Anyone who has been perusing the Google support forums lately will know that, despite the media’s lovefest for the Nexus One, there are a growing number of users who are not so pleased with the phone. Or at least, with Google’s after-sale support for it. Google are selling the phone directly to customers, but they haven’t got a dedicated customer services/support department for the phone in their infrastructure, an oversight that is causing consternation for many users, particularly in light of the fact the phone carriers, such as Vodafone, are telling customers to contact Google for support. Google support are promising to respond to emailed support queries within 48 hours, which seems to be about the norm if you ask me, but I guess the lack of a call centre for quicker access to support will understandably chafe some people.
Google may not have had quite so many calls to deal with were it not for the fact that there are a growing number of Nexus One users who are seeing problems with 3G connectivity. The photo below was taken by a user showing his G1 and his Nexus One side by side, note the difference in the 3G signal strength – the G1 has strong 3G signal, the Nexus One obviously isn’t picking up a 3G signal at all and is instead on the EDGE network.
These issues are likely just teething problems, with the 3G issue probably fixable by a software/firmware tweak, but the mounting negativity from Nexus One users will only harm the phone in the long run unless it is nipped in the bud early. Google’s Andy Rubin has himself admitted that Google “have to get better at customer service”, so it seems they are at least aware of the issue, if not already dealing with it.