Refurbished phones are used phones with replaced used/new components in it to make it work as close to the new one. With Nexus One refurbs, you can easily distinguish it from a stock Nexus One by the fact that the finishing is not on par with a new one. The screen/glass may not have a smooth transition to the body, it may be a little off and so is the back part (you can see some gaps).

Nexus One Replacement (swap) Policy :

HTC will set up a swap once you call in with a worthy problem (dropped calls, random reboots, touchscreen issues and all others …) only after you put a credit card authorization on file for a full $529.

It is a FedEx next day delivery, so pretty quick shipment. You will be sent a FedEx return shipping label.

Hopefully the refurbished Nexus One works. If yes, lucky you

They will take the authorization off once they verify the issue. If not, your cc on file may be charged!

My AT&T Nexus One horror story with refurbished units :

My original Nexus One dropped calls occasionally. Called HTC, setup a swap, received the swap in a day’s time.

The first swap rebooted randomly. As soon as I received the swap, I logged in with my GMail account and guess what, it rebooted. I thought it was a welcome reboot and started using it. I was charging my Nexus One and listening to music and it rebooted. The reboot game continued to an extent that it was unusable on a daily basis. My tests initially included so many apps but then I used the stock software without bothering with ANY market apps. It definitely is not some buggy app.

Called HTC and I totally lost it when they mentioned their policy! The policy is that they have to wait till the ticket closes and only then can they setup for another swap. Fair enough but it is their mistake sending a lemon in the first place. I demanded a call-back as soon as the ticket closes for which they initially denied and finally budged.

I generally try to be as polite as possible while calling support lines cos’ I have a first hand experience supporting customers on phone. But these policies were crazy to say the least. How can a freaking swap just decide to reboot all by itself? Is this the best HTC / Google can QC a swap before shipping it to the customer? I believe they prefer spending more of customer support’s time and shipping money than fix the problem at the root the first time.

Anyway, after about 2 days, they finished all the tests with my first Nexus One and closed the ticket. Now I called in for the second swap (yes they were supposed to call but I did and the nice lady said she was about to call me!). Anyway, she setup another swap and assured me that they will double-check the Nexus One before shipping it out.

Called Google to try some software troubleshooting to combat the rebooting issues. They insisted on a repair instead. Upon asking if I can get a new phone for additional $$$ instead of a refurb, he asked me to sell it off on Craigslist / eBay for a loss and then buy a new unit from Google directly! Yes, that is what he suggested!

Anyway, I received the second swap in record time as usual. I started using it and guess what, it was an even worse lemon they sent out. It would not only randomly reboot but it would do it in an infinite loop. It won’t boot to the home-screen unless I remove the battery for so many seconds. Frustrated, called in HTC and just lost it yet again! HTC rep offered me a spare battery for my frustration. He even told that he got 3 swaps with a laptop previously and he could totally understand my frustration! Anyway, I shipped out the first swap. They didn’t want me to ship them both the lemons at the same time for some freaking reason.

Just for the record, I started the whole swap process on June 2nd, 2010. it is June 15th and am yet to receive the 3rd swap.I spent atleast about 4~5 hours on customer support calls and few days testing all 3 Nexus ones so far. Not that I don’t have better things to do, I just can’t stand HTC/Google’s carelessness in patching their freaking annoyances.

I am still waiting for the ticket to be closed and only then can they set a swap up for another Nexus One. I will update this post till I receive a Nexus One that actually works!

My research on randomly rebooting Nexus Ones say that it could be either a bad RAM issue or a potential kernel limitation in 2.1 update where the full 512MB RAM is not used for whatever reason. When Cyanogen could fix it, Google could too but they didn’t. They would openly let you unlock the bootloader by warning you that warranty will be void the moment you unlock your bootloader! This is even worse than jailbreaking an iPhone. You can jailbreak an iPhone and still send in for warranty claim after you restore it to the stock firmware.

Gist of the story (so far) :

Try to avoid a refurbished Nexus One and if inevitable, try asking for a refund. I love iPhone refurbs, they know what QC (quality check) means while HTC doesn’t even care about it.

to be continued ……….

Google, on the other hand released an awesome, feature packed over the air update for the Nexus One which makes more sense now.

Manually Install the OTA Update for Nexus One :

If you are impatient and don’t want to wait for Google to bless your device with an OTA update, you may as well download it directly!

Once you download the zip file, rename it to update.zip and install it from the Recovery Console.

Google’s official statement can be read here.

Updates of Interest :

Pinch to Zoom enabled for the Browser, Maps, Gallery

Night Mode for Navigation (Maps)

3G Reception improvement

Google Goggles is now an integral part of the Nexus One

The famous Amon_RA from Modaco released the recovery image for Nexus one earlier. Here are the steps you should follow to flash this recovery image v1.5.3.

CAUTION : If you did not root your device already, you MUST first do so. Follow this step by step guide.

1. Download the recovery image from Modaco.
2. Download this file (Rapidshare). or you can also download them from here(modaco). Extract them to your desktop. You will see two .zip files, extract them both. Place the .img file downloaded from step 1 into the folder ‘1.1-nexusone-superboot’.
3. Connect the Nexus One to your PC/Mac and turn it off.
4. Hold the volume down button and hit the power button (while holding the side volume down button). You should see the following bootloader screen (with the word unlocked on top).
5. Hit the power button once to select the fastboot usb option. Now you should see ‘FASTBOOT USB’ in red.
6. Now from the files you downloaded from step 2, you will see a folder called ‘1.1-nexusone-superboot’ (if you extracted 1.1-nexusone-superboot.zip that is!).
7. On a Windows machine – launch the Command Prompt and CD to 1.1-nexusone-superboot folder (type in ‘cd ‘ and drag and drop the folder. Now hit enter.). Type the following (without quotes): ‘fastboot-windows flash recovery recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img’ and hit enter.
8. On a Mac or Linux machine – launch the Terminal and CD to 1.1-nexusone-superboot folder (type in ‘cd ‘ and drag and drop the folder. Now hit enter.). Type the following (without quotes):
9. MAC - ’./fastboot-mac flash recovery recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img‘ and hit enter.
10. LINUX – type ‘./fastboot-linux flash recovery recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img‘ and hit enter.
11. Congratulations, you just installed the recovery image! You can now create nandroid backups, flash updates and lot more!

How to put Nexus One in Recovery Mode?

1. Connect the Nexus One to your PC/Mac and turn it off.
2. Hold the volume down button and hit the power button (while holding the side volume down button). You should see the bootloader screen (with the word unlocked on top).
3. Hit the volume button twice to select the recovery option. Now hit the Power button to enter the recovery mode!

Features of this Recovery Image (from Modaco):

• full ADB access in recovery mode
• Busybox v1.15.2
• HW-Key navigation (Trackball + Volume-key) option
• Extended menu :
  • Reboot system now :: reboot your phone
  • USB-MS Toggle :: enable/disable USB mass storage (use when the phone is connected to your PC)
  • Backup/Restore
    • Nand backup :: Make a Nand backup, the following partitions are NOT included :
      • Recovery (to avoid restoring old version)
      • Cache (no need to backup imo)
      • Misc (no need to backup imo + restore issues on some phones)
      • Splash1+2 (no need to backup imo + restore issues on some phones)
    • Nand restore :: Restore a Nand backup
  • Flash zip from sdcard :: Flash a zip update file from your sdcard
  • Wipe
    • Wipe data/factory reset :: Wipe /data and /cache
    • Wipe Dalvik-cache :: Wipe Dalvik-cache both on /data
    • Wipe battery stats : Wipe the battery stats in /data
    • Wipe rotate settings : Wipe the sensor settings in /data
  • Partition sdcard
    • Partition SD :: Interactive SD partitioning
  • Other
    • Fix apk uid mismatches :: Does extacly that
    • Move recovery.log to SD :: Moves the recovery log file to your sdcard. (Use when you want more detailed recovery log information)
  • Power off :: Powers off your phone
• Scripts available via adb :
  • Nandroid v2.2.1 : enter “nandroid-mobile.sh” to start.
  • sdparted v0.6 : enter “sdparted” to start.

Courtesy : Amon_RA @ Modaco.com

Rooting your Google Nexus One is a 2 step process. One, Fastboot and the other Superboot (courtesy Paul from Modaco).

Download this file (Rapidshare). or you can also download them from here(modaco). Extract them to your desktop. You will see two .zip files, extract them both.

Fastboot [Google's warning and Unlocking the bootloader]

CAUTION : All your data will be erased.

1. Connect your Nexus One to your PC/Mac and turn it off.
2. Hold the trackball and hit the power button (while holding the trackball). You should see the following bootloader screen.
3. Now from the files you downloaded previously, you will see a folder called ‘fastboot‘ (if you extracted fastboot.zip that is!).
4. On a Windows machine – launch Command Prompt and CD to fastboot folder. (Type in ‘cd ‘ (without the quotes and drag and drop the fastboot folder to the command prompt). Type in ‘cd fastboot‘ again and now type the following command ‘fastboot-windows oem unlock‘ (without quotes) and hit enter.
5. On a Mac or Linux machine – launch the Terminal and CD to fastboot folder (type in ‘cd ‘ and drag and drop the folder. Now hit enter.). Now CD to the other fastboot folder and type the following (without quotes): ‘./fastboot-mac oem unlock‘ (for Mac) or  ’./fastboot-linux oem unlock’ (for Linux) and hit enter. You will see the following. Ignore the error.
6. This is the screen that you will see now. Use the volume button (on the side) to select ‘Yes’. (Please read the full message displayed on the screen thoroughly). Now push the Power button to select this option (weird, I know. Trackball would have been a better choice to select!).
7. Great! You have successfully unlocked the bootloader! You will see the unlock image while your phone boots up.

Superboot [To actually root your Nexus One]

p.s : These programs were written by Paul from Modaco.com. I just made an easy to understand guide, thats it! Feel free to post a comment if you are having any issues.

Google’s Nexus One, cleverly marketed by Google (exposing it just enough to create chaos in the cellular world) is the best Android phone till date. The hardware specs of this beauty are no match and it clearly trounces the iPhone 3GS.

A very good video review of the handset (thanks to droiddog!) :

Priced at $530 for an unlocked unit and $180 with a 2 year contract, this phone is all set to hit your pocket starting Jan 5th!

Read on to see why Google’s decision to stick to T-Mobile 3G is one of the dumbest decisions in Google’s history!