VZ Galaxy Nexus finally!!! 12/15

Got mine yesterday. Coming from a D1, this is amazing. Fast as hell, beautiful screen. And super light

 

First Impressions
I've had it for about 24 hours now.


The hardware

The fit and finish is very nice. The larger, curved screen is full of win. Even better is the fact that when it's inactive, the entire face is pitch black. No Verizon logo, no capacitive button icons, nothing. Just all-black sleek and sexy. And there's no problem whatsoever fitting this thing into my pocket. For people with smaller hands like me (5' 7") it's going to take a bit to get used to, and some will not like it. It's difficult and uncomfortable at times for me to navigate the UI with one hand. The balance of the phone is ok but it could be better. It's noticeably bottom heavy but not aggrevating. The plastic housing feels much better than in some reviews you may see on the web.

The sounds from the phone (ear piece and speaker) are average. Call quality is average. Nothing to brag about here. The volume rocker and power buttons are pretty easy to use.

One myth I want to dispel is one regarding the 5mp camera. Yes, it's 5 mp, but the optics and photo processing software are great. This phone takes MUCH better pictures that my 5mp droid that I just retired. I'm very pleased with that. One thing I'm NOT pleased about is the screen quality. The latest-greatest smart phone doesn't have the best screen quality out there, perhaps not even top 10? The Nexus screen quality is just average. The Focus S, Nitro HD, iPhone, Skyrocket, and Rezound all have better screens, IMO. When I compared my Nexus to my wife's Fascinate I didn't see that much of a difference. Seriously.

There is no micro SD slot, but the phone has 32 Gb of internal storage. More than enough.



Software

This is where the Nexus shines. First, the face unlock works much better than I expected, and it's quick AND it works if I'm wearing my glasses or not. It doesn't work, however, when I'm wearing sunglasses.

The new UI is very nice, slick, and very snappy. I don't see any lag in jumping around the menus and icons. There are a few things I haven't figured out yet as they are much different than the previous version of Android (froyo) I was using. Some things are aggravating, like the inability to synch facebook contact photos as my gmail contact photos. You have to download an app to do it. For instance, if I manually create a photo for a contact on my phone it still doesn't show during text messaging. This pisses me off. Something so basic shouldn't be elusive like this. My Droid was effortless with this task.

There is an option of adding a corporate email account which is very nice, but if your company is like mine, they will throw an additional security layer over the phone, encrypt everything, and prevent you from using some features like facial unlock. The phone has NFC, but until this is is tried, tested, and true, I'm leaving it disabled. The technology is too fresh.

The new typeface (roboto) is great. I love the font as well as some other new bits such as being able to group apps and the data usage limit meter. If you're grandfathered into unlimited data like me you won't care. This is as close as we're going to get to a pure Google phone, and it shows. Bloatware is very minimal, and the things that are on the phone, can be "disabled" so they won't show in the apps list.

I haven't been able to get any speed tests on 4G here but I was able to download some apps and surf a little while in the 4G zone and it was very fast!


There are some things I'm leaving out, I'm sure. I'll update that as well as my 4G speed tests when I get them.

 

Wow 4G is fast.

At this poiint in time its nice. I was surprised to look at running processes and see the memory was already 75% in use. Either way still snappy.

Only quams at this point is facebook wont sync and the car dock is a joke and im returning it. Also no docking programs to go with.

 

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Well.... i like the ability to choose desktop client right off the bat.... stock browser makes you reload the site.


Also bugs me that as i type this message in browser....there is no predictive text going. Dont know why.

 

What phone are you upgrading from Seth?

 

held it and decided to pass. read way too many bad reviews. Theres better coming soon. Example you ask? how about the Moto Razr Maxx or the Droid 4?
"fair" camera
"fair" call quality
"poor" speaker
eats batteries
feels big and plastic
Screen is "so-so" worse when dimmed.

 

The Nexus looks and feels cheap. I don't like the way it's shaped either. The Galaxy S2 is better, IMO. Too bad Verizon doesn't carry it.

 

I can turn my 4G off on my Nexus if I want to and just run 3G.

Only complaint I have so far, is im having so lag right now in my typing. And the speaker phone speaker is horrible

 

Yep. I found that out while clicking on every menu. Wish there was a widget or shortcut for it though. I'd probably just keep 3g only for most of the day

 

On my OG Droid i could set the data speed with the power widget. This one is gay.


I am seriously about to shit bricks on verizon though. You would think with all the hype they would make sure their customers had a happy experience...but so far only a handful of apps will work on ICS. Tried to play NFL mobile since im at work.... were sorry but your device is not supported. Half of the apps thats i want wont even download from market because of compatibility issues.

I know its not verizons fault but youd think SOMEONE would have figured it out by now. Oh yeah...porn sites just freeze with this new flash player

 

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Ill check that out. Its flash in general.... any sites that are flash intensive seem to be having troubles. The porn comment was a joke.

 

Also seem to be having camera issues too. After awhile of being on.... it says cant connect to camera. A restart fixes.

 

I have a thunderbolt right now.