Google's Nexus One mobile phone in Thailand
By Jon Fernquest
Bangkok
Post journalist Don Sambandaraksa
has written a wonderfully insightful review of the Nexus One, the much touted smartphone from
Google.The review provides information that will be especially useful for people living in Thailand.
Read previous articles on Google's Android mobile phones (See article #1 and #2).
Also read a previous article on marketing using "locational intelligence" on GPS-enabled phones like the Nexus One (See article)
Today's article begins after the vocabulary:
Nexus One - "a
smartphone from Google that uses the Android open source mobile
operating system. The device is manufactured by Taiwan's HTC
Corporation, and became available on January 5, 2010. Features of the
phone include the ability to transcribe voice to text, noise canceling
dual microphones, and GPS guided turn-by-turn voice directions to
drivers" (See Wikipedia)
Android, Android mobile OS - Google's platform for mobile phone software development based on Linux and providing data storage, text messaging, a web browser, and video-audio-image support, as well as several other features (See Wikipedia on Android)
Operating System (OS) - on a computer the software system that connects computer programs and software to the hardware (See Wikipedia)
much touted - receiving a lot of praise
smartphone - a mobile phone that offers advanced features so that it becomes a lot like a computer (See Wikipedia)
locational intelligence - when a computer uses knowledge of where you are to help you find something or do some task
Global Positioning System (GPS) - a computer system that shows you where you are on a map by using satellite signals, can be used to help you find directions to a place while driving in your car(See Wikipedia)
Android, Android mobile OS - Google's platform for mobile phone software development based on Linux and providing data storage, text messaging, a web browser, and video-audio-image support, as well as several other features (See Wikipedia on Android)
Operating System (OS) - on a computer the software system that connects computer programs and software to the hardware (See Wikipedia)
much touted - receiving a lot of praise
smartphone - a mobile phone that offers advanced features so that it becomes a lot like a computer (See Wikipedia)
locational intelligence - when a computer uses knowledge of where you are to help you find something or do some task
Global Positioning System (GPS) - a computer system that shows you where you are on a map by using satellite signals, can be used to help you find directions to a place while driving in your car(See Wikipedia)
OPEN Thought
Not quite a God Phone, but I couldn't be happier with the Nexus One
5/05/2010Don Sambandaraksa
Google Nexus One. What does it mean? How good is it? Is it really the God Phone that many have been talking about? Or is it a failed experiment given its dismal sales compared not only to the iPhone, but even its fellow Android by Motorola.
I have been blessed by the Google Fairy and for the past month I have been using a Nexus One every day and, after all has been said and done, could not be more delighted with it.
dismal
- extremely bad มืดมัว,ห่อเหี่ยว
fellow - used for talking about people who are similar to you or are in the same situation เพื่อนร่วมชะตากรรม
bless - say a prayer or magic words to give someone good luck, help and protect them (See Wikipedia)
fairy - a small imaginary creature that flys around and has magical powers (See Wikipedia)
delighted - very happy or satisfied about something ยินดีมาก,สุขใจ
fellow - used for talking about people who are similar to you or are in the same situation เพื่อนร่วมชะตากรรม
bless - say a prayer or magic words to give someone good luck, help and protect them (See Wikipedia)
fairy - a small imaginary creature that flys around and has magical powers (See Wikipedia)
delighted - very happy or satisfied about something ยินดีมาก,สุขใจ
The Nexus One is only sold in the USA, the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. Because of the tax structure, or lack thereof, Hong Kong is thus the cheapest place to get one. It comes in two flavours; the first is a 900/1700/2100 MHz 3G version and later, a 850/1900/2100 version. If you order it direct, you can get free laser engraving on the back. TrueMove has quite a developed 850 MHz 3G network in Bangkok nowadays, while 900 MHz 3G is used in a few cities by AIS (not Bangkok yet). Both versions work on ToT 3G's rather limited 2100 MHz network and, of course, in plain old Edge on 2G networks.
lack
- does not have ขาดแคลน
because of X or lack thereof - because of X or because there is no X at all
comes in two flavours - two different kinds exist
3G - third generation mobile phone, the next level of mobile phone services beyond the current second generation (2G), supports broadband internet, supports greater numbers of voice and data customers especially in urban areas (See Wikipedia on 3G)
2G - second generation mobile phone technology still used in Thailand (See Wikipedia)
engraving - picture or writing made by cutting into metal
order direct - buy from the place where it is made (not from another store that bought it from that original place)
network - a large system of connected parts, organisations, people, etc. เครือข่าย
plain - very simple in style, without a lot of decoration เรียบง่าย
plain old - without anything special added, without extra or fancy features
GPRS - the mobile phone service used in Thailand for viewing the internet that goes together with GMS (See Wikipedia)
GMS (Global System for Mobile communications) - the most popular techoology for mobile phone systems in the world, used in Thailand (See Wikipedia)
Edge, GPRS/EDGE - a way to improve data transmission rates and quality of internet connection when using GPRS above (See Wikipedia)
because of X or lack thereof - because of X or because there is no X at all
comes in two flavours - two different kinds exist
3G - third generation mobile phone, the next level of mobile phone services beyond the current second generation (2G), supports broadband internet, supports greater numbers of voice and data customers especially in urban areas (See Wikipedia on 3G)
2G - second generation mobile phone technology still used in Thailand (See Wikipedia)
engraving - picture or writing made by cutting into metal
order direct - buy from the place where it is made (not from another store that bought it from that original place)
network - a large system of connected parts, organisations, people, etc. เครือข่าย
plain - very simple in style, without a lot of decoration เรียบง่าย
plain old - without anything special added, without extra or fancy features
GPRS - the mobile phone service used in Thailand for viewing the internet that goes together with GMS (See Wikipedia)
GMS (Global System for Mobile communications) - the most popular techoology for mobile phone systems in the world, used in Thailand (See Wikipedia)
Edge, GPRS/EDGE - a way to improve data transmission rates and quality of internet connection when using GPRS above (See Wikipedia)
Of course, the other way is to forgo the ordering, waiting and flying to Hong Kong, and just pick one up at MBK, though that means a slightly higher price and no engraving.
There is no way to install Thai fonts on the phone without rooting it, and there is no way of rooting the phone without voiding the warranty. That said, once rooted and the fonts installed, apps and websites render very nicely with no obvious problems with word segmentation.
forgo - do without
something you need
pick one up at - buy one at
install - put a piece of equipment somewhere and make it ready to be used ติดตั้งอุปกรณ์
rooting an Android phone - give yourself root access (superuser, admin) to the Linux operating system on your Android phone so you can change anything on the phone and install custom versions of Android (Read article #1 and #2)
warranty - promise from company to replace or repair the product you bought within a period of time under certain conditions
voiding the warranty - do something to make the warranty no longer exist (like modify the phone)
apps - computer programs
render nicely - display on the screen nicely
obvious - easy to see and understand ชัดเจน
segmentation - breaking a large thing into smaller things
word segmentation - breaking a sentence or text into words
pick one up at - buy one at
install - put a piece of equipment somewhere and make it ready to be used ติดตั้งอุปกรณ์
rooting an Android phone - give yourself root access (superuser, admin) to the Linux operating system on your Android phone so you can change anything on the phone and install custom versions of Android (Read article #1 and #2)
warranty - promise from company to replace or repair the product you bought within a period of time under certain conditions
voiding the warranty - do something to make the warranty no longer exist (like modify the phone)
apps - computer programs
render nicely - display on the screen nicely
obvious - easy to see and understand ชัดเจน
segmentation - breaking a large thing into smaller things
word segmentation - breaking a sentence or text into words
But other than for installing fonts, the only other app I use which needs root privileges is a screen capture app. If only the Nexus One came with Thai fonts, then there would hardly be any need for rooting.
The Nexus One is an Android phone, which means it is tightly integrated with Google. Great if you use Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar and Google, well, everything. It even has a Google Voice app that, in the US, would give you a Google number to phone in with and redirect overseas calls via its VoIP service. But that does not mean non-Google accounts are not well catered for. One of the nicest things of 2.1 is the ability to have multiple Microsoft Exchange Activesync accounts. Of course, pop and imap email accounts also work fine, though not in pushmail mode and MSN and other clients exist, free and ad-supported.
screen
capture - to capture what is on your screen in
picture (jpeg computer graphic) by pressing print screen button
integrated - combining things of different types in one effective system ที่รวมเข้าด้วยกัน
redirect - send to a different place
redirect calls - send phone calls to a different phone number
VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) - internet telephone (See Wikipedia)
accounts - customers (customers are identified by an "account number")
cater - take care of, give customer what they need
well catered for - the business takes care of their customer well
Microsoft Exchange Activesync - mobile data synchronization technology and protocol developed by Microsoft, originally released in 1996 (See Wikipedia)
a client - the software on the small computers of users that connects them to the main server where they get information
the server - the software on a central big computer that provides information to users with smaller computers attached to a network
client-server system - (See Wikipedia on client-server system)
pop email - an email "client" to get email from a "server" (See Wikipedia)
imap email - another way of getting email from a server (See Wikipedia)
pushmail mode - email systems that "push" email to recipients so they see it immediately and automatically (See Wikipedia)
ad-supported - free service paid for by advertisements that the user has to look at
integrated - combining things of different types in one effective system ที่รวมเข้าด้วยกัน
redirect - send to a different place
redirect calls - send phone calls to a different phone number
VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) - internet telephone (See Wikipedia)
accounts - customers (customers are identified by an "account number")
cater - take care of, give customer what they need
well catered for - the business takes care of their customer well
Microsoft Exchange Activesync - mobile data synchronization technology and protocol developed by Microsoft, originally released in 1996 (See Wikipedia)
a client - the software on the small computers of users that connects them to the main server where they get information
the server - the software on a central big computer that provides information to users with smaller computers attached to a network
client-server system - (See Wikipedia on client-server system)
pop email - an email "client" to get email from a "server" (See Wikipedia)
imap email - another way of getting email from a server (See Wikipedia)
pushmail mode - email systems that "push" email to recipients so they see it immediately and automatically (See Wikipedia)
ad-supported - free service paid for by advertisements that the user has to look at
The big 3.7" screen is of the AMOLED variety. At the risk of sounding like a washing powder commercial, this means blacker blacks, whiter whites and richer colours. Sunlight legibility is bad, but with the auto-brightness feature enabled, not to the point of being totally unusable in the Bangkok sun, as some conventional LCD phones are. Indoors, the rich colours and dense pixels are simply jaw-droppingly stunning.
AMOLED - Active-matrix
OLED, Active-Matrix is a technology for addressing of pixels.
AMOLED making progress towards low-power and low-cost large size
screens (40-inch) for applications like TV (See Wikipedia)
OLED - Organic light emitting diode, mobile phone thin display technology which doesn't require a backlight, displays deep black levels, thinner, lighter, with higher contrast ratios in the low ambient light such of dark rooms (See Wikipedia)
LED - Light Emitting Diode, a semi-conductor light source used in displays and lighting (See Wikipedia)
backlighting - illumination used to increase readability in low light conditions in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) (See Wikipedia)
illumination - lighting
variety - a kind or type of thing
risk - the possibility that something dangerous or unpleasant might happen ความเสี่ยง
At the risk of X, I will say Y - I will say Y but I know that people will think bad thing X
commercial - an advertisement on TV or radio
legibility - able to read, readability
feature - something useful included in a product ทำให้เด่น
feature enabled - feature turned on, so that it can work
conventional - usual or normal ธรรมดา
rich - interesting, with a lot of different qualities อุดมไปด้วย
dense - very thick
stunning - extremely beautiful and impressive สวยตระการตา น่าตะลึง, น่าทึ่ง
OLED - Organic light emitting diode, mobile phone thin display technology which doesn't require a backlight, displays deep black levels, thinner, lighter, with higher contrast ratios in the low ambient light such of dark rooms (See Wikipedia)
LED - Light Emitting Diode, a semi-conductor light source used in displays and lighting (See Wikipedia)
backlighting - illumination used to increase readability in low light conditions in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) (See Wikipedia)
illumination - lighting
variety - a kind or type of thing
risk - the possibility that something dangerous or unpleasant might happen ความเสี่ยง
At the risk of X, I will say Y - I will say Y but I know that people will think bad thing X
commercial - an advertisement on TV or radio
legibility - able to read, readability
feature - something useful included in a product ทำให้เด่น
feature enabled - feature turned on, so that it can work
conventional - usual or normal ธรรมดา
rich - interesting, with a lot of different qualities อุดมไปด้วย
dense - very thick
stunning - extremely beautiful and impressive สวยตระการตา น่าตะลึง, น่าทึ่ง
Google has shown off the fast 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and the 3D graphics system with active wallpapers and a photo album that has all your photos, both the ones stored locally and the ones online on Google Picasa, floating in the air with the phone acting as a window to a virtual world, guided by its accellerometers to act in a surreal virtual reality way. Obviously it takes a huge amount of processing power which it flaunts.
The same goes for Google Earth. Yes, the phone has Google Maps with its satellite and road layers and all, but Google Earth is the real thing with mountains and terrain rendered in 3G complete with Panoramio street level pictures submitted by the community.
show off - seeking
attention, acting in a way to make people look at you and admire
you
air - to make known
virtual - so similar to the real thing that you can treat it as the real thing เสมือนจริง
virtual world - an articifial world made with software in a computer, people interact with "avatars" (See Wikipedia)
virtual reality - a computer environment simulates places in the real world or creates an imaginary world, usually a visual experience displayed on a computer screen or see through special glasses (See Wikipedia)
accellerometer - a device that controls speed in a virtual world or computer game
surreal - so strange you cannot believe it is real ไม่น่าเชื่อ
flaunt - trying to make people notice and see something good that you have
terrain - an area of land, usually one that has particular physical features ภูมิประเทศ
rendered - made to be ถูกทำให้
submitted - formally given to someone (so they can make a decision about it) ยื่นเอกสารเพื่อการพิจารณา
community - the people living in one particular area (or who have common interest) ชุมชน
air - to make known
virtual - so similar to the real thing that you can treat it as the real thing เสมือนจริง
virtual world - an articifial world made with software in a computer, people interact with "avatars" (See Wikipedia)
virtual reality - a computer environment simulates places in the real world or creates an imaginary world, usually a visual experience displayed on a computer screen or see through special glasses (See Wikipedia)
accellerometer - a device that controls speed in a virtual world or computer game
surreal - so strange you cannot believe it is real ไม่น่าเชื่อ
flaunt - trying to make people notice and see something good that you have
terrain - an area of land, usually one that has particular physical features ภูมิประเทศ
rendered - made to be ถูกทำให้
submitted - formally given to someone (so they can make a decision about it) ยื่นเอกสารเพื่อการพิจารณา
community - the people living in one particular area (or who have common interest) ชุมชน
My last Android phone was the HTC Hero and I must say that was easier to get up to speed with. The biggest design problem on the Nexus one is that it lacks Hero's "chin", which, you quickly realise in its absence, helps lift your thumb up from the screen and just prevents the flesh of your hand touching the screen when typing.
Google's Auto-correct helps a lot when writing, but as usual, proper local names make a total mess out of things. Today I have been Tweeting a lot, I discovered, about the Solomon protests. No, I am not challenging Dr Weng in debating Babylonian law, but the central business district of Silom is auto-corrected to Solomon, Krabi becomes Akiba and Klong Toey becomes Klingon Tory. Someone should create an app to preload common Thai placenames and names to save Android users a lot of sometimes embarrassing errors.
get up to speed - learn
enough about to be able to use
realise - to know about ตระหนัก รู้
absence - not being present การหายไป ไม่ปรากฏตัว
flesh - skin
proper names - the names of people or places (capitalized in English)
local - in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about ท้องถิ่น
protests - meetings, sometimes forceful or violent, or public statements by people who strongly disagree with something ชุมนุมประท้วง
challenge - invite someone to compete or fight
debate - when an issue are discussed in a competitive fashion with two sides representing for and against (See Wikipedia)
common - shared, used by many people
embarrassing - making you feel ashamed, nervous or stupid
realise - to know about ตระหนัก รู้
absence - not being present การหายไป ไม่ปรากฏตัว
flesh - skin
proper names - the names of people or places (capitalized in English)
local - in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about ท้องถิ่น
protests - meetings, sometimes forceful or violent, or public statements by people who strongly disagree with something ชุมนุมประท้วง
challenge - invite someone to compete or fight
debate - when an issue are discussed in a competitive fashion with two sides representing for and against (See Wikipedia)
common - shared, used by many people
embarrassing - making you feel ashamed, nervous or stupid
The 5 megapixel camera is very good for a cameraphone and the LED flash is one of the most powerful I have seen. For viewing images on-screen, the resolution is more than enough and noise is in check. Not quite consumer digicam, but close. Pity there are no manual controls to help in taking pictures against the light.
It is the screen and speed that sets the Nexus One apart from earlier Androids, but with its twin, the HTC Desire coming as well as the Samsung Galaxy S, things will soon get crowded at the top. The rest of the package is standard Android 2.1 and that certainly feels good.
resolution,
display resolution - the amount of detail presented for the
eye by a computer screen, TV, etc (See Wikipedia)
consumer - someone who buys and uses goods and services ผู้บริโภค
manual - do using your own hand, not automatically by computer
set apart - make different from others
crowded at the top - many high quality (high-end) products to choose from
consumer - someone who buys and uses goods and services ผู้บริโภค
manual - do using your own hand, not automatically by computer
set apart - make different from others
crowded at the top - many high quality (high-end) products to choose from
Augmented Reality apps such as Layar and Google Sky are fun to use. Some of my favourite Apps are the Tricorder (which actually has a set of usable features such as cellsite info of all telco cells in your area, Wi-Fi info and solar activity, the last being downloaded from meteorological servers), Geomancy Feng Shui, a yellow Hand-clapper app (and corresponding red Foot-clapper app) and even a Pra Siam widget. It does nothing except put a Pra Siam Thewatirat image on your screen, but it is a nice, very Thai touch. Most Thai news sites have dedicated apps and widgets too, such as ASTV Manager, Thairath and even Prachathai. The Google App store is huge and growing all the time. No, it is not close to Apple's yet but with eccentric people crafting Amulet apps and hand-clappers, what more do you need.
augmented reality - when images created on the mobile
phone or computer are used to add value to or enhance a picture or view
of the world (See Wikipedia)
telco - telephone company
solar - involving the sun เกี่ยวกับดวงอาทิตย์
meteorological - having to do with the weather
feng shui, geomancy - ancient Chinese supernatural study of how to place buildings on land in a lucky way (See Wikipedia)
clapper - an object with two parts that you shake or hit together to make noise มือตบ
image - picture ภาพ
dedicated - believing that something is very important and giving a lot of time and energy to it ซึ่งอุทิศตัวเพื่อ
dedicated - spending much time and effort on something อุทิศให้ (a dedicated teacher ทรงเป็นพระอาจารย์ซึ่งทรงอุทิศพระวรกายในการให้ความรู้กับนักเรียน)
dedicated - used for only one kind of work or for one purpose
crafting - making objects ทำด้วยมือ
amulet - an object used to bring good luck and protect its owner from evil or bad luck, often made from gems, statues, magical words, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants, animals (See Wikipedia)
telco - telephone company
solar - involving the sun เกี่ยวกับดวงอาทิตย์
meteorological - having to do with the weather
feng shui, geomancy - ancient Chinese supernatural study of how to place buildings on land in a lucky way (See Wikipedia)
clapper - an object with two parts that you shake or hit together to make noise มือตบ
image - picture ภาพ
dedicated - believing that something is very important and giving a lot of time and energy to it ซึ่งอุทิศตัวเพื่อ
dedicated - spending much time and effort on something อุทิศให้ (a dedicated teacher ทรงเป็นพระอาจารย์ซึ่งทรงอุทิศพระวรกายในการให้ความรู้กับนักเรียน)
dedicated - used for only one kind of work or for one purpose
crafting - making objects ทำด้วยมือ
amulet - an object used to bring good luck and protect its owner from evil or bad luck, often made from gems, statues, magical words, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants, animals (See Wikipedia)
The downsides? Battery life is a joke. Less than five hours under heavy use due to the power-hungry AMOLED screen. Luckily it will recharge from any Micro-USB cable. There are also a few bugs. I often lose voice and have to turn the phone off and on to be able to talk again. Android does not have Flash yet and hence streaming video is a problem, but that is soon to change with Adobe just announcing a closed beta, and the only Xvid decoder in the market is not exactly stable.
Compared to its HTC half brothers, the Nexus One is a curious animal. On the one hand, it lacks HTC Sense and its library of widgets to toggle things on and off. Rather than being the pinnacle of Android devices, from someone moving from a Hero, it actually feels rough around the edges and makes you appreciate the work HTC has done.
downside - the bad
side or what is negative about something
voice - to express your feelings or opinions ออกความคิด
stable - not changing frequently and not likely to suddenly become worse มั่นคง
widgets - (See Wikipedia)
toggle - turn machine from on to off or from off to one
is a curious animal - is a strange thing
pinnacle - the best (original meaning: the highest point on a mountain)
rough around the edges - though generally good, some details are not good
voice - to express your feelings or opinions ออกความคิด
stable - not changing frequently and not likely to suddenly become worse มั่นคง
widgets - (See Wikipedia)
toggle - turn machine from on to off or from off to one
is a curious animal - is a strange thing
pinnacle - the best (original meaning: the highest point on a mountain)
rough around the edges - though generally good, some details are not good
Android is open source - well, most of it is - and is in danger of fragmentation. HTC Sense could go one way, Motoblur another, and the ecosystem would be shattered. What the Nexus One stands for is the milestone (with apologies to Motorola) of this generation, of a feature set of processing power and graphics for people to aim for.
Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S will have even better graphics and the Milestone has a slower CPU, but the Nexus One is the target phone that will have the most mindshare when developers write applications for this generation of Android devices, much like the Magic was for the first generation.
open source - computer
software for which the source code is freely available (See
Wikipedia)
fragmentation - break into several pieces
ecosystem - when all the parts or things in a system depend on each other and function together with each other (original meaning: all the plants and animals in an area, See Wikipedia)
shattered - broken into many pieces ที่แตกกระจาย
milestone - an event or achievement that marks an important stage in a process ความเหตุการณ์สำคัญ (ที่ควรบันทึกไว้), ความสำเร็จอันยิ่งใหญ่
apologies - saying you are sorry for something you have done (wish you didn't do it in the past) คำขอโทษ
generation - on group of things that were created (or conceived of) all at the same time (original meaning: one group of people all born at the same time)
aim - purpose; goal เป้าหมาย จุดมุ่งหมาย
target - a goal
mindshare - the percentage of people thinking about something and devoting their time to it
fragmentation - break into several pieces
ecosystem - when all the parts or things in a system depend on each other and function together with each other (original meaning: all the plants and animals in an area, See Wikipedia)
shattered - broken into many pieces ที่แตกกระจาย
milestone - an event or achievement that marks an important stage in a process ความเหตุการณ์สำคัญ (ที่ควรบันทึกไว้), ความสำเร็จอันยิ่งใหญ่
apologies - saying you are sorry for something you have done (wish you didn't do it in the past) คำขอโทษ
generation - on group of things that were created (or conceived of) all at the same time (original meaning: one group of people all born at the same time)
aim - purpose; goal เป้าหมาย จุดมุ่งหมาย
target - a goal
mindshare - the percentage of people thinking about something and devoting their time to it
(Source: OPEN Thought, Not quite a God Phone, but I couldn't be happier with the Nexus One, 5/05/2010, Don Sambandaraksa, link)
