At launch, Google took heat for a number of things related to their Nexus One Android based smartphone, including the fact that customers who canceled service early faced $550 in fees – a $200 ETF from T-Mobile, and a $350 Google “Equipment Recovery Fee”. Which was more than the phone even cost. Responding to these criticisms, sluggish Nexus One sales and the FCC’s recent inquiry into ETFs, Google says they’re lowering the Nexus One “equipment recovery fee” from $350 to $150 and talks about the decision to the Wall Street Journal:

A Google representative said the company had been working with T-Mobile to lower the equipment fee. “Google’s overall financial philosophy with regard to operator service plans remains unchanged: We make no profit from commissions from operators or from equipment recovery fees, and our recovery fees are based on operator charges to Google for early termination of service,” the company said in a statement.

Another criticism of the Nexus One launch was that Google was only offering e-mail support (with turaround response time of up to 24 hours). That’s also changing, with TMO News indicating that Google has officially launched phone support for the Nexus One in the US, 888-48-NEXUS (63987). A third major criticism of the product was that the phone struggled to obtain 3G connectivity, even in markets where T-Mobile 3G service exists. That problem was apparently fixed with a recent firmware update, though some connectivity complaints persist.

Link to the original article…