Droid vs Nexus

[jdd48]

Can anyone with access to both phones give an unbiased performance comparison?

[SoCal65]

Here is Engadget's review of the Nexus One with some comparisons with the Droid and iPhone... sure there are other's.

Nexus One review -- Engadget

[serialtoon]

I have the Droid, but will be receiving my N1 till tomorrow. I can give you an unbiased review then.

[Admin]

I have both phones and I don't have service on my Nexus One, but I can tell you the ergonomics of the phone are much better. The Nexus One feels better put together and fits in my hand much better. In addition, the virtual keyboard on the Nexus One feels _way_ better then the Droid.

I use the physical keyboard on the Droid since the virtual one is hard for me to use... not sure why, maybe the thickness of the phone or the boxiness, but on the Nexus One this is not an issue at all... it feels great.

The phone is noticeably faster and the live wallpapers is cool. Haven't dug it much deeper then that yet but the main difference is the "feel" and keyboard for me.

So far really liking the Nexus One. If I could get service on it, I would have switched already.

[nedaroth]

Originally Posted by Admin

I have both phones and I don't have service on my Nexus One, but I can tell you the ergonomics of the phone are much better. The Nexus One feels better put together and fits in my hand much better. In addition, the virtual keyboard on the Nexus One feels _way_ better then the Droid.

I use the physical keyboard on the Droid since the virtual one is hard for me to use... not sure why, maybe the thickness of the phone or the boxiness, but on the Nexus One this is not an issue at all... it feels great.

The phone is noticeably faster and the live wallpapers is cool. Haven't dug it much deeper then that yet but the main difference is the "feel" and keyboard for me.

So far really liking the Nexus One. If I could get service on it, I would have switched already.

already dogging the Droid, shame on you.

[vzwmandroid]

Drooooid
Will have android 2.1+adobe flash 10.1 really soon!
Phonearena.com
Androidspin.com

[SoftwareForMe.com]

We have both, love both, but have some comparisons.

Ergonomics
The Nexus is almost exactly the same height and width, but decidedly thinner. It's corners are rounded, the bottom end a bit tapered, and it has a Teflon coating that gives it a slight rubbery feel.

The Nexus is quite lighter. Personally I like the density of the Droid, but I would say the Nexus isn't so light that it feels like a toy. It feels high-tech.

The screens are the same size of course, though the Nexus falls short of the Droid by 54 pixels on the long axis of the screen.

If I turn off "Auto brightness" and set both at 50%, the Nexus' screen is dramatically brighter. Although the contrast difference is substantial, I can't claim it is subjectively "better," because I really like the Droid's screen and contrast ratio.

The soft-buttons at the bottom of the screen are not as sensitive as on the Droid. Sometimes I have to press Home 2 or 3 times for it to notice I did so.

Performance
When running basic apps, such as swiping the home screen side to side, I see no real difference. Google searches (same network, etc.) are identical. Market and other basic apps are about the same; sometimes the Droid wins by a blink, sometimes the Nexus.

However, if I run more intensive apps, such as our Imagine Multi-touch, I notice a significant decrease in lag on some operations, such as switching between 2d thumbnails and 3d billboard view. Sometimes, the difference is about 50% (Nexus wins over Droid).

Subjective Conclusion
If I had a Droid, I would NOT get a Nexus. The user experience will be VERY similar, once the Droid has 2.1. If I had a MyTouch or other 1st generation Android device, I would upgrade if I used my phone a lot.

Honestly, I can choose to use either phone (Droid/Nexus) as my daily phone, and I am undecided.

[Keiran]

I wouldn't trust Engadget's review. Frankly it's got a pretty clear bias against the N1. I've personally done some of the same tests that they have and have found it a much better package than the current iPhone.

[Admin]

Originally Posted by nedaroth

already dogging the Droid, shame on you.

I gotta call em like I see em. If you held the N1 in your hand you'd know what I mean

But, I like the Droid but as far as the points I listed above they are for sure.

[pushdrops]

This is something I've seen very little on - how much WIDER is the Nexus One's display over the Droid?

Even though they are the same size diagonally that doesn't tell the true size difference (the Eris is only 3.2" diag but it's width is nearly the SAME as the Droid which is 3.7" diag but really only taller because of its severe aspect ratio) .

From the pictures of the Nexus One it seems to be a bit wider than the Droid (display) , can anyone measure the width to compare? This is a huge deal to me as a Droid owner (I have one week remaining to back out of the Droid - Verizon) .

Also my wife's Eris , the display is almost as wide as the Droid plus the Eris has much better color's (darker blacks) compared to the Droid (which seems washed out compared to the Eris) - can anyone with the Droid and Nexus comment on the contrast of the Nexus compared to the Droid (compared something colorful on each phone such as the BIC Concert Lighter app on each) ?

Thanks for some input on the display comparisons b/t the Droid and Nexus One.

On a side note, something I'm going through as a new Verizon / Droid owner - subscriber:

The Doid is ok , but between the fact that I don't use the h/w keyboard (I can't get into it at all, I do like the portrait virtual Droid keyboard, for some reason I use it well & do poorly with my wife's Eris' v-keyboard , so I wonder how I'd do with the Nexus' v-keyboard , the iPhone 3Gs and Eris I hit the wrong key 50% or more, on the Droid I rarely hit the wrong key with the v-keys and the auto-prediction deal on the Droid I really prefer - i can type well using the Droid's v-key in even Portrait mode) , the larger screen on the Nexus (it is wider right?) , the washed out colors on the Droid (compared to the Eris at least) , the extra MIC on the Nexus used to make video's (2nd MIC for noise canceling) , the lighter Nexus - all of those are reason to return the Droid while I can ....

But I'm not sure about going with T-Mobile and we need a two phone - family like plan which I don't think is an option with the Nexus / T-Mobile. I'm stuck because if I keep the Droid , I won't be able to upgrade to another phone for at least another year (just signed up as a new Verizon customer not knowing that the Nexus would be released) - we lost our deal with our prev provider , so i can't go back to them (use our old dumb-phones) and come back to Verizon when they have the Nexus One - we either have to keep the Eris and Droid with Verizon or get the Nexus (two of them somehow) with T-Mobile now (or keep Droid and wish I had a Nexus for the reasons above for at least a year <soonest can upgrade for a decent $$$ with Verizon> to whatever is out next year).