Possibly silly question: Nexus S or Skyrocket?

[sgroh87]

Right now I have a GS2 Skyrocket. I'm within my 30 day return policy, and while I like the phone a lot, I don't quite "love" it. Speeds are great, screen is nice and large, so on and so forth. Here are my only criticisms:

LTE makes me want to use my data a LOT faster (not really a problem with the device per se, but when I can download a 40mb podcast in 10 seconds, it's tempting to do so).
Battery life leaves something to be desired. I do live in an LTE area, so that's a big strain on the battery.
TouchWiz has gotten a lot better since I had the Captivate, but I still have the desire to get the latest updates without delays.
It was an expensive device. I forced an upgrade through early and it cost me $300.
The screen is a great size (I owned the Dell Streak for a little while; enough said), but the resolution just means that the text is larger than a smaller screen.

I'm considering returning it and using the upgrade to get an AT&T banded Nexus S. I almost never play games on my phone, and I fear that the LTE and dual-core features are just more power than I need. I want a device that I can use for calls, texting, reading RSS feeds, Facebook/G+, and listening to music/podcasts; above all, I want a phone that does all of the above SMOOTHLY. I don't expect iOS-level smoothness, but the Skyrocket/GS2 level of polish is just about right.

Would I be foolish to return the Skyrocket and get the NS?

 

[planoman]

I have a SR now and had the ATT Nexus S for 2 weeks before retuning it. I found the phone to be very plain although a very nice phone. The 16GB of non expandable memory kinda bothered me, I do not really know why and when I realized that the camera could not zoom, I returned it. It just seemed plain. I know a lot of people rag on touch wiz but I missed the widgets when you pull down the notification bar and things like that.

Based on what you say you want to do with the phone I think it could do all of the things you want well. Are you sure you won't miss LTE?

 

[sgroh87]

I would probably miss LTE, but here's what it boils down to for me: Would I miss the LTE more than vanilla android (and all the benefits from that) and better battery life? Since I'm not streaming many videos or downloading large files, is LTE that big of a benefit? I'm leaning towards keeping the Skyrocket simply for futureproofing purposes, but still, the draw of the Nexus line is tempting...

After hearing what Phil said about the GSM GN coming sooner than we might expect, I might just keep the Skyrocket so I can sell it and buy the GN off-contract.

 

[planoman]

I would probably miss LTE, but here's what it boils down to for me: Would I miss the LTE more than vanilla android (and all the benefits from that) and better battery life? Since I'm not streaming many videos or downloading large files, is LTE that big of a benefit? I'm leaning towards keeping the Skyrocket simply for futureproofing purposes, but still, the draw of the Nexus line is tempting...

After hearing what Phil said about the GSM GN coming sooner than we might expect, I might just keep the Skyrocket so I can sell it and buy the GN off-contract.

Once the SR gets ICS it might be superior except for the screen resolution. I was hoping the Nitro would have the full package, (LTE, HD Screen etc) but the battery life just gets hammered in reviews. Cannot live with less than 12 hours on a battery. I might consider the GNex if they bring the 32GB. Not going to buy off contract for 16GB.

 

[jsarino]

I would probably stick with the SR if I were you and get the Galaxy Nexus off-contract instead. I do like the Nexus line (I had a Nexus One), but the lack of space and speed bothered me recently with mine, which was the deciding factor for me to upgrade. I do like that it was a vanilla Android and I was getting updates without the wait, but as planoman said about TouchWiz, I initially wasn't too keen on it, but it's grown on me since. When it does get ICS, it would be better than the GN on just about everything except for screen size.

On the Galaxy Nexus, would you still get it off-contract if the version that comes in is not LTE (HSPA+ only)? From what I've read, only Verizon is getting the LTE variant.