Verizon Galaxy Nexus First Impressions/Reviews

[sc4fpse]

My initial thoughts of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus in five lines:

1. Wow, decent headphones?
2. What a gorgeous screen... oh man... the colors... the beauty... it's ama-- OH GOD WHERE DID THE SCREEN GO. COME BACK.
3. Google got lazy or forgot to optimize nearly all of the live wallpapers.
4. We've finally made it to the promised land of Android.
5. I wish I had my Facebook contacts synced...


Alright, so a little more in-depth thoughts...

The screen of this device is incredible. Videos, pictures, and anecdotes simply do not do it justice. If you're on the edge about getting this device, absolutely go to Verizon Wireless and play with it yourself. Hopefully the demo model there isn't running a laggy live wallpaper like the one I played with today was. Didn't have any concerns though -- I know store demos are always laggy for one reason or another. Once I got the plastic off and was able to play with it very close, I fell even more in love.

I know a lot of people have complaints about the size of the phone and the screen. I have no trouble at all using the device with only one hand, but I'm a big guy with big hands. I could see how it could be problematic for some people with very, very small hands. But, eh, I've seen more girls than I can could walking around with EVOs the size of their heads, so I guess it can't be that big of a deal for many people.

Another thing I have heard is that Samsung radios were not as strong as Motorola radios. I had not heard any comparisons to HTC radios, which interested me the most, coming from the catastrophe they dubbed the Thunderbolt. Turns out Samsung radios are less powerful than HTC's as well. I was in an interior boiler room on the top floor of my 5-floor office building late this evening. Dropped to 3G, whereas I could pull down 20 mbps+ on LTE with my Thunderbolt. But hey, if a little bit weaker of an LTE radio is the cost of some decent battery life, I guess I can live with that. Might convince me to leave my phone in my pocket during work a little more anyways, haha.

In playing with the device, I've had very, very few issues so far. On one or two occasions the app drawer lagged in closing, but I haven't been able to replicate that in a number of hours, so I'm not too concerned about it. I don't have my phone bogged down with tons of apps at this point, but so far it's still buttery smooth. It's absolutely delicious.

Overall, Ice Cream Sandwich just feels polished. That's really all you can say about it. It finally feels very, very comparable polish-wise to iOS, and that's something that I have always been honest with myself about. Previous versions of Android just were not that nice. They were clunky, and were unable to attract many casual users. However, I think that as we see more and more 4.0 devices released, this is going to change. I have great hopes for Android 4.0, I really do.

On that note, I realized that I didn't do something tonight that I've always done before -- I've always customized my new device as soon as I got it. Replaced the launcher, flashed a new rom or a new theme. I haven't done any of that so far. Granted, roms and themes are hard to come by, but I haven't even replaced many of the stock applications. Messaging? It's finally good enough to not need replacing with Handcent. Poweramp, I'm afraid you may be taking a back seat to Google Music finally. With my Thunderbolt, I felt like I was using an HTC product, not a Google product. I definitely feel like I'm using a Google product this time around, and I feel like the integration of Google Music (among other programs) into the operating system is just so much better this time around, and worthy of my use at last.

It's crazy -- I almost feel like whereas customization is what has made Android so great compared to iOS over the years, it almost isn't needed on the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0. That's how much of a step above Gingerbread ICS is. And that's why I have great expectations for Android from here on out. And heck, if Apple-loving BGR can come out and say that this is the best smartphone ever on Verizon Wireless, you know that the future is bright for Android.

 

[kmully]

Have the phone for about 8 hours now. I've missed 3 calls and a dozen text messages. The speaker is WAAAAY to low ....Screen to me is "eh" unless you turn the brightness up. Gray areas like when the market is loading have faint lines and look blotchy. Really not liking the fact I can't just pop my SD card in the phone and go....

Not a good feeling so far with this one. I'm disappointed Missing my stock Thunderbolt ..... Gonna load it up a bit tomorrow and give it a full days worth of use. Color me unimpressed to this point.

Oh, one good thing. This phone does NOT feel cheap to me in anyway. The only complaint would be the battery door. But when its on, its solid. The whole phone feels solid. Its nothing like the build of the Stratosphere or the Charge.

Can you confirm via Menu -> Sound that you have everything 100% maxed out on sound and you're stilll missing calls?

Wish someone would do a dB test and put the phones next to each other... properly test the ringing, speaker phone, etc...

 

[whodatt]

got mine today as well, so far have already unlocked the bootloader. Have not done much more than that.
Phone feels solid which was a concern of mine seeing how other Samsung phones just felt kind of cheap.
Radio so far is decent, but the reception is not quite as good as my Motorola as it seems others have stated. Loving the 4G though as getting my apps back has gone by very quickly!

My main complaint so far is being told that we get free NFL coverage via app with the purchase of the phone.. however when I open the app it tells me its not compatible with this phone. WTF!??

Loving this phone so far

 

[davey11]

Fairly steep learning curve...ui is way different than gb thats for sure.
I was stumped for awhile on getting into the menu in apps until I hit the 3 little dots to the right of the menu soft key.

Still learnin' stuffs

 

[davey11]

One thing that is really bad is the transfer speeds to the internal storage.

I am moving about 22 gigs from an sd card reader onto the phone and coming up on 3 hours and only about 60%

 

[Jet300]

Can you confirm via Menu -> Sound that you have everything 100% maxed out on sound and you're stilll missing calls?

Wish someone would do a dB test and put the phones next to each other... properly test the ringing, speaker phone, etc...

Yes. All at 100. I just changed the ring tone to Pyxis and was nearly blown away. Its not a hardware issue I think. It has to be in the software. I can bearly hear Netflix at max volume. Plus all the little keypress tones are barely audible. Max speakerphone is a little worse than Thunderbolt.

And this no autocorrect within the browser blows. Just sayin...

 

[hyperdude]

Yes. All at 100. I just changed the ring tone to Pyxis and was nearly blown away. Its not a hardware issue I think. It has to be in the software. I can bearly hear Netflix at max volume. Plus all the little keypress tones are barely audible. Max speakerphone is a little worse than Thunderbolt.

And this no autocorrect within the browser blows. Just sayin...

I feel like part of the speakerphone problem is how quiet most of the ringtones and notification sounds are. I've got my ringtone set to Orion and have no problem hearing it (at about half volume).

 

[Jet300]

I feel like part of the speakerphone problem is how quiet most of the ringtones and notification sounds are. I've got my ringtone set to Orion and have no problem hearing it (at about half volume).

I agree. Just watched some vids off the web and all was well. Even at half volume .

 

[xcalibur1011]

is it worth selling my bionic for?

 

[Jet300]

Played around with one this morning.
I was not able to zoom in on some sites. I wasn't able to zoom in and see larger text for ESPN.com mobile site. I'm able to zoom in just fine on my current Android phone.


Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

To follow up on this... In the browser open the menu. Hit settings---->Accessability---->Check "Force Enable Zoom" BOOM! You can now zoom properly on mobile sites that didn't allow it prior .

 

[Jet300]

is it worth selling my bionic for?

The more I'm playing with it, the more I am liking it. Guess I'm getting shorter on patience as I get older.

Yes its better than my wifes D3 so I think it will be an upgrade to the Bionic. Screen is better in the Pentile department.

 

[st0ic_1]

To everyone saying the screen looks like crap.. post a good picture.

 

[Headhunter]

Likes:
- Nice screen (when the brightness is turned up)
- Nice smooth transitions
- For it's size it doesn't feel bulky
- no-lag shutter on camera is nice.

Dislikes:
- NO seperation of Ringer volume and notification volume!!!! REALLY?!?!?!?!
- NO My Files "App" to browse files (Fascinate had this and I used it all the time
- NO Mass storage connection via USB (Only MTP and Camera) ........
- Screen doesn't look that good when the brightness is turned down.....
- Navigation voice sounds weird..... (This could just be the new version of Google Navi, haven't tried it on my Fascinate since the last udate)

 

[kesnik]

Not really a bug but I haven't found a way to merge contacts. Any thoughts or possible solutions?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

You can't merge the contacts but you can "join" them. when your in the people app select one of the two contacts you want to "join". Select the menu from the upper right and select "edit"..... once in edit mode select the menu and you will see "Join". Just to recap this does not merge the 2 contacts it just duplicates the data inside the contact. Try it out you will see what i mean (you can choose "seperate" from the menu to go back to having to separate contacts.

-kesnik

 

[BiNGE]

For me, it is. I rented a Rezound waiting for the nexus and the differences are HUGE...

-WAY thinner & lighter
-Smoother operations.. the rezound always felt a bit laggy
-More intuitive UI
-NO HTC Sense!!! This means more memory is always free
-Doesn't use a proprietary charging cable- way easier to get second/third ones.
-Battery life is supposedly better
-More frequent OS updates due to vanilla Android

The rezound does not use proprietary charging cables. The port supports another media connector as well as standard micro USB. Everything about the physical weight and size I would agree with you about.

 

[charveldude]

First impressions after using it last night and this morning:

--ICS is very easy to use, and I came to the GNex straight from iOS.

--The size does take a little getting used to, but I'm already accustomed to having all that screen real estate. My old iPhone looks like a toy now. Browsing is a joy on this screen.

--I haven't noticed any bugs yet.

--That screen. Wow.

--Battery life isn't great, but I wasn't expecting it to be.

--This camera isn't going to replace your "real" camera, but it's okay for most stuff people use phone cameras for. Lack of shutter lag is nice. The camera app is not bad, but navigating between the various functions is either clunky or not intuitive (not sure yet).

--Have only noticed the slightest amount of screen lag here and there. 95% of the time it's seamless. Apps run fast, and I've only noticed a couple times where things got held up at all.

--Choosing how to use the home screen real estate is dirt simple once you get used to it. The only thing I don't like about the stock set-up is the analog clock widget. It's classy looking, but not as easy to use for that "quick glance at the time" I like, and it also takes up too much real estate. Can this be converted to a digital read-out?

--The volume doesn't seem that quiet to me, but many of the stock sounds are on the mellow side, which probably isn't helpful for a device you keep in your pocket.

--Stock ICS browser? Ain't feelin' it. Recommendations?

 

[Eloquence]

Hey Everyone,

Just gonna share my initial reaction and general thoughts on the Galaxy Nexus in no particular order.

Here's my smartphone device history (so you get a sense of where I am coming from):

Blackberry Curve -> i*hone 3G -> Droid Incredible -> Droid X -> Droid Bionic -> Galaxy Nexus

General sense: I think that this phone is a giant leap forward for Android. Another reviewer said something like Android is “getting a soul”, I would have said it already had one, but now it’s a lot more in your face.

I love the hardware. I don’t mind the plastic feel at all. I think it’s well built, much like the Droids I owned. The major difference lies with Motorola’s choice of metals and industrial design. That’s a preference thing to many people and while the Motorola Droid variants are solid, Samsung has come a long way from their first Android phones, in my opinion.

Screen is gorgeous. It really pops! I love this screen!! I just wish the auto-brightness was a little more aggressive. It seems dim to me in a lot of ways when turned on, usually I have to manually adjust it myself. However, when you watch a movie on this thing, it doesn't feel like it's a small screen!! It's almost like a phablet (phone tablet!)

The software is like buttah. It’s the star of the show in many ways, one being fluidity, another being smoothness, and another being speed. I can multi-task like a champ on this thing AND it rarely ever stutters. When it does stutter it’s because I have A TON of apps open doing MANY things in the background simultaneously. If there’s one thing I could wish for now, it would be that all of my old apps would work well under ICS. In time, they will, I’m sure.

Rooting and ROMing is something that I am into a major way. After all, it’s MY phone, let me do with it as I PLEASE. That being said, thanks to Vanilla Android and Google’s open nature to accessing their software, this was the most painless rooting/unlocking I have ever performed in my life. If my old i*hone is at one end of the spectrum, the G-Nex is definitely at the other complete opposite end.

Battery life hasn’t been so good. I’ll come out and say it. My old Droid X had the extended battery of 1900mAh and that thing STILL has excellent battery life some 17+ months later. I can’t say that about my G-Nex yet. I’ve already got the extended battery for it, but it doesn’t seem to be helping all that much. I guess it could be that I can’t put the phone down, but I digress in any case…

Camera is pretty good. Now, I'll admit, I haven't been subject to awesome Nokia cameras, nor the stupendous Galaxy SII camera, but coming from a Droid Bionic, this camera is LIGHTYEARS better than that one. I find you get this best results if you don't rapid fire on the software camera button. FOCUS FIRST. That'll make your pictures actually quite good. I haven't tested out video recording yet, but I am sure it will be good for a smartphone. Any more and you'll need a dedicated camcorder.

tl;dr – The long and short of it is, if you’re on the fence about getting into a contract for the next two years on Verizon wireless, have no fear – your phone is here. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the one you’ve been waiting for, even if you don’t know it yet! Do yourself a favour: Get one. Immediately. That is all.

Shoot any comments, questions, or concerns you have my way! I'd be happy to answer them.

-Elo

 

[Johnly]

Had mine off the charger for a little over 2 hours, almost time to charge it again. This should imorive with several cycles. The screen is organic, yes, imperfections do show throughout the OS. Camera isnt the best, and the speaker is underwhelming and crackles at times with certain sounds. Original droid and thr 4s sound twice as good and have better low sound production. I think the plastic is top notch, but it is still plastic, and I dont like plastic. I get lagg on certain apps like FB, but it is something i am used to with android. GPU is OLD. The phone is huge and a beast.
.
Now the good, ICS is an amazing OS. Multitasking on this is smooth. Thr OS is by far on to something great. I love the face unlock, and it actually works pretty darn well. Contrast ratio is out of this world good. None of that sells me, and the screen is controls are nice. What makes me want this phine is all the hacking roming rooting and code jamming that can be done, bar none that makes thisbphonrbthe "coolest" device out.

I am returning it, for 300 it just falls about 150 bucks short of what i will pay for it. It was fun though ooop, time to put it on the charger......

 

[JtothaR]

Re: Galaxy Nexus- First THoughts/ Opinions/Bugs

I live in a weak non 4G signal area, my wifes Droid Razr shows 2-3 bars and my GN sitting right next to has been on 0-1 bars since I got it. However I have made 3 calls totally around 20 minutes and haven't had any static or dropped calls. I believe the GN isn't displaying signal indicator correctly.

The true test of signal strength will be when I return to work next week, we have some areas that are really hard on cell phone signal.

It displays no bars but is still fast as hell. Love it so far.

 

[JtothaR]

--Choosing how to use the home screen real estate is dirt simple once you get used to it. The only thing I don't like about the stock set-up is the analog clock widget. It's classy looking, but not as easy to use for that "quick glance at the time" I like, and it also takes up too much real estate. Can this be converted to a digital read-out?


--Stock ICS browser? Ain't feelin' it. Recommendations?

- Get beautiful widgets to replace the clock

- Dolphin browser for the browser