[Nexus One General] irishrally:
HTC sent me a replacement unit for the Nexus One I have with dust under the screen. Here are my observations:

- A Nexus One with no battery or battery cover was loosely surrounded by the plastic that comes with a new phone, sitting in a standard shipping box with some bubble wrap.

- The phone appears to be unused - no scratches anywhere, not even near the USB port.

- The serial number on the replacement phone is 7936 higher than on the original N1.

- The part number on the new phone is: "99HKE002-01" but the part number on the old N1 is "99HKE002-00 F". Not sure what the "F" is for, but it looks like I got a newer revision of the N1. I bought the first N1 a couple of days after release. What is the p/n on the new AT&T version of the N1?

- The IMEI number on the replacement phone is 6825776 higher than my original N1.

- The darker plastic parts on the phone are a different color than my original N1. It is more of light gray color than the darker, almost chocolate original color. I like the original more, and now my battery cover does not match the rest of the phone.

- The trackball is a different color. It is now almost transparent white instead of transparent darker color like the dark plastic. It's possible my old trackball is just dirty, but I don't think that is the case.

- The volume button (especially volume down) on the replacement phone has much better feeling when pressed. It seems to have longer travel when depressed, and it clicks better. I always thought the volume down button on my original phone was not that great.

- The haptic feedback is less intense (too weak) with the replacement phone. I'm not sure if this is because I was using custom ROMs and kernels or if there is a hardware/software change with the replacement phone.

- The screen on the new phone seems sharper than the old screen, could just be imagining it. The old phone had some dead pixels and could have some other underlying problem.

- The battery life is significantly better, maybe related to the seemingly different screen. It might just be because the custom ROMs have worse battery life. Huge difference though.

- The replacement phone is not engraved, but I was told that would be the case.

- The old battery cover fits fine on the new phone.

- There is no dust under the screen, yet.

I am happy with the replacement phone because it seems to be brand new and a rev newer than the original N1 I have. I assume they made some very small improvements with the revision, but it could also just be something as minor as the plastic coming from a different paint batch, or a better adhesive was used under the screen to stop dust from coming in, who knows.

The only downside is the different color of the plastic. I would be bothered by the color difference, especially since the battery cover does not match the rest of the phone anymore, and because I like the old color more, but I plan on sending the phone into Colorware for a matte black unicolor finish. My only worry here is that Colorware will have to remove the screen to paint the plastic, and when they put it back together they will have to re-use the original adhesive tape on the back of the screen, which may not seal properly and give me dust under my screen again.

I'll try to take some pictures and post them later.