Google's Modular Phone Challenges OnePlus One

The Nexus phone was a breath of fresh air. But I thought the OnePlus One did challenge the Nexus brand. Now I think Google's modular phone is a major challenge to the OnePlus One, and other smartphones in general. My current phone is still Nexus 4. I wish I could get a battery that lasted twice as long, and I wish I could replace my 5 MP camera with a 10 or 13 or 15 MP camera. But other than that, I am quite happy with my phone. And the modular phone is supposed to allow you just such upgrades. You don't ditch the whole phone. You just upgrade a part you want to upgrade. I like that. And I love the price point. $50. Finally a smartphone for the global masses. And, yes, I also want 64 GB. My 8 GB has felt inadequate as soon as I got my phone!

Google’s modular $50 smartphone set for January 2015 release

Related articles

• Hands on with the Nexus 6: A Nexus phone Google hopes is one for the masses
• Google Android 5.0 now available for the Nexus 4
• Google Nexus 6 smartphone review
• Google's Nexus 6 Available for Sprint Now
• LG's phones are the first to get an Android Lollipop upgrade
• LG to Start Pushing Lollipop to the G3
• The OnePlus One might be the true spiritual successor to the Nexus 5

Hello iPhone 6

Via Vic Gundotra

OnePlus One

OnePlus One Launch Keynote

I am still with my Nexus 4. The Nexus 5 has not felt like a major upgrade. And the Moto brand has less appeal after Google got rid of the company it bought. Moto E looks like a good budget phone, but I am not paying less for less memory space and a similar size battery.

My biggest gripe with my Nexus 4 is its battery. I managed to replace the battery at a phone store in Queens. But funny things are known to happen in Queens. My "new" battery still drains pretty fast. So I am in the market for a new phone.

I went back to the store wanting to know if maybe they did not put in a new battery, and they said it is your phone, not the battery! Go figure.

My next phone might be the OnePlus One. Actually I am pretty sure it will be. It comes with 50% more battery power. And that is the top attraction. But I also want more memory space. My Nexus 4 has 8 gigs, and now I want 16, perhaps more. I want my phone to be able to hold more pictures, more videos.

The OnePlus One is being touted as the "Nexus killer" and I think they might have a point.

I might go for the $349 model and get myself 64 gigs of space.

After battery, I am looking at its bigger screen size. I do not make that many calls on my phone. My phone is primarily a small portable computer. 5.5 inches are a phablet. And I am ready for one.

Then I am looking at the camera. 13 megapixels is a step-up from the 5 on Nexus 4, although I have not had major complaints at 5.

I am still a little superstitious about moving away from the stock Android experience, but a larger battery is a huge attraction. Currently I am used to carrying an External Battery that is the same shape but bigger and heavier than my phone. One guy told me at least I was not carrying with me a generator that someone else he knew was seen carrying.

OnePlus One (Unlocked)

$299 ...... Call quality, unfortunately, was one of the biggest sore spots for the OnePlus One. Volume in the earpiece is frustratingly weak and made callers on the other end sound muted, distant, and difficult to hear over even the most innocuous of ambient noise. Transmissions through the mic fared better, coming through more clearly, but still on the low side for volume. The headphone jack works fine for music, unlike in our initial hands on, but the OnePlus One couldn't route calls through a wired headset.

Google Nexus 5 review: You can't beat the Nexus 5 at this price point

We do wish that the rumors about the 3,000mAh battery life were true. One thing we love about the Nexus 5's distant cousin - the LG G2 - is that big battery and long life...... Our two biggest gripes with the Nexus 5 are its battery life and camera. Both can be hit or miss ..... Battery life struggled on some occasions, too. After a full week with the Nexus 5, we can confidently say that we can never be sure when it will last a full day, or when we should bring our chargers and battery packs with us. As you'd imagine, we tend to err on the side of caution, though we really wish we didn't have to.

OnePlus One: Sales start in May, wider availability expected in late June (Updated)

OnePlus, a company which only made itself public in December last year, has launched its first smartphone, the OnePlus One. On paper, it’s more powerful than a Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8, but at $300, it will cost less than half their price. The device was unveiled at an event in Beijing, and the proceedings live tweeted through the company’s official Twitter account. We’re excited about the OnePlus One ..... the initial run of 64GB black phones in early June. We’re told to expect increased availability in late June, at which time invitations will have become widespread...... OnePlus calls the phone “amazingly elegant.” It has decided not to slap its name or logo on the front panel, leaving it very understated. The screen sits in a slightly recessed bezel – just 0.07mm according to OnePlus – and the edges have been machined down to give a contoured finish...... slightly larger than the Galaxy S5 ..... the lightest 5.5-inch smartphone out there .... a brand new Snapdragon 801 processor will power the phone, just like the new Xperia Z2 and the Galaxy S5. It’ll be backed up by 3GB of RAM, and a 3100mAh battery will be inside the device. Lau says the decision to make it non-removable means it can have a higher capacity, while keeping the device suitably slim. OnePlus’ phone will run Android, but it’ll be a custom version of CyanogenMod...... the camera, which uses a 13-megapixel, six-element, f/2.0 Sony Exmor IMX214 sensor. Image stabilization and slow-motion recording at 720p will be standard, and a fast 0.3s shutter speed is promised. The camera also shoots video in 4K (Ultra HD), and selfie fans will welcome a 5-megapixel front camera fitted above the screen...... the phone is the world’s first to feature down-firing stereo speakers, something which other manufacturers avoid, due to the complexities with fitting them inside the phone. OnePlus has partnered up with JBL to ensure they sound great. ...... the software has a flat, minimalistic style. Although CyanogenMod is designed to be endlessly modified, OnePlus will include various themes and wallpapers to make personalization a little easier.

A $300 smartphone has never looked so good

It doesn't make sense that the OnePlus One should be this inexpensive. It looks elegant, feels solid and performs smoothly, and it doesn't show any signs that it's a first-generation product from an unknown company. Regardless of how well it sells, the industry will see this as a benchmark for what an affordable phone really can be. All told, it outperforms Google's Nexus 5 in nearly every way -- and it does so at an even lower price. Heck, it's better than many flagship phones that sell for twice as much. ........ The OnePlus One doesn't look like a $299 phone. Its arched back, polycarbonate build, elegant chassis and top-of-the-line spec sheet could easily fool someone into thinking you paid $600 for it. ..... I actually enjoy the One's display more than most flagship smartphones, and it's leaps and bounds better than the Nexus 5. Because it uses an IPS panel, the One's viewing angles are among the best in the industry, keeping pace with the One M8 and absolutely destroying the GS5. ........ the colors are natural, making them more satisfying to stare at than the saturated GS5 and overblown Nexus 5. ........ What exactly is CyanogenMod? It's custom firmware based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and gives the user more freedom to fiddle around with settings, icons, themes and... well, nearly every aspect of the Android experience. Cyanogen's one of the most popular pieces of third-party firmware in the Android universe and can be installed a wide variety of devices, but the experience is even better on the One because it was built into the phone; since CyanogenMod could work with the hardware early in its development, it was able to add a bunch of optimizations that you won't find on other phones. ........ At first, it doesn't appear that different from stock Android, save for a few style changes (think: icons and buttons). But don't let its understated facade fool you: There's a lot of power behind the scenes, and it becomes more evident as you continue to poke around. There are several new features, with tweakable settings thrown in everywhere. Many of you are simply looking for an inexpensive phone and don't care about making dozens of tiny adjustments to your Android setup, and the beauty of CM is that it can fit your style just as easily as it can fit the preferences of power users -- it's completely customizable, and it's fantastic. ....... one of the One's best features: always-listening voice recognition .... The Nexus 5 has a lot of endearing traits, but the camera isn't one of them. Sure, it has its moments of greatness, but I can't help think this is a case of settling. The OnePlus One, on the other hand, uses a 13-megapixel rear camera with a Sony sensor, six-element lens setup and f/2.0 aperture for lower-light shots. Additionally, the front-facing camera tops out at 5MP -- a sizable improvement over the 1.3-megapixel sensor on the N5. ...... Video recording here is solid ..... It's hard to believe that a $300 device like the One has as much muscle underneath the hood as the Galaxy S5 and Oppo Find 7. In fact, you technically can't get any faster, since the phone sports a 2.45GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974-AC), a 578MHz Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB of RAM. Until the Snapdragon 805 comes out later this year, this is the absolute best silicon that Qualcomm has to offer. But what does it mean to you? Smooth everything, fast everything and no lag as far as the eye can see. ....... CyanogenMod's firmware gives you the option to change your performance profile to one of three modes, ranging from power conservation to battery sucker. .... soft audio output, both on the external speakers and in the earpiece. All of my conversations were much quieter than they should have been, and I could barely hear music blaring at full volume. .. Fortunately, none of this was a problem when I used headphones; in fact, I often had to turn down the volume to make my ears feel comfortable. In addition, the One has an equalizer app called AudioFX, which lets you fine-tune the audio. ...... The One has a 3,100mAh non-removable cell that's just a tad smaller than the battery inside the Note 3. What's more, it's actually larger than what you'll find in the GS5 and One M8. On most days, I made it to the end of the evening with around 5-10 percent life remaining. (On average, this constituted 14-15 hours of solid use, and roughly four hours of screen-on time.) These were days full of emails, calls, travel, social networking and a little bit of gaming. All told, our standard video rundown test yielded 10 hours of life. This isn't the best I've seen, but I'd consider it well above average for a smartphone -- and I'm hard-pressed to ask for more from a $300 device. ...... the $349 64GB model, offered in black, starts shipping in early June. For the rest of you still waiting for an invite, OnePlus is hoping to send one your way by the end of June.

Related articles

• This phone might be faster than a Galaxy S5 at nearly half the price
• OnePlus One vs Nexus 5: Which should I buy?
• Android Phone Comparisons: OnePlus One vs Google Nexus 5
• Watch out Nexus: Cyanogen-powered, $299 OnePlus One finally revealed in full
• OnePlus One smartphone could be a serious Android player
• First Look: OnePlus One Smartphone Equals Nexus Killer?
• Evleaks: Android Silver Is Coming In February 2015... And Don't Expect A Nexus 6
• OnePlus One review - no, we don't have an invite - yet
• OnePlus reveal more features of the OnePlus One Specification
• OnePlus' One actually "kills" Nexus 5 with its blazing-fast boot time

Nexus 4: The Top Phone In The Market

Nexus 4 (Photo credit: abuakel)

In my opinion Google's Nexus 4 is the top smartphone in the market right now, the other two contenders being Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S III. Google's Android overtook Apple in quantity a long time ago. But with this phone Google has also beat Apple on quality. And the unlocked Nexus 4 selling at $299 is a steal compared to the iPhone's price tag of over $700. Couple that with a $50 per month for unlimited talk, text and data with T-Mobile and you are in for a treat.

Nexus 4 is my first smartphone. I am a Google fanboy. I love Google like some people love Apple. The iPhone was not something I ever looked at for me. And the Nexus 4 was not easy to get hold of. When it first went on sale online, it was all gone in 30 seconds. The next time it was gone in a few hours. I managed to place an order the second time. A tip I found on Twitter was to keep clicking on Order even thought the site claimed the phone had gone out of stock. After about half an hour of trying I was finally able to place my order. The phone still took over a month to show up. I went to the UPS facility to pick it up. By now the phone is fully in stock online.

My number one gripe with the phone has been the battery, the number two gripe is the storage space, but then I did opt for the cheaper 8 GB version. One car racing game I bought for five dollars alone is 2 GB. I wish the battery lasted three times longer and the storage space was also three times bigger. As for battery what would truly satisfy me is a small nuclear reactor embedded in there, but I don't see that on the horizon.

I consume a lot of news on my phone, I take a lot of pictures. I regularly check in on FourSquare. Gmail is my top app. I am frequent on Facebook. I have been playing Google's augmented reality game Ingress. I really like my Amazon Kindle app. I play chess. There are so many wonderful apps. I have one that makes me a doctor of sorts, another gives me a virtual gun, bam, bam, bam, a third gives me so many tools in one it is like a Swiss knife. I scan documents with an app on my phone. I have apps that are musical instruments. I have one app that my tech consulting firm made for a client. It is still in the works.

Because of Android's robust integration with Google services, my Google Voice contacts show up in name when they call, even when they call from Nepal. I often talk to my engineers on Skype on my phone. I also chat away on my Google Talk app. An unlimited calling plan brings peace of mind, even though I don't currently spend too much time talking on my phone. I am more of an email kind of guy.

My mobile phone is my mobile office as well as my personal assistant.

$299 is still not a globally cheap price. Android phones costing $80 are set to flood the Global South markets. If the PC hit hundreds of millions in volume, the smartphone is set to hit billions. The smartphone has become the internet access device of choice in both the rich and poor countries. People expect to be always on.

Google is not resting on its success at the operating system level. It has systematically entered the app space also on the iPhone. The iPhone's map fiasco got a lot of publicity. But Google has offered iPhone users substitutes to more than the iPhone's map app. It can be argued Google has been hollowing out the iPhone.

But 2013 is the year when bendable phones and new operating systems besides Android and Apple's iOS are supposed to arrive. Even Nexus 4 will feel like yesterday's phone in a matter of months.

(Written on 2/9/13)

Related articles

• A cheap Android phone is now a good phone. Your move, Apple...
• Apple iPad Mini to take on Google Nexus 7 tablet
• Apple iPhone 5 Features and Specifications Review and Top 2013 Deals Revealed Via Find My Price Comparison Platform
• Apple iPhone 5 Price Predictions and Rumours
• Google Nexus 4 vs Apple iPhone 5
• What's the best smartphone for the elderly?
• Ankerâ astro3 e 10000mah dual 5v 3a usb output external battery pack charger for smart phones, android
• US Consumers Sit On Over $33.8 Billion in Unused Cell Phones
• Nexus 4 problems: What users complain about most
• Android and iPhone on Over 90% of All Smartphones

Nexus 4 Is Back

The top phone in the market right now is back. Go get it. Nexus 4 is back. Nexus 7 is also in stock.

Related articles

• [Update: Germany, Too] Nexus 4 Once Again Available In The US Play Store
• Today Must Be Nexus Day - All "Sold Out" Nexus Play Store Pages Now Say "Temporarily Out Of Stock"
• Nexus 4 back in stock on Google Play
• Nexus 4 back in the Play Store, but shipping in "1 to 2 weeks"
• Canadians: Nexus 4 is back in stock, ships in 1 - 2 weeks
• Nexus 4 to be back in stock at 12PM EST
• Nexus 4 further disappointment for US but there's a twist
• Nexus 4 In Stock at Best Buy
• Is this the white Nexus 4?
• An Xperia Nexus? Don't bet on it

I Like To Read, I Like To Take Pictures

Nexus 4: My First Smartphone
Nexus 4 Is Way Too Cool

I have been playing with my Nexus 4 for days now. It is such a joy.

I have downloaded and organized a whole bunch of apps. I have discovered that I really like to read. Some of my favorite apps help me read. I also seem to like to take pictures. I have discovered. These are not revelations to me. More like confirmations. But confirmations I am happy about.

I really like to read. Pocket is a good one. It beats Flipboard in my book. I like the idea of saving in Pocket on my laptop to read later on the phone. My private homepage on my laptop already has an excellent curation of read destinations.

Amazon Kindle is awesome and easily my favorite app on my seven inch tablet. I am glad to have the Wikipedia app on the phone. Wikipedia is an awesome aspect of the Internet.

I have tried and loved several game apps. I played for hours, one of them overnight, it seemed like. But I did not find myself going back to them the following day. Chess I have gone back to. That is a good classic game in which to want to climb levels.

Path pictures are good, as Instagram pictures. The smartphone is such a poor camera that it has to make up for through filters and effects.

It is a treat to be able to download apps for your phone while sitting in front of a laptop.

Related articles

• First five Nexus 7 apps to download
• TOP 10 Android Apps of 2013
• A New Workflow - Zite/Flipboard, Pocket and Evernote
• 10 Great Apps for Your New Mobile Device
• Top 25 Best iPad Mini Apps [MUST HAVE]
• An updated Twitter recipe for research
• As someone who's never read LOTR books this is how I picture them being written, after watching the films.
• Useful Websites
• Hacking Flipboard for fun and profit
• The First 10 Free Apps to Download on Your New iPhone