First impressions and Hands-on reviews go here! :)

[Srycantthnkof1]

I know some lucky few got the phone early... What does everyone think so far? Please put any impressions or reviews here!!

 

[Kloneicle]

Of my initial use of the phone, I'm coming from a Palm Pre, its nothing I couldn't get used to. Everything loads INSTANTLY, zero delay. Coming from the Palm Pre Minus with 2.1 installed on it. This is a relief. I only have two disapointments so far. No LED Notification, and No Visual Voicemail (not really a knock againist the phone since its pure google). The Synergy isn't as good obviously from a Palm Pre. But nothing I couldn't get used to. I've been on a Physical Keyboard for 2 years, its going to take some time to get used to a screen keyboard. I keep typing wrong charecters. Wish this had swype.

Overall im 100% satisifed. Call quality is excellent and the reciever noted that background noises were much cleaner coming from the pre when needed.

PS, I think the Palm Pre had better power management for AIM, this phone used up a good 40% overnight with aim alone. (According to battery usage in settings). That was attached to wifi.

 

[gabbott]

I keep typing wrong charecters. Wish this had swype.

You can have swype:

Swype | Text Input for Screens

and for LED replacement, try:

NoLED | AppBrain Android Market

 

[Kloneicle]

You can have swype:

Swype | Text Input for Screens

and for LED replacement, try:

NoLED | AppBrain Android Market

Thanks! I will look this up I figured on a NoLED phone, the screen area would be used by some app.

 

[kalex]

Can someone tell me how much storage space is available for application installation? My LG Optimus has only 160MB and its killing me

 

[KSmithInNY]

Can someone tell me how much storage space is available for application installation? My LG Optimus has only 160MB and its killing me

1gb

 

[Kloneicle]

1gb

Correct me if im wrong, but you can also MOVE a application to the USB Storage, meaning you have at least 14gb of available. Right?

Under Manage Applications, If you choose a app it says Move to USB Storage. As long as the app isn't in use.

 

[kalex]

Thank you KSmithInNY. Does this mean you are switching to Nexus and development for LG stops?

Klownicle - You can move but I think not all apps are able to move to that part of storage

 

[Kloneicle]

Thank you KSmithInNY. Does this mean you are switching to Nexus and development for LG stops?

Klownicle - You can move but I think not all apps are able to move to that part of storage

Will learn as I go which ones heh.

 

[KSmithInNY]

Thank you KSmithInNY. Does this mean you are switching to Nexus and development for LG stops?

Klownicle - You can move but I think not all apps are able to move to that part of storage

Our infrastructure for the LG is strong so that's not going anywhere soon. I will never again own/maintain code for a phone but I'd certainly contribute if the right open source project came along

 

[Srycantthnkof1]

No LED Notification

The best LED notification app is used by rooting and and using a compatible Kernel. I dont know if its currently available for the S4G due to it being for 2.3.3.

Here is an article about it along with video

Lets keep it coming guys! any other reviews?!

 

[KSmithInNY]

BLN is completely useless for us right now because of how dim the capacitive buttons are. I'm using a compatible kernel and can't even tell if BLN is working because I can't see the buttons in the first place lol

My only complaints so far:
-can't see capacitive buttons. They are too dim.
-phone doesn't appear to work with Google voice lite. It seems to be all or nothing. The phone will allow conditional call forwarding but the GV app recognizes the phone as an NS4G and makes you do a full GV setup.

EDIT- BLN is working for me. Went in a completely dark room and verified.

 

[jimmycinla]

Its the small things .....

First time ever i've purchased a handset and launched the web browser for the first time and plain old Google search loads, no BS, very nice!

The battery meter is vertical rather that horizontal, I know trivial, but it really just makes sense now that i see it.

And...

HotSpot works out of the box, no mods, very nice. ( for now, and for ever hopefully)

And coming from the Optimus S 3.2 screen, which was a great temp phone while i was waiting (6 months!, lol), the extra screen real estate is really nice.

As stated elsewhere the softkey backlight is pretty dim, but i think its really not that important because after 15 mins of use you know which softkey does what and where its located backlight or not.



More to come i'm sure once i get deeper .....

 

[BlackHawkA4]

I agree on the you know where they are. I use other devices and get confused even when i can see them because i know where they are on my phone and dont pay attention.

 

[Srycantthnkof1]

I purchased the Sedio Active X case off the Android central store... It should be here wednesday... I'll post some screens and let everyone know how it fits!

 

[skinneejay]

Of my initial use of the phone, I'm coming from a Palm Pre, its nothing I couldn't get used to. Everything loads INSTANTLY, zero delay. Coming from the Palm Pre Minus with 2.1 installed on it. This is a relief. I only have two disapointments so far. No LED Notification, and No Visual Voicemail (not really a knock againist the phone since its pure google). The Synergy isn't as good obviously from a Palm Pre. But nothing I couldn't get used to. I've been on a Physical Keyboard for 2 years, its going to take some time to get used to a screen keyboard. I keep typing wrong charecters. Wish this had swype.

Overall im 100% satisifed. Call quality is excellent and the reciever noted that background noises were much cleaner coming from the pre when needed.

PS, I think the Palm Pre had better power management for AIM, this phone used up a good 40% overnight with aim alone. (According to battery usage in settings). That was attached to wifi.

I could be wrong but I think if you search around the market you might found a visual voice app. Again I could be wrong. Same goes with the swype.

 

[KSmithInNY]

I could be wrong but I think if you search around the market you might found a visual voice app. Again I could be wrong. Same goes with the swype.

I posted instructions on how to get VVM and swype is an open beta so anyone can sign up and swype away

A new complaint which I'm sure people will be talking about shortly, the wifi reception range is a joke. I can be 20 feet away from my dual band wireless N router and have very low or no reception while I tested on 4 different android devices and an iPhone and they all had full signal. Maybe I'm holding it wrong, no wait, that's a different phone lol

EDIT - To further my point, right this minute I'm sitting 5 feet from said router, no walls I'm literally sitting right in front if it, and getting 3 out of 4 bars.

 

[mikachu]

Question For those of you coming from the EPIC 4G:
Is it worth the upgrade? Please give a detailed explanation

 

[rem_kujawa]

I posted instructions on how to get VVM and swype is an open beta so anyone can sign up and swype away

A new complaint which I'm sure people will be talking about shortly, the wifi reception range is a joke. I can be 20 feet away from my dual band wireless N router and have very low or no reception while I tested on 4 different android devices and an iPhone and they all had full signal. Maybe I'm holding it wrong, no wait, that's a different phone lol

EDIT - To further my point, right this minute I'm sitting 5 feet from said router, no walls I'm literally sitting right in front if it, and getting 3 out of 4 bars.

Is it the same issue the evo had when it was released? Wasn't there a software update that fixed it?

 

[Ryuuie]

The Nexus S only has 1GB for apps? I thought it was 16GB... How is the GPS on the phone? Does it suffer from the same problems as the Samsung Galaxy series?