The Cell Phone Junkie

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been the most hotly anticipated Android handset in late 2011.  The new Nexus is also the first to ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and ushers in a new era of Android smartphones, poised to be the benchmark for all Android phones in 2012.  Announced in October, the device features all the latest specs, including a huge 4.65-inch HD display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, and amazingly will be an exclusive device on Verizon in the US.  But does all this hype and gushing add up to a device worth buying?  Is it really that much better than say an iPhone or other Android smartphone?  We’ll answer these, plus many other questions.  Coming soon to Verizon, and available unlocked and unbranded for around $700 through various online retailers.  The Galaxy Nexus used in this review was purchased by The Cell Phone Junkie.

What’s in the Box

• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
• 1,750 mAh lithium ion Battery
• AC phone charger with USB cable
• 3.5mm stereo headset with microphone
• Various documentation

Specifications

• Technology/Frequencies: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA/HSPA+ 800/900/1700/1900/2100
• HSPA+ Connectivity via pentaband 3G/4G – forT-Mobile and AT&T use in the US (LTE on 700 MHz coming to Verizon)
• Weight: 135 grams
• Operating System: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Processor: 1.2 GHz dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP
• Display: 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED at 1280 by 720 resolution (note, not SAMOLED+)
• Memory: 1GB of RAM
• Internal Memory: 16GB or 32GB of internal storage (unlocked shipping with 16GB)
• Battery: 1750mAh battery
• Rear Camera: 5.1MP with LED flash
• Video Camera: 1080p at 30fps
• Front Camera: 1.3MP
• Headphone Jack: 3.5mm
• Bluetooth 3.0
• USB 2.0
• 802.11 a/b/g/n on 2.4 and 5GHz
• No microSD support
• NFC
• Accelerometer
• Compass
• Gyroscope
• Light/Proximity sensor
• Barometer

First impressions

After much contemplation and searching for the best deal, I finally pulled the trigger through Negri Electronics.  The price, a whopping $730.  Fortunately, I was able to grab a coupon code which saved me $35, and the shipping was free.  However, $700 still stings a bit when you’re talking about a world with $200 on-contract iPhone 4S’s.

On the service side, with the pentaband HSPA support, I could have easily used my active iPhone SIM in the device, but I wanted to get the full experience of using both the iPhone 4S and Galaxy Nexus side by side.  So, as we’ve talked about over the past few months, I opted for the Walmart/T-Mobile $30 Monthly4G special.  For $30 per month, the prepaid no-contract plan offers Unlimited web (4G speeds capped at 5GB), Unlimited texts and 100 minutes.  This plan was perfect for how I was going to use the device (ie, all data).  While it required me to purchase a phone to get the SIM and activation code, the $30 handset was a small price to pay to get prepaid, cancel at any time 4G service on the device.

Back to Negri Electronics, if you’re looking for a place to purchase the Nexus, I highly recommend Negri.  They worked with me late into the afternoon one day to place my order, and the device was shipped free out of their location in Las Vegas, and I had it the next day.  I can’t emphasize enough how important customers service is for situations like this, and Negri really came through.  Kudos guys!

On to the phone – as I’ve been a longtime iPhone user, picking up Android devices whether for review purposes, or personal use is always a shock.  The device is significantly larger than the iPhone, though at 4.65 inches, it doesn’t feel as big as I thought it would.

The weight is slightly less than the iPhone, but the larger footprint distributes it more.  Overall, the phone feels lighter than you expect, which helps offset how big it is.  The screen is gorgeous, and at 720p resolution, it is one of the best parts of the phone.  On a pixel by pixel basis, it’s not quite as good as the iPhone’s retina display, but for the average user, you’re not going to notice.  Some say the pentile nature of it detracts from the experience, but I’m telling you, you’re not going to notice it.  Overall, I’ve never seen such a vibrant, beautiful display on a device this large, it’s wonderful.

One of the other things I checked out first with the device was the camera.  It’s not as good as you want, but it’s not that bad.  I’m jaded now with the iPhone 4S camera, which as a benchmark can’t be met by the Nexus.  Though, some of the features like zero shutter-lag and panorama mode made the iPhone’s features look weak.

Finally, Ice Cream Sandwich was a big part of the allure of this device, and it is truly Android all grown up.  I’m not here to tell you that it’s perfect, and I’m not even going to say its better than iOS.  What I will say though, is that after only a few hours of use, the overall experience is much more fluid, consistent, and fun.  ICS will make switching to Android from other platforms easier than ever.

Phone/Data

The Galaxy Nexus is likely a device you’ll be using more for data than voice, but as a phone, you’ll be just fine.  Again, the device is large, so holding it to your head feels a bit strange at first.  However, like the Nexus S before it, the curved glass screen feels very comfortable on your face, and I was able to quickly adapt in the few test calls I made.  Sound quality was clear, and the dual-microphones work well for cancelling out noise.

On the data side, things worked very well.  Using the T-Mobile prepaid 4G SIM was nearly flawless.  When out and about, I had HSPA most of the time, and 3G during the rest.   Fortunately, I am able to supplement my use at home and work with WiFi, as these two areas were EDGE only for me on T-Mobile.

Running speed tests on the device over a few days found fairly consistent download speeds, but wide ranging upload marks.  The range on the download varied from 3Mbps, to just over 6Mbps, and between a pitiful 185Kbps and nearly 3Mbps up.

WiFi connectivity is present in the form of dual-band WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n at 2.4 GHz and 802.11 a/n at 5 GHz.  WiFi works fine on 2.4GHz but the 5GHz is just not good.  The coverage is poor, and I wasn’t able to move more than two rooms away from my router before the signal dropped out or was unusable.  This is the exact same issue I experienced on the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, and the BlackBerry Bold 9930.  Seems that phone WiFi power isn’t enough to make the higher frequency worth using.

Hardware

I’m just going to come right out and say it; I had a hard time with the size of the phone from the moment I picked it up.   At 4.65 inches, some reviews have said it doesn’t feel too big due to the smaller bezel.  I however, tend to disagree.  My primary concern is one handed usage, and the Nexus is not an easy device to use with just one hand.  During my review of the device, I spent an entire day traveling, and to me, it’s important to use the phone with one hand while schlepping through an airport, or to check in on things during the few minutes between meetings.  I forced myself to keep the iPhone 4S in my pocket as much as possible, but honestly I switched back and forth quite a bit.  It’s not that I can’t hold the phone without 2 hands, its just that the size makes it feel less secure, and I don’t like using the thumb on the hand I’m holding it with for anything other than device support/control.  I also walk around with my phone in my hand a lot.  The larger size is awkward for me to do this, and I don’t like it.  Unless you’ve got larger than normal hands, plan to reposition the device often, as you can’t hold it in one position and do much with just one hand.

Here’s the best way I can compare it, the device is a lot like an SUV.  The size is nice for certain tasks, but overall, it’s overkill for everyday use.  Sure, you’ll get used to the size over time, but if I’m comfortable with a certain form factor, and it’s what I like, why shoehorn the bigger size into my life?

Outside of the size complaint, the Galaxy Nexus is a superb piece of hardware.  If you’ve used the Nexus S in the past, you’ll see a lot of similarities, in a large, slimmer design.  The overall feel of the phone is quite solid, and once you get the back cover snapped into place, it’s incredibly nice to hold.

The exterior case of the device is all plastic, which keeps the phone light, but does make it feel less like a $700 device.  A metal chassis inside however gives the device strong support, and most of the time, I had no issue with the materials or general build.  The thinness of the phone is only hampered by the chin on the lower 1/8 of the backside.  This is where you’ll find the microphone, microUSB port, headset jack and speaker.  With a device as thin as the Nexus, they needed somewhere to put all these components, so the lower portion of the backside was the answer.

Using the Nexus for a week, and have a very good idea of how the battery will stand up.  Basically, like many other smartphones today, if you’re judicious in your use, you make it from 8am to 8pm, otherwise, plan to charge it during the day.  At 1,750 mAh, the battery is bigger than most Android devices, but so is the screen.  A glance at the battery usage in the settings shows the display using a full 50% of the battery.

Maybe I just haven’t spent much time typing on Android devices, or maybe it’s just Samsung devices, but the haptic feedback nearly had me sending the phone back within the first 24 hours.  It’s hard to describe, but it feels cheap, and childlike even.  The Galaxy Nexus is such an elegant phone, and I’m not a fan of the cheesy feeling vibrations.  Plus, it can’t keep up with my typing and just feels like a hot vibrating mess.

Front: 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display.  Speaker, light sensor and 1.3MP camera are at the top.  LED is at the bottom.  No buttons are on the front face, as the software buttons of the OS appear as needed.

Left side: Volume rocker keys

Top side: Blank

Right side: Power/unlock button with 3 contacts for charging or car docks.

Bottom side: 3.5mm headset jack, microphone and microUSB port

Back side: 5.1MP continuous auto-focus camera with 1080p video recording and LED flash.  Speaker at the bottom.

Under the cover: SIM slot and 1750 mAh batter

Camera

Matt Miller said it best – “Have to say that the Galaxy Nexus camera impressed me…in typical photo situations.”  I won’t be replacing the iPhone 4S with the Nexus for camera use anytime soon, but in most situations, you’ll be just fine.  Below are a few photos taken with the Nexus, including the street sign which is zoomed in all the way.  Click through on each to see them full size.

Software/Features

After three years of Android, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich bridges the gap between the Honeycomb tablet OS, and Gingerbread on the phone.  There are a number of things you’ll immediately notice, including the lack of physical capacitive buttons, and a missing applications button.  Across the bottom of screens when you need them now are: Back, Home and Multitasking buttons.

The old app button has been replaced by an app icon in the middle of the 4 customizable buttons on the bottom.  A nice addition too is the ability to make folders, which when in use, show small icons of the apps inside, cascading backwards from newest to oldest.  Roll all this in with the new Roboto font, and the look of ICS is much different and refined.  Finally, the speed of the OS is quite nice, taking full advantage of the 1.2Ghz dual-core processor inside.

Though, it’s still not perfect, and there are small things that still lack consistency.  For example, the menu/settings are now represented by 3 dots.  These dots either show up on the top right of the navigation bar, or sometimes at the bottom.  There are multiple ways to do things too, that may not make things easier.  Like, when using the notifications bar that swipes down from the top, you can either hit the “X” to clear all notifications, or swipe each one away individually.  Then there’s the multitasking.  It’s nice to be able to swipe apps out of the list, but I was a bit surprised to see that it doesn’t actually close the app.

I realized something after using the phone for a week that I never have before with Android.  The UI layers like Sense or Motoblur can actually help with the experience of the device.  I know, sounds crazy right?  But here’s the thing, when you’re trying to configure or customize, you sometimes have to really dig in to do so.  I got led down one such rabbit hole trying to configure SIPDroid appropriately, and ended up abandoning the proicess and deleting the app.  Settings in the app, settings in the OS, and sometimes just too many options make for a confusing and frustrating experience if you don’t have a real solid understanding of the OS.  And sadly, while I review a fair number of Android devices, the changes in ICS did take a while to get used to, and even after a week, I still wasn’t comfortable.  Bottom line, the hardware manufacturers really know that you may not be a Cell Phone Junkie, and so they’re going to make it as easy as possible to get the phone up and running with great features and functions out of the box.  And you know what, I’m starting to think they’re right.

Overall

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is far and away the best Android experience on any device to date.  The difficult thing about choosing the device for HSPA is that currently, you have to shell out over $700 to make it happen.  Verizon will be selling the device very soon, but at $300, it’s a hard sell for some when the iPhone starts at $200.

But lets be real, if you’re interested in the Galaxy Nexus, you’re not looking for a “deal”, you’re looking for the most pure Google Android experience out there, and you want to know that your device is going to get the first updates moving forward.  The software isn’t perfect, and the screen is too big for my taste, but if you’ve got the money, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is quite possibly going to be the best Android handset for the foreseeable future.

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