mobile phone

As of July 15, 2010, over half of all Android users are on version 2.1 of the mobile OS.

Unless you’re an Android developer deciding your next strategic programming move, chances are your brain isn’t attuned to the distribution of operating systems among all Android smartphone owners.

However, Google’s periodic pie charts and stacked line graphs reveal some interesting data nuggets, at least for Android fanatics.

According to data collected from July 1 to July 15, just about 60 percent of all Android smartphone owners are running version 2.0 of the Android operating system or higher, with 55 percent of the data set concentrated on version 2.1. (We’ll go out on a limb to guess that of that number, 100 percent of those 2.1 users are hotly anticipating getting the 2.2 over-the-air update.)

Compare this OS 2.1 figure to the merely 3.3 percent of Android users who have already received the version 2.2 OS update, and the 40 percent still stuck in pre-2.0 limbo on older or midrange devices.

What really stands out when you flipping the statistic along the pre- and post- 2.0 OS line is that 40 percent of users running OS 1.5 and 1.6 are missing out on key Android features, including pinch-to-zoom, universal voice search, and a much more powerful Google Maps app with personalized search suggestions.

The figures will certainly soon shift again as more 2.1 phones migrate from “Eclair” to “Froyo” (2.2), but even then, the number of users running version 2.0 and above will still remain just over half until the next waves of Android phones on the latest OS begin to saturate the market, replacing older phones mired in older OS versions.

CNET

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Sprint’s new HTC EVO 4G (HTC Droid Incredible) smartphone is being hailed as the new ruler of the Android empire. But has the crown really been passed?

The HTC EVO 4G, unveiled at the CTIA Wireless exhibition this week, sure has a feature-list fit for a king. The phone boasts a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with HDMI output, dual front- and back-facing cameras, and a superspeedy 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Oh yeah — and there’s that whole 4G thing, too.

Hang on, though: Wasn’t the Android throne just overtaken a couple months ago? Google’s Nexus One, after all, was widely seen as stealing the top spot from Motorola’s once-dominant Droid. (That’s speaking primarily from a specs perspective; the sales figuresactually paint a different picture.)

So with the HTC EVO 4G almost in the wild, is the Nexus One doomed to become a has-been? Consider these comparisons and decide for yourself.

HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Display

It’s hard to miss all the gushing over the HTC EVO 4G’s display, and there’s a reason for the excitement: The phone has one sweet screen, and you don’t have to be an Android fanboy to see that. The EVO 4G’s 4.3-inch display beats the Nexus One’s 3.7-inch offering (whichbeat practically everything else back when it debuted). Both devices feature the same WVGA resolution: 800-by-480.

HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Data Network

Sprint’s biggest selling point with the HTC EVO 4G is all about those final two characters. A 4G data connection, according to Sprint, brings you download speeds as much as 10 times faster than what you’d get on a flimsy old 3G alternative.

But — and this is a big but (you’re welcome, Sir Mix-a-Lot) — you won’t be able to get those tasty 4G connections in much of the country. So far, Sprint’s 4G network is available only in 27 U.S. cities. The carrier has plans to expand to a handful of other major markets later this year, but that still leaves everyone else with that aforementioned flimsy old 3G.

Plus, the EVO 4G will be available only on Sprint — so if you’re in an area where network coverage is spotty, you’ll be out of luck. The Nexus One, on the other hand, will soon be available on all major carriers, giving you greater choice in the data-providing department.

Which phone wins this category, then, truly depends on where you are and how the carriers’ coverage compares for your specific area.

HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Hardware

The HTC EVO 4G is powered by the same chip as the Nexus — that snazzy-sounding 1GHz Snapdragon processor — so there’s a virtual tie in that department.

When it comes to cameras, the HTC EVO 4G is victorious: Its back has an 8-megapixel camera and its front features a 1.3-megapixel one. The Nexus One, in comparison, has a single 5-megapixel photo-snapper.

HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Body

The HTC EVO 4G is slightly larger than its Google-endorsed cousin (4.8-by-2.6-by-0.5 inches, compared to 4.69-by-2.35-by-0.45 inches). It’s about 1.4 ounces heavier, too.

A deal-breaker? Unless you’re Thumbelina, probably not.

HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The OS

Both the HTC EVO 4G and the Nexus One are running Android 2.1 (eclair), the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. Despite the matching versions, however, the user experience will be quite different on the two phones.

The reason is that the HTC EVO 4G runs HTC’s Senseuser interface, while the Nexus One uses the stock Android interface. The Sense interface gives Android an entirely different look, with specialized home screen widgets and custom navigation tools. As far as which is better, it’s really just a matter of personal preference.

One area where the Nexus One’s setup will have a distinct advantage, though, is in future Android upgrades: Given the fact that the phone is running the stock Android interface, updating it to a new OS version will be a simple and likely delay-free process (the fact that the Nexus One is Google’s baby probably won’t hurt, either). Custom interfaces such as HTC’s Sense tend to take more time to update, as the manufacturer has to rebuild the interface around the revised platform.

HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Data Perks

Sprint is billing the HTC EVO 4G as a mobile hotspot, meaning you can connect up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the phone and use its data connection to get them on the Internet.

It’s not difficult to set up tethering on any Android phone (even if some carriers may discourage it). Still, this built-in multidevice functionality is certainly a perk worth considering.

HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Final Judgment

Ultimately, the truth is that there’ll never be an end-all Android phone; it really comes down to what’s right for you. Given the nature of the platform’s open ecosystem, a new contender will always be right around the corner, and hyperbole-loving bloggers will always be chomping at the bit to label it the “killer” of everything else.

That, my friends, is the one thing you can count on.

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Design-wise, the Droid Incredible appears fairly similar to the Nexus One, but it is essentially a CDMA version of the HTC Desire, which launched last February in Barcelona, Spain. The Droid Incredible has an 8-megapixel camera (as opposed to the Nexus One and Desire’s 5-megapixel shooters). The Droid Incredible also has a strange rubberdized “topographic” battery cover, which I could have done without. While the Incredible is lighter, it doesn’t feel as solid as the Nexus One.

While the Nexus One has four touch keys, the Droid Incredible has four physical hardware keys running along the bottom (Home, Menu, Back, Search). I actually prefer the Nexus One’s touch keys, though, as it gives the phone a more streamlined look.

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Getting online with your phone isn’t as fussy as it once was. That said, we still want to see the basics of web browsing done with aplomb and will be looking out for speedy online skills from these Android phones at every turn. How does playing back YouTube clips or, in some cases, Flash video work? And how does the browser itself look – does it have added extras that make us coo in admiration?

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
The browser on the Xperia X10 hasn’t gone under much modding by Sony Ericsson, resulting in a basic version which doesn’t compare so well to the Desire and Legend. That’s not to say it’s bad. Getting around pages is easy, but entering web address should be easier than having to go through the hard menu key at the bottom. YouTube clips streamed and played with no stutter within about 10 seconds. Impressive.

HTC Desire
The Desire’s web browser is great. Not only can you use pinch-to-zoom to get into the nitty gritty of a page, you can also directly tap into Wikipedia and Google Translate on any search term, just by highlighting and holding down on the phrase at the top of the page you’ve tapped in. That means one less page to visit when you need info stat. YouTube streaming is snappy and the inclusion of Flash is ace, even if clips on The Guardian took an eternity to start playing.

Google Nexus One
The standard Android browser that comes on the Nexus One is good, but it’s no match for the tweaked version on the Desire and the Legend. Navigation requires tapping into the menu button, something we’re not fond of. However, the Snapdragon processor helps video from YouTube load up sharpish, a theme we’ve warmed to across a number of the phones on test. The whole thing isn’t quite up to scratch compared to its rivals though.

HTC Legend
The browser on the HTC Legend is very much the same as the Desire. That means it’s speedy and can handle jumping around pages with aplomb. YouTube streaming is great and works within around fifteen seconds of starting a three minute clip. Flash, again, causes some issues and takes an age to fire up. You have to wonder of having Adobe’s video software on board is worth it.

HTC Tattoo
The browser on the HTC Tattoo is pretty standard for Android. It doesn’t have any added extras and isn’t the best you’ll ever use. However, it serves up pages in quick smart fashion and renders them fine if you’re using mobile optimised sites especially. YouTube clips look dandy too and make the Tattoo a very decent bet for budget conscious punters.

Verdict
The web browsing experience on the HTC Desire is the business and definitely squeaks top spot from the Legend. It’s the complete package, with Google Translate and Wikipedia baked in, and it’s a doddle to use. The X10 is a mite disappointing, while the Legend and Nexus One deserve honourable mentions.

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New tablets to launch at prices of under $200

Tablets have only been the subject of scrutiny for about a couple of months, but they already seem to have almost made their own niche market, even having drawn the attention of the watchful gaze of analysts. As such, forecasts dealing with what kind of tablets would come and go, and what content they would run and so on, were inevitable. Now, the inevitable seems to have finally come to pass, as IMS Research looked into what operating systems would be featured on this year’s and future slate PCs.

Obviously, for now, at the top of the list is the Apple OS, featured on the iPad, one of the few slates currently selling (the better known other being the unlucky JooJoo). Naturally, Apple’s tablet is expected to have the biggest market share this year, and probably over the next years as well. Still, Google’s Android OS is expected to perform quite admirably, with a market share of 24% predicted for the ongoing year. This is significant, considering that most Android tablets have yet to start out, and are still a way off from becoming available. Windows 7 is also expected to score a decent 10% this year, a figure that should grow later on.

IMS considers that the popularity of tablets, regardless of their current hype, will soon come to depend on not just the hardware, but also on the content and interface. The iPad already has Apple’s iTunes, but most competing devices currently lack an application store of their own. IMS also expects popularity to be affected by subsidization.

“The user interface and content that a tablet supplier brings to the table will likely influence purchase decisions just as much as hardware requirements. Suppliers are realizing the importance of content and service and many are turning to the Android ecosystem to be able to offer the complete user experience and compete with Apple’s offering,” Anna Hunt, an analyst with IMS Research, said.

“Right now many of the applications specifically designed for the iPad platform, which are starting to hit the iTunes App Store, are actually more expensive than apps for the iPhone OS platform. This leaves an opportunity for suppliers that can offer a tablet solution that is overall more price competitive,” Ms. Hunt added.

The best news for keyboardless PC fans will likely be the prediction that, over the next two years, tablets without word-processing software but with multimedia and web capabilities will cost under $200, which should serve to further encourage market-share growth.

“Over the next couple of years, we can expect a variety of tablet models that may not be able to run word processing software, but will offer a variety of web-based and multimedia applications for under $200 to the end user,” the analyst concluded.

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The HD2 smartphone is a design masterpiece that runs a Windows version that will be out-of-date by yearend. A gorgeous, archaic piece of art?

The Good: Largest smartphone screen on the market, lightning-fast processor, 5 megapixel camera

The Bad: Won’t run Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 operating system; dearth of applications

The Bottom Line: A great smartphone for consumers who don’t feel they need to own a device running Google or Apple software

Sometimes timing is everything. After several weeks of testing HTC’s gorgeous new HD2 smartphone, I can tell you it’s unquestionably the best device yet that runs Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.

Therein lays the problem. Microsoft plans to release a major overhaul to Windows for smartphones—called Windows Phone 7—by the end of the year. As good as the HD2 is, it may have a very short shelf life.

The HD2, which went on sale on Mar. 24 in the U.S., through T-Mobile, is a design masterpiece. It uses Qualcomm’s (QCOM) speedy 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor and sports a stunning 4.3-in. screen surrounded by a thin, black bezel.

Yet HTC’s stunning hardware is hobbled by a lack of applications for users to download from Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Marketplace. By my count, there are less than 1,000, compared to more than 185,000 from Apple’s (AAPL) App Store and more than 30,000 from Google’s (GOOG) Android Marketplace for phones that run its operating system. Worse, Microsoft says many of today’s apps won’t work when it rolls out Windows Phone 7.

If that doesn’t bother you—or you want to take a chance that Microsoft will change its stance—I’d recommend the HD2 wholeheartedly. It’s available for $199 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile.

Adopting the less-is-more approach that’s increasingly common in the smartphone market, the HD2 has hardly any buttons. On the bottom of its face, from left to right, there’s a dedicated phone button, one that calls up a customizable home page of applications, a button to access Windows applications, a back button, and a power toggle.

A COUPLE OF EXTRAS IN THE U.S.

The phone doesn’t have much usable memory, but users can add up to 16GB of storage with an additional microSD card. (It takes some work to remove the rear panel to access the slot where you place the card.)

The T-Mobile version of the HD2 includes Blockbuster on Demand software for watching movies and free access to MobiTV for a month. European versions of the HD2 don’t offer those.

From a usability perspective, the HD2 stands out by cleverly layering HTC’s Sense user interface on top of Windows Mobile 6.5. Reviewers panned the operating system when Microsoft released it last fall, despite a belated move to icon-based applications, or widgets, which do away with a terrible dropdown system that had made navigation a nightmare.

HTC says it designed Sense to satisfy three fundamental needs: customization, discovery, and social computing. The HD2 does all three well. Users can configure the home screen to show nine favorite applications, including Facebook, a compass, and an e-mail program.

The lower portion of the screen includes a dock that handles the discovery and social aspects of using the phone. The dock includes quick access to a Web browser, YouTube, Twitter, a calendar, and other information, including music and video collections. There’s also weather, in the form of photorealistic animations of clouds moving across the screen and a windshield wiper when it’s raining.

A GOOD BUSINESS TOOL

HTC doesn’t skimp on the extras. It includes a 5-megapixel digital camera with built-in flash and photo-editing features such as white balancing and ISO setting adjustment. You can even send video via multimedia messaging. A built-in speaker on the back delivers relatively smooth playback of MP3 downloads from Amazon.com’s (AMZN) music store and from a personal collection, although most people will likely use the headphone jack on the bottom.

The HD2 is a good business tool, too. I downloaded the Good Technology mobile client, which synchronized my work e-mail, contacts, and calendar. At first, I had some trepidation about the lack of a physical keyboard, but then found that the phone’s virtual keyboard worked fairly well. I was frustrated with the predictive typing technology, which slowed me down by suggesting words that tried to match my typos. It was easier to identify the typos and correct them manually. And unlike Apple’s iPhone and Motorola’s (MOT) Droid, the HD2 doesn’t offer a landscape mode.

Some users may be turned off by the HD2’s relatively large size—about the length of one-and-a-half decks of cards. Yet thanks to its thin, high-resolution AMOLED display, it’s much slimmer than other smartphones. The glossy screen does show fingerprint smudges. The good news is that the screen works well, even in bright sunlight.

Battery life is slightly above-average and lasts all day, even with the Good data connection running at average display brightness. If you’re also using WiFi to access the Internet and have the Bluetooth connection turned on, expect about five hours’ use before you’ll need to recharge.

There’s a lot to like about the HD2. But thanks to Microsoft’s assertion that Windows 6.5 users won’t be able to upgrade their devices to Windows Phone 7, using HTC’s smartphone feels like admiring a beautiful but archaic work of art.

backlink: bussinessweek

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http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/

The top end Android phones duke it out

The days when the T-Mobile G1was the big cheese in the Android world are happily gone. Now, the Android OS is being used to create some truly industry leading handsets and HTC is behind some of the best.

But which is the one for you to spend your hard-earned on? The Hero-a-like Legend? The insanely powerful but stupidly monikered Desire? Or do you trust your mobile dollar in Google with the Nexus One?

The HTC Legend

What makes a phone good? Well, the easy answer is one that packs the most into the smallest frame – but Apple came along with the iPhone and changed that perception almost overnight.

No, apparently what’s best is the combination of beautiful hardware and a slick user experience – so step forward the HTC Legend.

If you imagine an HTC Hero met an Apple Macbook Air one night in a bar, got along famously and ended up getting so drunk that they woke up shame-facedly together in the morning, this would be the result.

The HTC Legend is hewn from a single block of aluminium, giving it a polished and expensive look, in the Marmite-esque ‘lip’ chassis. Not only that, but the 3.2-inch screen is actually an OLED, which means colours are gloriously saturated and the blacks are wonderfully dark.

The HTC Sense UI is also in full force here, and while we could witter on about the social networking integration in the contacts menu or the improved camera UI, we just care about the fact we can pinch the home screen in to view all our open widgets in one glance (called Leap view).

We’re also digging the ability to see all our friends’ feeds in one place through Friend Stream – we know that it’s an option on the HTC Desire as well, but it seems to suit the Legend a little more.

It’s a smooth, sleek and ultimately satisfying to hold phone – and it’s packing a fair whack of grunt under the hood as well.

Who’s gonna buy the Legend? If you’re the kind of person that values form as much as functionality (and for some reason don’t want the iPhone) then you should definitely give the HTC Legend the once over.

Sure, it’s not got the processing power of the Desire or the bells and whistles of Google’s device, but it looks superb, handles better than most phones out there and what’s more – it shouldn’t break the bank when it appears.

The HTC Desire

< THE HTC DESIRE

The HTC Desire

The TechRadar office is currently divided between those that want the HTC Legend, for all its Fancy Dan looks and svelte charm, and those that crave the raw power of the HTC Desire.

(We’re keeping an eye on the situation, lest it break out into a dance numbera la The Jets and The Sharks).

It would be wrong to say the Desire is an ugly device, as it comes in at less than 12mm thick, which means it’s ultimately pocket-friendly.

And by Jingo, it’s a powerful beast. Yes, it’s ‘only’ running the Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon processor (we say ‘only’ because it’s about the tenth phone to do so), but there’s more than just a decent chipset in action here.

The whole Sense UI has been optimised for the HTC Desire, and this means that it excels in two key areas beyond the Legend: multimedia and internet.

The screen is 4x the resolution of the Legend, which means a high-res display and a terrific device to watch video and view photos on.

There’s an 8GB memory card in the box too in order to help you start stuffing content onto the device, and while it doesn’t have the same standby time as the Legend, it does have a larger battery to help cope.

And the internet experience on the HTC Desire is phenomenal (we might have to rethink the battery claim, as we’ll probably be on the internet all the time when using this device).

Somehow HTC appears to have optimised the browser in such a way that even over EDGE connectivity, heavy web pages load in seconds. The text reflow (which admittedly is the Legend as well) is a dream, allowing users to zoom into text as and when they like at the size they want.

In short, if you’ve got deep pockets or carry a bag with space for a phone with a 3.7-inch screen, there’s very little reason not to pick up the HTC Desire.

Who’s gonna buy the Desire? Trust us when we say that Technophiles are going to be all over this phone. Multi-touch, flash video, WVGA screen – it’s the spec-enthusiast’s dream. It might be a little bit pricier than some, but it will apparently come in at a lower cost than the Nexus One.

The Google Nexus One

Looking over the other two on trial here, you’d be forgiven for thinking that theGoogle Nexus One doesn’t really have a prayer against the might of HTC’s own children.

But the Nexus One is a powerful beast in its own right – pulling in some of the same specs as the HTC Desire, but adding in some upgrades too.

Take for instance active noise cancellation. This means that when you’re walking down the street and the traffic gets too noisy, the person on the other end of the phone won’t notice almost at all – which is a pretty handy trick.

It’s also got support for a dock as well – meaning you can pop your phone onto your desktop and play Bluetooth music in wonderful A2DP stereo sound too.

And while many are cooing over the Sense UI used on the HTC Legend and Desire, it’s certainly not suited for all tastes, with the plethora of home screens looking a bit much at times.

The Nexus One also has the added weight of Google behind it – which device do you think will always get the next Android upgrades first? That’s right – its own child.

The trackball and smooth touch sensitive keys are bound to appeal to another demographic, especially those that find the optical trackpad a very strange experience to use.

And the little touches, like living wallpaper, are present on the Nexus One – we’re not sure it’s automatically better than the HTC Desire, but it’s certainly another option worth considering.

Who’s gonna buy the Nexus One?

Those hat are clued in to the way Google is working will probably favour a little bit of the Nexus One over the HTC Desire – simply because it’s a native home overlay, making it much easier to code over the top of.

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With the recent release of DisplayMate Multimedia Edition for Mobile Displays, a battery of tests to measure the quality of portable screens–and apparently because I’m a glutton for punishment–I thought now would be the perfect time to bring five popular smartphones back to CNET Labs for a down-and-dirty comparison of their screen performance.

The five phones I chose to put through the ringer (ahem) are the Samsung Behold II, the Motorola Droid, theApple iPhone 3GS, the HTC Nexus One by Google, and the Palm Pre Plus. These five were chosen because of their relative popularity and similar feature sets.

We used three different types of tests to evaluate each phone:

Scientific measurements: We used the Konica Minolta CS-200 ChromaMeter to test the maximum brightness, black level, and contrast ratio of each phone and reported numbers for each of these three tests.

Test pattern screens: We used several DisplayMate Mobile test patterns to test for color-tracking errors, 24-bit color, and font legibility, among others.

Real-world: Finally, we conducted real-world anecdotal testing using 3D games, photos, and a little tool I like to call “the Sun” to test the diffuse reflectance of each display.

All test screens were viewed within each phone’s native gallery application. Some phones may handle pictures differently–and even improve them to some extent–outside the application. That said, we believe that testing within the respective gallery applications is still a viable test as this is where most users will view pictures on their phones.

In order to diminish potential repetition, I’ll dive right into the details of how each phone performed; if you’d like to know more about our tests, you can binge off nerdy details in our “How we tested” section at the bottom of this article. Please note that this is an evaluation of each phone’s screen performance and nothing else. Check out the full reviews of these phones to determine which is right for you. Also, DisplayMate recently conducted a moretechnically focused evaluation of the iPhone 3GS’ and the Nexus One’s screens that I recommend you take a look at.

The bottom line

Here’s how we rank the phones in screen performance:

1. Motorola Droid
2. Palm Pre Plus
3. Apple iPhone 3GS
4. HTC Nexus One by Google
5. Samsung Behold II

Keep reading to find out why we ranked them this way.

I know everyone has strong opinions and usually fiery passions about their smartphone of choice, so I don’t expect everyone to agree with my assessment or the methods used in drawing my conclusions. If there are any questions about how I came to my conclusions or anything relevant I may have left out, please leave a comment saying as much. Also, if you’d like to see even more detailed information of each phone’s performance, let me know. If enough are interested, I’ll do a follow-up post with that information.

Lastly, though I hope consumers get something useful out of this, I’d be just as happy if the respective manufacturers of the phones took a serious look at these results and at least considered them when making their respective hardware and software revisions. We all want these phones to continue improving, and I’m just attempting to contribute to the cause.

Motorola Droid

The Droid achieved an incredibly impressive contrast ratio, given that it’s not OLED-based. It also had the most-accurate colors of any of the phones as well as the sharpest text. Also, unlike the Nexus One, the Droid was capable of displaying 24-bit color. Its only glaring mistake was an overly reflective screen when viewed in a sunny, natural environment. Despite that, the Droid is clearly the performance winner, followed fairly closely by the Palm Pre Plus and the iPhone 3GS, which washes out color as a result of its superbright screen. Both the Behold II and the Nexus One have incredibly deep blacks, but they both oversaturate colors to the point that they’re inaccurate and sometimes distracting.

Palm Pre Plus

The Palm Pre Plus was one of the best performers we tested, coming in right behind our overall best performer, the Droid. The Pre Plus’ color was accurate and fuller than the iPhone’s and not oversaturated like the Behold II and Nexus One. The color isn’t as accurate as the Droid’s, but it did show that it’s capable of displaying 24-bit color. Its level of backlight clouding was the second highest, next to the iPhone, but it produced the least amount of diffuse reflection of any phone.

Apple iPhone 3GS

The Apple iPhone 3GS achieved the highest brightness of any of the five phones we tested. Unfortunately, this resulted in it having the highest black level as well. This translated into a disappointingly low contrast ratio. The iPhone 3GS showed no evidence of false contouring and is capable of displaying 24-bit color. Reflection on sunny days is only a problem at extreme angles. It doesn’t have some of the glaring color problems that plagued the Nexus One, but its profuse backlight clouding means many of its colors look washed out.

HTC Nexus One by Google

The Nexus One achieved an incredible contrast ratio, afforded by its extremely low black level. This low black level is a result of HTC and Google’s decision to go with an OLED-based screen, instead of a traditional, LED-based screen. However, instead of delivering accurate, natural colors, the Nexus One oversaturates them, resulting in glaring color tint problems and inaccurate color reproduction. For example, red could possibly be confused with orange on the Nexus One. Also, false contouring is apparent in the Mars photo, lending evidence to a lack of 24-bit color support, and the phone’s extreme outdoor reflectance makes it difficult to operate on sunny days. Though some may prefer the screen’s ability to make colors pop in games and its high contrast ratio, don’t expect any natural color reproduction.

Samsung Behold II

The Samsung Behold II is the second OLED-based phone in our roundup. Not surprisingly, we saw not evidence of clouding when viewing a black screen in a completely dark room. Unfortunately, it continues the OLED trend set by the Nexus One: it has disappointing performance. Plagued by various color inaccuracies, oversaturation, color tint problems, and an inability to legibly display gray and white text on a black background, the Behold II had a terrible time trying to keep up with its competitors. Even its incredible, OLED-afforded contrast ratio couldn’t save it. Overall, the Behold II had the worst performance of the five phones we tested.

How we tested

We measured each display’s brightness, black level, and contrast ratio using the CS-200 and test patterns provided by DisplayMate. All phones were tested at their maximum brightness with full battery charges. All readings were conducted in a completely dark room.

Phone Name	Resolution	Brightness	Black Level	Contrast Ratio
Samsung Behold II	320×480 pixels	310 cd/M2	(At most) 0.0049 cd/m2	(At Least) 63265:1
Motorola Droid	480×854 pixels	410 cd/M2	0.17 cd/m2	2412:1
Apple iPhone 3GS	480×320 pixels	431 cd/M2	3.31 cd/m2	131:1
HTC Nexus One by Google	800×480 pixels	225 cd/M2	(At most) 0.0049cd/m2	(At Least) 46,000:1
Palm Pre Plus	320×480 pixels	320 cd/M2	0.46 cd/m2	628:1

“At least/At most” explanation:  True black can be represented as 0 candelas per square meter (cd/M2). Thanks to their OLED screens, the Nexus One and Behold II’s black levels were so low, the Konica Minolta CS-200 ChromaMeter wasn’t equipped to detect them. According to its specs, the CS-200 can only see black-level measurements as low as 0.005 candelas per square meter (cd/m2). Using simple logic, we can infer that both phones achieved, at most, a 0.0049 cd/m2 black level. Using more-sophisticated equipment, the guys at DisplayMate got a black-level reading of 0.0035 cd/m2 for the Nexus One. Given that our tested maximum brightness for the Nexus One was 225 cd/m2, we can hypothesize a contrast ratio of at least 46,000:1 and possibly more than 65,000:1 using DisplayMate’s black-level results for the Nexus One and 63,000:1 for the Behold II.

Test patterns All test pattern tests were conducted in a completely dark room.

White-level saturation: This test includes a number of rectangular blocks on a bright, white background. Peak white is represented by the block labeled 255. The closer a screen gets to displaying 255, the less likely it’ll be to not show certain colors when viewing a really bright screen.

Color scales: Tests the display’s ability to show 25 distinct intensity levels for each of the 10 primary colors, from black to peak brightness. A perfect showing would have each color with 25 distinct steps.

Color tracking: This screen tests the LCD’s ability to display the grayscale uniformly and accurately without any color tint problems.

RGBW smooth color ramp: This an excellent test for determining whether the LCD can display 24-bit color. If the scale is smooth, without visible “steps,” the display should be capable of 24-bit color. If not, it’s likely limited to 16-bit or possibly 18-bit color.

Fonts: We tested black, gray, and white fonts on different combinations of black, gray, and white backgrounds. Depending on how the phone handles things, certain combinations may affect the text’s legibility. Most of the phones had little problem displaying text, but the Behold II had an egregious white text on black problem.

<Displaymate Mobile’s white-level saturation test.

Real-world tests

Coca-Cola photo: A high-quality picture of a coke can can be used to test how close the phone can come to reproducing colors from the real world. We used a real coke can as reference. Though the Droid achieved the closest color approximation of the can, the Nexus One’s and Behold II’s cans looked more orange than red.

Mars photo: We used a picture of a sunset on Mars to test the display’s real-world false contouring threshold. The sky should appear to smoothly transition in color. If visible steps are noticeable, the phone has a false contouring problem. The Behold II and Nexus One had the most egregious offenses; the Palm Pre Plus’ sky looked nearly perfect.

Game: We used Fastlane Lite on the iPhone 3GS, Asphalt 5 Free on the Pre Plus, and Raging Thunder Lite on the Nexus One, Behold II, and Droid, to evaluate each phone’s color performance in a fast-moving game. The Nexus One and Behold II saw oversaturated colors; the Droid’s colors were pinpoint accurate.

Diffuse reflectance: Some screens are more reflective than others, but what matters most is how reflective they are under extreme conditions; you don’t get more extreme than a sunny day in San Francisco.The Pre Plus won this fight, with the iPhone coming in second.

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The tech industry wants Google to deliver an iPhone “killer,” and continues to be disappointed that Google doesn’t share that interest.

The reaction to a report issued Tuesday by Flurry Analytics managed to completely overlook some interesting news–the Android-based Motorola Droid outsold the original iPhone over the same period of time following their respective launches–to focus instead on the sales numbers for the Nexus One.

Google has sold an estimated 135,000 Nexus One phones in the 74 days since it arrived, according to Flurry, a time frame chosen for comparison purposes because Apple sold 1 million iPhones in the first 74 days of its existence in 2007.

Given that 135,000 units add up to way fewer than 1 million units, it’s easy to label the Nexus One launch a “flop.” But that conclusion assumes that Google intended to sell a mass-market phone all along.

We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: the Nexus One is not the One True Phone descended from on high to restore order to an iPhone-dominated world. Google is indeed very interested in having its Android operating system become the alternative to the iPhone, but it is not fighting the same fight with the Nexus One that Apple, Palm, Research In Motion, Nokia, and countless others are fighting.

When it launched in January, Google Android chief Andy Rubin told GigaOm that he expected the company would sell 150,000 Nexus Ones. He didn’t specify a time frame, but he didn’t say “74 days” either. So it’s just as easy to make the argument that the Nexus One is actually a huge success based on the Flurry numbers and Google’s own expectations.

That would also be a stretch, to be sure. The reality is that selling the Nexus One is a very complicated dance.

With the Nexus One, Google wants to promote the idea of a Web store that matches phones and carriers, rather than individual phones sold exclusively through individual carriers. The problem is that it has to work with those individual phone makers and individual carriers to develop Android phones, and has to be careful not to irk those companies with aggressive Nexus One promotion and lose ground on the larger goal: the adoption of Android.

So it has walked a fine line with the Nexus One. Google hasn’t bombarded consumers with mass-media messaging about the phone and the purchasing model the way Apple did after the iPhone made its debut; it has instead used word-of-mouth marketing and Web ads to promote the phone.

And that phone is only available at competitive prices through T-Mobile. Unlocked phones have a strong appeal to a certain kind of techie customer (and more appeal now that they can work on AT&T and Rogers Wireless’ networks), but mass consumers buy on price, as Apple well knows from watching sales skyrocket each time they cut the upfront price of the iPhone.

Comparing the launch of the Nexus One with the launch of the iPhone is a bit disingenuous. The original iPhone launch was arguably the consumer electronics event of the past decade, with hype surrounding the iPhone launch and aftermath unlike anything tech-industry veterans and everyday consumers had seen.

The hype surrounding the Nexus One launch, on the other hand, was stoked by those who thought Google was getting ready to sell its own phone in a mano-a-mano battle against the iPhone. That’s not exactly what Google had in mind, but the prelaunch impressions did not entirely disappear after Google revealed the actual plan:Goldman Sachs initially predicted Google would sell 3.5 million units in 2010.

Google could certainly sell the Nexus One more aggressively: does anyone really think that Google, of all companies, does not understand the power of advertising?

Consider the Motorola Droid, which according to Flurry sold 1.05 million units in its first 74 days through heavy promotion from Verizon and Google. Google certainly has the resources to duplicate that kind of promotional effort for the Nexus One.

But the day Google rolls out that kind of advertising for the Nexus One, it will be cutting off its nose to spite its face. Partners already wary of the Nexus One concept will suddenly find reasons to embrace Windows Phone 7 or Palm’s WebOS rather than engage in open warfare against Google, and its hopes of remaking the mobile industry in its image will fade. A muted promotion strategy for the Nexus One keeps those partners on their toes in forcing them to raise the bar on their designs without Google siphoning away the revenue they’ll need to raise that bar.

What Google really wants to do is change the way the mobile phone industry operates. Playing the same game as all the rest won’t accomplish that: the ultimate measure of Google’s success with the Nexus One won’t be market share, but a market shift.

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It’s never too late to revisit two smartphones with some of the hottest hardware specs on the market. iFixit’s side-by-side breakdown of the internals of the Google Nexus One and Apple iPhone 3GS makes a compelling cost and feature argument for the Nexus One.

iFixit’s CEO Kyle Wiens sums it up nicely: “The Nexus One deserves more attention. Its hardware is really quite impressive, and yet no one seems to be buying it!” he said in a note sent out Thursday morning. (Though CNET’s Tom Krazit makes the case here that it’s not quite that simple.)

On the downside, if something goes awry internally, the Nexus One is up against a formidable infrastructure of Apple stores. “Our biggest beef with the Nexus One? There isn’t a parts supply chain for it yet, meaning all repairs have to go through HTC’s overpriced mail-in service,” Wiens said.

And a quick look at the silicon inside these phones shows how utterly absent Intel is in this space. In short, Samsung rules.

What follows below are two graphics excerpts from iFixit’s teardown.

In the second graphic, note that much of the primary silicon is from Samsung. Even in the Nexus One with its Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, both the flash and RAM memory is supplied by Samsung.

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