Should I get a Nexus or get something else?

[pauldroidr2d2]

Hint: I'm not buying phones for the population at large.
I got the GN for myself and 4 out of 4 were defective. That's good enough statistics for me to conclude that GN has serious problems. I understand that in general 4 out of 100k is not a large enough sample size

Maybe you should try a different type of phone.

 

[rebelguy]

I have had my nexus for a little a month and I have decided to cut my losses and move on. I previously came from the Rezound (which had a hardware issue and had to be returned), but because of my lack of patience to wait for a replacement and the saleperson's pitch about the awesomeness of the GN I decided to give it a try. Others may be loving it but I consider it a huge step down from the Rezound and it it weren't for having ICS would be labeled as just another mediocre phone in Verizon's inventory.

My problems with the phone:

1. Signal quality is terrible. (Yes this may be solved with an update but then again maybe it won't)
2. The 4G to 3G swap takes forever and often times results in no date without rebooting. (Yes this may be solved with an update but then again maybe it won't)
3. Call quality is average at best.
4. Speaker quality is terrible. Everything sounds muffled. (This will not be solved with an update)
5. Battery life is terrible. I get about 4-5 hours with little to moderate use.
6. The Camera is average at best.
7. The phone will not download any mp3 attachments. Whenever I try to do it it always fails at the end.
8. I can not search for a contact through the phone app. I can only find someone if going through contacts.

I honestly feel like Samsung purposely handicapped this phone so it would not interfere with it's GS3 sales.

Because of the wonders of Costco's return policy I am going to go with either the Rezound again or possibly the Razr. I do wish the had the Razr Maxx but since it is such a hit I don't see them getting it anytime soon as Verizon can't even keep them in stock.

 

[panerai7]

Maybe you should try a different type of phone.

I did, I went back to my Droid Charge and everything is back to normal, now I'm waiting for my nearest store to get some Razr Maxx's so I can pick one up.

 

[panerai7]

I have had my nexus for a little a month and I have decided to cut my losses and move on. I previously came from the Rezound (which had a hardware issue and had to be returned), but because of my lack of patience to wait for a replacement and the saleperson's pitch about the awesomeness of the GN I decided to give it a try. Others may be loving it but I consider it a huge step down from the Rezound and it it weren't for having ICS would be labeled as just another mediocre phone in Verizon's inventory.

My problems with the phone:

1. Signal quality is terrible. (Yes this may be solved with an update but then again maybe it won't)
2. The 4G to 3G swap takes forever and often times results in no date without rebooting. (Yes this may be solved with an update but then again maybe it won't)
3. Call quality is average at best.
4. Speaker quality is terrible. Everything sounds muffled. (This will not be solved with an update)
5. Battery life is terrible. I get about 4-5 hours with little to moderate use.
6. The Camera is average at best.
7. The phone will not download any mp3 attachments. Whenever I try to do it it always fails at the end.
8. I can not search for a contact through the phone app. I can only find someone if going through contacts.

I honestly feel like Samsung purposely handicapped this phone so it would not interfere with it's GS3 sales.

Because of the wonders of Costco's return policy I am going to go with either the Rezound again or possibly the Razr. I do wish the had the Razr Maxx but since it is such a hit I don't see them getting it anytime soon as Verizon can't even keep them in stock.

I have experienced all of the above with 4 GN I had.
So glad I am not the only one, seems like some fanboys around here make it sound like I'm crazy.
I will buy it again if they fix everything, I loved the idea of it being a Google Nexus product.

 

[daihard2008]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am considering switching from an iPhone 4 to an Android phone (GSM - I'm keeping my AT&T account). My original thought was to get a Galaxy Nexus, but after looking at the SII and GN, I feel that I would prefer a bit smaller form factor. With that in mind, do you guys have any recommendations? I'd prefer a high screen resolution, where 540 x 960 would be good enough.

TIA!

 

[dmmarck]

I have had my nexus for a little a month and I have decided to cut my losses and move on. I previously came from the Rezound (which had a hardware issue and had to be returned), but because of my lack of patience to wait for a replacement and the saleperson's pitch about the awesomeness of the GN I decided to give it a try. Others may be loving it but I consider it a huge step down from the Rezound and it it weren't for having ICS would be labeled as just another mediocre phone in Verizon's inventory.

My problems with the phone:

1. Signal quality is terrible. (Yes this may be solved with an update but then again maybe it won't)
2. The 4G to 3G swap takes forever and often times results in no date without rebooting. (Yes this may be solved with an update but then again maybe it won't)
3. Call quality is average at best.
4. Speaker quality is terrible. Everything sounds muffled. (This will not be solved with an update)
5. Battery life is terrible. I get about 4-5 hours with little to moderate use.
6. The Camera is average at best.
7. The phone will not download any mp3 attachments. Whenever I try to do it it always fails at the end.
8. I can not search for a contact through the phone app. I can only find someone if going through contacts.

I honestly feel like Samsung purposely handicapped this phone so it would not interfere with it's GS3 sales.

Because of the wonders of Costco's return policy I am going to go with either the Rezound again or possibly the Razr. I do wish the had the Razr Maxx but since it is such a hit I don't see them getting it anytime soon as Verizon can't even keep them in stock.

I've had 4 of these devices. The last 3 were due to Verizon's horrific Certified Like New Program. The first had a faulty volume rocker. With those issues, though:

(1) Agree. Not sure if the 4.0.4 radios truly fixed this, but I think it's more hardware than not.

(2) Much improved with the 4.0.4 radios.

(3) I agree, although I've never really cared b/c I barely make calls (ironically)

(4) I agree. Shoddy hardware. The speakerphone is unusable.

(5) You must have 4G on all the time. That being said, I haven't used it without a custom kernel in some time, but I can use it for about double that with a variety of kernels and roms, with decent usage (my best is 73% full after 5 hours of Spotify, texting, and browsing). While the battery is objectively "mediocre," so much personal usage goes into it that it's hard to truly say whether it's horrific or not. It's certainly better than the Thunderbolt's, that's for sure.

(6) I agree.

(7) No idea. Have you tried emailing? I had problems doing that with my DINC too. But nowadays, I just save and transfer via USB. Simplest solution for getting anything on the phone IMHO.

(8) How can you not do this? Go to Phone, then clink on the person looking thing to the right, then click on the search. OR, just click on the search/glass thing on the bottom left. I don't think I have a different Phone app than you, but I might if you can do neither of those.

That being said, every phone has its issues--regardless of what fans of any phone says. The RAZR has a terrible screen, while reports that the MAXX has a slightly better one. Some like the GN's look, some like the RAZR's. To a certain extent, it's about preferences.

For what I do--rooting, flashing, etc., there is no better phone out there. Combine that with a fantastic screen, 4G, and something I like, for me this phone has been great.

And I've been through four of them.

 

[rebelguy]

I've had 4 of these devices. The last 3 were due to Verizon's horrific Certified Like New Program. The first had a faulty volume rocker. With those issues, though:

(1) Agree. Not sure if the 4.0.4 radios truly fixed this, but I think it's more hardware than not.

(2) Much improved with the 4.0.4 radios.

(3) I agree, although I've never really cared b/c I barely make calls (ironically)

(4) I agree. Shoddy hardware. The speakerphone is unusable.

(5) You must have 4G on all the time. That being said, I haven't used it without a custom kernel in some time, but I can use it for about double that with a variety of kernels and roms, with decent usage (my best is 73% full after 5 hours of Spotify, texting, and browsing). While the battery is objectively "mediocre," so much personal usage goes into it that it's hard to truly say whether it's horrific or not. It's certainly better than the Thunderbolt's, that's for sure.

(6) I agree.

(7) No idea. Have you tried emailing? I had problems doing that with my DINC too. But nowadays, I just save and transfer via USB. Simplest solution for getting anything on the phone IMHO.

(8) How can you not do this? Go to Phone, then clink on the person looking thing to the right, then click on the search. OR, just click on the search/glass thing on the bottom left. I don't think I have a different Phone app than you, but I might if you can do neither of those.

That being said, every phone has its issues--regardless of what fans of any phone says. The RAZR has a terrible screen, while reports that the MAXX has a slightly better one. Some like the GN's look, some like the RAZR's. To a certain extent, it's about preferences.

For what I do--rooting, flashing, etc., there is no better phone out there. Combine that with a fantastic screen, 4G, and something I like, for me this phone has been great.

And I've been through four of them.

In regard to my battery issue, no I actually leave the phone on 3G most of the time now unless I need to download something quickly.

As far as the mp3 issue, I use my phone for my mobile DJ business and there are often times I need to download a song at an event. The inability to do this is a major problem for me.

I use this phone for my business and as much as i love the multimedia capabilities it is to much of a let down for day to day work use for me. I can deal with the lesser screen quality. I can watch movies on my computer if need be.

 

[dmmarck]

Re: battery, that's quite odd then. Even stock I remember getting more life than that, but there's so much going on underneath that there could be a variety of reasons. My only point is that unless you're going Maxx, battery life generally sucks all around, particularly when it comes to using basic stuff.

And that's completely understandable.

 

[davey11]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am considering switching from an iPhone 4 to an Android phone (GSM - I'm keeping my AT&T account). My original thought was to get a Galaxy Nexus, but after looking at the SII and GN, I feel that I would prefer a bit smaller form factor. With that in mind, do you guys have any recommendations? I'd prefer a high screen resolution, where 540 x 960 would be good enough.

TIA!

Try checking out the Galaxy Note. Yeah you said smaller and this thing is HUGE, but try playing around with one at the att store. I did and I could get used to it real easy. The ppl in the Note forum gush on this phone.

But yeah if smaller is your thing this is definitely not for you.

 

[Droid800]

Hint: I'm not buying phones for the population at large.
I got the GN for myself and 4 out of 4 were defective. That's good enough statistics for me to conclude that GN has serious problems. I understand that in general 4 out of 100k is not a large enough sample size

Yeah that isn't how these things work. Just because you have problems does not mean all Nexii do. It isn't 'good enough' for anything, let alone a recall.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Nakrohtap]

all the hype about fast updates from google is bull . this phone has been updated once, and as far as I can tell, the update didn't address major deficiencies the phone has.


i forgot to mention that you are quite limited with ring tones as well.

How many other phones are running ICS and how many updates has Google released? When ICS or Android is updated, the Nexus will always be at the front of the line officially and unofficially, thanks to the big developer community.

As far as ringtones, you can put any ringtone you want on it. Just because it doesn't have 50 on it out the box, that shouldn't limit anyone.

 

[panerai7]

Yeah that isn't how these things work. Just because you have problems does not mean all Nexii do. It isn't 'good enough' for anything, let alone a recall.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

We'll see what happens if they fix all of the problems I might come back.
You gotta admit there's no other Android 4g phone on Verizon that has so many unhappy customers with the same problems

 

[Droid800]

We'll see what happens if they fix all of the problems I might come back.
You gotta admit there's no other Android 4g phone on Verizon that has so many unhappy customers with the same problems

You ever heard of the bionic? Or the thunderbolt?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[dmmarck]

Yeah the Thunderbolt was voted one of the biggest letdowns in Android's history on at least one site (or was it 2011 or whenever it debuted? who knows!), mainly because the battery lasted about 45 minutes.

The Bionic was an over-advertised, low quality device.

And this has some issues, but is far and away above those.

 

[panerai7]

I didn't have a chance to try Bionic so I cant comment on that phone. I still don't get why Motorola even bothered having the Razr line coming 60 days later.

As far as HTC, I will not buy one out of principal

 

[trivor]

One thing that people keep glossing over (and Phil N. said on the podcast how nice it was to go back to the size of a 4.0" phone in his review of the Amaze 4G) is how HUGE some of these phones are. I have small hands and in no way, shape or form is it comfortable to hold the GNex in one hand - it is just too big. I felt, for me, all of the new 4G phones were too big (Razr, GNex and Rezound) and am quite happy with my 4.0" Dinc 2. I am hoping someone puts out a decently specced 4.0" inch phone by XMas (I'll be ready for another phone by then) I can still comfortably handle my phone with one hand and fits in my pocket without feeling like I am carrying around a brick. I certainly hope I don't have to buy an iPhone 5 because it is the only 4.0" phone with LTE on Verizon. JMHO and YMMV.

 

[joshua.worth]

I've had my heart set on getting a Galaxy Nexus when it came out in December. After reading numerous reviews of poor battery life and data reception, I chose to keep using my current device for a while.
I used to visit this forum daily, and saw numerous complaints. As I scroll through the forum now, I don't see as many threads about poor battery life and reception. Is the Nexus still plague with those problems? I wasn't sure if users stopped talking about those issues, or if recent updates have addressed those concerns.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

I would say no don't get a Galaxy Nexus, its already old in the Android world and too many Sammy qualitys

Sent from my HTC Hero S using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

We'll see what happens if they fix all of the problems I might come back.
You gotta admit there's no other Android 4g phone on Verizon that has so many unhappy customers with the same problems

I'd love to see some data to validate and support the above claim.

Sent from one of the following: Galaxy Nexus, Bionic or Xoom using Tapatalk.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

I didn't have a chance to try Bionic so I cant comment on that phone. I still don't get why Motorola even bothered having the Razr line coming 60 days later.

As far as HTC, I will not buy one out of principal

You like to make grandiose statements based simply off of your paradigm. Instead making absolutes, stick to your own opinions and experiences. You do not speak for the majority.

Sent from one of the following: Galaxy Nexus, Bionic or Xoom using Tapatalk.

 

[rebelguy]

I'd love to see some data to validate and support the above claim.

Sent from one of the following: Galaxy Nexus, Bionic or Xoom using Tapatalk.

I doubt we willl see any data on this but I will say that when I returned my GN at Costco yesterday the salesperson at the mobile Kiosk said it was the phone they have had the most complaints and returns on. The main problems...call quality and connection issues.

The techies may love it but the average user just wants a phone that works as a phone first and foremost.

The number 1 seller and least returned phone at the store I go to? The Razr. And no i didn't get lured into buying one...haha.