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Even when it’s doing nothing, the Nexus One is visibly different from other handsets. Take the wallpapers that lie behind the homescreens - and Google has boosted the number of screens from three to five, though still not matching the seven available on HTC’s Sense user interface. Here you can choose animated wallpapers which respond to touch. Leaves floating lazily down a stream cause ripples when they bump, or you can ripple the water by touching the screen.

Google Nexus One

Google's usual Maps app comes pre-loaded

Other choices include an analogue sound meter and gently waving blades of grass. None of these will add to your battery’s performance, of course, but at least you can carry a spare with you. Take that, Apple!

The icons that work as program shortcuts are visually much improved since Android first launched over a year ago. The analogue clock is cuter, though the fact that there’s only one to choose from is an oversight. The applications list looks neat, with enhanced animations bringing it into view.

It’s easy to navigate between homescreens thanks to tiny rows of dots at the bottom corners of the display to indicate which one you’re on. Hold your finger on the dots and thumbnails of the main screens appear, to remind you just where you put the shortcut icon for the camera, for instance. You’ll need that shortcut, because there’s no physical camera button here.

Google Nexus One

You'll have to make do with a virtual keyboard, but at least this one's very responsive

The 5Mp snapper here at least has a flash, but that doesn’t mean there’s no shutter lag – the perennial blight on mobile phone cameras. In fact, there’s a slight advantage to the lag here – touching the screen to shoot - or pressing the trackball - inevitably shakes the camera and the lag gives you half a second to still the phone. Results in reasonable light were effective enough, and Android makes is easy to send the images over Bluetooth, by email and multimedia message, and upload them to Facebook.

Next page: Sample Shots

Not True

The I phone is not the first phone to do stuff. Its just the first phone to look nice. At the launch of the iphone my buddy had a windows mobile phone. It could, and still can, do everything the Iphone can. Remote logins, music, downloading torrents, administration,web browsing, etc. Instead of a finger you would use a pen and it looked no where near as good as an Iphone. It sounds weird when apple fanboy's say the Iphone is the first smartphone. It's not. TBH Apple needs to stop spending money on lawyers and start upgrading there product. The world now has phones that people think look as good as the i phone so deal with it and stop thinking Steve Jobs is from the future.

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I don't get it.

This review, and others, seem much more positive than the Milestone review, yet the Nexus One still only score 85%. The same as the milestone.

Are you seriously telling me the LG Viewty Smart is a better phone than either of these? It got 90%.... Maybe ratings should be reviewed over time, but your league table of phone reviews looks mighty odd.

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yeah, yeah...

I've owned said 'tat' for almost two years now. I consider it mediocre at best, and can't wait to get my hands on a Nexus One.

I want my phone/most used device to be truly useful.

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LED

Please can reviewers avoid calling LEDs "flashes"? LEDs on camera phones are not without merit - a xenon flash isn't much use as a torch, for starters - but confusing the two is playing into the marketeers' hands.

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Sample photographs

Cafe Fanny sounds like my kind of place! Where is it? Google Maps directions on a postcard please ...

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