Ya'll ever feel like ICS is a step backwards?

[phreakshow]

7. You can't set up a shortcut to a specific place in the settings
I don't think you can add a shortcut to Bluetooth or other settings.

Widgets -> Settings Shortcut -> Bluetooth doesnt work?

 

[ultravisitor]

Here you go. Some of the features that are missing make no sense. What does Google gain? Did you keep the full "Pure Google Experience" or did you flash a new ROM or replace Google's apps to add features?

1. No microSD
A microSD slot is 5/100 of an ounce. Why leave out a $1 part?

8. Visual Voicemail isn't Visual
When you play their message, you see their photo in HTC Sense or Samsung Touchwiz. Not in the Nexus.

1. Why is there no microSD slot?

2. Visual Voicemail is visual because it provides transcripts. If you HAVE to see the person's picture, use Google Voice. When I receive voicemails from my contacts, their pictures appear in the inbox next to the message.

 

[Droid800]

Here you go. Some of the features that are missing make no sense. What does Google gain? Did you keep the full "Pure Google Experience" or did you flash a new ROM or replace Google's apps to add features?

1. No microSD
A microSD slot is 5/100 of an ounce. Why leave out a $1 part?

Because they're using the onboard to show the new feature of ICS that doesn't require a separate partition for the os and storage.

2. No Facebook Sync
Google is still fighting with Facebook so replace the Facebook app with Friendcaster Pro.

Facebook sync will come back once Facebook properly implements the social API.

3. No Menu Button
Yes, you can find the Menu button for every app. The old Menu button was so easy.

You miss the point. The nexus is about showing the capabilities of the os, one of which is that it no longer needs those hard buttons in order to function. It's about showing what the os is capable of.

4. No Search Button
Instead of a search button, the Search bar now covers 1/5th of five screens. That's one full screen lost to the Search bar.


5. No Long-press Search for Voice Search
See above.

...and? Personal preference. With folders as an option, there is even less need for more than five screens.

6. File shortcuts are gone
Adding a file shortcut requires third part apps or to replace Google's launcher.

Knowing google, they ran a study on how many users actually use it, and found that it was small enough that those that DID use it would be fine with an alternative. I've never used it, but I know some people here have.

7. You can't set up a shortcut to a specific place in the settings
I don't think you can add a shortcut to Bluetooth or other settings.

App drawer>widgets>settings shortcut>drag to home screen>choose bluetooth

8. Visual Voicemail isn't Visual
When you play their message, you see their photo in HTC Sense or Samsung Touchwiz. Not in the Nexus.

Do you even understand the concept of visual voicemail? It has nothing to do with pictures. It has everything to do with being able to play back messages without having to dial in.

The nexus also has no official VVmail app. It supports it, but no app uses the official API yet.

9. Speed Dial
The Galaxy Nexus Lacks Speed Dial. Replace the pure Google dialer.

Not true.

App drawer>widgets>direct dial>choose he person you want to dial.

It's different than you might be used to, but it's there.

10. Smart Dial
The Galaxy Nexus lacks smart dial. Again, replace the pure Google dialer.

True. But you can always use direct dial.

11. Low speaker/headphone volumes
Workaround: replace pure Google with Volume+ (Sound Boost)

Absolutely nothing to do with ICS.

13. No FM Radio
The Galaxy Nexus lacks an FM Radio. Workarounds: TuneIn, Pandora, etc.

Uhhh. Yeah. Why would you want to?

14. Browser:
If you pinch to zoom, the text does not word-wrap unless you know the manual reflow trick.

That's a bug. Will be fixed in an update.

15. 5MP Camera
MP is not everything but no one can explain the step back. Samsung has been using the $3 8MP part for nearly 2 years.

There are two reasons for this, neither of which have to do with ICS. The first is that the 8mp part would not have fit in the nexus due to space constraints. The other is that the zero shutter speed, coupled with zero time between shots, meant that a sensor bigger than 5mp would have resulted in reduced quality

16. Can't Add Homescreens
ICS does not allow Homescreens to be added. Again, replace the pure Google launcher.

This has never been a part of stock android. Ever. It is a feature that is not necessary.

17. Timer
It's dumb but why not include a timer? Replace the Google clock apk with a current clock app.

See android market.

18. No Messaging Return Key
Again you can use dozens of current apps, but why leave out such a simple thing?

What's the point of that? I mean really. I can imagine no use for having that.

The Galaxy Nexus is a great phone. I recommend it. I just don't understand why Google has left out so many basic features.

Is it still the full "Pure Google Experience" if you flashed a new ROM or replaced Google's apps?

They haven't. Many of the things you identified exist, you just didn't know what to look for. The other stuff, well, there are reasons for them not being there. And I wouldn't call them basic features. A basic feature is a dialer or a contacts app. Expandable homescreens are not.



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[cckgz4]

Granted there are people that might complain about everything, some people might truly be unhappy with this current version for their own personal reasons. They could get used to it or find workarounds but just because they aren't happy shouldn't be a reason to dismiss it followed with a praise of how great it works for you. Not the point.

Personally, I only fool with MIUI.

 

[yosteve]

7. You can't set up a shortcut to a specific place in the settings
I don't think you can add a shortcut to Bluetooth or other settings.

Nova launcher allows you to do this (non system will method even)

 

[TabGuy]

The common theme amongst the whiners is that IT ISN'T LIKE WHAT I USED TO HAVE.

It's human nature to want to settle in, get a routine, and feel comfortable with something. Change is disturbing. Oddly, it seems that change disturbs people who work in technology the most. They resist change more than the average person.

Just move on. Learn the features of ICS and you'll find that it's the best Android version Google's made. If you want to add a pretty face that your last phone manufacturer added so that you can have your comfort level back then throw on a third party pretty face like Nova.

So many people thought that HTC Sense or Motoblur or Touchwiz was Android. It wasn't. It was a pretty face on top of Android.

Quit whining and take matters into your own hands.

 

[Mooem]

Nova launcher allows you to do this (non system will method even)

Stock launcher does too. It's just under Widgets now.

 

[anon(394005)]

The common theme amongst the whiners is that IT ISN'T LIKE WHAT I USED TO HAVE.

It's human nature to want to settle in, get a routine, and feel comfortable with something. Change is disturbing. Oddly, it seems that change disturbs people who work in technology the most. They resist change more than the average person.

Just move on. Learn the features of ICS and you'll find that it's the best Android version Google's made. If you want to add a pretty face that your last phone manufacturer added so that you can have your comfort level back then throw on a third party pretty face like Nova.

So many people thought that HTC Sense or Motoblur or Touchwiz was Android. It wasn't. It was a pretty face on top of Android.

Quit whining and take matters into your own hands.

Ha, that kind of describes me! I'm still using Windows XP as I hate (I don't use that word much) the changes in Windows 7 (give me back my classic interface!!!!). To me, ICS is somewhat similar in that things have been dumbed down and made counter intuitive to how it was done in the past (design to the lowest common denominator). Change isn't bad per say, but change for the wrong reasons isn't good. Native ICS does nothing for me, especially the soft keys (hate em). Like the classic Windows interface, let me keep capacitive buttons! Anyway, I'll stick with the pretty face of the refined and highly intuitive HTC Sense. Newer isn?t always better IMHO.

 

[Danv1369]

Native ICS does nothing for me, especially the soft keys (hate em).

I have seen a couple people say they do not like the softkeys in ICS. What is it you do not like? I do not see/feel any difference between the softkeys on my GN and the capacitive keys on my Dinc.

 

[anon(394005)]

I have seen a couple people say they do not like the softkeys in ICS. What is it you do not like? I do not see/feel any difference between the softkeys on my GN and the capacitive keys on my Dinc.

I don't like how the soft keys move around, or change to dots, or how they disappear depending on the app or position of the phone (portrait/landscape). In comparison, the capacitive buttons are always in the same location (for muscle memory) and they don't take up any screen space. I just don't like putting everything on the screen and how that changes the operation and feel of the phone.

 

[TabGuy]

I don't like how the soft keys move around, or change to dots, or how they disappear depending on the app or position of the phone (portrait/landscape). In comparison, the capacitive buttons are always in the same location (for muscle memory) and they don't take up any screen space. I just don't like putting everything on the screen and how that changes the operation and feel of the phone.

I haven't seen the softkeys move positions. When does that happen? They do rotate 90 degrees when the phone is positioned in landscape mode but they stay in the same ordinal position. Unlike a tablet where they're always on the bottom no matter how you rotate the tablet.

They do dim in appropriate situations. It's very annoying, for example, when watching a video to have anything but the video lit up. The dimming of the soft keys is one things I appreciate most when using a tablet and watching a movie. They subtly get out of the way. This is proper behavior and one that could never be accomplished with hard keys.

 

[thebignewt]

I have seen a couple people say they do not like the softkeys in ICS. What is it you do not like? I do not see/feel any difference between the softkeys on my GN and the capacitive keys on my Dinc.

Me either. The other phones with those buttons you have to push remind me of the old iPods with the 4 bottons around the clickwheel. My daughter still has one of those suckers (she claims it still works too).

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

The common theme amongst the whiners is that IT ISN'T LIKE WHAT I USED TO HAVE.

It's human nature to want to settle in, get a routine, and feel comfortable with something. Change is disturbing. Oddly, it seems that change disturbs people who work in technology the most. They resist change more than the average person.

Just move on. Learn the features of ICS and you'll find that it's the best Android version Google's made. If you want to add a pretty face that your last phone manufacturer added so that you can have your comfort level back then throw on a third party pretty face like Nova.

So many people thought that HTC Sense or Motoblur or Touchwiz was Android. It wasn't. It was a pretty face on top of Android.

Quit whining and take matters into your own hands.

I think what you have said makes a lot of sense. I also get the feeling that with all the hype starting back when the device was just rumored up to the time that it was announced VZW would get the Galaxy Nexus, people turned the phone into something bigger and more amazing than reality could satisfy.

 

[Danv1369]

I don't like how the soft keys move around, or change to dots, or how they disappear depending on the app or position of the phone (portrait/landscape). In comparison, the capacitive buttons are always in the same location (for muscle memory) and they don't take up any screen space. I just don't like putting everything on the screen and how that changes the operation and feel of the phone.

I have not seen them move around. Are you referring to when they rotate when in landscape? I think it is neat they can rotate. The only apps I have seen them disappear, is for videos which makes sense to get full use of the screen. To me this is a plus you can not get on a device with hardware buttons without the phone being bigger. I don't think I have experienced the buttons turning into dots but i have seen pics of it.

Thanks for your explanation. Gives me some insight on how others experience with ICS is.

 

[roberte1342]

I have seen a couple people say they do not like the softkeys in ICS. What is it you do not like? I do not see/feel any difference between the softkeys on my GN and the capacitive keys on my Dinc.

I upgraded from a droid X that had actual hardware buttons. Having no buttons at all is a major adjustment.
Having used the GN for almost a month now I am finding myself still frustrated with this design. One example of how if fails badly is when I am using the phone outside in the sunlight. For what ever reason when I complete a call with the car charger plugged in the screen switches from auto brightness to dim making the screen completely black outside, including the soft buttons. I have to guess their location, and guess where the power widget is to cycle the screen back to auto brightness. I'm sure this bug will be fixed in future releases.
Another annoyance is how close the home button is to the space bar when typing. I cannot count the times I have been thrown back to the home screen while quickly replying to a message or email. Installing Swiftkey X with arrow keys under the space bar has helped.
The menu button is another design decision that has me scratching my head. Much the same way Windows Vista did when they redesigned their UI. The tiny hard to press three dots randomly appears on the right side next to the task switcher. So many times I have pressed the task switcher trying to open the menu. I really don't know what they are thinking here. Other times these dots move from the button bar to inside the app in seemingly random places.
Lack of a dedicated search button seems to go against what Google is about in the first place. search.
My maps opens by default into Latitude which has no visible search button. In the past I only need to press the hw search key and type. Now I have to find the mysterious three dots and choose search. Feels a lot like Vista here.

I don't buy the argument that having the buttons like this is to save space to make the screen bigger. If this were true, why is there still bezel with plenty of room for capacitive buttons still there?
Or the argument that some apps make no use of the dedicated menu and search keys causing confusion for apple fans. How hard would if have been to turn off the backlight on buttons that do not function in apps? Yeah the phone would have to support it, but making it a design requirement for new phones would solve this problem of users supposedly being confused as to why their search button doesn't work in Angry Birds.

/wall-o-text rant

 

[Droid800]

I upgraded from a droid X that had actual hardware buttons. Having no buttons at all is a major adjustment.
Having used the GN for almost a month now I am finding myself still frustrated with this design. One example of how if fails badly is when I am using the phone outside in the sunlight. For what ever reason when I complete a call with the car charger plugged in the screen switches from auto brightness to dim making the screen completely black outside, including the soft buttons. I have to guess their location, and guess where the power widget is to cycle the screen back to auto brightness. I'm sure this bug will be fixed in future releases.
Another annoyance is how close the home button is to the space bar when typing. I cannot count the times I have been thrown back to the home screen while quickly replying to a message or email. Installing Swiftkey X with arrow keys under the space bar has helped.
The menu button is another design decision that has me scratching my head. Much the same way Windows Vista did when they redesigned their UI. The tiny hard to press three dots randomly appears on the right side next to the task switcher. So many times I have pressed the task switcher trying to open the menu. I really don't know what they are thinking here. Other times these dots move from the button bar to inside the app in seemingly random places.
Lack of a dedicated search button seems to go against what Google is about in the first place. search.
My maps opens by default into Latitude which has no visible search button. In the past I only need to press the hw search key and type. Now I have to find the mysterious three dots and choose search. Feels a lot like Vista here.

I don't buy the argument that having the buttons like this is to save space to make the screen bigger. If this were true, why is there still bezel with plenty of room for capacitive buttons still there?
Or the argument that some apps make no use of the dedicated menu and search keys causing confusion for apple fans. How hard would if have been to turn off the backlight on buttons that do not function in apps? Yeah the phone would have to support it, but making it a design requirement for new phones would solve this problem of users supposedly being confused as to why their search button doesn't work in Angry Birds.

/wall-o-text rant

More 'It isnt like what I used to have!' complaining...


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[jafels]

All I hear is that "its not the way it used to be"......adapt. You have to do some things differently than you did before. For the longest time everybody wanted the "major overhaul" update to android.....did people not think that a major overhaul would change things? I was a big user of the search button....I learned to use the phone differently and still get around just as quickly as I had before. Am I the only person who has no trouble finding and pressing the menu button when needed? The soft buttons are a major upgrade over the capacitive buttons on my droid....and dont even get me started on actual hard buttons.....they are just plain horrible. Stop holding onto the past and move on....this is android now. Sure there are some things that could be better or improved upon....but android is not going back.

 

[anon(394005)]

I have not seen them move around. Are you referring to when they rotate when in landscape? I think it is neat they can rotate. The only apps I have seen them disappear, is for videos which makes sense to get full use of the screen. To me this is a plus you can not get on a device with hardware buttons without the phone being bigger. I don't think I have experienced the buttons turning into dots but i have seen pics of it.

Thanks for your explanation. Gives me some insight on how others experience with ICS is.

Yes, I was referring to how they move with screen rotation, but also how the in-app buttons can move around depending on the app. Many like that aspect, but I prefer the static capacitive buttons that are always physically in the same place (again muscle memory is key). I've read where the soft keys disappeared for no reason and didn't come back until a power cycle. I've also found it's too easy to inadvertently press the soft keys at times. Again on a bigger device like a tablet not so much of a problem. Overall, I'm just not entirely sold on the idea of putting what works on a tablet on a phone. Just my two cents.

 

[anon(394005)]

All I hear is that "its not the way it used to be"......adapt. You have to do some things differently than you did before. For the longest time everybody wanted the "major overhaul" update to android.....did people not think that a major overhaul would change things? I was a big user of the search button....I learned to use the phone differently and still get around just as quickly as I had before. Am I the only person who has no trouble finding and pressing the menu button when needed? The soft buttons are a major upgrade over the capacitive buttons on my droid....and dont even get me started on actual hard buttons.....they are just plain horrible. Stop holding onto the past and move on....this is android now. Sure there are some things that could be better or improved upon....but android is not going back.

That's entirely subjective. I hope capacitive buttons don't go away in the future because it will have a major impact on my decision of smartphone. Just because some like the new doesn't mean everyone else has to agree and be forced off the old. I thought Android was about choice?

 

[belniente]

As an Android newbie I'm not in a position to say whether this is a step forward or back, but I must say - the one and only thing I've seen so far that I agree with being an irritating problem with ICS is the Home button's proximity to the spacebar. An option to disable Home key activation while typing would be great.

Other than that, what (I hear) has changed makes perfect sense to me (it would have taken a lot of frustration and "maybe if I press it HARDER IT WILL WORK @#$%" to find long press for me). And what's missing, like a timer, I have no problem downloading apps for or replacing the launcher. That's why I chose Android: I have the freedom to download apps to get an expanded - or even merely different - set of features.