Mario Queiroz, Vice President of Google, answered a question about Google only selling the Nexus One in a webstore: “Most consumers like to go into the store to check out a phone. What about the importance of physical retail? Will Nexus One be in T-Mobile stores?” His reply: “We want this to remain pure and simple. Right now it’s online only. Our store is really impressive. We’ll iterate over time.”

However, since online images and specifications might give a false representation of what the Nexus One really looks like, we present to you: the Nexus One in True size.

Click the thumbnail below to compare the Google Phone with your current mobile phone!

But what’s maybe even more important: their size. How large or how small are they? Compare their sizes by viewing them in true size. First try the Palm Pre. Then try the iPhone 3GS. Do you see the difference?

Now compare them side by side:

The graph below shows the systems and their average worldwide traffic (search volume index, scale relative to average Magento figures) according to Google Trends. It’s no hard science, but the outcomes show great shifts over time.

What strikes is the rapid growth of Magento overtaking osCommerce as the largest player. Both systems today account for 26% of the traffic in this research, followed by Interchange (18%), VirtueMart (15%) and Zen cart (15%). It can be assumed that the increase in popularity of Magento will continue, making Magento by far the most used online shopping cart system in the near future.

However, there are examples of size determination in architecture and product photography. As illustrated above, product photographers use other common products like coins, rulers or pencils to give the viewer an idea of the product’s size.

Architects use scaled models, maquettes or renderings to visualize and test shapes and ideas. In architecture, size comparison is often achieved by placing models of people or cars next to buildings and structures. The above image shows a rendering of The bird’s nest (Beijing, China) designed by Herzog & de Meuron with people as references.

Using references is a simple way to let viewers determine the size of products. An important thing to remember is to always use common reference objects like coins, credit cards and people.

The illustration above shows a rubber ducky without any reference in the first image. The second and third image show how a person as a reference can influence the perception of the size of a product.