Linus Torvalds: The Nexus One is a “Winner”

Linux inventor and tech pioneer Linus Torvalds has taken a side in the smartphone wars: specifically, the Google Nexus One‘s side.

Writing on his personal blog, he says that while he “generally hates” phones, he sees the Nexus One as “a useful (and admittedly pretty good-looking) gadget”:Torvalds:

I have to admit, the Nexus One is a winner. I wasn’t enthusiastic about buying a phone on the internet sight unseen, but the day it was reported that it finally had the pinch-to-zoom thing enabled, I decided to take the plunge. I’ve wanted to have a GPS unit for my car anyway, and I thought that google navigation might finally make a phone useful.

And it does. What a difference! I no longer feel like I’m dragging a phone with me “just in case” I would need to get in touch with somebody – now I’m having a useful (and admittedly pretty good-looking) gadget instead. The fact that you can use it as a phone too is kind of secondary.

No specific mention of the iPhone, but this will no doubt fan the smartphone flamewars on message boards worldwide.

(h/t TechCrunch)