There are few things that are really nice about the Nexus One:

• The biggest being the display.  High resolution, and OLED meaning clarity and contrast ratios were stunning – making the apps and icons look amazing.
• Overall look and feel of the phone’s navigation and GUI was stellar.  However, the scrolling app tray with a “virtual conveyor belt” motif was somewhat nifty in execution, it gets a bit corny after a while.
• The full-screen clock display mode app was attractive, and using native controls of the screen brightness, the dimmer was particularly effective, making the app very night-time friendly.   I wish the iPhone let you tame the backlight to a similar effect.

Apps is really where Android falls short of the iPhone.  The iPhone is still a sexier device to hold in the hand, however the display and thickness seem antiquated next to the Nexus One.  Luckily for Apple-ites, this is something that next gen models will remedy with certainty.  The breadth of apps and the ecosystem head-start is really a big advantage in my mind, as is the stability offered by the Apple-nurtured platform.

Which brings me to my story… while on vacation, and playing with a friend’s Nexu One, one of the apps I really loved was Google Sky Map.  Here I was in Mexico staring out at a killer full moon and noticing a couple “stars” that were so bright that I thought one must be a planet.  My friend who had a pre-release Nexus One whipped out his phone and ran Sky Map.  I pointed it to the sky, black was black from the amazing OLED display, and the star in question was as I suspected, not a star, but Mars.  Then I realized what an amazing experience it is to have a “phone” work seamlessly with the exact right information in the exact right context using a combination of GPS, Magnetometer, Internet connection, high resolution display, packed into a nice portable form factor.

I’ve had numerous experiences like this with my iPhone, but it occurred to me that this particular experience of stargazing was done by a device carrying a Google brand, running an app that right now is exclusively for Android.

For users new to smartphones, or who aren’t long users of the iPhone, it’s experiences like these that create loyalty and excitement around a new platform.  That the Nexus One has tricks like this up its sleeves bodes well for the big G.