Nexus One Total Cost of Ownership (chart)

http://www.billshrink.com/blog/nexus-one-vs-iphone-droid-palm-pre-total-cost-of-ownership/

by tvon • 17 years ago

63 34 17 years ago

And not a single word devoted to the user experience - boggles the mind how geeks continue to ignore the most obvious, the most important part of any consumer device, even after seeing the incredible rise of the iPhone.

huangm• 17 years ago

Where is this negativity coming from?

No claim is made that the factors they lay out are the only important ones. I'm sure they assume many of the user experience differences are well-understood, and they are just laying out the costs.

potatolicious5• 17 years ago

What's the top 3/4 of the chart doing there if this is the case? The majority of the chart is pure spec-sheet comparison, and of little relevance if the purpose is a cost comparison.

txxxxd• 17 years ago

The image is from a financial services site (not a geek site.) Some of us out there find money very important, even if you don't.

Source: http://www.billshrink.com/blog/nexus-one-vs-iphone-droid-pal...

potatolicious5• 17 years ago

This isn't a strict cost breakdown - in fact the vast majority of the chart is spec-sheet comparison. Clearly this chart is meant for a lot more than just "here are the overall costs to owning the following phones", yet fail to include IMHO the most important aspects of picking a consumer electronics device.

"Some of us out there find money very important, even if you don't."

Hi, I'm a human being behind this keyboard - and would appreciate if you'd lay off the smug condescension, especially since I have shown you none.

freetard• 17 years ago

Paranoid fanboy?

Kejistan• 17 years ago

The basic problem is how do you even adress the "user experience" on a chart like this? All you'd end up doing is throwing your personal opinions about the device into the mix, which would ruin the objectivity of the chart.

potatolicious5• 17 years ago

You're right - which makes comparisons like this even more pointless. I like that there's a cost breakdown - math like this is important, but doesn't run through your average consumer's head (not this precisely anyhow). Besides the price tag, the only remaining thing to do is go out and play with one.

It's a little like doing car comparisons by mere horsepower and cargo space - sounds relevant on paper, but in reality not so much... the only valuable advice is "test drive them all". In the end your satisfaction with your car probably has little to do with the fact that it has 20% more cargo space than the nearest competitor.

rythie2• 17 years ago

Every other review mentions usability, why does this one need to? since the writer probably hasn't used them all anyway.

jonmc12• 17 years ago

One Mistake - the plan only has 500 minutes and costs $79.

Also, initial pricing not quite as straightforward as presented:

http://www.google.com/support/android/bin/answer.py?hl=en...

ie, $179 only if you are a new customer switching to t-mobile.

dschobel• 17 years ago

why couldn't you buy the unlocked phone and get the $60/mo t-mobile unlimited data plan for a TCO over 24mo of 24*60+579 == $2019?

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/cell-phone-plans-detail.a...

trjordan• 17 years ago

You can, and if you can front the $600 (month one cost), it absolutely makes sense.

Another consideration is that many people buying these aren't going to keep their phone for the full two years, so front-loading doesn't always make sense. In this case, the price difference is drastic enough that the TCO for 12 months is still lower for unlocked ($1250 vs. $1340), but it's not a big a difference. I'm sure some people would be willing to finance $350 over 12 months for $90.

vlad• 17 years ago

More like $70 a month with tax, which the chart should have guesstimated. Also, the Nexus One is $529, not $579.

Also, T-Mobile offers 1000 minutes for a year for $100, with minutes that don't expire as long as you keep refilling in time. Since the phone has WiFi, and there are likely ways around text messaging, the prepaid option is like getting 333 minutes a month for $33.33 a month, 500 minutes a month for $50, or if you rarely use the phone, as affordable as 83 minutes a month for $8.33 a month.

You can get a good plan for $529 + $200 = $729 for 24 months, which represents out of pocket costs of $30 a month to have an internet-connected 1Ghz "mini-netbook" with you, that can also make and receive calls. Who needs those clunky, heavy $300-800 netbooks now?

I imagine Google Phones will become the new "netbooks", sold for $300-500 at Costco stores alongside actual netbooks, next Christmas.

kylec• 17 years ago

Will T-Mobile let you do prepaid + $30/month for unlimited data? If so, that's an extremely compelling reason to switch.

eli• 17 years ago

Which has the added bonus of not tying you down to a contract.

That's basically what I'm doing. Right now I've got a family plan with 2 phones and unlimited internet on each for $100. Doesn't make sense to do anything else.

Of course they made it easy, but not really giving me an option. You can't buy the discounted phone on a family plan, ONLY that one individual plan. And you only get the full discount as a new subscriber. Odd.

sown• 17 years ago

No matter how they carve it up, I feel like a fool. It still comes to ~$1000 a year for a smart phone, this one or another.

It makes me think I should wait a couple of years for data plans to come down in price as voice and SMS plans have done so in the last few years then maybe I will come out far ahead. That way maybe I could save some serious money.

But it is a lovely device. :)

jacoblyles• 17 years ago

Actually, you're looking at a marginal $500-$700 a year if you already find a cell phone to be indispensable.

DrewHintz• 17 years ago

Does the iPhone now include turn by turn navigation?

Tichy2• 17 years ago

In Germany I can get a mobile flat for 15€/month (or even 10€ if I were willing to go to O2, I think). That would be slowed down after 1GB of traffic, but I think for the time being I would be fine with it. So the TCO numbers are really nonsense - why mix up the price of the phone with the individual whims of network operators? Besides, the network costs should be identical for all smartphones.

cracki• 17 years ago

what would keep you from going to O2? network performance? i'm curious and have no idea how to compare the providers' networks.

Tichy2• 17 years ago

Just my principles. I used to be their customer, but then they refused to exchange a faulty phone they gave me. If it weren't for that, I'd probably still choose them.

lutorm2• 17 years ago

It would have been nice if they also included a lowest price option, something like prepaid voice and data. Or maybe prepaid voice and unlimited data.

lutorm2• 17 years ago

Could you get the $40/month unlimited data only plan and then use Skype for calls?

Nexus One Total Cost of Ownership (chart)

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