First off, this is not meant to start a flame war. It's focus is simply on one premise--that the Galaxy Nexus drops calls, and as a phone, it is inadequate, but that inadequacy is more about your subjective perception than objective perception.
Many of the arguments against the Galaxy Nexus, usually lobbed by users with troubled devices, replacement devices, or swapped devices (notably those who now own RAZRs/MAXXs) revolve around the Galaxy Nexus dropping calls and signal randomly and somewhat violently. The claim is that the GN can not hold a phone call, and therefore, as a phone, it is incomparable to other devices currently on the Verizon network.
However, in this day and age, I believe this complaint and thus the connotation derived from this complaint to be both contrived and oversimplified. Here's why.
First, for me personally, actual "phone" or "call" usage takes up approximately 5-10% of my GN usage. I use my GN for a variety of things; as a music player, to check/read/write emails, to browse the internet, to play with apps, etc. etc. At the end of the day, it's "phone" usage ranks very low on my usage totem pole.
As such, for me, I derive much more benefit from using it in other means. What does that mean comparatively? It means that for my personal usage, downgrading to a RAZR MAXX or trying to swap for an iPhone hinders and detracts from my benefit, b/c right now, I do believe there is no better phone out there for my usage. The GN simply does what I need it to do, and it does it better than anything else that I've tried.
I would also posit that for the most part, a decent chunk of us here on AC and other forums use this phone in a similar fashion (meaning that phone/call usage is in the lower percentages when compared to other things). For some users, this is obviously not the case. But for those users, I ask--if you use your phone as a phone for 80-90% of its usage, why bother with something like a GN? Why bother with something like a RAZR? What benefit do you personally derive having a phone that can do so much if you only need it for one task (making/receiving calls)? Why not just buy a flip phone or get one of those basic smartphones with email?
Obviously, that in and of itself is also a simplification, but it's absolutely indicative and exemplary of what's been going on when the complaint threads turn to flaming mush. Where the oversimplification makes sense, at least logically, is when people unfairly (but fairly in their minds) label "this" and "that" as superior/inferior to the GN (or vice versa). Essentially, this occurs when we/they use our/their perception of our/their phone and our/their usage as the baseline for any given analysis. Logically, from both ends of the field/debate, this is highly problematic because there's no actual objective baseline, but instead an overuse of subjective analysis being passed off as objective truth, fact, etc. So long as we can all agree that for the most part these discussions breakdown into a battle of subjective opinions then I think the "complaint" threads can actually serve some good. But until people can see the context of their opinion, these threads will always break down into mindless drivel (and I and others are guilty of contributing to this).
My point with this post is that we as a community should not be too quick to rush to judgment for either viewpoint, good or bad. Phones have their flaws, and for users with different usages, different phones max out their benefit better than other phones. For me, there's no other phone on the Verizon network that would make me as happy and as satisfied as the GN, b/c my usage is tailored almost exactly to what the GN offers. For others though, this is not the case, and simplifying the argument on either side does a disservice to true constructive debate. But comparing the RAZR to the GN, the Rezound to the GN, or anything else to the GN simply ignores the fact that we each use our phone for different subjective purposes, and believe it or not, the GN can actually meet and exceed some folks' expectations when the usage and its ability matches up.
TL;DR -- before flaming or trolling, be aware that your opinion is based upon your own, subjective usage, and that declaring this and that without understanding that conflict renders any actual argument/debate meaningless.
/rant
Many of the arguments against the Galaxy Nexus, usually lobbed by users with troubled devices, replacement devices, or swapped devices (notably those who now own RAZRs/MAXXs) revolve around the Galaxy Nexus dropping calls and signal randomly and somewhat violently. The claim is that the GN can not hold a phone call, and therefore, as a phone, it is incomparable to other devices currently on the Verizon network.
However, in this day and age, I believe this complaint and thus the connotation derived from this complaint to be both contrived and oversimplified. Here's why.
First, for me personally, actual "phone" or "call" usage takes up approximately 5-10% of my GN usage. I use my GN for a variety of things; as a music player, to check/read/write emails, to browse the internet, to play with apps, etc. etc. At the end of the day, it's "phone" usage ranks very low on my usage totem pole.
As such, for me, I derive much more benefit from using it in other means. What does that mean comparatively? It means that for my personal usage, downgrading to a RAZR MAXX or trying to swap for an iPhone hinders and detracts from my benefit, b/c right now, I do believe there is no better phone out there for my usage. The GN simply does what I need it to do, and it does it better than anything else that I've tried.
I would also posit that for the most part, a decent chunk of us here on AC and other forums use this phone in a similar fashion (meaning that phone/call usage is in the lower percentages when compared to other things). For some users, this is obviously not the case. But for those users, I ask--if you use your phone as a phone for 80-90% of its usage, why bother with something like a GN? Why bother with something like a RAZR? What benefit do you personally derive having a phone that can do so much if you only need it for one task (making/receiving calls)? Why not just buy a flip phone or get one of those basic smartphones with email?
Obviously, that in and of itself is also a simplification, but it's absolutely indicative and exemplary of what's been going on when the complaint threads turn to flaming mush. Where the oversimplification makes sense, at least logically, is when people unfairly (but fairly in their minds) label "this" and "that" as superior/inferior to the GN (or vice versa). Essentially, this occurs when we/they use our/their perception of our/their phone and our/their usage as the baseline for any given analysis. Logically, from both ends of the field/debate, this is highly problematic because there's no actual objective baseline, but instead an overuse of subjective analysis being passed off as objective truth, fact, etc. So long as we can all agree that for the most part these discussions breakdown into a battle of subjective opinions then I think the "complaint" threads can actually serve some good. But until people can see the context of their opinion, these threads will always break down into mindless drivel (and I and others are guilty of contributing to this).
My point with this post is that we as a community should not be too quick to rush to judgment for either viewpoint, good or bad. Phones have their flaws, and for users with different usages, different phones max out their benefit better than other phones. For me, there's no other phone on the Verizon network that would make me as happy and as satisfied as the GN, b/c my usage is tailored almost exactly to what the GN offers. For others though, this is not the case, and simplifying the argument on either side does a disservice to true constructive debate. But comparing the RAZR to the GN, the Rezound to the GN, or anything else to the GN simply ignores the fact that we each use our phone for different subjective purposes, and believe it or not, the GN can actually meet and exceed some folks' expectations when the usage and its ability matches up.
TL;DR -- before flaming or trolling, be aware that your opinion is based upon your own, subjective usage, and that declaring this and that without understanding that conflict renders any actual argument/debate meaningless.
/rant