Should I Trade my Galaxy Nexus for Galaxy S3?
I want to start off this ?guide? saying that I currently do not own a Galaxy S3, I own and currently use a Galaxy Nexus. I have a White 32 GB Galaxy S3 preordered from Verizon preordered since the first day of pre orders opened. I wanted to make a ?guide? that might help some people who are undecided about swapping. Note these are opinions of my own and while they may differ from yours this is just my take on the two devices.
Edit now I do have the GS3 and have been using it for for a couple day. I received my GS3 on Friday 7/7/12 and activated it the same day and have been playing around since. This review will be updated as I find new stuff and maybe a rating will change.
I have been an Android fan since the original Droid on VZW. Since then I have owned my fair share of devices up until most recently the Nexus. I love the operating system and nothing comes close to it when it comes to customizability and personalization. This is coming from someone who also used an iPhone 4s and Blackberry for a long time as well.
Let?s start this off:
Performance:
According to specs of both the devices, the Galaxy S3 should be the winner here. 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU with 2GB RAM. Galaxy Nexus with a 1.2GHz TI OMAP CPU with 1GB RAM. The GS3 is rocking a 16GB or 32GB size variant with the ability to expand using up to a 64GB Micro SD. The Nexus does not allow an SD card. Overall you would expect that the GS3 would be much faster, sharper and perform better. Not necessarily true. I am not doing quadrant standard since I find these tests worthless and no representation of real world use. I honestly would say that they perform on the same level. The Galaxy Nexus is light when it comes to software so there is less eating up your RAM. That isn?t to say that the GS3 slow. Its a speedy phone but I can?t really say that its leaps and bounds quicker than the GNex. Overall I would say this one is a tie, both phones will perform admirably to what you need to do.
Device Operating System:
It comes down to stock Google whether it be ICS or JB vs. ICS with TouchWiz. This one will come down to personal preference. Some will hate TouchWiz and some will love it. Personally I prefer the stock Google experience and I don?t like having much get in the way. That being said you hide a lot of the TouchWiz components (which I did by using Nova Launcher). I found that TouchWiz will lag when coming back to the home screen hitting the button if you have a lot of stuff running or you where doing a lot with your phone. Multiple times I experienced my widgets taking a good 5 seconds to load on the home screen (all I was using was Beautiful Widgets). This issue was solved with Nova. I had no issues whatsoever with the Nexus. This is probably due to stock Android. Running ICS you got slight lag here and there but running Jelly Bean the device was incredibly smooth and quick. I have to give a victory to the Galaxy Nexus here.
Functionality:
This category will also bring up some debate. I am rating this on how well the device will work out of the box. The Galaxy Nexus is a great phone there is no doubt... however to get it to be great you must unlock the bootload, root the device and then install a good ROM of choice (now Jelly Bean or some varient of AOKP). I ran both for a good chunk of time with it and I was happy. Unlocking and rooting was a fairly painless process but its not for everyone. The Galaxy S3 worked flawlessly out of the box and didn?t take much to get it set up and work great. I am surprised really. Only things that I did where tinker with the settings that I like and disable a lot of the VZW apps I will never use. Its not a necessary step but just my own way to make the GS3 my own.I am extremely happy that my GS3 is able to be hooked up to my computer and transfer songs much easier using a program like DoubleTwist or WinAmp. Unfortunately due to the Nexus only using MTP format this was not possible. This really aggravated me with the Nexus but it is nice to have the functionality again with the GS3. After playing around with the phone yesterday and trying to get songs on my device to use with a music player such as WinAmp I did find that the GS3 uses MTP as well. This however isn't all that bad since it has an SD card you can easily transfer music to the SD card and run music off your device that way. It does make it difficult to us programs on the computer like WinAmp or DoubleTwist to transfer playlists. I tried using WinAmp yesterday but I found the only way to get playlists is to use Google Music or to transfer the songs you want and make your own playlists on the phone itself. Minor problem but at least its easier to transfer your music. The Galaxy S3 wins.
Out of the Box Customization:
So far this has been a pretty even race, but this is where we start see some of the major differences that make each of these devices special. The Galaxy S3 comes with LOADS and I mean LOADS of features that you can show your friends and use on your device. The Galaxy Nexus comes with a good amount of cool stuff but Samsung really outdid themselves with this device. Between motion settings, lockscreen settings and even the battery percentage indicator. Its just those small things that make this device great. I have to give it to the Galaxy S3.
Hackability:
Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Nexus, GALAXY NEXUS. If anyone will try to argue otherwise on this they are going to be dead wrong. While the GS3 will have dev support like most other Samsung phones, however with a locked bootloader there is no way the GS3 will have as much dev support as the Galaxy Nexus. The Galaxy Nexus is a pure Google experience and therefore will provide the greatest amount of dev support and therefore the most amount of custom ROMs, kernels, mods, tweaks and themes. Period. If you don?t believe me go to RootzWiki and check out the Nexus forums. Galaxy Nexus wins.
Edit: Rooted and installed CWM recovery this morning with incredible ease. Granted, you can't do much right now since the bootloader is still in lock down and there aren't any real ROMs out there yet. Here are instructions on how to root your GS3 I would HIGHLY recommend that you use the stock root OS, not the debloated one. People on Rootz are finding issues with the debloated one and it will cause headaches. I used the stock OS and just used Titanium Backup to freeze all the useless garbage that stock application manager wouldn't let me do.
Design:
Plastic or plastic, take your pick on what kind you like. Both phones are made from plastic but the GS3 will be made out of shinny plastic that is prone to finger prints and being slippery as hell. However, they do have a color choice which may make some people happy compared to the standard grey/black of the Nexus. The plastic on the Nexus has a very nice feel in the hand and doesn?t attract fingerprints or get slippery at all. I can?t really point out a clear cut winner since this one is going to be all about personal preference.
As request by a fellow user, I want to mention the difference between the devices and their soft keys. Most know the GS3 has one physical home button and 2 capacitive keys on either side, one for menu one for back. Holding the menu down and you get search, holding the home button down you get recent apps and double click it you get S-Voice. With the Nexus you get on screen soft keys for back, home, and recent apps. I loved the on screen keys of the Galaxy Nexus, especially with a rooted device where you could customize them. However, the layout of the GS3 is growing on me fast. I do like the idea of having a physical home key. Some may hate it, some may love it. It doesn't take too much space and it does the job you expect it to do. I do find that with the White GS3 it does make it harder to see the capacitive keys at times. Not a major issue since you get use to where they are. Again this one all comes down to personal preference. For me, I like it and got use to it pretty quick.
Display:
Both are rocking large screens with good resolutions. Galaxy Nexus running a 4.65 HD Super AMOLED screen at 1280x720. GS3 is running a 4.8 HD Super AMOLED screen at the same 1280x720. Should be about the same minus the screen size difference right? Wrong. The GS3 screen is GORGEOUS. I was wowd when I turned this bad boy on. The Galaxy Nexus looks a little washed out and has those grey lines in the dark but from what I can tell (running auto-brightness on both devices) the GS3 looks much sharper, clearer and brighter. I have to give this to the GS3.
Battery Life:
The Galaxy Nexus comes with an 1850mAh battery and the Galaxy S3 comes with a 2100mAh battery. Right now its hard to tell since I have been playing with my GS3 A LOT but the battery has been damn impressive so far. I am in the process of running down the battery from 100% to around 5% now for the first time since opening. I will report back with total time but so far it has been impressive. The Galaxy Nexus out of the box was ?okay?. You will hear some say it was terrible while others will say it was good. Personally out of the box I was getting OKAY results. Meaning I was just making it through the day (barely) with and average of 1.5 hours of screen on time and 18 hours if being off the charger. However, when I had a custom Kernel and ROM I was getting EASILY 35 hours on battery with the same amount of screen on time. That's the beauty of an unlocked bootloader. Right now, the GS3 seems to be holding its own but I will report back. No judgement just yet.
Signal/Reception Quality:
As requested by users, and rightfully so this has to be added to the review. My apologies for missing it right away. The Galaxy Nexus has been plagued with service issues between constant data drops and the overall service sometimes just not working. Samsung has never been the best when it comes to their radios but I feel they did a pretty good job improving the radios in the Galaxy S3. I have not had a major issue as of yet and no data drops to speak of. Call quality is good, albeit a little low but bearable. I will say that it was a little unnerving when some people couldn't even receive phone calls on their GNex (my gf just experienced this the other day, luckily she has a GS3 on the way). I have to give this one too the GS3. While it isn't leaps and bounds better, it hasn't been plagued with the same glaring issue that some Nexus users are having.
Posted by user broadwayblues down a bunch of posts is an indepth look of signal strength between the GS3, Nexus and RAZR Maxx. Broadway did a fantastic job on this write and is worthy of a good read... GS3 vs Nexus vs Razr Maxx Radios
Another requested category by a user, speakerphone quality. Used it a bit last night for a couple phone calls and overall the sound quality was pretty good. This will also depend on sound levels obviously but I had mine all the way up and it was clear. Wasn't too loud to the point it hurt listening to it but it was just loud enough to make it clear and crisp from a distance away. Person who I was talking to on the other end had no idea I was using speaker phone either. Again, that will be dependent on where you are using speakerphone, I was in a normal size house room. I don't use speakerphone all that often, but I am happy with it on the GS3.
Camera:
Again, suggested by users section which I will admit I haven't paid much attention too since I don't use my camera very often... not a big picture taker. On some of the pictures that I did take I noticed the camera is much better at snapping shots quicker and the quality is much better. On the Nexus running ICS I wont lie, they where terrible usually.. probably the reason why I didn't use the camera often. When I upgraded to Jelly Bean it got better but still not good. If you take a lot of pictures or do video recording its hard to not recommend the GS3. I love the feature to take a snap shot while recording and the sheer quantity of features in the camera. I will end up playing around more with them as the week goes by but I can assure you that this camera is leaps and bounds above the Nexus. GS3 takes this one no contest.
SMS/MMS & EMail Apps:
I want to say that I LOVE the SMS/MMS app. The customization of it is great is a really good way to make the phone look different from your friends or siblings. I was asked to comment on how a multi-user text message works. I actually had to use this the other day and it works pretty nicely. Works like normal when sending the original message but this is the cool part. When you go back to the thread it gives the option to respond but right above the typing window before you open the keyboard it has tabs asking "Group Conversation" or "Individual Message". Basically you do group... everyone sees it, Individual it will send it to everyone individually, not in the group thread. Really intuitive and something that I wouldn't have thought to add really. If someone responds to the group, shows up in the group thread and if someone responds in the individual thread it looks like a normal text message convo between 2 people.
As far as EMail goes. The GMail app is standard, no difference here. If you use another email service like from your ISP (Optimum myself) the inbox looks different and I think for the better. Messages are segregated by date received instead of one long list. It looks much more organized and easier to read. Functionality is pretty much the same, but the way it functions just makes it more user friendly.
For both the SMS/MMS App and EMail app, the GS3 wins.
Keyboard:
Here is my biggest issue with the GS3. The stock keyboard is terrible, I really do hate it. The predictive text is too aggressive and the T-9 trace is a nice touch but is no where near Swype when it comes to accuracy. It seems to lag and has terrible predictions. I had to turn predictive text off just to use it for a little while and even then it was annoying. The GNex had a decent keyboard on ICS but on JellyBean it was amazingly good. But hey, the beauty of Android is customization right? I currently am switching between Swype Beta and Swiftkey 3. Both work really well on this device and I am also trying out ICS Keyboard (purchased on market but they have a free one as well). All 3 are good keyboards but I usually prefer Swiftkey. If I was just talking in the sense of stock keyboards the GNex wins this hands down.
Verizon Wireless ?Junk?:
When I got my Galaxy Nexus I was surprised on how little came on the device. If I remember correctly all I had was My Verizon Mobile and NFL mobile. I don?t think there was much else. The Galaxy S3... well that's a different story. As said before, I myself disabled a bunch of useless apps that I would never use. Some people may use them and find them great but I myself find them useless and bog down the experience. Here is a list of the stuff that you can go into your application settings and disable...
AllShare Play - Samsung?s version of DropBox.
Verizon Apps - Self explanatory
Backup Assistant Plus - Self explanatory
Kies air - Hell if I know.
My Verizon Mobile - Self explanatory
S Suggest - Samsung?s version of Google Play with same Apps....
Sync Service (Verizon?s - DON?T DISABLE GOOGLE SYNC SERVICE)
VZ Navigator - Self explanatory
Not a terribly long list but still good enough all things considered. At least they didn?t at a bunch of crap games. I kept NFL Mobile enabled as well as a couple other ones due to stability and I didn?t want to test fate. Not all is bad though, Samsung actually did a pretty good job giving us some nice widgets and apps. I personally love the Samsung Calendar and the Music player combined with the widgets. So again, its not all bad but it will be personal preferance on what you like/dislike. Aside from the apps that Verizon preinstalls on their devices they seems to add small features that are either really really annoying or just really annoying. For example, the constant WiFi notification... really Verizon? Do you take us all for idiots who don?t know how to turn WiFi on/off? Its something that I can get use to and I already have but its just amazing that they would think this would ?enhance? the phone. I really hope that someone find a way to get rid of that and put it back where it belongs with the normal toggles. I really have to give to the Nexus here, simply because it doesn?t have the BS that is annoying. While missing out on some of the good features, it misses out on having the bad which I believes outweighs the good in this one.
Overall Conclusion:
So whats the conclusion here... should I buy a Galaxy S3 or a Galaxy Nexus (when they go back for Sale). I can?t answer that for you but I can give you one question that will greatly aid in your decision. Ask you self this... ?Do I want a phone a great phone right out of the box?? or ?Do I want a stock Google experience and get updates first?? Both sound great based on the question. If you answer yes to the first one you will be getting a great phone out of the box but it will be bloated with Verizon and Samsung apps and won?t have as much dev support as the Nexus. If you answer yes to the second question you will get another great phone that will should (and in my opinion need) be unlocked, root and have a custom ROM flashed on it to make it truly great. You must make the call. If you ask me. I would right now take the GS3. I loved, LOVED my Galaxy Nexus with Jelly Bean on it, but right I am digging the GS3. Will I go back to my Nexus? Maybe. I am happy where I am now with the GS3 but I do miss my Nexus, it was truly the greatest phone I have ever owned. The GS3 has the opportunity to dethrone it, but it?s too early to tell.
Edit now I do have the GS3 and have been using it for for a couple day. I received my GS3 on Friday 7/7/12 and activated it the same day and have been playing around since. This review will be updated as I find new stuff and maybe a rating will change.
I have been an Android fan since the original Droid on VZW. Since then I have owned my fair share of devices up until most recently the Nexus. I love the operating system and nothing comes close to it when it comes to customizability and personalization. This is coming from someone who also used an iPhone 4s and Blackberry for a long time as well.
Let?s start this off:
Performance:
According to specs of both the devices, the Galaxy S3 should be the winner here. 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU with 2GB RAM. Galaxy Nexus with a 1.2GHz TI OMAP CPU with 1GB RAM. The GS3 is rocking a 16GB or 32GB size variant with the ability to expand using up to a 64GB Micro SD. The Nexus does not allow an SD card. Overall you would expect that the GS3 would be much faster, sharper and perform better. Not necessarily true. I am not doing quadrant standard since I find these tests worthless and no representation of real world use. I honestly would say that they perform on the same level. The Galaxy Nexus is light when it comes to software so there is less eating up your RAM. That isn?t to say that the GS3 slow. Its a speedy phone but I can?t really say that its leaps and bounds quicker than the GNex. Overall I would say this one is a tie, both phones will perform admirably to what you need to do.
Device Operating System:
It comes down to stock Google whether it be ICS or JB vs. ICS with TouchWiz. This one will come down to personal preference. Some will hate TouchWiz and some will love it. Personally I prefer the stock Google experience and I don?t like having much get in the way. That being said you hide a lot of the TouchWiz components (which I did by using Nova Launcher). I found that TouchWiz will lag when coming back to the home screen hitting the button if you have a lot of stuff running or you where doing a lot with your phone. Multiple times I experienced my widgets taking a good 5 seconds to load on the home screen (all I was using was Beautiful Widgets). This issue was solved with Nova. I had no issues whatsoever with the Nexus. This is probably due to stock Android. Running ICS you got slight lag here and there but running Jelly Bean the device was incredibly smooth and quick. I have to give a victory to the Galaxy Nexus here.
Functionality:
This category will also bring up some debate. I am rating this on how well the device will work out of the box. The Galaxy Nexus is a great phone there is no doubt... however to get it to be great you must unlock the bootload, root the device and then install a good ROM of choice (now Jelly Bean or some varient of AOKP). I ran both for a good chunk of time with it and I was happy. Unlocking and rooting was a fairly painless process but its not for everyone. The Galaxy S3 worked flawlessly out of the box and didn?t take much to get it set up and work great. I am surprised really. Only things that I did where tinker with the settings that I like and disable a lot of the VZW apps I will never use. Its not a necessary step but just my own way to make the GS3 my own.
Out of the Box Customization:
So far this has been a pretty even race, but this is where we start see some of the major differences that make each of these devices special. The Galaxy S3 comes with LOADS and I mean LOADS of features that you can show your friends and use on your device. The Galaxy Nexus comes with a good amount of cool stuff but Samsung really outdid themselves with this device. Between motion settings, lockscreen settings and even the battery percentage indicator. Its just those small things that make this device great. I have to give it to the Galaxy S3.
Hackability:
Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Nexus, GALAXY NEXUS. If anyone will try to argue otherwise on this they are going to be dead wrong. While the GS3 will have dev support like most other Samsung phones, however with a locked bootloader there is no way the GS3 will have as much dev support as the Galaxy Nexus. The Galaxy Nexus is a pure Google experience and therefore will provide the greatest amount of dev support and therefore the most amount of custom ROMs, kernels, mods, tweaks and themes. Period. If you don?t believe me go to RootzWiki and check out the Nexus forums. Galaxy Nexus wins.
Edit: Rooted and installed CWM recovery this morning with incredible ease. Granted, you can't do much right now since the bootloader is still in lock down and there aren't any real ROMs out there yet. Here are instructions on how to root your GS3 I would HIGHLY recommend that you use the stock root OS, not the debloated one. People on Rootz are finding issues with the debloated one and it will cause headaches. I used the stock OS and just used Titanium Backup to freeze all the useless garbage that stock application manager wouldn't let me do.
Design:
Plastic or plastic, take your pick on what kind you like. Both phones are made from plastic but the GS3 will be made out of shinny plastic that is prone to finger prints and being slippery as hell. However, they do have a color choice which may make some people happy compared to the standard grey/black of the Nexus. The plastic on the Nexus has a very nice feel in the hand and doesn?t attract fingerprints or get slippery at all. I can?t really point out a clear cut winner since this one is going to be all about personal preference.
As request by a fellow user, I want to mention the difference between the devices and their soft keys. Most know the GS3 has one physical home button and 2 capacitive keys on either side, one for menu one for back. Holding the menu down and you get search, holding the home button down you get recent apps and double click it you get S-Voice. With the Nexus you get on screen soft keys for back, home, and recent apps. I loved the on screen keys of the Galaxy Nexus, especially with a rooted device where you could customize them. However, the layout of the GS3 is growing on me fast. I do like the idea of having a physical home key. Some may hate it, some may love it. It doesn't take too much space and it does the job you expect it to do. I do find that with the White GS3 it does make it harder to see the capacitive keys at times. Not a major issue since you get use to where they are. Again this one all comes down to personal preference. For me, I like it and got use to it pretty quick.
Display:
Both are rocking large screens with good resolutions. Galaxy Nexus running a 4.65 HD Super AMOLED screen at 1280x720. GS3 is running a 4.8 HD Super AMOLED screen at the same 1280x720. Should be about the same minus the screen size difference right? Wrong. The GS3 screen is GORGEOUS. I was wowd when I turned this bad boy on. The Galaxy Nexus looks a little washed out and has those grey lines in the dark but from what I can tell (running auto-brightness on both devices) the GS3 looks much sharper, clearer and brighter. I have to give this to the GS3.
Battery Life:
The Galaxy Nexus comes with an 1850mAh battery and the Galaxy S3 comes with a 2100mAh battery. Right now its hard to tell since I have been playing with my GS3 A LOT but the battery has been damn impressive so far. I am in the process of running down the battery from 100% to around 5% now for the first time since opening. I will report back with total time but so far it has been impressive. The Galaxy Nexus out of the box was ?okay?. You will hear some say it was terrible while others will say it was good. Personally out of the box I was getting OKAY results. Meaning I was just making it through the day (barely) with and average of 1.5 hours of screen on time and 18 hours if being off the charger. However, when I had a custom Kernel and ROM I was getting EASILY 35 hours on battery with the same amount of screen on time. That's the beauty of an unlocked bootloader. Right now, the GS3 seems to be holding its own but I will report back. No judgement just yet.
Signal/Reception Quality:
As requested by users, and rightfully so this has to be added to the review. My apologies for missing it right away. The Galaxy Nexus has been plagued with service issues between constant data drops and the overall service sometimes just not working. Samsung has never been the best when it comes to their radios but I feel they did a pretty good job improving the radios in the Galaxy S3. I have not had a major issue as of yet and no data drops to speak of. Call quality is good, albeit a little low but bearable. I will say that it was a little unnerving when some people couldn't even receive phone calls on their GNex (my gf just experienced this the other day, luckily she has a GS3 on the way). I have to give this one too the GS3. While it isn't leaps and bounds better, it hasn't been plagued with the same glaring issue that some Nexus users are having.
Posted by user broadwayblues down a bunch of posts is an indepth look of signal strength between the GS3, Nexus and RAZR Maxx. Broadway did a fantastic job on this write and is worthy of a good read... GS3 vs Nexus vs Razr Maxx Radios
Another requested category by a user, speakerphone quality. Used it a bit last night for a couple phone calls and overall the sound quality was pretty good. This will also depend on sound levels obviously but I had mine all the way up and it was clear. Wasn't too loud to the point it hurt listening to it but it was just loud enough to make it clear and crisp from a distance away. Person who I was talking to on the other end had no idea I was using speaker phone either. Again, that will be dependent on where you are using speakerphone, I was in a normal size house room. I don't use speakerphone all that often, but I am happy with it on the GS3.
Camera:
Again, suggested by users section which I will admit I haven't paid much attention too since I don't use my camera very often... not a big picture taker. On some of the pictures that I did take I noticed the camera is much better at snapping shots quicker and the quality is much better. On the Nexus running ICS I wont lie, they where terrible usually.. probably the reason why I didn't use the camera often. When I upgraded to Jelly Bean it got better but still not good. If you take a lot of pictures or do video recording its hard to not recommend the GS3. I love the feature to take a snap shot while recording and the sheer quantity of features in the camera. I will end up playing around more with them as the week goes by but I can assure you that this camera is leaps and bounds above the Nexus. GS3 takes this one no contest.
SMS/MMS & EMail Apps:
I want to say that I LOVE the SMS/MMS app. The customization of it is great is a really good way to make the phone look different from your friends or siblings. I was asked to comment on how a multi-user text message works. I actually had to use this the other day and it works pretty nicely. Works like normal when sending the original message but this is the cool part. When you go back to the thread it gives the option to respond but right above the typing window before you open the keyboard it has tabs asking "Group Conversation" or "Individual Message". Basically you do group... everyone sees it, Individual it will send it to everyone individually, not in the group thread. Really intuitive and something that I wouldn't have thought to add really. If someone responds to the group, shows up in the group thread and if someone responds in the individual thread it looks like a normal text message convo between 2 people.
As far as EMail goes. The GMail app is standard, no difference here. If you use another email service like from your ISP (Optimum myself) the inbox looks different and I think for the better. Messages are segregated by date received instead of one long list. It looks much more organized and easier to read. Functionality is pretty much the same, but the way it functions just makes it more user friendly.
For both the SMS/MMS App and EMail app, the GS3 wins.
Keyboard:
Here is my biggest issue with the GS3. The stock keyboard is terrible, I really do hate it. The predictive text is too aggressive and the T-9 trace is a nice touch but is no where near Swype when it comes to accuracy. It seems to lag and has terrible predictions. I had to turn predictive text off just to use it for a little while and even then it was annoying. The GNex had a decent keyboard on ICS but on JellyBean it was amazingly good. But hey, the beauty of Android is customization right? I currently am switching between Swype Beta and Swiftkey 3. Both work really well on this device and I am also trying out ICS Keyboard (purchased on market but they have a free one as well). All 3 are good keyboards but I usually prefer Swiftkey. If I was just talking in the sense of stock keyboards the GNex wins this hands down.
Verizon Wireless ?Junk?:
When I got my Galaxy Nexus I was surprised on how little came on the device. If I remember correctly all I had was My Verizon Mobile and NFL mobile. I don?t think there was much else. The Galaxy S3... well that's a different story. As said before, I myself disabled a bunch of useless apps that I would never use. Some people may use them and find them great but I myself find them useless and bog down the experience. Here is a list of the stuff that you can go into your application settings and disable...
AllShare Play - Samsung?s version of DropBox.
Verizon Apps - Self explanatory
Backup Assistant Plus - Self explanatory
Kies air - Hell if I know.
My Verizon Mobile - Self explanatory
S Suggest - Samsung?s version of Google Play with same Apps....
Sync Service (Verizon?s - DON?T DISABLE GOOGLE SYNC SERVICE)
VZ Navigator - Self explanatory
Not a terribly long list but still good enough all things considered. At least they didn?t at a bunch of crap games. I kept NFL Mobile enabled as well as a couple other ones due to stability and I didn?t want to test fate. Not all is bad though, Samsung actually did a pretty good job giving us some nice widgets and apps. I personally love the Samsung Calendar and the Music player combined with the widgets. So again, its not all bad but it will be personal preferance on what you like/dislike. Aside from the apps that Verizon preinstalls on their devices they seems to add small features that are either really really annoying or just really annoying. For example, the constant WiFi notification... really Verizon? Do you take us all for idiots who don?t know how to turn WiFi on/off? Its something that I can get use to and I already have but its just amazing that they would think this would ?enhance? the phone. I really hope that someone find a way to get rid of that and put it back where it belongs with the normal toggles. I really have to give to the Nexus here, simply because it doesn?t have the BS that is annoying. While missing out on some of the good features, it misses out on having the bad which I believes outweighs the good in this one.
Overall Conclusion:
So whats the conclusion here... should I buy a Galaxy S3 or a Galaxy Nexus (when they go back for Sale). I can?t answer that for you but I can give you one question that will greatly aid in your decision. Ask you self this... ?Do I want a phone a great phone right out of the box?? or ?Do I want a stock Google experience and get updates first?? Both sound great based on the question. If you answer yes to the first one you will be getting a great phone out of the box but it will be bloated with Verizon and Samsung apps and won?t have as much dev support as the Nexus. If you answer yes to the second question you will get another great phone that will should (and in my opinion need) be unlocked, root and have a custom ROM flashed on it to make it truly great. You must make the call. If you ask me. I would right now take the GS3. I loved, LOVED my Galaxy Nexus with Jelly Bean on it, but right I am digging the GS3. Will I go back to my Nexus? Maybe. I am happy where I am now with the GS3 but I do miss my Nexus, it was truly the greatest phone I have ever owned. The GS3 has the opportunity to dethrone it, but it?s too early to tell.
Last edited:
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