Nexus One Vs iPhone

With the Apple iPhone firmly placing itself at the top of the pile as far as touchscreen smartphones go, the Nexus One (or the Google Phone) is the one model that came closest to usurping the iPhone. This Nexus One Vs iPhone review will compare all aspects of both these amazing devices and give you a final verdict on which phone is better.

The iPhone 4 is due for release on June 24, 2010 so this review is solely about the Nexus One Vs iPhone 3GS. We'll look at the hardware specifications and sales figures for both devices and decide for ourselves about the more sophisticated model.

The iPhone 3GS was released in June 2009 and left people a little disappointed because it wasn't very different from Apple's previous model, the iPhone 3G. Nevertheless, users of the iPhone absolutely swear by it and went ahead and purchased the phone anyway. Though it was not a major upgrade from the iPhone 3G, the 3GS still did very well in the market. Many companies tried to compete with Apple, but inadvertently fell short.

Google then decided to take the competition a step further, and released the Nexus One (manufactured by HTC) in January, 2010 amid much fanfare and speculation. The world was now going to witness two behemoths in the shape of Apple Computers and Google go head to head. Google's trademark Android OS was the platform for this phone, and the specifications they offered simply left everyone stunned in disbelief.

Nexus One Vs iPhone - Specs

First things first, the display screen. The Nexus One aced the Apple iPhone in this regard with a screen size of 3.7 inches. Their pixel resolution is an impressive 800 x 480 pixels (which was the best until the official launch of the iPhone 4), and with an AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, Google has offered the very best possible combination of specs here. In comparison, the iPhone 3GS only had a 3.5 inches display size, but it is a TFT capacitive touchscreen, with 480 x 320 resolution size. The AMOLED screen consumes lesser power, but the TFT screen is brighter. Due to this the clarity on the Google Phone is greater, but it is difficult to use outdoors due to a high reflection rate. The advantage of the iPhone here is that the screen is completely scratch resistant so even if you drop it, the screen will stay intact.

As far as the memory stick matter is concerned in the Nexus One Vs iPhone 3GS debate, the iPhone comes with a pre-installed memory of either 8GB, 16GB or 32GB. On the other hand, the Nexus One comes with a 4GB MicroSD card, which can be extended up to 32GB. The internal RAM on the iPhone is 256MB, whereas the Nexus One has 512MB.

The camera on the Nexus One is better at 5 MP and it comes with an LED flash, while the flash is absent in the 3.15 MP iPhone camera. Recording videos is a task better performed on the iPhone though with a 30 fps (frames per second) shooting rate, while the Nexus One has a 20 fps shooting rate.

The OS and the CPU of the devices is where the real difference begins to show though. The iPhone has the customary iPhone OS and comes with a ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz processor. On the other hand, the Nexus One has an impressive Qualcomm Snapdragon 1 GHz processor, and runs on Google's highly successful Android OS. In fact, the Nexus One is said to be the best Android phone around (a title previously held by the Motorola Droid). Both operating systems offer a wide range of applications to be used on the devices, and have their own pros and cons. There are staunch supporters of both operating systems who absolutely swear by it and would not even consider switching to another OS.

The primary difference maker in the Nexus One Vs iPhone debate, though, is the direct competition between the iPhone OS and Android. The choice for applications is certainly much higher in the iPhone OS (125,000 vis-a-vis 20,000 for the Android), so one could say that the iPhone OS is far more superior. This could change in the years to come, with the large number of Android based phones being released now. The advantage that Android has is that phones made by any manufacturer can run it, while the iPhone OS can only run on the iPhone. This iPhone competitors comparison will also be useful to you.

Nexus One Vs iPhone - Sales

As far as sales figures are concerned, the Nexus One has performed miserably. There are several reasons for this, and the primary one amongst them is that the iPhone 3GS already had an established market share. Despite that, it can be said that the marketing undertaken by Google has not been very effective. In fact, Google themselves have come out and said that the Nexus One was merely a prototype sent in to test the market trends. Whether this is the truth, or just Google covering their backsides, is unknown. When you find that the Nexus One sold 20,000 units in its first week of release you feel it is not a bad return, but it pales in comparison to the iPhone 3GS which sold 1.6 million units in its first week. (Please note that the iPhone was launched in 8 different countries simultaneously).

Another factor in the Nexus One Vs iPhone debate is the price. While the iPhone 3GS will cost you $199 or $299 ($99 after the iPhone 4 releases) with a contract, the Nexus One does not come with a contract and will cost you a cool $529. Simply put, the difference is huge.

Once the iPhone 4 is released in another 2 days time, the debate of Nexus One Vs iPhone 4 will begin, but this is a battle that the iPhone has already won. With 600,000 pre-orders already in place, and with many other highly advanced features, the Apple's iPhone 4G is going to rule the smartphone market.