Please note, this post is being updated with extra information as we get it, so do check back for extra information.
So, you’ve seen our guide to Google’s Nexus One and its spec and you want a piece of the action. If you’re in the UK and fancy getting your hands on a Nexus One, you’re in luck.
The UK is one of only three places outside the USA that Google will ship a handset to (the others being Singapore and Hong Kong).
Ready to take the plunge at importing a phone from the US? Here’s our guide to what to expect…
SIM-free only… for now
At present you can only buy the Nexus One SIM-free in the UK. A subsidised version with a Vodafone contract will be available “soon”. Precisely how soon we don’t know but Vodafone is saying early Spring. So, for know you’re going to have to get your head around the idea of paying 529 USD for the phone. It’s actually a bit more than that all-in, but we’ll get to that shortly.
Is it worth the hassle and up-front expense?
Whether you think a smartphone is worth a total cost of £450 (see below) is up to you. Buying a phone up front and then using a SIM-only deal can actually work out cheaper than buying a subsidised handset and signing up for an 18-month or two year contract.
T-Mobile, for example, offers a ‘Solo 20‘ plan with 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data for £20 per month. There’s only a 30 day commitment too; you’re not signed up to a length contract so you can change at any time if you wish. If you’re out of contract with your current network you’ll be able to port you number over to one of these plans by asking them for your PAC code.
Even when you compare the Nexus One to other unlocked phones, it’s no more expensive. It’s £50 cheaper than the highly regarded Nokia N900, while a pay-as-you-go iPhone costs nearly £100 more.
So, if you want to take the plunge here’s how it works…
The order process
Ordering your Nexus One is simple. You simply head along to google.com/phone, click ‘Get Your Phone’ and you’re away. After selecting the ‘Nexus One Phone’ option you get the option to engrave your phone with a message if you choose.. Then you’re on to the (potentially) troublesome bit: paying for it.
Paying for the phone
The upfront cost is 529 USD plus $29.64 for international shipping and an optional $20 for a mains adapter. If you’re planning to charge your Nexus One only by connecting it up to a computer via USB you won’t need this, but it’s worth getting as you never know when or where you might need to charge your phone.
You’ll be billed in dollars and your bank/credit card provider will convert the payment into Pounds Sterling at the exchange rate they’re using (which may be a little less favourable than the rate quoted by sites like xe.com). I got charged £361 by my bank in total (including the optional mains adapter).
Delays possible
When I ordered my Nexus One there was a two day delay between submitting my order and getting shipping confirmation. However, once it’s ordered you’ll be able to track its journey from a depot somewhere in the USA to your door using DHL’s excellent tracking service.
Additional costs on delivery
Bear in mind that when you receive your phone you will be expected to pay 17.5% VAT and 6.5% import duty. This applies to any goods purchased from abroad. If you’re lucky your phone will slip past HM Revenue & Customs without charge but don’t count on it. The courier (DHL) will require you to pay this sum (which amounts to just under £100 in this case). This takes the overall cost to roughly £450 at current rates. From reports we’re getting, buyers are not being asked to pay these additional costs on delivery. Instead you are likely to receive an invoice through the post at a later date, so keep an eye out in the mail.
Potential pitfalls
Google Checkout appears to be a bit temperamental when it comes to payment. It wouldn’t accept my credit card at all and I kept receiving an ‘Order Failed’ message. Upon switching to my debit card I had more luck. However, I don’t make a habit of spending that much money in one go so my bank suspected fraud and blocked the payment.
Google alerted me to the problem with an email. A quick call to the bank later (explaining that it was a legitimate purchase) and I was back on track. If this happens to you, make sure you follow the instructions in the email Google sends you – don’t just start a new order.
How long will the Nexus One take to arrive?
As yet, we don’t know. Google doesn’t quote international delivery times but you’ll be able to track the progress of your order through the website. We’ll update this post with more information when we get it. UPDATE: Ours took one week to arrive. It sat in the DHL depot for a whole weekend and only started moving after we sent an email to DHL asking what was happening. Hopefully you won’t need to do this!
More thoughts on using the Nexus One in the UK
We’ve written more about using the Nexus One in a follow-up post here. It’s well worth reading if you’re thinking of importing the handset.
£450 is not really a huge amount for a good contract-free smartphone. See http://www.expansys.com – they have the Milestone (European version of the Droid) for £399.99 ex. delivery.
A few errors here… import duty is 0% on telecommunication handsets (incl. cellular handsets), not 6.5%. So the only customs charges will be the 17.5% on total cost (including cost of shipping) and then a small admin fee for DHL to pay this on your behalf.
Also the delivery agent is DHL express.
Thanks – my initial information was largely based on my experiences of ordering the phone and Google’s own (Seemingly incorrect) information. I’ve changed the courier information but I’ll hold off on changing the import duty until someone in the UK is actually invoiced for tax.
The DHL admin charge should only be £1.25
I got notification that the courier is actually DHL into the UK and not FedEx.
Ran also in problems with Google checkout, they canceled the order and asked me to upload personal documents and CC statements. It will now take about 4 business days to get them verified :S
I am btw ordering one from The Netherlands.
I ordered mine about 10 mins after launch. I’m almost at the end of my 18 month o2 contract for the iPhone 3G I’m getting my PAC code and porting my number to T-Mobile who are going to give me 800 mins unlimited texts and 1Gb of data for £25 a month. Thats a 30 day contract which means if I don’t like it, I can change it next month. Thats the way I’m going to go from now on. If you take the cost of the handset into account I’m not paying any more over 18 months than I was with o2.
nice review! It’s a shame they would release such a beautiful phone in the US before Europe and Asia…I thought the phone market here was more advanced.
Anyways…Google is a born, bread USA company…I guess they have their allegiances that go beyond reason.
Hi… did anybody get the nexus one ordered to his address in the UK.
I have ordered one in the 5th of Jan but my order statue is still the same.
I am v.tempted to order one, but would like the multi-touch enabled euro ROM version (but without getting a vodafone contract). Does anyone know if this will be an option soon?
Ordered on the 6th from the uk but the status is still the same :( hope they ship it soon…..
I ordered an engraved one on the 6th (morning) and my status is still unchanged. Even my credit card hasn’t been charged yet.
I’ve ordered mine on the morning on the 6th with custom engraving, status is still unchanged “not yet shipped”. I just phoned my bank and although the amount doesn’t show on the balance it’s visible to them as authorized…. waiting…
hey please, keep us noticed about your purchases… ;)
It is interesting to know which way does Google-DHL send the phone…
Thanks! :)
I just checked and there is a DHL tracking no.!!!!! whowho!
1/8/2010 7:34 am Depart Facility Cincinnati Hub, OH
4:20 am Processed at DHL Location. Cincinnati Hub, OH
2:19 am Transit through DHL facility Cincinnati Hub, OH
1/7/2010 11:19 pm Depart Facility Northeast Indianapolis, IN
11:15 pm Processed at DHL Location. Northeast Indianapolis, IN
8:20 pm Departing origin. Northeast Indianapolis, IN
4:34 pm Shipment picked up Northeast Indianapolis, IN
I ordered my engraved Nexus One about 10 mins after 6pm on the 5th (as soon as the site opened) and it arrived today. I wasn’t asked to pay the vat and if you’re thinking of buying a UK specific charger for $19.95 from Google forget it its a rip off. The conector on the bottom of the phone is the standard Micro USB that all phones will be going to soon and you can pick up a charger for less than a fiver over here.
1/8/2010 12:57 pm Shipment delivered. Manchester, United Kingdom Why is this?
9:15 am With delivery courier. Manchester, United Kingdom
5:21 am Arrived at DHL facility. Manchester, United Kingdom
2:51 am Depart Facility East Midlands, United Kingdom
1/7/2010 11:46 pm Processed at DHL Location. East Midlands, United Kingdom
11:11 pm Clearance processing complete East Midlands, United Kingdom
9:12 pm Transit through DHL facility East Midlands, United Kingdom
7:36 am Depart Facility Cincinnati Hub, OH
1:45 am Processed at DHL Location. Cincinnati Hub, OH
1:16 am Transit through DHL facility Cincinnati Hub, OH
1/6/2010 11:05 pm Depart Facility Northeast Indianapolis, IN
11:05 pm Processed at DHL Location. Northeast Indianapolis, IN
9:10 pm Departing origin. Northeast Indianapolis, IN
4:22 pm Shipment picked up Northeast Indianapolis, IN
it’s half hour away…. but it’s snowing badly!!! doh!
1/9/2010 7:13 am Arrived at DHL facility. Gatwick, United Kingdom
4:08 am Depart Facility East Midlands, United Kingdom
1:06 am Processed at DHL Location. East Midlands, United Kingdom
1/8/2010 11:53 pm Clearance processing complete East Midlands, United Kingdom
Ordered the handset on Jan 6 11:00. First few attempts to pay threw up the ‘Order Failed’ dailog. After checking around one post mentioned that starting a fresh session and buying the phone “as fast as possible” was one way around the failure.
I did as instructed. Closed and restarted browser, went straight to order page, through that and to the pay page ASAP and it worked first time! Most likely pure chance but who knows.
Then nothing….nothing….nothing….until this morning when I checked the order and its gone to Shipped status and I have a DHL tracking number.
Not sure how long the next phase will take but progress is being made.
When you first put the SIM from your iPhone in your Nexus one you won’t have any cellular data until you put the APN settings in your Nexus One
Ok I’m on an iPhone pay monthly contract.
I found my APN settings in my iPhone (you don’t need the SIM in to do it)
Go To Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network
And in a section listed ‘Cellular Data’ were the following settings;
APN = idata.o2.co.uk
Username = vertigo
Password = password
I then put these settings into my Nexus One as follows;
Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names
I then put the following details in the fields;
Name = o2
APN = idata.o2.co.uk
Username = vertigo
Password = password
Just turned off WiFi, and mobile data (google maps anyway) is working Ok now.
Hope that this helps the rest of you. If my settings don’t work for you then you’ll need to check what the APN settings are in your own handset and replicate those.
Rick :)
can anyone who has it in the uk confirm that its working with o2 3g?
i was reading that the network “three” and other 3g networks use gsm 2100 which the phone doesnt support.
im not sure what is meant by “other 3g networks”
im an o2 user myself, so if someone can confirm the 3g is working fine that would be a great help
thanks
Ryan
Ryan, I’m on 3 so I’ll be able to tell you once my Nexus One arrives (it’s still in Indiana at the moment). However, the according to the spec sheet it supports 2100 so you’ll be fine.
The Nexus one supports 2100Mhz for 3g and is fine for 3 in the UK (Same as the G1 which I use on 3). The GSM frequencies supported are 850, 900, 1800, 1900 which will also be fine (it’s quad band).
GSM/3g phones these days are generally made for world markets rather than specific countries since it cuts manufacturing costs.
SC
Hi Rick,
When I go to:
Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names
I have just a blank screen with nowhere to enter any data.
There is a little title a the top which has APNs but their are no settings.
I am at a bit of a loss where to go from here! Anyone any ideas.
I am on 02 and my APN is as per what you have here
Thanks
Hi Rick,
Thanks for this. I had trouble finding the APN setting. Duh! All working on O2 regular iPhone SIM now ;-)
PS the engraving on the back of my Nexus One is “Bollox to your iPhone”
Cheer
could anyone that has bought the phone in the uk tell me how much you have actually paid… was it tha full £450 as stated…? thanks.
I have a thought.
What happens if in few months down the line, there something brakes, there is a problem with the firmware, or some other internal problem. and the phone needs to be returned to be fixed or replaced. Does this mean it will ahve to be returned to America? And will this incur extra costs to the owner? Any thoughts on this?
I have a thought.
What happens if in few months down the line, there something brakes, there is a problem with the firmware, or some other internal problem. and the phone needs to be returned to be fixed or replaced. Does this mean it will ahve to be returned to America? And will this incur extra costs to the owner? Any thoughts on this?
Similar to this, if i get a sim free nexus one. Where do i go for my customer support? I guess Google. DOes this mean ill have to call america to get my questions answered? Is it therefore better for both of these points, to wait for it to be released on Vodafone and have them as first point of call and responsible for replacing or fixing any problems.
Well
I’ve had mine for 36 hours now and I’m not impressed.
On the plus side
1. it has a fast processor (faster than iPhone)
2. It has a bright colour screen (brighter and better colours than the iPhone).
3. If you already have a google account and use G-Mail then when you log in to google all you stuff is there and backed up seamlessly to the internet (much better then the iPhone a wretched iTunes
Well
I’ve had mine for 36 hours now and I’m not impressed.
On the plus side
1. it has a fast processor (faster than iPhone)
2. It has a bright colour screen (brighter and better colours than the iPhone).
3. If you already have a google account and use G-Mail then when you log in to google all you stuff is there and backed up seamlessly to the internet (much better then the iPhone and wretched iTunes
I’ve had mine now for 36 hours and here are my first impressions
This phone is very fast it has a 1ghz processor, almost twice as fast as most other smarphones. The downside of this is that this phone gets very hot. Hotter than any phone that I’ve had before as hot as my Sony Vaio on my lap. It may not be anything to worry about but in my experience it doesn’t do much for the life of lithium ion batteries if the device gets this hot.
It also has a very bright very colouful screen, much better then the iPhone however some of the apps that I’ve downloaded must have been written for a different resolution as they look blurred
The downsides though are much more numerous
1. Bluetooth is rubbish, it wont sync contacts with my parrot car kit, the bluetooth connection keeps dropping out and it can’t voice dial from the kit.
2. The speaker on the handset is so weedy that that the speakerphone function is almost useless.
hey
can anyone tell me if the unlocked nexus one shipped to the uk will have multitouch and support 3g on tmobiles network?
thanks
Hi Josh – Multitouch: No, T-Mobile 3G: Yes.
cheers Martin. i read somewhere lack of multitouch in US is due to copyrights and that and UK version might be enabled. is it worth waiting till the nexus one is offically available in the UK via vodafone or will the nexus one never be multitouch enabled?
thanks
Well, the rumour is that a multitouch version will be available but there’s no clear idea when or where as of yet. It’s assumed the version Vodafone sells will have it, but that will still only be available direct from Google by the look of it so we’ll just have to wait and see.
hey
can anyone tell me if i had a nexus one shipped to the uk would it come with multitouch enabled and would it work on tmobiles 3g network?
thanks
3. The touchscreen is no-where near as responsive as an iPhone. There’s no multi-touch and if I hadn’t already used my daughters Nokia 5800 which has the worst touchscreen ever, I’d have said that my Nexus One was faulty. It’s not, its just not very good.
4. And then there’s the software…. its like its all in beta. It crashes constantly. The big criticism of the iPhone is that the apps store is exclusive, with apps submitted being delayed for ages before they’re approved by apple. Perhaps thats no bad thing, because the quality of the apps on Android seem to be ameteurish by comparison.
Helo!!!!!
Great to have news…
Can you please talk about the final price you have paid for it??
“when you receive your phone you will be expected to pay 17.5% VAT and 6.5% import duty”
Someone paid this pluses?
Thanks guys!
Great to have news…!!
Can you please talk about the final price you have paid for it??
“when you receive your phone you will be expected to pay 17.5% VAT and 6.5% import duty”
Someone paid this pluses?
Thanks guys!
As of yet as far as I’m aware no-one has been charged this. However, DHL is very likely to invoice you for it later. We’ll update the post when we get more information.
Got mine yesterday. No vat, nothing to pay at DHL. Slipped in my vodafone blackberry similar and everything worked. The built-in mail apparently doesn’t support exchange push mail but with 20$ I bought touchdown by nitrodesk that supports it and when it started it ha synched all my calendar/tasks and contacts!
I am very satisfied by the device. The only downside, that I haven’t managed to sortout yet, is the ringtone volume that is too low although the speakers seem to be able to sound louder.
Hi,
Did someone paid 17.5% VAT and 6.5% import duty on his Nexus One?
Thanks!!
Woohoo :).
Just got the DHL tracking number. Well… It still sits somewhere in the US and is not on its way to the UK, but at least it’s a first step.
Will post again once I get more details regarding VAT and import duty.
Cheers,
Mike
congrats, if you dont mind me asking when did you place your order? i ordered on saturday and the payment has been taken but the status hasnt been updated from the one about the webstore getting the order.
thanks
Ryan,
I placed my order on 8 Jan 2010 11:35 GMT-08:00. The status changed to “shipped” on January 11, that’s also when I got the DHL tracking number.
My bank hasn’t updated the records yet, it’s usually 2 business days delayed…
So I guess you should get your tracking number today / early tomorrow.
Hi guys,
Ordered ‘phone on 7th Jan with optional engraving (adds 72 hours to lead time) and optional AC adapter. The total price on Google checkout was $578.64.
The next day Google updated status to say it was being shipped and provided a DHL tracking link.
Today, 12th Jan, my package has gone from Indianapolis to Cincinnati with a status of “Transit through DHL facility”.
Also, today my online bank statement showed a debit card payment of £372.80.
My big question is…
Will it work with my Orange PAYG sim?
Cheers for the feedback.
Andy
Multitouch is enabled in the OS. It’s just the applications that do not support it. For example, if you load the Dolphin Browser then you can use the two fingered zoom gesture OK with it.
I am finding the on screen keypad a bit difficult to get used to. I have migrated from a Windows Mobile handset and would gladly give up the multitouch for a resistive touch screen. I may change my view eventually but at the moment I don’t see any advantage in a capacitive touch screen
Other points:
Battery life OK (just).
OLED screen is very clear.
Camera is very good considering the tiny lens.
Parrot CK3200 BT carkit won’t work. BT and Voice Dial support are abysmal.
WiFi won’t discover or connect to AD Hoc networks.
Ordered on the 5th and today (12th) same status as yours Andy, this is killing me!.
Hey,
Here’s my latest DHL tracking status.
1/13/2010 7:14 am Depart Facility Cincinnati Hub, OH
4:36 am Processed at DHL Location. Cincinnati Hub, OH
3:28 am Transit through DHL facility Cincinnati Hub, OH
Also, I’ve seen a link to a flight tracking website in another forum. A bunch of Nexus One phones just left the airport in Cincinnati and will arrive at East Midlands Airport tonight at 11:41pm!
Expect them to be delivered tomorrow!
mines is on that flight baby! Ordered two within 2 minutes of each other, ones coming on that flight, ones a day later :-S.
Got mine!
It’s charging now and I’ll post my thoughts later tonight.
I’m super curious if I get any 3G network issues… Hopefully not.
Cheers
Anyone rooted their Nexus yet?
In other news. My iPhone is in the bottom draw. I have been using it for 2 years and I think it will stay in the bottom draw until the new one comes out in June.
3G reception on o2 is better in my house that it ever was with iPhone, which I was surprised at given all the complaints in the US.
Speed download over 3G & WiFi is much faster than on my iPhone, I used SpeedTest.net app,, available on both devices, to test upload and download speeds. WiFi= 7.834 v 4.735 DL // 1.136 v 0.913 UL (Mbps)
So far I am enjoying my experience of the Nexus, but not all of it, they voice recognition does not understand northern git accent.
Old guy newbie. My first smartphone so I downloaded the user guide thinking I’ll print off so I can read up (phone at East Mids airport 11.56pm Friday) before it arrives. 324 pages – bloody hell.
So, what is the verdict from those who have received their phones and have had a chance to play around with them?
I’m keener on the Nexus than an iPhone but would like to hear some ‘first hand’ comments rather than lots of theoretical reviews. Good points vs. bad points would be nice.
Is it worth the time/money getting it shipped over? Worth waiting for Vodafone’s offering?
People need to remember that the phone software gets updated regularly, so problems like with Bluetooth etc can be fixed in future releases. The UK is a “test” country so testing could mean that the phone may not be fully compatible with UK devices until Google are ready to release an update to fix this problem.
I too am really keen to hear more hands on review information. I am currently on O2 and have a cheap contract which includes unlimited web browsing. I am very tempted to buy the nexus from the us of a but need some more info to tip me over that edge :O)
+1 to above requests…some hands on comments will help me making a decision too.
I'd be interested too
Due to popular demand! http://thenextweb.com/uk/2010/01/31/nexus-one-uk/
How does the US version differ? A friend in Chicago who is coming to the UK shortly offered to buy one there and bring it over to save shipping (and possibly import) costs. Any downsides/upsides to this, features missing or extras present? Want to use on Three
Alexi, there is no difference in the features. The model you'll import directly from Google will be the same one sent to your friend in Chicago. So you'll benefit from not paying VAT and overseas shipping. Tho your friend may have to pay US tax, which is likely to be a lot less than 17.5% VAT
Hi Mr O, I read in various places things like the US version has Google Voice but the UK version doesn't or pinch n zoom will be on UK but not US and maybe maps/directions are different? Is this not so?
Hi Alexi,
As far as I am aware, Google Voice is installed in the phone when it ships to the UK but as the service is not available in the UK it doesn't yet work. I think Martin mentions it in another post how he tried to download it from the Android app store only to discover his N1 alerted him that it was already installed.
When the phone first shipped Pinch and Zoom was only enabled on third party apps such as Dolphin browser but in the last week it was announced that Google would be issuing an 'over the air' update to the o/s that enables it on everything.
The one main feature is that outside the US the maps do not feature voice turn by turn instructions. I would imagine that this is because Google haven't managed to map the world but I guess that won't last long :p
Hope that helps :)
Very helpful thanks. Do we know if UK people are getting charged VAT and import duty yet? With possible IL state tax (and the wait for my friends holiday) it may not be worth getting it delivered to Chicago
It seems that the delivery company (DHL for most people) is invoicing weeks after delivery and in most cases it's around £60-£65 depending on currency fluctuations when you order. As the $ is stronger than the £ at the moment I would say a US purchase would be better financially. Some people seem to think they won't have to pay duty but I did see a scanned DHL invoice on the Google forum, so they do exist, sadly :/ I'm waiting till April to buy mine, hopefully the £ will have recovered by then
JBL: there is problem for my ordering from uk,when i inter my card number and other thing like that,it says try again in few min, does any one khow why is that for??
I ordered phone yesterday at around 6/7pm and has already processed in cincinnati, i cant wait to recieve it.
has now set off on the ship to uk =]
Mr Omneo says that Google Voice does not work in the UK – it does – I have had my Nexus for 3 weeks and Voice worked straight out of the box. It's a great feature.
Does ‘spendingit’ have any comment to ‘Mr Omneo.s’ remark that Google Voice does not work in the UK out of the box ?
I had o2 but contract finished and moved to Orange [better reception at home]. Does anyone know what the APN settings are for Orange? tks
Not sure how you have Google Voice working within the UK, yes there are workarounds with VOIP to get the US numbers set up but it's certainly not enabled for UK users out the box. Here's the lowdown on why it's not yet available. http://thenextweb.com/uk/2010/02/14/uk-google-v…
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I use my Orange AYG sim in my Nexus One when I am in the UK. My only problem is trying to find my balance. It was easy to do on my Motorola Razr but not sure how to do so on the Nexus One. Any suggestions?