Nexus One also for Telus (and Bell Mobility) Users

[Newb777]

@North_of_Calgary, how do you find the Google apps? I really like the iPhone Apps but I wonder how many popular apps that are available on the iPhone will/are available for the N1. I'm on the fence right now between the N1 and the next gen iPhone. From all the chatter, the 4th Gen iPhone won't have too much of an improvement. Apple seems to be just playing catch-up with HTC. I don't like that.

And that $30/unlimited data is a keeper. You can even sell your data and voice plan if you want for some extra cash.

@rarewolf. Belus has new equipment and the network is capable of running at twice the speed of Rogers (in theory). I have tested both Belus and Rogers/Fido iPhones side by side and the Belus is significantly faster....until of course the network gets saturated. I imagine this is in part why Bell ditched the $30 unlimited data plan and Telus never offered it.

[TKG26]

Telus offered unlimited for a very short moment in time, im on it right now for 15$ a month

[North_of_Calgary]

Originally Posted by Newb777

@North_of_Calgary, how do you find the Google apps? I really like the iPhone Apps but I wonder how many popular apps that are available on the iPhone will/are available for the N1. I'm on the fence right now between the N1 and the next gen iPhone. From all the chatter, the 4th Gen iPhone won't have too much of an improvement. Apple seems to be just playing catch-up with HTC. I don't like that.

Newb777, the Google Applications that come on the Nexus One are fantastic. The Gmail app is great. The voice search works for me everytime. And as I've posted before, for the first 2 days all of my outgoing calls were going through Google Voice and I didn't even realize it. Even on Google Maps it ties in with my recent searches from my laptop. Highly integrated with everything you see on your Google Dashboard and you don't even need to set them all up - when you first setup the N1 it asks for your primary Gmail account and then it integrates all of the Android applications automatically.

Talk also works well on the phone although I had to sign out of that as people kept wanting to do a chat with me not realizing that I was signed in on my phone and not my desktop. Also Google Goggles works quite well and impresses people when you do a show & tell.

Fantastic integration with all of your Google services. That's if you have a lot of Google services on your dashboard and you're not afraid of Sky-Net!

However, do note in my previous posts when I was talking about "Google Apps" I was mostly talking about the Google Apps service (google.com/apps) which is our corporate replacement for Microsoft Exchange which we're migrating away from. I wasn't talking about Google Android Applications per say.

Integration with these services on the iPhone is not nearly as nice. But if you download the Google iPhone Application for the iPhone it helps.

The N1 is a pretty kick ass phone. Both it and the iPhone have their own list of pros and cons and both are great phones. I'm also not going to hide the fact that the N1 has it's share of limitations - I've posted about those in my "Nexus One Review" thread so I don't want to bore people rehashing the same info here. But if anyone has any other specific questions, feel free to ask or even PM me if you like.

[North_of_Calgary]

Originally Posted by Newb777

...I have tested both Belus and Rogers/Fido iPhones side by side and the Belus is significantly faster....until of course the network gets saturated...

My personal comparison of the N1 on Belus side by side with our iPhone on Rogers had the N1 as way faster too. Not entirely sure if it's the network or phone (browser rendering).

[BGY11]

Just read an in-depth article and it pretty much confirms everything North of Calgary has stated (and browsing is faster than the iPhone on the same network).

From what I read, it seems that this is what WinMo should have been like. It is different than the iPhone and some may not like it, but as a WinMo fan I may have to check it out.

[TKG26]

i guess that googles Goog411 had good results with voice recognition to help make that voice search work so well...

Man im pumped to get a on a real android phone.

[North_of_Calgary]

I just believe that we need a healthy competition. We can't have Apple run away with that segment of the smart phone market. A strong competition will make both products better and more competitive in the long run.

I've already got 6 Apple products in my house including the iPhone. I really hope Android continues to gain momentum over the next few years and truly becomes the Pepsi to Apple's Coke.

iPhone: great phone, lots of nice features, a list of some limitations
Nexus One: great phone, lots of nice features, a list of some limitations

[beanagee1]

I have had the unlimited $15 per month "email and text" plan for nearly three years on my Blackberry. I just updated the operating system of the BB and the Internet stopped working. I called Telus and I was told that I had the Internet by mistake, it was a bug, and I should not have had the Internet. That plan was meant for just emails and SMS. I was a bit miffed. I told them it was an interesting way of treating a client whose plan is coming up for renewal in 6 weeks. I also told them it was bit harsh given that I never use more that 2-4 MB per month. I was transferred to some loyalty department and the Internet was put back on.

[actng]

Originally Posted by rarewolf

I'm interested in the N1 too, as well as how iPhones work across the networks available in Canada. If I might summarize (and correct me if I'm wrong, including when it doesn't also apply to iPhones) ...

• The N1 requires GSM (Rogers) or HSPA (Rogers, Telus, Bell)
  
• Rogers is your best carrier choice because it offers GSM, HSPA, and 3G (which can fall back to 2G/EDGE), but only if you're satisfied with Rogers' local coverage.
  
• If the HSPA coverage of Telus or Bell is good-to-excellent, you'll experience little difference (as compared to Rogers).
  
• Telus and Bell offer better HSPA coverage than Rogers does 3G
  
• All of these factors and considerations vary relative to where you live, work and travel

What still confuses me is how HSPA coverage varies between these 3 carriers. That is, why does Telus offer better HSPA coverage than does Rogers?

I live in Newfoundland, so I'll leave it to others to put the newer carriers in their proper place ...

Cheerios from the Avalon Peninsula

this is a false summary, in particular your point about Rogers being better because it has a 2G network to fall back on. while that is a factual statement, it does not provide the entire picture.

in major metropolitans like Toronto, where Rogers must fallback on 2G Edge network, Bellus will still have 3G+.

Where Bellus have no HSPA coverage, Rogers won't have 2G coverage either.

Therefore, Telus/Bell is the better choice with respect to network speed/coverage in major metropolitans. I can't speak for the middle of butt **** nowhere.

[rarewolf]

... I can't speak for the middle of butt **** nowhere.

You obviously haven't been to Newfoundland!

Your other points are well taken and thanx for the corrections, especially Where Bellus have no HSPA coverage, Rogers won't have 2G coverage either, but you don't explain why that's necessarily true.

I didn't know I was speaking only of major metropolitans, but rather in fact tried my best to emphasize the most important point -- that such decisions are best made relative to where you live, work and travel.

cheerios from The Avalon

[outinthornhill]

ACTNG is wrong in the statement that Rogers will not have 2G coverage in area where Bell and Telus HSPA is missing.

There are definitely areas in southern Ontario where, according to their own maps, Bell and Telus have no HSPA service (but they do have CDMA coverage). These same areas are blanketed by Rogers 2G and 3G/3G+ network. Unfortunately for Bell and Telus customers, the HSPA network in Ontario, if you study their coverage maps, looks like a moth-eaten blanket. Rogers coverage, by comparison, on its combination of 2G and 3G networks is much more complete.

ACTNG, like a lot of others, seems to have taken the Bell ads that stated the HSPA network was being overlaid on the CDMA network to mean coverage would be the same. While this may be true sometime in the future, Bell and Telus customers planning to use their HSPA phones outside the major urban areas may be very disappointed.

[rarewolf]

Thanx outinthornhill for the clarification ... researching issues regarding local coverage is difficult enuf without misinformation!

I have to wonder if issues common to ON aren't entirely the opposite here in NL(?) That is, Telus' HSPA+ coverage here in NL is twice that of Rogers' 3G+2G. That is, you don't have go very far away from St. John's before Rogers starts dropping voice (let alone data), which certainly isn't true across the island of Telus, CDMA and HSPA+ ...

[actng]

no outinthornhill is ABSOLUTELY WRONG in his Rogers propaganda. if outinthornhill can show me any CURRENT maps that prove this point i will concede but all the maps that i've seen show the exact same network coverage for HSPA as CDMA. in fact due to the natural differences in technologies, HSPA coverage is stronger in areas where CDMA signal was a little weaker before, i.e. in certain elevators, underground parking.

Rogers and their reps have been using FUD / scare tactics to tell potential customers that once you run out of 3G Telus network coverage, you would be left with nothing, while they claim you will have 2G Rogers Coverage when you run out of Rogers 3G. those are both true statements but do not provide the full picture!!

The truth is where you run out of 3G rogers coverage, Telus still has 3.5G coverage (faster network). When Telus has no coverage, Rogers won't have 2G coverage either -> this of course is a blanket statement where you will find a corner of some underground parking where this might not be true one way or another, depending on location of antennas. but the point is don't get duped by rogers fud tactics. see for yourself where you frequent whether there is signal.

[outinthornhill]

Originally Posted by actng

no outinthornhill is ABSOLUTELY WRONG in his Rogers propaganda. if outinthornhill can show me any CURRENT maps that prove this point i will concede but all the maps that i've seen show the exact same network coverage for HSPA as CDMA. in fact due to the natural differences in technologies, HSPA coverage is stronger in areas where CDMA signal was a little weaker before, i.e. in certain elevators, underground parking.

Rogers and their reps have been using FUD / scare tactics to tell potential customers that once you run out of 3G Telus network coverage, you would be left with nothing, while they claim you will have 2G Rogers Coverage when you run out of Rogers 3G. those are both true statements but do not provide the full picture!!

The truth is where you run out of 3G rogers coverage, Telus still has 3.5G coverage (faster network). When Telus has no coverage, Rogers won't have 2G coverage either -> this of course is a blanket statement where you will find a corner of some underground parking where this might not be true one way or another, depending on location of antennas. but the point is don't get duped by rogers fud tactics. see for yourself where you frequent whether there is signal.

Just to be certain, I reconfirmed the maps this hour on both Bell's and Rogers' sites. Rogers is close to full coverage at 3.5G with a very few isolated areas still are 2G. The map on Bell's wesite shows no HSPA coverage on the shore of Lake Huron - the beach towns from Point Clarke to Southampton - for example. It's planned for some unspecified future date.

I know this because the family cottage is there but I'm not alone among the thousands of tourists who vacation in the area in the summer. It's one example but there are more as you go north in Ontario. Enlarge the Bell HSPA map and it looks like confetti anywhere west of Georgetown/Orangeville.

In fact, I wish I was wrong and that Bell had consistent coverage, because the best rates seem to be coming from Bell these days (excluding the new carriers with tiny footprints), but no phone at the cottage is not an option and I really don't want to buy another CDMA device. Unfortunately, our friend on the Avalon is not alone in having limited choices for reliable coverage.

There are multiple reasons for the gaps in Bell's (and hence Telus') HSPA coverage. Some areas are served by local carriers who haven't upgraded to HSPA (that seems to be the case along Lake Huron and on the Bruce Peninsula). Other areas are sparsely popluated and, I assume, Bell hasn't got to adding the equipment necessary to match its CDMA coverage. It seems to be simply a case that Rogers has been incrementally building its network for years while Bell's HSPA network is still a work in progress, but when it comes to selecting a phone to use now, "planned future coverage" isn't of much use.