Hey all. New Droid owner w Opinion Question.

[RyanRacer48]

Hey everyone,

I've had the Moto Droid now for about a week and w/ all the information on the Nexus One I am questioning my purchase.

I am looking for anybody that can shed light on disadvantages I would possibly face with this switch. The hardware just seems superior on the Nexus which aside from heat/battery life makes the decision seem easy. The question is whether or not the difference in screen technology effects battery life.

Currently ... with power options enabled to auto set I am seeing about 30-40% of the battery usage going to display. So far in the few days I've owned it mostly due to just playing with it a lot I've been charging every night, but I have gotten 2 days.

I obviously am still going to have Android so the apps make up for everything the phone doesn't have stock. I'm an IT guy so don't point out the obvious things ( LIKE HARDWARE KEYBOARD LOL ) . However if you know it were lacking a feature like WIFI or w/e let me know pleaseeeeee!

Lastly, just out of curiosity out of the box can I bluetooth my contacts?? I was PISSED my Env Touch and Blackberry could do something this phone couldn't do.

 

[640k]

welcome to the forums. there are lots of resources on this board that will help you with your questions. the display can be the #1 consumer of the battery, regardless of how you set it (low dim vs. auto).

as for BT connectivity, your device has to be able to initiate the command to request addresses from your phone. once this command has been sent, your phone knows what to do.

for devices (like mine) that don't have the ability to issue a command, you can download third party apps that will send your exported contacts list to the device.

 

[hookbill]

Lastly, just out of curiosity out of the box can I bluetooth my contacts?? I was PISSED my Env Touch and Blackberry could do something this phone couldn't do.

You can. Sort of. If you have a Blue Ant Q1 you can do up to 8 contacts. Yes, I know that's weak but it's better then nothing. It is totally hands free and if you look around you can pick one up for about 50.00.

 

[Fraxinus]

EDIT: almost missed the most important thing - Welcome!

As to your main question, I'll pitch in my 2 cents (not having ever played with a Nexus). When it released I did a little bit of research out of curiosity. What the reviews seem to indicate is that the Nexus is better, but basically just in terms of the processor. Reviewers didn't feel that the faster chipset (1Ghz vs. 550Mhz) really did that much for the phone. Things were snappier than the Droid, but not by enough margin to be a game changer. I think the question you should probably ask yourself first is "am I really getting anything extra by upgrading to the Nexus One?" I'm not convinced that the answer is yes (bearing in mind, of course, the difference in Android version...but you can always put 2.1 on the Droid now, or wait for the official release).

As for the display I can't comment. The AMOLED display on the Nexus should consume less battery, but I'm not sure what kind of impact that has. If you have some specific questions I can pose them to a colleague of mine who picked up a Nexus recently. We're both in IT so we should be able to field pretty much anything.

Finally, you do realize that the Nexus One is currently only available with a GSM radio, right? If you are using the Droid now then you are on Verizon. Switching to the Nexus One will require a carrier switch (best bets are TMobile and AT&T). And, perhaps most important, if you do go with AT&T, the Nexus one does not support 3G data connectivity on AT&T's network. You can use EDGE data, but not 3G.

Hope that helps a little bit. Again, I don't have any hands on experience with the Nexus, if I've made a mistake anyone by all means, correct me.

 

[RyanRacer48]

I am aware currently of that carrier issue and would obviously be waiting until the Nexus is on Verizon. A cell phone searching for service is a phone draining a battery. That being said I'd never switch to AT&T or T-mobile. I've tried both in a few different areas and had shoddy results at best even just with voice.

In regards to the bluetooth, I suppose apps could do the job but putting bluetooth on the phone and advertising its functionality then not giving it to you stock is just pathetic.

In regards to the screen I already know how to maximize battery life, I just dont want to have to. If the Nexus One is OLED its using less power than a LCD that has to power a backlight. Hypothetically if the phones were using close to the same power, and your screen is using 20% less, you've just dramatically increased battery life.

I was informed by a member on here that the Nexus One only has an onboard GPU similar to an OEM type mother board whereas the DROID has a dedicated GPU similar to adding a video card to a computer. If that is the case the 1ghz processor is now splitting duty cycles between regular CPU functions and video processing.

For the most part I just dont want to find myself caught on one of those "Walking Planks" of discontinued products. I want a phone I can hold onto for at least a year PLUS w/o having too much "THERES A BETTER PHONE OUT ENVY" .

 

[cereal killer]

You already own one of the best Android phones out right now. Moving to the N1 is a lateral move and once 2.1 is released on the Droid they will essentially be one and the same.

When it comes to VZW It just comes down to what hardware you want HTC or Moto. Keyboard or not, metal or plastic.

If you don't understand tech you'll always be one of those people with "there's a bettter phone out there" syndrome.

Newer does NOT necessarily better so you need to fully understand that.

At any rate, good luck and welcome to the forums RyanRacer. Make yourself at home it's great to have you here.

 

[640k]

In regards to the bluetooth, I suppose apps could do the job but putting bluetooth on the phone and advertising its functionality then not giving it to you stock is just pathetic.

the functionality exists, you just need to understand how it works. Android does not include the ability to initiate the transfer of your address book (contacts) but can respond to requests made with paired devices. there are several apps in the marketplace that allow the phone to initiate the transfer with your paired device. i've done this and it works flawlessly.

one of the biggest draws with Android is the ability to replace apps with apps that might do a better job, or do more.

In regards to the screen I already know how to maximize battery life, I just dont want to have to. If the Nexus One is OLED its using less power than a LCD that has to power a backlight. Hypothetically if the phones were using close to the same power, and your screen is using 20% less, you've just dramatically increased battery life.

while true, there are other factors that decrease battery life. other components could be larger power draws, negating the effectiveness of AMOLED.

 

[Fraxinus]

I'm sure you've probably looked at a lot of reviews (maybe even this one) but I figured I'd post it. Ubergizmo seems to have a very thorough review of the Nexus One, including some specs I don't often see in reviews. Take a look:

Nexus One Review - Nexus One Review

Here's an excerpt on OpenGL and some graphics benchmarking:

OpenGL: I believe that the Snapdragon system on a chip (SoC) in the Nexus One supports OpenGL 2.0, however Android itself only supports OpenGL 1.0 right now (see Android SDK).

Neocore 3D benchmark: 26.3fps (Nexus One). The Droid gets around 20fps, but remember that this is a Qualcomm demo, so I would expect it to run better on Qualcomm hardware (if not, someone did no do their job...).

 

[640k]

the DROID also supports OpenGL 2.0. it was my understanding that Google recently released 2.0 in their NDKs.