Here's a message from Google on the Nexus One Support Forum:

"Hey guys,

I've seen some recent speculation on this thread about an OTA to improve 3G connectivity and I want to give you an update on the situation.

While we are continuing to monitor user feedback regarding the 3G performance on the Nexus One, we are no longer investigating further engineering improvements at this time.

If you are still experiencing 3G issues, we recommend that you try changing your location or even the orientation of your phone, as this may help in areas with weaker coverage.

-Ry Guy"

Source: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=0c0fb2a46ad64955&hl=en&start=2709

So essentially, Google accepts that the Nexus One 3G problem cannot be fixed, but continues selling the phone? Is it ethical to do so? What about the thousands of eager fans who bought the phone and are stuck with a sub-standard product? If a core functionality like 3G connectivity doesn't work well on the phone, is it right for Google to continue selling it? If some people still want to buy it, shouldn't they put a big warning message on the online store mentioning this major problem with the phone? It's not fair for them to continue selling a phone with such a big problem to customers who may not be aware of this.

<<So essentially, Google accepts that the Nexus One 3G problem cannot be fixed, but continues selling the phone? Is it ethical to do so? What about the thousands of eager fans who bought the phone and are stuck with a sub-standard product? If a core functionality like 3G connectivity doesn't work well on the phone, is it right for Google to continue selling it? If some people still want to buy it, shouldn't they put a big warning message on the online store mentioning this major problem with the phone? It's not fair for them to continue selling a phone with such a big problem to customers who may not be aware of this.>>

No, it's not "ethical", business often isn't. Us fans get screwed over.

I'm upset over this, but i don't expect them to do a recall on all their phones just for this. If they're done trying to fix it, there are two possibilities.

1. it's a hardware issue. There was a previous software update that improved the situation, but didn't fix it entirely, so that might be evidence against this, but perhaps they fixed what they could on the software side (though i do somehow doubt that). This could be tested by someone if they cared enough and could put android on it from source or something.

2. They did this intentionally to save money for mobile carriers who don't want to deal with all the 3g bandwidth. This seems pretty evil for Google, but when getting into a market like this, it's hard to do no evil. I'm not letting them slide, but i am willing to make this compromise because i do believe they are changing the market for the better.

I've been using the phone for about a month and I didn't notice any issue with 3G performance. The phone has many other problems: the screen is not multi-touch (it's dual-touch) and it's not very responsive, the soft keys are difficult to use, poor battery performance, poor virtual keyboard etc. Unfortunately, many of the problems can't be fixed with a software update because they're hardware-related. No mobile phone is perfect (not even the iPhone), but design flaws are difficult to fix.

The good news is that Android is open-source and you can always install a custom ROM that fixes bugs or adds new features.

Ionut, despite your problems you still don't consider the Nexus One to be a mess?

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/01/08/google-struggling-to-support-angry-nexus-one-buyers/

> The good news is that Android is
> open-source and you can always
> install a custom ROM that fixes
> bugs or adds new features.

Martin Cooper, inventor of the cellphone technology, disagrees:

"[...] Good technology is intuitive, is transparent, is invisible. The cellphone technology forces you to become an engineer."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8639590.stm

Google is less about design and more about utility. iPhone is a pleasure to use and has a better hardware than most Android phones, but it's very limited. Android has fewer restrictions, but it's much more difficult to use. If you like choice and you want to install powerful apps with services, widgets, custom keyboards, background notifications, if you want to install custom browsers, custom music players, custom app stores or replace an internal component of the OS, than Android is for you.