My Google Nexus One died – or the perils of very early adoption

When I went to California last I was lucky enough to meet some friends from Google for lunch at their office and as a surprise on the way out I got a Nexus One as a present:

I loved it immediately. It is a very slick phone with a real “developer touch”. This means:

• To get data on or off it I connect it to a USB port and copy the stuff – no need to fire up some “Media Explorer” or iTunes.
• The handling was wonderful – even though I never had a touch phone before I had no issues with it at all (except when I tried to type German SMS with the English dictionary on)
• The geolocation stuff, Google Goggles, Google Maps, Point by Point navigation and all the other stuff that only runs on this platform beat the pants off the iPhone (at least for me)
• The camera is amazing and the display is crisp as can be

That is until yesterday night. When I gave the phone to someone at the Future of Web Design after party to have a look at it he dropped it. I didn’t check and just pocketed it and this morning I found the display to look like this:

It has a bit of a Eastman Colour vibe to it but makes it impossible to use. Funnily enough the touch stuff still works perfectly but outside of artificial light you cannot see anything on it any longer.

Now I am busted:

• Where can I get a free Nexus One repaired in the UK? This is a no contract phone.
• What can I do about my Jewels and Layar addiction?

It is a great example how being a very, very early adopter can bite you in the bum if something as simple as gravity messes with you :(.

Tags: android, annoyance, broken, fml, Google, google nexus one, nexus, phone, repair