Debating whether to exchange my Galaxy Nexus or not ...

[NY Jets_6]

I need opinions.

Can't really return my phone anymore because I sold my Droid X2 already for $250.

Is this phone worth keeping for the next two years? This is the only phone I'm liking in VZW's 4G LTE lineup aside from the Motorola Droid RAZR. Only reason I wanna stay away from the RAZR is because the battery is not removable, I'm spoiled with ICS right now, and I hate the skin (motoblur) since I already dealt with it from the Droid 2, Droid X, and Droid X2.

The Galaxy Nexus is a great phone, hands down. But here are the things that is making me wonder if it's worth keeping.

• Radio Signal

I've been reading many threads on the forum about this. I suppose Samsung lacks making phones with strong radios? Never had such problem with my Motorola phones. I am aware of VZW making a software update of the Galaxy Nexus showing the wrong number of bars, but that still doesn't explain why I'm experiencing weak 3G signal, slow data speeds, etc. (I don't live in a 4G area, so I set it to CDMA only)

• Built quality

This phone feels cheap in the hands and slippery too. Which is why I got a case. I realize it doesn't have gorilla glass either. Hope it'll be good on the long run.

• Battery life?

With the standard battery, I would barely get 5-7 hours a day with minimal use! Like seriously, wtf? I understand the 4.65 inch will use up a lot of battery, but not like that. Had to go with the extended battery and noticed improvements. Just enough to get through a whole day with moderate use.


All in all, I'm just debating if this is worth keeping for the next 2 years (20 months actually).

I like it because of it's beautiful HD display. Also the fact it's a NEXUS, so Google will roll out updates to us first before anybody else. Camera is disappointing too. Doesn't even focus unless you keep the phone still for a good 10-15 seconds.

 

[yosteve]

you can wait for the next Google phone, what G they on?

 

[booboolala2000]

This phone will be fine for two years. I don't mind the plastic and as far as my experience has been I have the same signals as before. In my opinion the update experience is more important than the feel of the phone. I love the way this phone feels in the hand. It feels sleek and polished. The screen is gorgeous. I'd say keep it as the Rezound will only get one ICS update and the Razr, we will see. This thing will get plenty of updates and to me that is the most important. The other two are nice but in a year or less I would be looking elsewhere.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[chevyguy8893]

-Radio Signal

This is my second samsung phone, coming from a samsung continuum. In comparison I have the same signal in my house between the phones (except the addition of 4G). I did compare between my friends razr and my nexus outside of Chicago. The reading of the bars were different, but based off of the signal meter display in settings it was the same signal. I have not dropped a call or had issues switching from 3G to 4G. From everything I read here not everyone is so lucky, so I would have to say base it off of your area and phone to fit your needs.

-Build Quality

Personally this doesn't bother me, but again having a samsung phone before I am use to it. I put a silicone verizon case on it and then I don't feel any difference. This would be more personal preference to each individual. The nexus may not have gorilla glass, but it does have fortified glass which is supposed to do the same thing. The most I have encountered on previous phones were light scratches from dirt. I have a screen protector now.

-Battery Life

It seems like battery life between the razr and the nexus are pretty much the same, but the razr lacks a removable battery so it is good to have a charge point accessible. I get around 12 hours under moderate to heavy use (extended battery), and over a day on light use.

All in all both are great phones, but the nexus has better support from google and through rooting. The nexus has a better processor, which by Texas Instruments specs the processor is underclocked form 1.5GHz. The razr is (by specs) overclocked from 1.0GHz. This really only matters if overclocking is something you may do. I love the thin strong build of the razr and the screen looks just as nice to me. Either one of them would be good for the two years, it is just personal preference to suit your needs. I say stick with the nexus, but I am a bit biased. I wouldn't get rid of the nexus for the razr or, the only other competition, the HTC rezound.

 

[CD1X]

Keep it!!! It'll be the best phone on Verizon for awhile!!

 

[ultravisitor]

Are you really sure you want to deal with a skinned version of Android that is going to make you wait months and months for buggy updates and fixes? For two years? And when you do finally receive ICS, how can you be sure that Motorola is not going to make "improvements" to it?

Are you really sure you want to deal with a locked and encrypted bootloader?

Are you really sure you want to go to a phone that does not have NFC? Maybe you don't care about that right now, but will you care about it in one year?

 

[lobolocojo]

I have the Rezound and I love it, as does every other Rezound owner I've come across. Buggy updates and fixes? More like a phone that doesn't need any fixes. Seriously...no bugs. Great radios/ reception/data speed. Don't believe the BS about Sense and bloat making the phone lag, it is smooth as silk and more polished than stock ICS. The camera on the Rezound is excellent, and with the extended battery I last over 24 hours with heavy use. I don't get a commission for recommending the Rezound to you, I'm just offering a friendly suggestion. I suggest you look at the Rezound forum (full of happy owners and happy GN converts) compared to the Nexus forum (full of complaints and second guessing). Verizon made a mistake about pushing beats audio which noone cares about. It's screen is higher res and ppi than any phone in America.

If you enjoy crappy radios, short battery life, a plasticky build, a mediocre at best camera, and no removable storage, stick with the GN. The Razr is a sad, sad phone. I returned mine after 13 days of trying to make myself like it. Sure it looks sexy, but the 540p pentile screen, crappy camera, and crappy battery life made me return it. Also, it feels awkward in the hand. The only thing a Razr is good for is saying whoa look how thin it is.

 

[Swavek]

I say you keep it!
lower the brightness and get an extended battery (while they are cheap).
build quality : it doesn't seem cheap to me. are you going to be cracking nuts and pounding nails it?
signal-wise: it isn't any worse than my old HTC thunderbolt.
as others have pointed out, the frequent updates from Google and the unlocked/unbloated nature of this Nexus phone is a major selling point.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

I have the Rezound and I love it, as does every other Rezound owner I've come across. Great radios/ reception/data speed. Don't believe the BS about Sense and bloat making the phone lag, it is smooth as silk and more polished than stock ICS. The camera on the Rezound is excellent, and with the extended battery I last over 24 hours with heavy use. I don't get a commission for recommending the Rezound to you, but I suggest you look at the Rezound forum (full of happy owners and happy GN converts) compared to the Nexus forum (full of complaints and second guessing).

If you enjoy crappy radios, short battery life, a plasticky build, a mediocre at best camera, and no removable storage, stick with the GN. The Razr is a sad, sad phone. I returned mine after 13 days of trying to make myself like it. Sure it looks sexy, but the 540p pentile screen, crappy camera, and crappy battery life made me return it. Also, it feels awkward in the hand. The only thing a Razr is good for is saying whoa look how thin it is.

HTC phones have good battery life? Your kidding right?

 

[jroc]

To the OP...if you really care about battery life and Radio Signal...the G Nex is a tough choice out the box vs other phones right now.

We all know about the signal readings issue going on right now, wont really get into that. Just do some reading about it...and pay attention to ppl that offer real world use examples, not just the decibel and bar readings. You said yourself you are experiencing weak 3G.

Battery life....according to Anandtech....which so many have ran with concerning that G Nex signal readings article claiming the G Nex is showing the signal "accurately" (IMO its not, its just showing the LTE signal accurately. Last time I checked these phones use more than LTE) ....also have the G Nex in their Bench tool. Overall battery life doesnt look good at all for the G Nex. Talk time is a big, big difference vs. other current phones. According to the Bench tool, out of the recent Verizon phones, the Bionic has the best battery life, followed by the RAZR. The G Nex is way down the list overall because of the talk time battery life.

The Rezound isnt on there yet, and they have yet to review the G Nex. Usually when talk time is low like that, overall battery life can suffer when using the phone, unless you dont use your phone to make/receive calls. Dont really know much about the Rezound, but the reception on it must be at least a lil better the the G Nex.

Custom kernels and extended batteries should make it better. So in my honest opinion...out the box I really feel the G Nex doesnt give the overall best experience. I feel you will HAVE to go the extra mile: custom ROMs/kernels.

FWIW I can get about 11-12 hours with moderate use stock battery on my RAZR. Screen times between 2-3 hours. Thats a mix of 3G. 4G, Wifi. And I live n work in a bad reception area....which drains batteries as much as ppl just using the phone. And the back can be removed rather easy. Can be done with just your fingers. Its just waiting on a spare, extended battery for some ppl. But...check out the Anker, or iTrent battery packs on Amazon. The Anker has ALOT of juice and fits on a keychain. That will be what I will use from here on out, even for phones with removable batteries. The iTrent isnt as small but has even more juice. Similar price or cheaper than extended, spare batteries. No need to power off the phone IF you need the extra juice.

Are you really sure you want to deal with a skinned version of Android that is going to make you wait months and months for buggy updates and fixes? For two years? And when you do finally receive ICS, how can you be sure that Motorola is not going to make "improvements" to it?

Are you really sure you want to deal with a locked and encrypted bootloader?

Are you really sure you want to go to a phone that does not have NFC? Maybe you don't care about that right now, but will you care about it in one year?

Whats funny is Moto actually did make improvements. Will they do it again or go completely stock Android? Who knows, But stock Android isnt the end all be all. Everything else either isnt as important as what the OP posted about and ....I dont think we can mention buggy fixes or bugs period and not leave out the G Nex.

-Radio Signal

This is my second samsung phone, coming from a samsung continuum. In comparison I have the same signal in my house between the phones (except the addition of 4G). I did compare between my friends razr and my nexus outside of Chicago. The reading of the bars were different, but based off of the signal meter display in settings it was the same signal. I have not dropped a call or had issues switching from 3G to 4G. From everything I read here not everyone is so lucky, so I would have to say base it off of your area and phone to fit your needs.

-Build Quality

Personally this doesn't bother me, but again having a samsung phone before I am use to it. I put a silicone verizon case on it and then I don't feel any difference. This would be more personal preference to each individual. The nexus may not have gorilla glass, but it does have fortified glass which is supposed to do the same thing. The most I have encountered on previous phones were light scratches from dirt. I have a screen protector now.

-Battery Life

It seems like battery life between the razr and the nexus are pretty much the same, but the razr lacks a removable battery so it is good to have a charge point accessible. I get around 12 hours under moderate to heavy use (extended battery), and over a day on light use.

All in all both are great phones, but the nexus has better support from google and through rooting. The nexus has a better processor, which by Texas Instruments specs the processor is underclocked form 1.5GHz. The razr is (by specs) overclocked from 1.0GHz. This really only matters if overclocking is something you may do. I love the thin strong build of the razr and the screen looks just as nice to me. Either one of them would be good for the two years, it is just personal preference to suit your needs. I say stick with the nexus, but I am a bit biased. I wouldn't get rid of the nexus for the razr or, the only other competition, the HTC rezound.

For you being biased...you give a pretty fair, unbiased assessment. Thank you. And my final comment....I think the Rezound and Bionic are sleepers for a decent phone with the RAZR and G Nex getting all the attention. All 4 are good in their own way.

 

[moondrius]

HTC phones have good battery life? Your kidding right?

The Rezound actually has really good battery life.

 

[lobolocojo]

HTC phones have good battery life? Your kidding right?

No, I'm not kidding. With the Rezound's extended battery I last about 2 days with brightness high, 4g on, talking, texting, surfing, downloading, and streaming video and music. The extended battery is 2750 mAh.

 

[shanimal92]

Don't believe the BS about Sense and bloat making the phone lag, it is smooth as silk and more polished than stock ICS.

LOL...no. Yes, the phone is awesome but not at all as polished as the stock ics. im assuming either you haven't used the nexus or whatever one you did use was messed up. my mom has the rezound and after using my nexus and knowing how smooth a phone can be, using her phone is annoying. page swiping and the app drawer is like it was on my OG... laaaagggyy, albeit not as bad, but not as good as a 1.5ghz DC should do.

everything besides the "plasticky" build and the removable sd card i agree with. i like the feel of the phone (although i haven't really touched it all that much since i bought a case ASAP.) 32gb is enough for me, but i can see people needing more. the screen is good, dont get me wrong, but it pales in comparison to the rezound.

 

[mozy]

Keep it

Battery Life - can be improved - turn off NFC, turn off GPS (all the location services), get extended battery, .... etc. be rigorous about closing programs you are not using, Not a big deal - IMO

Build quality - to me not an issue - it is not the greatest build quality, but on a day to day basis this doesn't matter at all. I use the holder from VZW with the kickstand - love it!

Radio Signal - Google already has no radios out that you can install if you are rooted, this will improve with updates.

Every issue I have had with this phone has been fixed by using these forums - its amazing!

ICS blows away Gingerbread even with its issues, which will all be corrected soon. The GN is the only phone today build for ICS. Rezound and Razor are going to be retro fitting ICS on their phone, it doubt it will be as good.

GN has the most potential. A large portion of the development community is behind it. This is the phone where the innovation will happen. If you buy GN now, you know you are early adopter, which means you get the glory of its greatness as well as understand that their will be a few bumps in beginning while they figure things out. Those who are patient are going to win, because a LTE ICS Nexus phone can't be beat!

 

[booboolala2000]

Keep it

Battery Life - can be improved - turn off NFC, turn off GPS (all the location services), get extended battery, .... etc. be rigorous about closing programs you are not using, Not a big deal - IMO

Build quality - to me not an issue - it is not the greatest build quality, but on a day to day basis this doesn't matter at all. I use the holder from VZW with the kickstand - love it!

Radio Signal - Google already has no radios out that you can install if you are rooted, this will improve with updates.

Every issue I have had with this phone has been fixed by using these forums - its amazing!

ICS blows away Gingerbread even with its issues, which will all be corrected soon. The GN is the only phone today build for ICS. Rezound and Razor are going to be retro fitting ICS on their phone, it doubt it will be as good.

GN has the most potential. A large portion of the development community is behind it. This is the phone where the innovation will happen. If you buy GN now, you know you are early adopter, which means you get the glory of its greatness as well as understand that their will be a few bumps in beginning while they figure things out. Those who are patient are going to win, because a LTE ICS Nexus phone can't be beat!

Amen brother. I am enjoying stock now. Will root soon enough. But am very happy with stock ICS. Plus I think 12-17 hours on LTE is awesome.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Z Fury]

No, I'm not kidding. With the Rezound's extended battery I last about 2 days with brightness high, 4g on, talking, texting, surfing, downloading, and streaming video and music. The extended battery is 2750 mAh.

Agreed. While the base battery on the Rezound is slightly smaller than the base battery on the Nexus, the Rezound's extended battery is a significant upgrade.

I have until January 15 for my exchange window, and the Rezound is the only phone I would consider trading for.

 

[Droid800]

I still don't know what I'm going to do. Went and played with the rezound again tonight, and I could get used to it again if I needed to. The crummy signal/speeds I get at home and a few other places have me seriously considering it.

I just don't know. I want to be able to use my phone off wifi at home, which isn't possible with the Nexus right now. Not sure at all what to do.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Ken7]

The Rezound actually has really good battery life.

I will 2nd that. I had it for a couple of weeks and had no issues with it. Hands down the best radio & probably the best camera.

With that said, I still like the Nexus better even though I'd like the radio to be tweaked.

 

[angermeans]

I have the Rezound and I love it, as does every other Rezound owner I've come across. Buggy updates and fixes? More like a phone that doesn't need any fixes. Seriously...no bugs. Great radios/ reception/data speed. Don't believe the BS about Sense and bloat making the phone lag, it is smooth as silk and more polished than stock ICS. The camera on the Rezound is excellent, and with the extended battery I last over 24 hours with heavy use. I don't get a commission for recommending the Rezound to you, I'm just offering a friendly suggestion. I suggest you look at the Rezound forum (full of happy owners and happy GN converts) compared to the Nexus forum (full of complaints and second guessing). Verizon made a mistake about pushing beats audio which noone cares about. It's screen is higher res and ppi than any phone in America.

If you enjoy crappy radios, short battery life, a plasticky build, a mediocre at best camera, and no removable storage, stick with the GN. The Razr is a sad, sad phone. I returned mine after 13 days of trying to make myself like it. Sure it looks sexy, but the 540p pentile screen, crappy camera, and crappy battery life made me return it. Also, it feels awkward in the hand. The only thing a Razr is good for is saying whoa look how thin it is.

This is coming from a huge HTC fan (and I have to admit the Rezound build looks and feels great), but all that is moot when it comes to dealing with a skin. I will tell you the one thing that severely burned me out on the last Android OEM that I had trust in and thats the HTC Thunderbolt. Horrible build (never had a phone that looked more beat up after 8 months of babying and never dropping or scratching), even worse radio (that thing could and would not stay on 4G or even 3G for that matter), never updated (you know you might get a skinned ICS, but you wont get anything beyond that and you better hope it doesnt have any bugs or your stuck with it), and last and not least (and my opinion the worse) Sense. The latter will keep you upset as you will never see updates, forced dealing with bugs, and much much much more bloat, and even worse Sense is absolutely ugly as all hell (I used to be a fan, but now I cant stand it. Minimalism, thin lines, and best of all Typography in ICS are absolutely gorgeous) Im willing to bet you wont see anything but small features and a blue battery from ICS and Sense (and the other horrible skins) will cover it all up like they did with GB.

I was all about the Rezound as rumors and rumors came down on both the phones as I can't stand Samsung hardware, but HTC has completely lost it's way and this phone will be much like the Tbolt and that is the end of generation. After owning the Nexus One, Samsung Captivate, HTC Incredible AMOLED, Motorola Droid 2, Motorola Droid X, HTC Droid Incredible SLCD, Motorola Xoom, HTC Thunderbolt, and now the Galaxy Nexus all since the Nexus One launch (and in that order) I have to say the only phones/tablets (ASUS may be the exception as I have been watching and they continually barely skin their tablets and come with fast upgrades) worth purchasing are the ones that Google supports and run Vanilla Android. I have been burned by every phone I have ever owned except the Nexus One and now the Galaxy Nexus. Up until the GNex the Nexus S was the best device out and it was way updated as software is the most important thing on a phone (and speedy/bugless updates). Software trumps hardware any day and skinned phones are garbage. Granted Sense is miles ahead of Blur or especially TouchWiz , but Vanilla ICS is ten miles ahead of Sense. There really is no comparison and this phone has been great.

I wasn't writing to call you out just add to what you said, but we all have our opinions and mine is just that an opinion. Enjoy your Rezound and I'll continue to enjoy my Nexus, but just remember not everyone is having the problems that some are experiencing. I never have coverage problems (it is actually reporting the right bars of service finally), the build quality is surprisingly good, software is as close to flawless as you can get with a .03 release, screen is gorgeous (yes the Rezound is as well and I have always been a person that liked SLCD screens over AMOLED, but this 1280x720 Super AMOLED destroys the otherwise superior screen on the Rezound, but the Rezound does trump all other screens out), very snappy and smooth, and best of all Android Beam and NFC will bring a lot of exciting features to Android this year and phones without it are really going to miss it.

 

[CynicX]

Return it if your not happy with it.....Seems too buggy for me on it current build and I can't get cell service at my house with it. It will eventually be fixed up....hopefully. Maybe at I'll get one then but I can't be dropping calls at home cause I don't have a landline.

Anyway, point being its not the right phone for me either so I don't own one...