Nexus One: after a few days

So far my impressions of this device are very positive. It's fast, it's very flexible, has loads of options (being a KDE user on Linux probably means I'm one of those people that just loves options) and looks nice to boot.

Like many people have commented all over the world, I think Google should try investing in better graphic and interaction designers for its operating system, Android, because in a first-impressions comparison the iPhone wins hands down in my opinion. The Android interface just seems more cluttered and chaotic and somehow less appealing and intuitive.

On the other hand finally having real multi-tasking is a blessing. Not being constrained anymore by Apple's weird decisions about what you can and cannot do with your phone is even better and the integration with all kinds of Google services by default is just the best part about it all.

But the Nexus One and Android do have some glaring faults. The touch buttons just below the screen are horrible: every time you write on the virtual keyboard and try to hit keys on the bottom row you run the risk of accidentaly hitting the Back or Home keys. That just plain sucks. I've tried an HTC Desire, which is basically the same phone, that has real buttons and it doesn't have that same problem because you need to press them with more force than you normally use for the touch screen.

Another big problem for me as a multi-lingual Dutchman living in Spain is that I very regularly switch languages while writing messages. I might be writing with several people at a time in three different languages and need to be able to switch with a single key-press. Not only is that not possible in Android, it doesn't even let you select a different language than the one you use for the operating system! So either you switch your entire phone from Spanish to English (including all Locale settings like dates, money and whatever) or you disable the keyboard corrections (which doesn't help too much, because I want the OS in English but I need the special keys for the Spanish language!).

But in the end, this being an Android phone from Google (which is definitely not Apple) , I'm sure that the problem can be solved looking around on the Market. Because where Apple says: "you can't do this", Google says: "go ahead, have fun".

So although the new iPhone 4 seems like a nice piece of hardware I'm glad to have "escaped" Apple's "clutches" (yeah, overly melodramatic, but hey, the post is already boring enough).