Does Google's Nexus One level the playing field?

Apple will have you believe that you need an iPhone to have the best smartphone on the market. Now Google is trying to convince you that Android is the way to go and is even going into the market itself with its own phone: the Nexus One. While Apple touts its more than 100,000 Apps available on its App Store, Google focuses more on the phone's features, with its Nexus One sporting its latest Android OS (Eclair / 2.1). Bundled in the new OS is a whole bunch of new features including live wallpapers, Facebook integration, voice control over just about everything in the OS, and a whole lot more.

I had some play time with the Nexus One earlier today and have to say that while I wouldn't call it a game changer, it's definitely raising the bar for what you can do with your mobile phone. Sure, the iPhone offers a bunch of the same features, but the Nexus One is on the level and even passing the iPhone this time around. I've highlighted a few of the more notable features below:

Facebook integration Palm made a huge deal about its integration with Facebook when it launched its Palm Pre. In fact, the company even came up with a name for its technology: Synergy. Now the Nexus One does this effortlessly, too, and even launches a decent Facebook experience when you click on a Facebook-related item in the Contact on the Nexus One. Contrast that to the iPhone where the built-in Contacts App doesn't integrate but the latest Facebook App will sync your Facebook contacts to the iPhone. I haven't tried this yet, since the concept of an App playing with Contacts scares me, given how protective Apple has been over its core apps on the iPhone.

Live wallpapers This is more of a gimmick but it shows off the power of the Nexus One. It also reminds me of what I don't like about the iPhone: it's ability to do true multitasking and offer more customization options.

Voice to text Brian showed me how Voice control and voice-to-text is integrated into just about everything on the Nexus One and I managed to capture some of this on video below. In the example he speaks the phrase "my hovercraft is full of eels", and the Nexus One nails it on the first try. He then clicks a button and the Nexus One speaks the phrase in French--beat that iPhone!

Keyboard One of the things I hated about older Android phones was the keyboard experience. HTC improved upon that but with the Nexus One it seems that its speedy enough and accurate enough that you don't need HTC's enhancements. Granted, I'd love to see what HTC can do with the Nexus One base given what the company has done with earlier versions of the Android OS.

User experience The Android OS has come a long way since its inception and that evolution coupled with the speed of the Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz processor makes for an incredible experience.

I think the most interesting thing about my play time with the Nexus One was that I had no desire to go into the App Store. As a matter of fact, it seems to ship with just about everything you need.

I'm still a bit troubled by the business model around the Nexus One and believe that Google could have just as easily given this reference design to HTC to bring it to all carriers and not just T-Mobile, but like everything Google, there's probably a method to the company's madness.

Now I'm debating about getting a Nexus One myself, as the customizability of it has reminded me of just how restricted I feel when using the iPhone.