreements on just the plans themselves. For instance, AT&T might turn around and say, if you want early nights and weekends, you have to sign a two-year service agreement. Another example, T-Mobile may introduce free incoming calls. However, that feature is only available to customers who have signed a two-year service agreement.
Basically, carriers will make you sign a two-year service agreement with the purchase of a phone or just for providing you a service. And that is what the Google Nexus One has done to ‘innovate’ the market. So thank you Google for making it easy for me to buy an unlocked phone that doesn’t work on AT&T (in terms of 3G). Google hasn’t really innovated anything. I’ll pass on the Nexus One since my soul is owned by Apple, thank you very much.