Verizon Galaxy Nexus First Impressions/Reviews

[dmbfan42]

taken my Nexus back tomorrow just too many thing wrong with mine..the signal is a big issue...wasnt about to make a phone call tonight on my way back from Iowa. Also if anyone can help me but all the ringtones that i have assigned to my contacts are not playing just my default ringtone. i changed it around and still nothing so going to check out hte razr now

 

[Mar172010]

Here are my thoughts...

Pros -
ICS is beautiful and fast
Nexus is light and not too big
Great design all around
Internally, it is a pretty fast phone
Verizon LTE is blazing fast (Chicago)
Camera has no lag and is very quick and responsive
Very little to none lag throughout the phone

Cons -
Very very low signal strength
Speaker is very low
5 MP camera is not the best
The screen is really nothing special but simply ok
Flimsy back cover
Battery life is not very good which was expected with 4G

Overall the phone is very quick and responsive and ICS is simply beautiful and fast. The phone needs some major updating in the volume, signal, and camera department. Hopefully all of this will get addressed very soon.

 

[Philip600rr]

The hardware/software has not advanced enough to trade in my DX.:'(

 

[Brian Rocket]

My first Android phone.

Pros:

Great Design
Love the big screen
ICS is great
4G LTE blows me away. Faster than my WiFi
Like the apps
Facial Recognition works and is cool (as a novelty).
Video playback is good.

Cons:

Signal strength is very low (may be a deal breaker).
Battery life is worse than I expected. Not getting extended battery as its not much of an improvement. Think I will get a portable charger.
Wasn't expecting the screen to be such a battery drainer.
Scrolling isn't perfectly smooth like on the iPhone. Its a little choppy.
Camera is terrible in low light environments.
Low quality rear cover - I have a rubber gel skin case so not a big deal.

I waited for this phone since August. I'm not sold on it yet. May return it for a Rezound if signal strength can't be addressed and it drops calls in areas I'm usually in. First and foremost, I need a phone that works well (voice) in most areas and doesn't drop calls.

 

[Rockn]

My first Android phone, Nexus, is the first one to part my own money from my wallet and I am still impressed on the 4th day. This has everything I wanted from a phone and soon as I can master the copy/paste part of the GUI I will be set.

Some people in this thread have complained about signal strength and battery life, and they back it up with examples of their experiences so don't think I am denying their perceptions by what I say next. I live and work near the 4G towers for Verizon, I mean I can see the damm things out my windows. I am getting phenomenal reception and battery life from the 2100Mah battery, and the way I use it most is to have it it almost always on WiFi at the these two locations. Bluetooth active only to connect devices that I rarely will use like a printer and Jawbone.

So, IMHO, if you are not getting the performance from your Nexus that you want, know that under different circumstances somebody else like me is. While a noob with Android technology, I know enough that I can trim the battery suckage coherently and still recognize that it is my (lucky) environment that really is making a big difference in my satisfaction for the Nexus.

 

[ultravisitor]

Battery life is worse than I expected. Not getting extended battery as its not much of an improvement. Think I will get a portable charger.
Wasn't expecting the screen to be such a battery drainer.

Welcome to the world of Android superphones. Since the Galaxy Nexus is your first Android phone, you should probably know that these "cons" are going to be issues regardless of which phone you get. The huge screens come with high pricetags. You're going to have to learn how to manage your battery to suit your needs.

 

[bberrynewbie84]

Im thinking about leaving my DX for the Nexus

The hardware/software has not advanced enough to trade in my DX.:'(

 

[ultravisitor]

I left my Droid X for the Galaxy Nexus and I don't regret it a bit.

 

[davidnc]

I don't have any major complaints. The only major one would be the sound and now I have selected a ring tone that is loud enough for me.I am able to hear phone rings,sms notifications and email notifications ok.I haven't installed the volume + app don't really need it but if I did that would be my first opt.
The GPS works well as does the Bluetooth syncing with my car stereo.
The battery life is about what I expected but its tough to let the phone sit idle for very long .ha
The signal strength while is a lil lower if looking at the dbm numbers but again not a major issue with me.Actually right now nexus is showing 84dbm and HTC incredible showing 88 dbm.
The longer I have this phone the more I'm loving it the operating system is smooth .
I have it unlocked and rooted but on stock 4.0.2 ICS.
I'm keeping it my dx is in retirement in my sock drawer.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[elvisgp]

I also left my Droid x. The nexus and ICS are better than my Droid x on apex 2.0 in my opinion.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[mozy]

I left my Droid X for this phone - no regrets this phone is AMAZING!!!!!

Pros

• Super fast
• Screen amazing - clear
• Speaker phone is loud once you add the app Volume+ (it is free got it in thread in these forums for free)
• Any problem I find with this phone I find a solution almost immediately on these boards or on the internet
• LTE - blazing fast
• Call quality seems good (haven't used much)
• Customization is easy and fun (loving the folders)
• Navigation works better than ever
• Everything works smoothly (once you figure it out)
• The voice recognition is significantly improved
• Gmail, browser - nice upgrades
• I like the no physical buttons
• The task switcher/manager feature is awesome
  

Cons

• Battery life (but I was expecting that - this phone charges slower than the Droid X) (Note I have not explored how to maximize my battery use - I'm sure it can be improved once I research it and experiment with with different ideas.)
• 
  

Haven't used much - no opinion yet

• Camera/video player

Buy this phone NOW!!!!

The real genius of the phone is being able to design it how you like and improve it exponentially and continuously - if you are into that.

 

[davey11]

Can't wait for the floodgates to open with roms, kernels, mods and hacks which it surely will. One of the major reasons I bought this phone at full price.
/me is total phone addict/hacker.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

 

[JOHNGAETANO]

Battery life sounds like a major issue

 

[mozy]

Battery life sounds like a major issue

Yes and No

Yes - all LTE phones currently drain batteries fast

No - Because you can swap in a fresh battery whenever you want and new batteries are pretty cheap ($25 for an extended battery) - it actually isn't an issue at all.

 

[bplewis24]

Anybody else notice slowdowns in the UI (home screen transitions, app screen transitions) when switching to a different live wallpaper than the stock one? Specifically, I used the "Microbes" wallpaper and notice the slowdown. Why would one wallpaper be more optimized than another?

Brandon

 

[Johnly]

Three days in and I LOVE this phone. I used it like normal and have 27% battery after 12+ hours normal use, stock. Now that I know I can use this like my iPhone and get full days I am set. Three days ago I was on the fence.....now try and pry this phone away....I kill thee.....

 

[whiteshadow001]

Ok I'm coming from a thunderbolt which was and still is one of the best phones on Verizon, but I have to say this phone beats the thunderbolt in every way, I absolutely love this thing

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[ferniesp]

My first impression of this phone was simply this. Hate the phone! It's plasticky, signal is the pits. Seriously, all this wait for this? Shoot, I don't even have to look at the mixed reviews to see that this phone is a flop or at least will flop in time. Sorry guys and gals, I need a phone to make calls and at the very least, take decent pictures which the Nexus fails big time. I won't go into it any further because there are already more negative threads popping up all of the time in here.

Peace

 

[dsignori]

I absolutely LOVE mine. Rinse, repeat. With so much hype , I can't believe it is actually surpassing my expectations, but it is.

- LOVE LOVE LOVE ICS.
- Screen is awesome
- Hulu + works now (yay!)
- Sooo many other great things ...

p.s. The camera seems great to me, seriously. As long as I touch the screen to focus, I get consistently great pics - way better than expected with the early reviews. I wonder if those reporting bad pics are snapping without focusing first. It makes a huge difference in my pics. Also, as long as the flash is on in low light, I get good pics there too. No flash in low light? Well who are we kidding, it's not a DSLR after all

 

[Friend-O]

My Nexus was delivered today and all I have to say is WOW. I absolutely love it. The screen is beautiful and destroys that of my soon-to-be-on-ebay Bionic, IMHO. ICS is everything I had hoped and dreamed for. Haven't had time to mess with it too much and I'm not going to begin getting into any real customization until after I unlock the bootloader and root tonight. I couldn't be happier right now though. That is all.