My NZ experiences with the Google N1 Phone

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lchiu7

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#56528 15-Jan-2010 11:46

Rather than cluttering up the original post about the N1 is now available for ordering, given a few of us have or are going to have the phone, thought it might be useful to start a thread about our experiences in NZ.

I have mentioned most of my experiences in that thread but to recap briefly.

I have been using the phone since Tuesday on VF. Experiences so far are generally good but there are some issues. Note I have never really used an iPhone so can't comment on the differences.

3G coverage is generally fine (the phone notes the connection is HSPDA).

Turn by Turn Navigation doesn't work as noted - you can speak the destination, it finds it and then says there is no route. Google maps works and does use the GPS to show your exact location and based on my limited testing, the point does move as you drive. I am looking at purchasing Copilotlive rather than deal with rooted phones etc. but it's unclear from their site and from their tech support and twitter responses whether or not I need to purchase the software with US maps first and add ANZ ones or is there is a package that includes the software and ANZ maps.

No multitouch in the base apps but I downloaded the Dolphin browser from the App store and it supports multitouch.

No BT voice dialling - that's annoying since it means I cannot legally make a call when driving. Perhaps that is a good thing.

The on screen keyboard takes time to get used to but perhaps that is an Android thing. Getting the position right is hard in portrait mode, easier in landscape. And the predictive typing is reasonably good.

Voice recognition is quite good. It's cool to be able to speak something into the search bar and after a bit, have it bring up a Google search result. Also works in any field where you can type stuff.

Be careful with realtime synchronisation if you don't have a data plan! As I noted in another post, since I had setup my Google account with the phone, it was trying to synchronise Google Calendar, GMail (OK) and also Picasa albums (not good!).

Exchange integration is okay but not as good as the iPhone (which I have setup for people). You can synchronise Mail and Contacts but not the calendar for some reason. In the interim I have done what I did with my SE P1i which is to use Google Calendar Sync on the desktop to my Google calendar and then use the realtime sync on the N1 to sync the appointments to the phone. Because of data plans issues (I have only a 100MB plan) I don't do live Exchange Sync but grab mail when I need to.

The phone occasionally bring up Voice Search and other apps when you haven't apparently done anything - just moving the phone around. Not sure why - perhaps the screen is overly sensitive in places.

Tons of functions I am sure but it comes with no manual. I had to download the 320 page manual and print it out - some weekend reading :-)

Would be interested in other people's experiences when they get their phones.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

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#290284 15-Jan-2010 12:18

lchiu7: No BT voice dialling - that's annoying since it means I cannot legally make a call when driving. Perhaps that is a good thing.

Infrequent touching of your phone as long as it is in a cradle does fit within the laws I thought. So if you need to dial a contact, and this requires touching your phone, that is ok.

Or have I got this wrong?

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lchiu7

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#290286 15-Jan-2010 12:30

You still have to look down at the phone and that in itself is dangerous. So (unless I missed something) the process is

1. Unlock the screen - this involves pressing the power button and sliding the switch over
2. Assuming the phone is in the dialer screen, and say favourites, pressing the handset icon and then confirming you want to dial the number (actually I installed Google Voice so it asks if you want to use GV or not)
3. Then dial - all while driving.

Not good IMHO

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

andar

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#290289 15-Jan-2010 12:33

Copilotlive has a package just for Australia and New Zealand maps, no need to buy US ones first.

Search for "Copilot" in the Andriod market and you should see 4 different modules you can buy.

I am running this on my HTC Magic and it works great.

Satch

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#290292 15-Jan-2010 12:48

lchiu7: You still have to look down at the phone and that in itself is dangerous. So (unless I missed something) the process is

1. Unlock the screen - this involves pressing the power button and sliding the switch over
2. Assuming the phone is in the dialer screen, and say favourites, pressing the handset icon and then confirming you want to dial the number (actually I installed Google Voice so it asks if you want to use GV or not)
3. Then dial - all while driving.

Not good IMHO

My point being that "dangerous" and "not good" are not necessarily the same thing as the law. I thought the law said that infrequent touching of your phone is legal. I was just trying to clarify that point, but am now taking the thread off topic...

lchiu7

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#290300 15-Jan-2010 13:06

andar: Copilotlive has a package just for Australia and New Zealand maps, no need to buy US ones first.

Search for "Copilot" in the Andriod market and you should see 4 different modules you can buy.

I am running this on my HTC Magic and it works great.

Thanks - I just saw that. I was confused because it was priced at £33
Will get it when I get home and on my wifi network rather than try to download over the mobile network.

So how are you finding it - the review on the App store are mixed. How does it compare with a hardware GPS device?

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

lchiu7

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#290303 15-Jan-2010 13:13

Satch:
lchiu7: You still have to look down at the phone and that in itself is dangerous. So (unless I missed something) the process is

1. Unlock the screen - this involves pressing the power button and sliding the switch over
2. Assuming the phone is in the dialer screen, and say favourites, pressing the handset icon and then confirming you want to dial the number (actually I installed Google Voice so it asks if you want to use GV or not)
3. Then dial - all while driving.

Not good IMHO

My point being that "dangerous" and "not good" are not necessarily the same thing as the law. I thought the law said that infrequent touching of your phone is legal. I was just trying to clarify that point, but am now taking the thread off topic...

I will see if I can find a cradle that mounts the phone higher on the dash so it's not required to look down at it when trying to dial out. I don't use a headphone but a LG solar powered hands free kit that is stuck to the window.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

andar

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#290311 15-Jan-2010 13:45

lchiu7:
Will get it when I get home and on my wifi network rather than try to download over the mobile network.

Yeah, you don't want to do this over the mobile network. I think the maps are around 120 megabytes.

lchiu7:
So how are you finding it - the review on the App store are mixed. How does it compare with a hardware GPS device?

I find it very good. Entering addresses can be a bit tricky due to the small screen size. I usually take it out of the cradle and enter the address in portrait mode, it seems easier, then put it back into the cradle in landscape mode.

Once your destination is entered I cannot fault it, clear directions, map quality is great and recalculating when you go off course is super quick.

I don't think it will ever beat a purpose built GPS (like Tom Tom, Navman, etc) simply due to the size if the screen. But I love it because of the convenience of it always being in my pocket.

Cheers,

lchiu7

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#290312 15-Jan-2010 13:49

andar:..

I don't think it will ever beat a purpose built GPS (like Tom Tom, Navman, etc) simply due to the size if the screen. But I love it because of the convenience of it always being in my pocket.

Cheers,

The N1 has a bigger screen than the last Tom Tom I used and it has voice entry for destinations. I wonder if this has been enable for Copilot. When I saw Copolitlive at their stand at CES they were showing the product on a N1 but it was stuck to a stand and wasn't easy to play with and I didn't have my N1 yet so didn't know what sort of questions to ask.

From the app store it looks like there is a trial first for 10 days before you enter your Google Checkout so that give me time to try it out.
[edit]

OK - bought this. Had a few problems with the installation since I told it I would be downloading maps from a PC and using Central to load them but Central crashed on me (dotnet error) when I tried to download. So did all the maps using wifi.

The application is pretty nice and the turn by turn with voice works well. I am find some strange things like I occasionally have to start the app twice, the first time it doesn't do anything. I have downloaded a few different voices to see which one I like. The large screen on the N1 makes this as good as any GPS I have seen and of course it has both NZ and AU maps so that's cool. And when I travel to the US again I won't have to buy US maps since I can use the native Google Navigation app (so long as I get a prepaid SIM card with some data on it!).

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

Drzoidberg

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#290749 17-Jan-2010 21:42

Thanks for keeping us up to date with your experience. I am considering getting one of these for my first smartphone. Dumb question, but does the navigation usage incur data charges?

lchiu7

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#290754 17-Jan-2010 22:34

Drzoidberg: Thanks for keeping us up to date with your experience. I am considering getting one of these for my first smartphone. Dumb question, but does the navigation usage incur data charges?

I don't know for sure but I can't imagine why. Maps are downloaded to the phone when you purchase the app and when you are navigating it's using the GPS signals to determine where you are. I guess one way to check would be for me to remove the SIM card and see if the app still works - should do.

The Google provided app would incur data charges since it's constantly using Google maps to send down to the device but since that's been blocked outside the US, it's not an issue.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

peejayw

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#290784 18-Jan-2010 07:11

(actually I installed Google Voice so it asks if you want to use GV or not)

I thought Google Voice was a USA-only service ?

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

lchiu7

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#290788 18-Jan-2010 07:48

peejayw:
(actually I installed Google Voice so it asks if you want to use GV or not)

I thought Google Voice was a USA-only service ?

You have to register for GV from a US IP address and it forwards calls to a US number. But apart from that there is no restriction (well you also need an invitation to join). But the actual software is installed on the phone itself and you can enter your GV credentials.

But it doesn't work here since when you make a call with GV, GV calls a US number (apparently hard coded in the application in 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx format) and then forwards the call to the number you were actually callling passing through the CLID of your GV number. I guess I could make it work here by using Sipdroid to complete the call which would allow the call to the US number in US format and if calls came back to me, they would hit my SIP phone but it seems a bit pointless apart from the academic exercise.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

twobikes

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#290852 18-Jan-2010 12:06

Ichiu7

How much was Co-pilot AUS NZ program and maps? I bet is was not a similar price to the $35US for the USA one.

lchiu7

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#290859 18-Jan-2010 12:26

I can't remember exactly but I think it came to $88(NZ) in total which isn't bad given it has both Australian and NZ maps in it.

As an aside, even if Google had no blocked their navigation outside the US, it wouldn't take long for you to burn up $88 in data charges if you were using this application regularly.

The only thing Copilot doesn't have is integration with Street View but you can still do Street View using Google Maps on the phone and voice input for directions (which again the free Google app does)

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

ChillingSilence

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#291039 19-Jan-2010 07:22

How have you found the speech recognition with an NZ accent?
What sorts of speeds do you get through the likes of speedtest.net while on 3G with it?

Generic Android question: What sort of SIP clients are available in the Market?

What Apps have you installed thus far that you'd recommend, or like?

Do you find you have to power cycle the phone for any reason, such as apps not launching? Or does it generally just tick along nicely?

What about Sync'ing, such as Music / Pictures? How have you found that? Do you just copy / paste, or is there a 3rd party app you're using to manage playlists etc?

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