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• 7 Benefits Segmentation Examples + How to Get Started

  26 mars 2024, par Erin

  Every copywriter knows the importance of selling a product’s benefits, not its features. So why should your marketing efforts be different ?

  Answer : they shouldn’t.

  It’s time to stop using demographic or behavioural traits to group customers and start using benefits segmentation instead.

  Benefits segmentation groups your customers based on the value they get from your product or service. In this article, we’ll cover seven real-life examples of benefits segmentation, explain why it’s so powerful and show how to get started today.

  What is benefits segmentation ?

  Benefits segmentation is a way for marketers to group their target market based on the value they get from their products or services. It is a form of customer segment marketing. Other types of market segmentation include :

  • Geographic segmentation
  • Demographic segmentation
  • Psychographic segmentation
  • Behavioural segmentation
  • Firmographic segmentation

  Customers could be the same age, from the same industry and live in the same location but want drastically different things from the same product. Some may like the design of your products, others the function, and still more the price. 

  Whatever the benefits, you can make your marketing more effective by building advertising campaigns around them.

  Why use benefits segmentation ?

  Appealing to the perceived benefits of your product is a powerful marketing strategy. Here are the advantages of you benefit segmentation can expect :

  

  More effective marketing campaigns

  Identifying different benefits segments lets you create much more targeted marketing campaigns. Rather than appeal to a broad customer base, you can create specific ads and campaigns that speak to a small part of your target audience. 

  These campaigns tend to be much more powerful. Benefits-focused messaging better resonates with your audience, making potential customers more likely to convert.

  Better customer experience 

  Customers use your products for a reason. By showing you understand their needs through benefits segmentation, you deliver a much better customer experience — in terms of messaging and how you develop new products. 

  In today’s world, experience matters. 80% of customers say a company’s experience is as important as its products and services.

  Stronger customer loyalty

  When products or services are highly targeted at potential customers, they are more likely to return. More than one-third (36%) of customers would return to a brand if they had a positive experience, even if cheaper or more convenient alternatives exist.

  Using benefits segmentation will also help you attract the right kind of people in the first place — people who will become long-term customers because your benefits align with their needs. 

  Improved products and services

  Benefits segmentation makes it easier to tailor products or services to your audiences’ wants and needs. 

  Rather than creating a product meant to appeal to everyone but doesn’t fulfil a real need, your team can create different ranges of the same product that target different benefits segments. 

  Higher conversion rates

  Personalising your pitch to individual customers is powerful. It drives performance and creates better outcomes for your target customer. Companies that grow faster drive 40 per cent more revenue from personalisation than their slower-growing counterparts.

  When sales reps understand your product’s benefits, talking to customers about them and demonstrating how the product solves particular pain points is much easier. 

  In short, benefits segmentation can lead to higher conversion rates and a better return on investment. 

  7 examples of benefits segmentation

  Let’s take a look at seven examples of real-life benefits segmentation to improve your understanding :

  Nectar

  Mattress manufacturer Nectar does a great job segmenting their product range by customer benefits. That’s a good thing, given how many different things people want from their mattress. 

  It’s not just a case of targeting back sleepers vs. side sleepers ; they focus on more specific benefits like support and cooling. 

  

  Take a look at the screenshot above. Nectar mentions the benefits of each mattress in multiple places, making it easy for customers to find the perfect mattress. If you care about value, for example, you might choose “The Nectar.” If pressure relief and cooling are important to you, you might pick the “Nectar Premier.”

  24 Hour Fitness

  A gym is a gym is a gym, right ? Not when people use it to achieve different goals, it’s not. And that’s what 24 Hour Fitness exploits when they sell memberships to their audience. 

  As you can see from its sales page, 24 Hour Fitness targets the benefits that different customers get from their products :

  

  Customers who just care about getting access to weights and treadmills for as cheap as possible can buy the Silver Membership. 

  But getting fit isn’t the only reason people go to the gym. That’s why 24 Hour Fitness targets its Gold Membership to those who want the “camaraderie” of studio classes led by “expert instructors.”

  Finally, some people value being able to access any club, anywhere in the country. Consumers value flexibility greatly, so 24 Hour Fitness limits this perk to its top-tier membership. 

  Notion

  Notion is an all-in-one productivity and note-taking app that aims to be the only productivity tool people and teams need. Trying to be everything to all people rarely works, however, which is why Notion cleverly tweaks its offering to appeal to the desires of different customer segments :

  

  For price-conscious individuals, it provides a pared solution that doesn’t bloat the user experience with features or benefits these consumers don’t care about.

  The Plus tier is the standard offering for teams who need a way to collaborate online. Still, there are two additional tiers for businesses that target specific benefits only certain teams need. 

  For teams that benefit from a longer history or additional functionality like a bulk export, Notion offers the Business tier at almost double the price of the standard Plus tier. Finally, the Enterprise tier for businesses requires much more advanced security features. 

  Apple

  Apple is another example of a brand that designs and markets products to customers based on specific benefits.

  

  Why doesn’t Apple just make one really good laptop ? Because customers want different things from them. Some want the lightest or smallest laptop possible. Others need ones with higher processing power or larger screens.

  One product can’t possibly deliver all those benefits. So, by understanding the precise reasons people need a laptop, Apple can create and market products around the benefits that are most likely to be sold. 

  Tesla

  In the same way Apple understands that consumers need different things from their laptops, Tesla understands that consumers derive different benefits from their cars. 

  It’s why the company sells four cars (and now a truck) that cover various sizes, top speeds, price points and more. 

  

  Tesla even asks customers about the benefits they want from their car when helping them to choose a vehicle. By asking customers to pick how they will use their new vehicle, Tesla can ensure the car’s benefits match up to the consumers’ goals. 

  Dynamite Brands

  Dynamite Brands is a multi-brand, community-based business that targets remote entrepreneurs around the globe. But even this heavily niched-down business still needs to create benefit segments to serve its audience better. 

  It’s why the company has built several different brands instead of trying to serve every customer under a single banner :

  

  If you just want to meet other like-minded entrepreneurs, you can join the Dynamite Circle, for example. But DC Black might be a better choice if you care more about networking and growing your business.

  It’s the same with the two recruiting brands. Dynamite Jobs targets companies that just want access to a large talent pool. Remote First Recruiting targets businesses that benefit from a more hands-on approach to hiring where a partner does the bulk of the work.

  Garmin

  Do you want your watch to tell the time or do you want it to do more ? If you fall into the latter category, Garmin has designed dozens of watches that target various benefits.

  

  Do you want a watch that tracks your fitness without looking ugly ? Buy the Venu. 

  Want a watch designed for runners ? Buy the Forerunner. 

  Do you need a watch that can keep pace with your outdoor lifestyle ? Buy the Instinct. 

  Just like Apple, Garmin can’t possibly design a single watch that delivers all these benefits. Instead, each watch is carefully built for the target customer’s needs. Yes, it makes the target market smaller, but it makes the product more appealing to those who care about those benefits.

  How to get started with benefits segmentation

  According to Gartner, 63% of digital marketing leaders struggle with personalisation. Don’t be one of them. Here’s how you can improve your personalisation efforts using benefits segmentation. 

  Research and define benefits

  The first step to getting started with benefit segmentation is understanding all the benefits customers get from your products. 

  You probably already know some of the benefits, but don’t underestimate the importance of customer research. Hold focus groups, survey customers and read customer reviews to discover what customers love about your products. 

  Create benefit-focused customer personas

  Now you understand the benefits, it’s time to create customer personas that reflect them. Group consumers who like similar benefits and see if they have any other similarities. 

  Price-conscious consumers may be younger. Maybe people who care about performance have a certain type of job. The more you can do to flesh out what the average benefits-focused consumer looks like, the easier it will be to create campaigns. 

  Create campaigns focused on each benefit

  Now, we get to the fun part. Make the benefit-focused customer personas you created in the last step the focus of your marketing campaigns going forward. 

  Don’t try to appeal to everyone. Just make your campaigns appeal to these people.

  Go deeper with segmentation analytics

  The quality of your benefit segmentation strategy hinges on the quality of your data. That’s why using a an accurate web analytics solution like Matomo to track how each segment behaves online using segmentation analytics is important.

  

  This data can make your marketing campaigns more targeted and effective.

  Benefits segmentation in practice

  Let’s say you have an e-commerce website selling a wide range of household items, and you want to create a benefit segment for “Tech Enthusiasts” who are interested in the latest gadgets and cutting-edge technology. You want to track and analyse their behaviour separately to tailor marketing campaigns or website content specifically for this group.

  1. Identify characteristics : Determine key characteristics or behaviours that define the “Tech Enthusiasts” segment. 

  This might include frequent visits to product pages of the latest tech products, site searches that contain different tech product names, engaging with tech-specific content in emails or spending more time on technology-related blog posts.

  One quick and surefire way to identify characteristics of a segment is to look historically at specific tech product purchases in your Matomo and work your way backwards to find out what steps a “Tech Enthusiast” takes before making a purchase. For instance, you might look at User Flows to discover this.

  

  2. Create segments in Matomo : Using Matomo’s segmentation features, you can create a segment that includes users exhibiting these characteristics. For instance :

  • • Segment by page visits : Create a segment that includes users who visited tech product pages or spent time on tech blogs.

  

  • • Segment by event tracking : If you’ve set up event tracking for specific actions (like clicking on “New Tech” category buttons), create a segment based on these events.
    • Combine conditions : Combine various conditions (e.g., pages visited, time spent, specific actions taken) to create a comprehensive segment that accurately represents “Tech Enthusiasts.”

  3. Track and analyse : Apply this segment to your analytics data in Matomo to track and analyse the behaviour of this group separately. Monitor metrics like their conversion rates, time spent on site or specific products they engage with.
  4. Tailor marketing : Use the insights from analysing this segment to tailor marketing strategies. This could involve creating targeted campaigns or customising website content to cater specifically to these users.

  Remember, the key is to define criteria that accurately represent the segment you want to target, use Matomo’s segmentation tools to isolate this group, and effectively derive actionable insights to cater to their preferences or needs.

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  Track your segmentation efforts 

  Benefits segmentation is a fantastic way to improve your marketing. It can help you deliver a better customer experience, improve your product offering and help your sales reps close more deals. 

  Segmenting your audience with an analytics platform lets you go even deeper. But doing so in a privacy-sensitive way can be difficult. 

  That’s why over 1 million websites choose Matomo as their web analytics solution. Matomo provides exceptional segmentation capabilities while remaining 100% accurate and compliant with global privacy laws.

  Find out how Matomo’s insights can level up your marketing efforts with our 21-day free trial, no credit card required.

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• CRO Program : Best Practices and KPIs to Track [2024]

  8 mai 2024, par Erin

  Driving traffic to your website is only one part of the equation ; the second part is getting those visitors to convert by completing a desired action — creating an account, signing up for a newsletter or completing a purchase. 

  But if you fail to optimise your website for conversions, you’ll have a hard time guiding visitors further down the funnel and turning them into customers.

  That’s where a CRO program (or conversion rate optimisation) can help. 

  This article will cover conversion rate optimisation best practices and outline key metrics and KPIs to start tracking to see an improvement in your conversion rates.

  What is a CRO program ? 

  In the simplest terms, a CRO program — also called a CRO plan — is a digital marketing strategy. It focuses on implementing different tactics that can lead to an increase in conversion rate and maximising revenue. 

  

  One thing to remember is that the definition of “conversion” varies from business to business. The most obvious type of conversion would be a financial transaction or a completed form — but it comes down to what you consider a valuable action. 

  Many different actions can count as conversions, depending on your marketing goals. 

  Besides making a purchase, other common examples of key conversion moments include creating a new account, signing up for a free trial, booking a demo and subscribing to an email newsletter. 

  Another thing worth noting is that while the average conversion rate on e-commerce websites is 3.76%, it might fluctuate across different industries and device types. Case in point — desktop devices have higher conversion rates than mobile devices, clocking in at 4.79% and 3.32%, respectively. 

  So, in addition to defining your key conversion moments, you should also go over conversion insights relevant to your specific industry. 

  

  The importance of conversion rate optimisation 

  You’d be right to assume that the ultimate goal of a conversion rate optimisation process is to drive revenue through higher conversion rates — but don’t focus solely on the numbers. The core principle of a CRO program is improving the customer experience. Once you’ve achieved that, the increase in conversion rate will follow. 

  

  According to a recent report, global conversion rate optimisation (CRO) software sales are expected to reach $3.7 billion by 2032 — up from $1.1 billion in 2021. 

  This growth indicates the increasing interest in strategies and tools that can help optimise the conversion funnel. Businesses are looking for ways to keep potential customers engaged and improve the average conversion rate — without necessarily increasing their spending. 

  Here are a few reasons why a CRO program deserves a spot in your broader digital marketing strategies : 

  • It can lower your cost per acquisition (CPA) : A CRO program is about optimising your conversion funnel by leveraging existing assets and website traffic rather than increasing your spending — which lowers the costs of acquiring new customers and, in turn, drives ROI. 
  • It can maximise customer lifetime value (CLV) : If you can turn one-time buyers into repeat customers, you’ll be one step closer to building a loyal user base and increasing your CLV. 
  • It can lead to increased sales and boost your revenue : Higher conversion rates typically mean higher revenue ; that’s arguably the most obvious benefit of implementing a CRO program. 
  • It improves the overall user experience : The goal is to make your site more accessible, easier to navigate and more engaging. Delivering the experience people want — and expect — when navigating your website is one of the core principles of a CRO program.
  • It helps you to get to know your customers better : You can’t meet your customers’ needs without taking the time to know them, create user personas and understand their preferences, pain points and conversion barriers they may be facing. 

  Conversion optimisation gives you a competitive edge in revenue and brand reputation. 

  5 CRO best practices 

  

  Here are five conversion rate optimisation strategies and best practices that can make a real difference in the customer experience — and drive potential conversions. 

  Create a CRO roadmap in advance 

  First and foremost, you’ll need a well-defined “game plan” that aligns with and reflects your conversion goals. 

  A CRO roadmap is a detailed manual that outlines how to implement different elements of your CRO-related efforts. Marketing teams can refer to this step-by-step framework for test planning, prioritisation and resource allocation while optimising their marketing strategy. 

  While conversion rate optimisation can be a complex process — especially when you don’t know what to tackle first — we’ve found that there are three things you need to consider when setting the foundations of a successful CRO program : 

  • The “why” behind your website traffic : You’re likely using different online marketing strategies — from SEO to pay-per-click (PPC). So, it’s best to start by gathering channel-specific conversion insights through marketing attribution. Then identify which of these efforts have the biggest impact on your target audience. 
  • The so-called “conversion blockers” that tell you where and why visitors tend to leave without completing a desired action : Funnel analysis might reveal problematic pages — drop-off points where you tend to lose most of your visitors. 
  • Your “hooks” : User feedback can be of great help here ; you can learn a lot by simply asking your customers to fill out a quick online survey and tell you what motivated them to take action.

  Before working on that “game plan,” perform a pre-test analysis. 

  Matomo combines web analytics and user behaviour analytics with features like Heatmaps, Session Recordings, Form Analytics, Funnel Analytics, A/B Testing and User Flow. It can give you those initial benchmarks for measuring progress and a potential increase in conversion rate. 

  Validate your ideas with A/B and multivariate testing 

  Conversion rate optimisation is an iterative process. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that A/B testing variants of page layouts, CTAs, headlines, copy and other elements is a big part of it.

  Multivariate and A/B testing allows you to test a wide range of elements across your site and identify what works — and, more importantly, what doesn’t — in terms of driving conversions.

  On that note, Matomo’s A/B Testing feature can support your conversion rate optimisation process by identifying variants that perform better based on statistical significance. 

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  Get to know your website visitors 

  Driving conversions comes down to understanding potential customer’s pain points and needs — and delivering an experience that positions you as the solution and gets them to take action. 

  Here are a few things that can help you understand your website visitors better : 

  • Collecting customer feedback through surveys and using it to identify main areas for improvement 
  • Creating detailed customer personas and optimising your website design and messaging based on your target audience’s pain points, needs and wants 
  • Using heatmaps — colour-coded data visualisation tools that illustrate user interactions — and scroll maps to get a comprehensive overview of online sessions and identify the most engaging elements and those that stand out as potential conversion barriers 

  Matomo’s Heatmaps can help you identify the most-clicked elements on the page and show how far users scroll — providing powerful user insights you can use to optimise these pages.

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  Remove friction points 

  As we previously discussed, identifying friction points and barriers to conversion — issues that prevent visitors from converting — is one of the crucial aspects of developing a CRO plan. 

  Many different “conversion blockers” are worth looking into, including : 

  • Lengthy or otherwise complex checkout processes 
  • No guest checkout feature 
  • Device type, browser and OS compatibility issues 
  • Slow site speed and other technical issues
  • Lack of free shipping and limited payment methods 
  • Absence of social proof (customer reviews and testimonials) and trust badges

  Once you’ve identified what’s slowing down or completely discouraging users from reaching key conversion moments, take the time to address it. 

  Switch to text-based CTAs 

  Calls-to-action (CTAs) play a crucial role in guiding customers from interest to action. However, sometimes they fail to do their job — encouraging website visitors to proceed to the next step — effectively. 

  The most obvious reason is that your CTAs aren’t visually engaging or clear enough. In that case, you can try using action-oriented language and stronger visual elements and aligning the CTA copy with the context of the page. 

  But more often than not, the issue comes down to a phenomenon called “banner blindness” — the tendency of website visitors to ignore (either intentionally or unintentionally) elements on a page that resemble banner ads. 

  And if that’s what’s preventing visitors from converting, consider switching to text-based CTAs. 

  Conversion rate optimisation metrics and KPIs 

  At this point, you should know the outcomes you hope to achieve. Your next step should be to figure out how you’re going to measure and analyse results — and identify the changes that made the most impact on your conversion funnel. 

  After all, your CRO action plan should be based on data — assumptions and “gut feelings” will rarely lead to a notable increase in conversion rates. 

  

  That brings us to key performance indicators (KPIs) : 

  Tracking CRO metrics and website KPIs can help you understand the customer’s journey and path to purchase, identify opportunities for improving the user experience (UX) and determine how to optimise conversions.

  That said, you shouldn’t try to track every metric in the book ; think about your ultimate goal and identify the metrics and KPIs most relevant to your business. 

  We’ll assume that you’re already tracking macro- and micro-conversions. However, we’ve outlined a few additional key conversion rate optimisation metrics you should keep an eye on to make sure that your CRO program is performing as intended : 

  • Cost-per-conversion : By measuring how much you spend on each successful conversion — again, completed forms, sign-ups and sales all count as key conversion moments — you’ll be in a better position to assess the cost-effectiveness of your online marketing strategies.
  • Starter rate : This metric tells you the number of people who start filling out the form, after seeing it. This metric is particularly important for companies that rely on getting leads from forms. 
  • Average order value (AOV) : This metric is important for e-commerce sites to understand the value of their transactions. AOV calculates the average monetary value of each order.

  That’s not all ; you can also use a web analytics tool like Matomo to gain granular insights into visitors : 

  • Unique, new and returning visitors : Tracking the number of new and returning visitors your website gets within a given timeframe will help you understand your user base and determine if your content resonates with them. While you want a constant stream of new traffic, don’t overlook the importance of returning visitors ; they’re the foundation of a loyal customer base.
  • User flows : By analysing the user flows, you’ll have a visual representation of how visitors use your website, which will help you understand their journey and the specific path they take. 
  • Bounce rate : This metric tells you how many users viewed a single page on your site and ended up leaving before they took any kind of action. As such, it’s a clear indicator of how good your content, CTAs and website layout are at keeping users engaged.
  • Exit rate : Another key metric to track is the exit rate — the percentage of users who drop off at a specific page. High-exit pages usually lack important information and CTAs, cause frustration or otherwise fail to meet users’ expectations. Keep in mind that there’s a difference between bounce rate and exit rate — the latter involves users who viewed at least one other page. 

  There are many other user engagement metrics you should keep an eye on in addition to the ones mentioned above — including time on-page, actions per visit, scroll depth and traffic source. You’ll find all this information — and more — in Matomo’s Page Analytics Report. 

  Conclusion 

  Implementing a CRO program can be a time-consuming and iterative process. However, it’s vital for guiding your marketing efforts and making data-driven decisions that’ll ultimately help you drive growth and reach your business goals. 

  It’s best to start by identifying where your website visitors come from and what contributes to — or prevents them from — taking further action. But that’s easier said than done. You’ll need to leverage web analytics tools like Matomo to gather powerful user insights and monitor your website’s performance. 

  As an all-in-one, privacy-friendly web analytics solution, Matomo combines traditional web analytics and advanced behavioural analytics — delivering a consistent experience based on 100% accurate, unsampled data.

  Join the 1 million websites that have chosen Matomo as their web analytics platform. Start your 21-day free trial today — and see how Matomo can help you improve your website’s conversion rates. No credit card required.

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• Nexus One

  19 mars 2010, par Mans — Uncategorized

  I have had a Nexus One for about a week (thanks Google), and naturally I have an opinion or two about it.
  

  Hardware

  With the front side dominated by a touch-screen and a lone, round button, the Nexus One appearance is similar to that of most contemporary smartphones. The reverse sports a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, a Google logo, and a smaller HTC logo. Power button, volume control, and headphone and micro-USB sockets are found along the edges. It is with appreciation I note the lack of a front-facing camera ; the silly idea of video calls is finally put to rest.

  Powering up the phone (I’m beginning to question the applicability of that word), I am immediately enamoured with the display. At 800×480 pixels, the AMOLED display is crystal-clear and easily viewable even in bright light. In a darker environment, the display automatically dims. The display does have one quirk in that the subpixel pattern doesn’t actually have a full RGB triplet for each pixel. The close-up photo below shows the pattern seen when displaying a solid white colour.

  

  The result of this is that fine vertical lines, particularly red or blue ones, look a bit jagged. Most of the time this is not much of a problem, and I find it an acceptable compromise for the higher effective resolution it provides.

  Basic interaction

  The Android system is by now familiar, and the Nexus offers no surprises in basic usage. All the usual applications come pre-installed : browser, email, calendar, contacts, maps, and even voice calls. Many of the applications integrate with a Google account, which is nice. Calendar entries, map placemarks, etc. are automatically shared between desktop and mobile. Gone is the need for the bug-ridden custom synchronisation software with which mobile phones of the past were plagued.

  Launching applications is mostly speedy, and recently used apps are kept loaded as long as memory needs allow. Although this garbage-collection-style of application management, where you are never quite sure whether an app is still running, takes a few moments of acclimatisation, it works reasonably well in day to day use. Most of the applications are well-behaved and save their data before terminating.

  Email

  Two email applications are included out of the box : one generic and one Gmail-only. As I do not use Gmail, I cannot comment on this application. The generic email client supports IMAP, but is rather limited in functionality. Fortunately, a much-enhanced version, K-9, is available for download. The main feature I find lacking here is threaded message view.

  The features, or lack thereof, in the email applications is not, however, of huge importance, as composing email, or any longer piece of text, is something one rather avoids on a system like this. The on-screen keyboard, while falling among the better of its kind, is still slow to use. Lack of tactile feedback means accidentally tapping the wrong key is easily done, and entering numbers or punctuation is an outright chore.

  Browser

  Whatever the Nexus lacks in email abilities, it makes up for with the browser. Surfing the web on a phone has never been this pleasant. Page rendering is quick, and zooming is fast and simple. Even pages not designed for mobile viewing are easy to read with smart reformatting almost entirely eliminating the sideways scrolling which hampered many a mobile browser of old.

  Calls and messaging

  Being a phone, the Nexus One is obviously able to make and receive calls, and it does so with ease. Entering a number or locating a stored contact are both straight-forward operations. During a call, audio is clear and of adequate loudness, although I have yet to use the phone in really noisy surroundings.

  The other traditional task of a mobile phone, messaging, is also well-supported. There isn’t really much to say about this.

  Multimedia

  Having a bit of an interest in most things multimedia, I obviously tested the capabilities of the Nexus by throwing some assorted samples at it, revealing ample space for improvement. With video limited to H.264 and MPEG4, and the only supported audio codecs being AAC, MP3, Vorbis, and AMR, there are many files which will not play.

  To make matters worse, only selected combinations of audio and video will play together. Several video files I tested played without sound, yet when presented with the very same audio data alone, it was correctly decoded. As for container formats, it appears restricted to MP4/MOV, and Ogg (for Vorbis). AVI files are recognised as media files, but I was unable to find an AVI file which would play.

  With a device clearly capable of so much more, the poor multimedia support is nothing short of embarrassing.

  The Market

  Much of the hype surrounding Android revolves around the Market, Google’s virtual marketplace for app authors to sell or give away their creations. The thousands of available applications are broadly categorised, and a search function is available.

  The categorised lists are divided into free and paid sections, while search results, disappointingly, are not. To aid the decision, ratings and comments are displayed alongside the summary and screenshots of each application. Overall, the process of finding and installing an application is mostly painless. While it could certainly be improved, it could also have been much worse.

  The applications themselves are, as hinted above, beyond numerous. Sadly, quality does not quite match up to quantity. The vast majority of the apps are pointless, though occasionally mildly amusing, gimmicks of no practical value. The really good ones, and they do exist, are very hard to find unless one knows precisely what to look for.

  Battery

  Packing great performance into a pocket-size device comes with a price in battery life. The battery in the Nexus lasts considerably shorter time than that in my older, less feature-packed Nokia phone. To some extent this is probably a result of me actually using it a lot more, yet the end result is the same : more frequent recharging. I should probably get used to the idea of recharging the phone every other night.

  Verdict

  The Nexus One is a capable hardware platform running an OS with plenty of potential. The applications are still somewhat lacking (or very hard to find), although the basic features work reasonably well. Hopefully future Android updates will see more and better core applications integrated, and I imagine that over time, I will find third-party apps to solve my problems in a way I like. I am not putting this phone on the shelf just yet.