Marco.org

In related subway-gadget-spotting news, I saw a Nexus One today. I asked its owner about it, who ended up being a Google employee, and I got a great tour of its performance and capabilities. Impressions:

1. The size and shape are excellent. I suspect we’ve seen our last mainstream-targeted Android phone with a hardware keyboard.
2. The screen is gorgeous.
3. It’s sluggish and jerky during scrolling and animation. There’s no excuse for that, given its hardware.
4. I don’t like the font or the overuse of colors in the interface.

It’s nice enough that I’d love to have a $200-300 iPod-touch-like equivalent for experimental development, but very little about it would drive anyone who’s happy with their iPhone to switch.