谷
歌(Google)本周采取了两大重要举措，意在提升基于其Android手机操作系统的设备，与苹果(Apple) iPhone以及Research in Motion的黑莓(BlackBerry)展开更加激烈的竞争，争夺超级智能手机领域的主导地位。
莫博士说，谷歌的Nexus One是第一款让苹果感到紧张的Android手机，因为在少数地方，Nexus One比iPhone做得出色。此外，这款手机将有解锁版和特定运营商合约版供用户选择。
谷歌长期合作伙伴──T-Mobile旗下美国子公司已经准备从一开始就支持Nexus One。这款谷歌新手机是由台湾宏达国际(HTC)制造，在谷歌网站google.com/phone直接销售的裸机价格是529美元。如果与T-Mobile签订每月79.99美元的两年服务合约，则可用179美元买到Nexus One。
美国的Verizon Wireless和欧洲的沃达丰(Vodafone)最终将按照补贴价格销售Nexus One，但他们的售价尚未公布。手机的销售都将通过谷歌创建的一个网站进行，消费者可以比现在更为方便地购买手机和服务，这可能会进一步削弱运营商的影响力。
Google
Nexus One
数周来我一直在测试Nexus One，我很喜欢这款手机。我觉得这是目前最好的Android手机，我首先想到的就是将它当作我的日常手持电脑。这款灰色手机外型轻薄，配置了3.7英寸高分辨率屏幕；屏幕下方是一排按钮，分别代表主页、返回、菜单和搜索功能，还有一个轨迹球。
Nexus One最终恰到好处地整合了软硬件，给Android平台带来了一款顶端设备，可能会吸引更多用户离开iPhone和黑莓。Nexus One的屏幕比iPhone更大、更薄、更窄和更亮──也更长。据称Nexus One还有更好的摄像头和更长的通话时间。
此外，由于Nexus One可用于覆盖广泛、广受好评的Verizon 3G网络，这款手机可能会吸引对AT&T网络问题感到厌倦的美国iPhone用户更换手机。
iPhone仍然保有一些强劲优势。iPhone宣称拥有超过10万个第三方应用程序──非官方预计为12.5万个左右──而Android平台的应用数量约为1.8万个。而且iPhone有更大的内存可以存储应用，因此你可以在手机中存放更多的应用。Nexus One的存储空间是4.5G，只有190MB空间用于存储应用。而售价199美元的iPhone，其16G存储空间几乎都可以用于存储应用。
实际上，售价199美元的iPhone 3GS的用户可用空间几乎是Nexus One的四倍，但Nexus One的存储空间可以通过存储卡来增加。苹果还有更加流畅的用户界面，可以多点触控操作照片和网页。
黑莓手机的用户界面看起来日益老旧和笨拙，但黑莓拥有一个很多用户锺爱的漂亮物理键盘，而Nexus One配备的是虚拟的屏幕键盘。
Google
Nexus One还有出色的新视觉功能，包括"动态壁纸"，可以显示摇动的草或是跳动的彩色线条；当你要看手机桌面上没有的图标时，你可以使用一种新的放大功能。
此外，你现在还可以通过五个主菜单面板的微型图标，帮助你找到想要的功能。
Nexus One还拥有所有Droid推出的主要软件功能，包括免费的语音提示导航功能。
总的来说，在我的测试中，Nexus One表现得非常不错。此前Android手机上的停滞问题已经不再存在，这是因为采用了更加流畅版本的操作系统以及更快的手机芯片。Nexus One的手感不错，屏幕很漂亮，比iPhone屏幕的清晰度高出许多。
这款手机拥有500万像素的摄像头和闪光灯，我很喜欢它拍的照片和视频，我觉得比我iPhone上的摄像头更好。你甚至可以将手机插在底座上看图片或听音乐。
不过，Nexus One也有一些不足。我觉得，和所有Android手机一样，Nexus One过度依赖菜单展开方式了，包括一些拥有内置"展开"按键的菜单，可以显示二级菜单选择。
我还发现，手机面板底部蚀刻而成的四个按键很难按。此外，虽然Nexus One号称能提供7个小时的通话时间，高于iPhone的5个小时，但在大多数其他功能方面的电池续航时间都低于iPhone。
举例来说，谷歌说Nexus One每次充电可以通过Wi-Fi上网6.5个小时，低于iPhone的9个小时；Nexus One可以播放音乐20个小时，iPhone为30个小时。谷歌解释说，这是因为和iPhone不同，Nexus One允许同步运行第三方应用，这会加大耗电量。
此外，Nexus One和其他Android设备在听音乐、看视频和玩游戏方面仍然比不上iPhone。用于这些功能的应用也没有iPhone的那么先进。
综上所述，iPhone仍然是更好的应用平台。iPhone不仅拥有更多的应用，按照我的使用经验，iPhone的应用也更加精美，选择面更广。
但凭藉着新手机和大胆的商业模式，谷歌正将Android平台推到了一个新水平，应当会加剧超级智能手机领域的竞争。
Walter S. Mossberg
（编者按：本文作者Walter S. Mossberg是《华尔街日报》科技栏目Personal Technology，Mossberg's Mailbox等栏目的专栏作家。这些栏目主要介绍一些最新的消费类科技产品和解决方案，并解答读者提出的问题。）
Google this week is taking two dramatic steps to try to catapult devices using its Android mobile operating system into stronger competition with Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry in the battle for supremacy in the super-smart-phone category.
First, the search giant is bringing out a beautiful, sleek new Android phone, the Nexus One, built to its specifications. Second, it has decided to offer the new phone -- and future models -- to consumers directly, unlocked, via the Web, and then invite multiple carriers to compete to sell service plans and subsidized versions of the hardware.
One carrier is ready to support the Nexus One on day one: the U.S. arm of T-Mobile, a longstanding Google partner. The new Google Phone, built by HTC of Taiwan, will cost $529 unlocked direct from Google, at google.com/phone. It will cost $179 from T-Mobile online with a two-year contract that will set you back $79.99 a month.
Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodafone in Europe will sell the Nexus One eventually at subsidized prices that haven't yet been announced. All of this will take place on a Google-hosted Web site, a much easier way to buy a phone and service than is typical today, and one that promises to further weaken the power of the carriers.
The company also plans to sell the costlier, unsubsidized version to consumers in the U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore immediately.
Like Americans who buy this unlocked version, these customers will have to purchase carrier service separately, something they should be able to obtain right away by just buying and inserting a SIM card from a carrier with compatible technology. (This initial unlocked phone won't work with Verizon or Sprint in the U.S., nor on AT&T's 3G network, only the latter's slower network.)
I've been testing the Nexus One for a couple of weeks and I like it a lot. It's the best Android phone so far, in my view, and the first I could consider carrying as my everyday hand-held computer.
It is a svelte gray device with a 3.7-inch, high-resolution screen; a thin strip of buttons underneath for home, back, menu and search; and a trackball.
The Nexus One finally has the right combination of hardware and software to give Android a champion that might attract more people away from their iconic iPhones and BlackBerrys. It has a larger screen than Apple's phone, and is a bit thinner, narrower and lighter -- if a tad longer. And it boasts a better camera and longer talk time between battery charges.
Also, because it will be available on the large, well-regarded Verizon 3G network, the Nexus One could tempt American iPhone users, tired of problems with AT&T, to switch.
The iPhone still retains some strong advantages. It boasts well over 100,000 third-party apps -- around 125,000 by some unofficial estimates -- versus around 18,000 for the Android platform.
And it has vastly more memory for storing apps, so you can keep many more of them on your phone at any one time. On the Nexus One, only 190 megabytes of its total 4.5 gigabytes of memory is allowed for storing apps. On the $199 iPhone, nearly all of the 16 gigabytes of memory can be used for apps.
In fact, the $199 iPhone 3GS has roughly four times as much user-accessible memory out of the box, though the memory on the Nexus One can be expanded via memory cards. Apple also has a more-fluid user interface, with multitouch gestures for handling photos and Web pages.
As for the BlackBerry, its user interface looks older and clumsier with each passing day, but it has a beautiful physical keyboard many users love, while the Nexus One has a virtual, onscreen keyboard.
The Nexus One is packed with its own tricks. Its version of Android is essentially the same improved edition as the one that appeared on the Motorola Droid back in November. But it has a few new features, including an experimental dictation capability. You just press a microphone icon on the keyboard and start talking, and the words appear. In my tests, this worked only adequately at best, and very poorly at worst, but Google insists it will learn and improve.
The phone also has handsome new visual features, including 'live wallpaper,' with waving grass or pulsing colored lines, and a new zooming effect when you want to view icons that aren't on your main screens.
In addition, you can now view miniatures of your five main screens to help you navigate to the one you want.
The Nexus One also has all the key software features introduced in the Droid, including free turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation.
In my tests, overall, the Nexus One worked very well. The latency I had seen in earlier Android phones is gone, due to a slicker version of the operating system and faster chips. The phone feels good in the hand and the screen is magnificent, with much greater resolution than the iPhone's.
I also liked the pictures and videos I was able to take with the five-megapixel camera and flash, which I preferred to my iPhone's camera. You can even view a photo slideshow or listen to music when the phone is in the optional desktop dock.
But there are some downsides to the Nexus One. Like all Android phones, it relies too much, in my view, on menus that create extra steps, including some menus that have a built-in 'more' button to display a secondary menu of choices.
I also found the four buttons etched into the phone's bottom panel sticky and hard to press. In addition, although the Nexus One claims seven hours of talk time versus five hours for the iPhone, most of its battery-life claims for other functions are weaker than Apple's.
For instance, Google claims just 6.5 hours of Wi-Fi Web use per charge, versus nine for the iPhone, and 20 for music playback versus 30. Google claims this is because, unlike Apple, it allows the simultaneous use of third-party apps, which can drain the battery faster.
In addition, the Nexus One, and other Android devices, still pale beside the iPhone for playing music, video and games. The apps available for these functions aren't nearly as sophisticated as on the Apple devices.
Finally, the iPhone is still a better apps platform. Not only are there more apps, but, in my experience, iPhone apps are generally more polished and come in more varieties.
But, with its fresh phone and bold business model, Google is taking Android to a new level, and that should ramp up the competition in the super-smart-phone space.
Walter S. Mossberg
First, the search giant is bringing out a beautiful, sleek new Android phone, the Nexus One, built to its specifications. Second, it has decided to offer the new phone -- and future models -- to consumers directly, unlocked, via the Web, and then invite multiple carriers to compete to sell service plans and subsidized versions of the hardware.
One carrier is ready to support the Nexus One on day one: the U.S. arm of T-Mobile, a longstanding Google partner. The new Google Phone, built by HTC of Taiwan, will cost $529 unlocked direct from Google, at google.com/phone. It will cost $179 from T-Mobile online with a two-year contract that will set you back $79.99 a month.
Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodafone in Europe will sell the Nexus One eventually at subsidized prices that haven't yet been announced. All of this will take place on a Google-hosted Web site, a much easier way to buy a phone and service than is typical today, and one that promises to further weaken the power of the carriers.
The company also plans to sell the costlier, unsubsidized version to consumers in the U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore immediately.
Like Americans who buy this unlocked version, these customers will have to purchase carrier service separately, something they should be able to obtain right away by just buying and inserting a SIM card from a carrier with compatible technology. (This initial unlocked phone won't work with Verizon or Sprint in the U.S., nor on AT&T's 3G network, only the latter's slower network.)
I've been testing the Nexus One for a couple of weeks and I like it a lot. It's the best Android phone so far, in my view, and the first I could consider carrying as my everyday hand-held computer.
It is a svelte gray device with a 3.7-inch, high-resolution screen; a thin strip of buttons underneath for home, back, menu and search; and a trackball.
The Nexus One finally has the right combination of hardware and software to give Android a champion that might attract more people away from their iconic iPhones and BlackBerrys. It has a larger screen than Apple's phone, and is a bit thinner, narrower and lighter -- if a tad longer. And it boasts a better camera and longer talk time between battery charges.
Also, because it will be available on the large, well-regarded Verizon 3G network, the Nexus One could tempt American iPhone users, tired of problems with AT&T, to switch.
The iPhone still retains some strong advantages. It boasts well over 100,000 third-party apps -- around 125,000 by some unofficial estimates -- versus around 18,000 for the Android platform.
And it has vastly more memory for storing apps, so you can keep many more of them on your phone at any one time. On the Nexus One, only 190 megabytes of its total 4.5 gigabytes of memory is allowed for storing apps. On the $199 iPhone, nearly all of the 16 gigabytes of memory can be used for apps.
In fact, the $199 iPhone 3GS has roughly four times as much user-accessible memory out of the box, though the memory on the Nexus One can be expanded via memory cards. Apple also has a more-fluid user interface, with multitouch gestures for handling photos and Web pages.
As for the BlackBerry, its user interface looks older and clumsier with each passing day, but it has a beautiful physical keyboard many users love, while the Nexus One has a virtual, onscreen keyboard.
The Nexus One is packed with its own tricks. Its version of Android is essentially the same improved edition as the one that appeared on the Motorola Droid back in November. But it has a few new features, including an experimental dictation capability. You just press a microphone icon on the keyboard and start talking, and the words appear. In my tests, this worked only adequately at best, and very poorly at worst, but Google insists it will learn and improve.
The phone also has handsome new visual features, including 'live wallpaper,' with waving grass or pulsing colored lines, and a new zooming effect when you want to view icons that aren't on your main screens.
In addition, you can now view miniatures of your five main screens to help you navigate to the one you want.
The Nexus One also has all the key software features introduced in the Droid, including free turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation.
In my tests, overall, the Nexus One worked very well. The latency I had seen in earlier Android phones is gone, due to a slicker version of the operating system and faster chips. The phone feels good in the hand and the screen is magnificent, with much greater resolution than the iPhone's.
I also liked the pictures and videos I was able to take with the five-megapixel camera and flash, which I preferred to my iPhone's camera. You can even view a photo slideshow or listen to music when the phone is in the optional desktop dock.
But there are some downsides to the Nexus One. Like all Android phones, it relies too much, in my view, on menus that create extra steps, including some menus that have a built-in 'more' button to display a secondary menu of choices.
I also found the four buttons etched into the phone's bottom panel sticky and hard to press. In addition, although the Nexus One claims seven hours of talk time versus five hours for the iPhone, most of its battery-life claims for other functions are weaker than Apple's.
For instance, Google claims just 6.5 hours of Wi-Fi Web use per charge, versus nine for the iPhone, and 20 for music playback versus 30. Google claims this is because, unlike Apple, it allows the simultaneous use of third-party apps, which can drain the battery faster.
In addition, the Nexus One, and other Android devices, still pale beside the iPhone for playing music, video and games. The apps available for these functions aren't nearly as sophisticated as on the Apple devices.
Finally, the iPhone is still a better apps platform. Not only are there more apps, but, in my experience, iPhone apps are generally more polished and come in more varieties.
But, with its fresh phone and bold business model, Google is taking Android to a new level, and that should ramp up the competition in the super-smart-phone space.
Walter S. Mossberg
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