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Head to Head: Google Nexus One vs Apple iPhone 3GS

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By Clare Hopping, 28 Jan 2010

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The Google Nexus One is Google’s first foray into the smartphone arena, but how does it compare to Apple’s iPhone 3GS, the current touchscreen favourite? We put the two devices head to head.

Both the Nexus One and iPhone’s screen are capacitive, meaning they’re both responsive, but the iPhone’s keyboard is easier to use with a finger tap than the Nexus One’s smaller keys.

Don’t get us wrong though; it’s not as if we hate the Nexus One’s keyboard – after all, it’s AMOLED and we like AMOLED screens – but it doesn’t have the same level of wow factor as the iPhone.

Winner: Apple iPhone 3GS

Speed

As we observed in our Google Nexus One review, “the Nexus One's Snapdragon processor is 66 per cent faster than the processor in the iPhone 3GS (1GHz vs. 600MHz)”.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor has always been the cream of the crop, and it certainly doesn’t fail in its Nexus One implementation. This bad boy is fast.

Although the iPhone 3GS is noticeably faster than earlier versions of Apple’s super phone, playing games still isn’t as smooth as it could be.

Even without multitasking, you will notice stutters in the iPhone’s performance when loading apps, made even worse when you’re playing music at the same time.

The Nexus One steams along, whether you have one, two, three or four apps open simultaneously.

Why doesn’t every smartphone ramp their processors up to 1GHz? It even worked on the Toshia TG01, which would be, quite frankly, a hideous phone if it weren’t for the processor.

Winner: Google Nexus One

Camera

The most contentious feature of the iPhone 3GS is that the camera is not even close to the standard of other smartphones. It’s just three megapixels, there’s no flash, and photos come out slightly grainy even in bright conditions.

The Google Nexus One’s snapper however, is a little more in line with what you’d expect on a flagship device. Resolution is better at five megapixels and it has a much better go at metering light, so photos are less grainy and much easier on the eye.

Winner: Google Nexus One

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3 comments

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Unbiased?

No prizes then for guessing that the writer is a Mac Fangirl. How does the iPhone win in the "OS" section -- it appears to be purely arbitrary. The same goes for the "screen" section when it is obvious to anybody that the Nexus One has a much better screen. In the "storage" section, just because neither device meets the writer's ultimate goal of more built-in storage does not mean that the Nexus One is not a clear winner. Network? A Nexus One can be bought unlocked and sim-free. Clearly, any device with a faster processor has an advantage, but the Android OS has always been a multitasking OS, even on slower handsets. The reason that the iPhone doesn't have a full multitasking OS is to make it appear faster than it actually is. The result then is that the Nexus One is a clear winner. And best of all the Android OS is open. This is a really biased report -- for a more valuable report check this one out [http://bit.ly/bA4rsz]. There are many others.

By 6tricky9 on Friday Jan 29

Real World..?

Most of this review could have been written without seeing or using either phone. It might as well just compare the adverts. I have owned an iPhone, an Android handset (Samsung Galaxy), and one of Nokias best the N97. The iphone is 'nice', it looks nice, it feels nice, it's a shiny toy. What is not mentioned in this review is the poor battery life, the fact that when this battery fails you will need to send it to Apple for replacement, the iPhones ability to grab a signal seemed very poor on mine (which was a 3G, not 3GS). Parts of my house would have no service at all, but both my N97 and Galaxy can make calls anywhere in the house on the same network... maybe the 4Gen iPhone will be better, as you would expect, but I suspect it'll next years 5th generation one that will be the next one to force its way into my collection... Android or Maemo show more promise than a cut down version NeXT. Multi-Tap seems to be held up as an iPhone jewel, but the Android OS supports it, pretty much any capacitive screen can interpret the gestures, and as the law suit suggests, it wasn't actually Apples originally..! ...and don't get me started on the iPantypad..! ;-)

By replica2k on Saturday Feb 6

RE:

Having just traded in my Nexus One for a 3GS I can attest that the iPhone tips this by a margin. No, I'm not a mac fan nor have I ever been but I can recognise the simple fact that, when it comes to an unfussy, effective smartphone the Apple is just better. The keyboard's better, the connectivity's better, the camera, even though it's got a lower pixel count, is also better. I've been an Android user since day one but since my free time is more rare I don't want a phone that demands of me, which Android's certainly do. If you've got the time to administer a device and like to play, it's the better OS but the Nexus One is a flawed example. It suffers from the same nonsense that the 2G iPhone suffered from with the signal being cut off with your palm when you use it - what good's a mobile phone if you black out the signal when you hold it?

By TonyC on Tuesday Mar 9