Samsung Galaxy Nexus Review: The Most Advanced Android Smartphone Available Discussion

[Adama D. Brown]

Featuring a full 720p high-def screen, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, and Android OS 4.0, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is making big waves in the smartphone market, ushering in a new high point for Android phones, as well as a lot of excitement. Here, we'll be taking a look at whether the hype is justified.

A quick note before we begin. The Galaxy Nexus is available in two different versions. The first is as an unlocked GSM/HSPA phone suitable for use on AT&T or T-Mobile in the US, Telus in Canada, or any other GSM provider. The second version is available through Verizon Wireless in the U.S., featuring CDMA and LTE. This review is based on the Verizon Wireless version.

Verizon is charging $300 with a two-year contract. Without the contract, the price goes up to $650.

Read the full content of this Article: Samsung Galaxy Nexus Review: The Most Advanced Android Smartphone Available

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[Varjak]

Kudos on the review. I had almost forgotten BH hadn't done one yet. Neither has Pogue, the devil.

I agree with your analysis of the camera situation. I'm a bit more doubtful of the size issue as a 'con' though. I found the GN very hand friendly, and I don't really have big hands for my height.

Great coverage of the WiFi Direct feature. I hadn't discovered that. I wonder if, as it is developed, whether one device could transmit video and music to another using this feature. That way, only one data download would be needed?

I also agree about the memory card and HDMI issues. Those are significant flaws in my opinion too.

One other quibble. I don't think an image from the GN would need to be 'stretched' at all if displayed on an HD TV. Most HDTV's display in 1280x720/1080 resolution. And most content (cable for example) is in the 720p format.

[Adama D. Brown]

Kudos on the review. I had almost forgotten BH hadn't done one yet. Neither has Pogue, the devil.

You might have been thrown off because we had a preview review shortly before Christmas.

I agree with your analysis of the camera situation. I'm a bit more doubtful of the size issue as a 'con' though. I found the GN very hand friendly, and I don't really have big hands for my height.

I suppose I don't either, but not all of the readership is 6' 1" and male.

Great coverage of the WiFi Direct feature. I hadn't discovered that. I wonder if, as it is developed, whether one device could transmit video and music to another using this feature. That way, only one data download would be needed?

Theoretically... maybe, if you were downloading over LTE or the like. Obviously to use WiFi Direct, you need to not be connected to a WiFi AP.

One other quibble. I don't think an image from the GN would need to be 'stretched' at all if displayed on an HD TV. Most HDTV's display in 1280x720/1080 resolution. And most content (cable for example) is in the 720p format.

It would be stretched to display in full 1080P, which is the maximum output of the GN. If you have a 720P TV, it'll be native resolution. So it depends on the end user.

[Drillbit]

The ink hasn't dry yet and we're already hearing of more models of the Galaxy Nexus.

A model specific to NTT Docomo in Japan. This has the 800MHz band.

A leaked model for Sprint with LTE and a 1.5GHz processor.

A white GSM model.

A GSM model with 32Gb internal.

I personally suspect we will also be seeing a HSPA to LTE model. The current LTE model is a CDMA to LTE one.

[Deslock]

I'm a little surprised to see your review list battery life as a pro when there are at widespread reports to the contrary. Based on what I've read, it's even worse than other LTE phones... it's so bad that when measuring battery life, people count time this phone is not being actively used (in pocket, no music playing, screen off). I see lots of reports of 25+ hours, but that's with it unused pretty much the entire time. Most common seems to be 8-16 hours with only 2-3 hours of screen time. And that's light use: email, texting, browsing. Anything GPU/CPU intensive (games, Google Earth) reportedly drains the battery extremely quickly (and makes the phone very hot).

I'm not a hater as I've ordered a VGN myself, and already purchased a second battery for it (I like the 4.65" 1280x720 screen more than I dislike the notion of needing a spare battery). Hopefully with some ICS tweaks, things will improve. Do you know if you can setup Tasker or Locale to disable the VGN's LTE when not in areas with good 4G coverage?

Also, do you use Exchange? I've read of numerous issues with calendars and inboxes, as well as frustrations from limited email search abilities (ironic, given it's a Google phone). I've become spoiled by iOS' seamless support for both Google and Exchange... from what I've read, I'm going to have to kiss my unified calendar and inbox goodbye.

[Adama D. Brown]

I'm a little surprised to see your review list battery life as a pro when there are at widespread reports to the contrary.

Battery life with any LTE-based phone is terrible when using 4G. That's just the reality, and the trade-off you make if you want the speed. Personally, I'm not convinced at all that it's a GOOD trade-off, but that's a matter of opinion. Still, the Nexus performs well on 3G, equal at least to the Droid Bionic despite having more hardware to push.

As far as those comparisons to other LTE phones, I suspect that they're mostly being thrown off by the fact that the other phones don't have HD displays and 1.2 GHz processors to run. Or, it's just the natural human bias of something new versus something you're used to.

Do you know if you can setup Tasker or Locale to disable the VGN's LTE when not in areas with good 4G coverage?

I'm really not familiar with those, so I don't know. Although for my money, I'd be tempted to disable 4G on the Galaxy Nexus entirely, except when it's extremely needed.

Also, do you use Exchange? I've read of numerous issues with calendars and inboxes, as well as frustrations from limited email search abilities (ironic, given it's a Google phone). I've become spoiled by iOS' seamless support for both Google and Exchange... from what I've read, I'm going to have to kiss my unified calendar and inbox goodbye.

I do use Exchange, but I don't bother setting up my Exchange server on each new review unit, so I can't say I've tested it extensively with the GN. I also don't use the Exchange server's calendar abilities.

[Drillbit]

On the GSM side, the Galaxy Nexus is pretty good, but in a way relative to other Android phones. The ones with humongous, high pixel density displays with dual cores that is. But its difficult to put the phone in standby mode for long periods of time, given that there is so many things you can do on your Android nonstop. Like shopping for music for example in the new Android Market where the songs dropped temporarily in price cheap.

I tend to notice that Honeycomb on the tablets tend to have long standby times just soaking up wifi and doing only the routine push and pull notifications. I would expect ICS to do the same, but I guess I want to have on installed on a Nexus S so I can compare it better with Gingerbread. So far the GSM Galaxy Nexus is holding up pretty well in terms of battery life vs. the Galaxy S2.

I wonder if the battery of the Verizon GN can fit inside the GSM GN? Does the Verizon GN use the NFC enabled battery?

[Drillbit]

I'm a little surprised to see your review list battery life as a pro when there are at widespread reports to the contrary. Based on what I've read, it's even worse than other LTE phones... it's so bad that when measuring battery life, people count time this phone is not being actively used (in pocket, no music playing, screen off). I see lots of reports of 25+ hours, but that's with it unused pretty much the entire time. Most common seems to be 8-16 hours with only 2-3 hours of screen time. And that's light use: email, texting, browsing. Anything GPU/CPU intensive (games, Google Earth) reportedly drains the battery extremely quickly (and makes the phone very hot).

I'm not a hater as I've ordered a VGN myself, and already purchased a second battery for it (I like the 4.65" 1280x720 screen more than I dislike the notion of needing a spare battery). Hopefully with some ICS tweaks, things will improve. Do you know if you can setup Tasker or Locale to disable the VGN's LTE when not in areas with good 4G coverage?

Also, do you use Exchange? I've read of numerous issues with calendars and inboxes, as well as frustrations from limited email search abilities (ironic, given it's a Google phone). I've become spoiled by iOS' seamless support for both Google and Exchange... from what I've read, I'm going to have to kiss my unified calendar and inbox goodbye.

I setup Microsoft Exchange on my Androids to do push Hotmail, sync contacts and calendar. The sync Calendar ability is there but I don't use it. I prefer to use the built in Exchange ability to sync Hotmail as opposed to using the native official Android Hotmail app by Microsoft as the app tends to have a large memory footprint for an email app and a weird high CPU usage despite using push notifications.

The Android GMail app does search very well.

The life you describe up there happens to be good for an LTE phone, and in general, typical to better of today's top end smartphones. Most LTE phones have shorter lives than that unless they resort to 3G mode.

Whatever battery is Samsung using on the GN, it charges a lot faster than on the Nexus S and Galaxy S2.

[Varjak]

Adama,

1. I do remember the preview of the GN. Just forgot the full review was still pending, since I went and looked at it myself.

2. I'm 6'2"; but the woman in the store who was helping me probably had longer fingers than I do. She had no issues with the phone as best as I could tell.

3. Yeah, I know. I meant more as one person 'broadcasting' by streaming down video or music and then transmitting it to others. Not very efficient; but could be useful in an ad hoc situation.

4. I still don't get this; but maybe I'm missing something. First the 720/1080 dimension is the height measurement in lines of tv resolution (i.e. 720 or 1080 'lines' stacked on top of each other). Nothing stretched in that resolution. And if it's a 'full' HD video file, I don't see why it would be stretched horizontally? Native resolution of many flat panel TV's these days is 1920x1080; but can display 1280x720 quite easily without stretching (I think).

[Adama D. Brown]

I tend to notice that Honeycomb on the tablets tend to have long standby times just soaking up wifi and doing only the routine push and pull notifications. I would expect ICS to do the same, but I guess I want to have on installed on a Nexus S so I can compare it better with Gingerbread.

Frankly, I'd attribute that excellent standby time on Honeycomb to the fact that you're not having to support constant cellular activity. HC tablets either don't have a cellular radio, or use it only for very rare data, instead of having to maintain as much contact as a phone does. So it's more likely a benefit of the hardware rather than the software.

I wonder if the battery of the Verizon GN can fit inside the GSM GN? Does the Verizon GN use the NFC enabled battery?

Honestly, I have no idea, since I don't have a GSM-based Galaxy Nexus. I'd love to test it if I could, but I don't have a GSM GN.