Getting hold of a new gadget is always fun, but the Nexus One, Google’s first phone, is something a little bit special. You can only obtain it from Google’s dedicated phone store and this means it comes from the States. For two days I was addicted to hitting the refresh button on the DHL tracker page, watching my phone jump first across a state, then across the Atlantic before its final glamorous hop from East Midlands to Aberdeen. Having come to the end of my Three contract I decided to switch back to O2.

To complement this I decided I wanted a smartphone and an Android one at that. Having poured over reviews of the promising looking Motorola Milestone, it was the sudden launch of the Nexus One on January 5th that really piqued my interest. I ordered it on January 6th and received it on January 13th (the biggest delay caused by DHL getting a notification to pick-up the package at 5pm on a Friday…).

The packaging itself is worthy of an Apple product. A slim, white, heavy-duty cardboard box simply has the words “nexus one” and “Google” on it. Lifting off the cover reveals the phone itself, sitting in its clinical white surroundings, encased in a clear vinyl wrap. Lifting out the phone reveals another compartment with a getting started guide, warranty etc, the phone’s battery and the Android branded phone pouch. In the base of the box is the American charger (the UK charger is an added extra and was included separately in my DHL box), a USB cable and a set of headphones.

The phone is much sleeker, smaller and lighter than I was expecting and looks beautiful. Curved lines, four touch buttons at the bottom and a slither of a grill at the top. On the back it has the 5MP camera with LED flash, and the words Google and HTC.

Plugging in the phone to the UK charger via USB cable it immediately sprung to life. The gorgeous 3.7″ AMOLED screen displays the Google-coloured Nexus logo on the screen and then I’m greeted by the Google/Android quick set-up screen. Here you enter your Google account details (or set-up a new account) to sync the phone up with Calendar, Mail and Contacts etc. This was my first experience with a touch screen and although tricky to type at first, as I progressed through the screens it became easier and easier. I had some problem advancing to the sign-in screen after messing up my password entry but returning to the beginning of the tutorial and starting over saw everything sorted.

Once my username and password were in, the phone informed me I had no 3G access but offered to find a wireless network instead. My home wireless was immediately shown and after entering its password my Google account started syncing. Over wireless it was impressively fast and within seconds I was on my home screen with a full contact book, calendar and GMail already working perfectly.

The home screen is simple and uncluttered; a few useful apps at the bottom, a Google search bar widget and a status bar at the top. When new mail arrives a small icon appears in the status bar which you can then drag down to view in full. You can click on a notification to open Gmail or Messaging, or clear the notifications and return to the home screen.

The next thing I did was set-up my Facebook account. Once the details were entered the phone then offered to supplement my contacts (already synced from Google) with information from Facebook. This was very impressive, adding profile pictures and other contact details to most of my contacts. It only missed out a couple where names were sufficiently different between GMail and Facebook. The Facebook app itself is clear and simple providing access to the news feed, photos etc.

Although my SIM was recognised and I was able to make and receive calls, and send and receive texts straight away, it didn’t look like my 3G access was up and running for internet and data. At first I thought this might be a symptom of porting my phone number from 3 but eventually I found a detailed forum post containing relevant settings. Once entered into the Nexus, the 3G symbol popped up in the status bar and my data connection came alive. Compared to my previous phone the connection is very fast and stable.

Now I’m on with customising the phone and adding apps from the Android marketplace and beyond (one of the key advantages compared to the iPhone). So far I’ve been very impressed with Google Goggles (a visual search tool), Remember the Milk (a To Do List manager) and the apps for Last.fm, podcasts and Flickr.

I also love being able to multitask – the other evening I was using the Map app to navigate to a friend’s house in the city. At the same time I was listening to music and able to read my e-mails (including Office attachments) and respond to text messages. The phone never missed a beat.

The camera is also very impressive, with one of my first shots being this of Crathes Castle.

All in all I’m already hugely impressed with this phone and am looking forward to making the most of its features.