Nexus One no longer Verizon bound, but Incredible customers will be happy

The only way to purchase a Nexus One is to visit google.com/phone and get it either on AT&T unsubsidized, or on T-Mobile with or without a subsidy. If you visited the site as recently as last week you also would have seen a placeholder for Verizon Wireless which stated the device was coming soon. This morning, though, James Kendrick found a new note:

It doesn’t explicitly say that the Nexus One won’t hit Verizon, but that seems like a strong implication. Why move people towards a different handset if you still plan to offer one?

Phandroid sent a request for comment, and Google was nice enough to respond.

We won’t be selling a Nexus One with Verizon, and this is a reflection of the amazing innovation happening across the open Android ecosystem. Verizon Wireless customers who want an Android phone with the power of the Nexus One can get the Droid Incredible by HTC, which can be pre-ordered now and which will be available in Verizon Wireless stores on Thursday, April 29th.

That is that, it appears. No Nexus One on Verizon, though we could still see a CDMA version on Sprint. At this point, though, how motivated will Google be to get the device to America’s third largest carrier, one that has been losing postpaid subscribers for about two years now?

Verizon customers might be pleased that they’ll get the Incredible in place of the Nexus One. As you can see in the following video, courtesy of Android Central, the multitouch support on the Incredible trumps that on the Nexus One and Motorola Droid.

As an Android Central commenter notes, the superior multitouch experience on the Incredible stems from superior hardware. To wit:

HTC is now using the Atmel mxt224 screen vs. the old Synaptics 2000. The Atmel is a known component of the upcoming HTC EVO 4G – I just didn’t think they’d implement it this soon. Looks like they have. It’s not merely a software enhancement on the Incredible over the N1; they are indeed using a new screen type. Very nice.

So not only do Nexus One owners have a dysfunctional radio, but they also have an inferior touch screen. That will not make for happy owners.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.