Galaxy Nexus Review by Joshua Topolsky. Mother of God....

[onthecouchagain]

Not only does the Verizon Galaxy Nexus have 2 Verizon apps (uninstallable. You can only disable them and hide them), it is actually a Verizon-branded phone.

This is a travesty of what the Nexus line is supposed to represent, and I'm disappointed by Google for allowing this. I'm looking forward to the day the Verizon exclusivity ends and unlocked GSM Global Galaxy Nexus-es can be sold as it was intended. Shame on Google; no surprise from Verizon.

 

[B777Forevar]

Too bad it's made by Sam[sung].

I wished Google contraced HTC to make their flagship phone.

 

[Reaper0bot0]

onthecouchagain, how do you know they are not user-removable?

 

[JoJoCal19]

Not only does the Verizon Galaxy Nexus have 2 Verizon apps (uninstallable. You can only disable them and hide them), it is actually a Verizon-branded phone.

This is a travesty of what the Nexus line is supposed to represent, and I'm disappointed by Google for allowing this. I'm looking forward to the day the Verizon exclusivity ends and unlocked GSM Global Galaxy Nexus-es can be sold as it was intended. Shame on Google; no surprise from Verizon.

Pretty sure I read elsewhere that with ICS, you can natively uninstall all apps including bloatware. The two apps are supposedly MyVerizon, which is installable thru the market so should be uninstallable, and the VZW contact backup app. Either way if you are buying a Nexus device, it's an open (boot loader) device so you can easily flash a new unbloated ROM or root and remove.

 

[naths]

Too bad it's made by Samshit.

I wished Google contraced HTC to make their flagship phone.

stupid comment!!!....i would think there are more than a 10s of 100 million people that would disagree....

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Pretty sure I read elsewhere that with ICS, you can natively uninstall all apps including bloatware. The two apps are supposedly MyVerizon, which is installable thru the market so should be uninstallable, and the VZW contact backup app. Either way if you are buying a Nexus device, it's an open (boot loader) device so you can easily flash a new unbloated ROM or root and remove.

exactly...but i suppose the carriers have to try...lol...dont think they get that most Nexus users flash a new ROM anyway....cynogenmod 9 is already being developed for ICS..

 

[abijnk]

The kid in me will always prefer iOS, but the geek in me is lusting after ice cream sandwich!

Wow, I've never seen this put so well. You've just nailed my love of both iOS and Android.

If only I had enough money to just buy all the phones and then use whichever tickled my fancy that day...

 

[nfl46]

Spec-wise, these phones will always blow iPhones out the water, but the reason I love iOS is because its integrates well with all my other Apple products.

Android is cool, but iOS just works for me. Simplistic at its best. I will always prefer iPhone > any other phone, just because of iOS.

I love Apple!

 

[SR45]

Only thing I dislike about it, as well as many of the other Android phones is the placement of the volume rocker. It should be higher up on the case so people like me will not accidentally hit it, and lower the sound level. Just my rant for this device.

 

[Baggy Spandex]

Great and all, but have they figured out scrolling on Android yet? It's infuriatingly bad, and iOS's has been superior since the first iPhone.

 

[dhy8386]

Having read all the reviews, ICS is the real star here. The phone itself has received fine reviews but camera seems mediocre (hardware) and battery life seems like it will be mediocre as well. Screen however seems quite amazing as does the keyboard. This was major selling point of iPhone over other phones for me.

Bottom line is that its pretty clear ICS not only makes the phone easier to use but they have taken visual elements and usability elements from iOS that just make sense across all platforms (the dock, action menus, etc). Combined that with some more eye candy and polish and this is clearly going to create real competition for the iPhone. And i mean this phone vs the iPhone. Stock ICS is better than anything out there on Android right now.

One of the key reasons i can't switch from iPhone is the integration with other apple services, especially iTunes. But google music makes it easier (I'm talking the locker and android app) as my new way of syncing music is via the cloud (iTunes match).

iOS is still much more polished but at some point that just isn't enough anymore and that may finally be now. Best test will be when everyone starts getting their hands on this thing.

 

[vitzr]

Will it be available on AT&T?

During Q1 AT&T will roll out LTE in CA, as well as in some other states.

Concurrently they will roll out a total of five Android ICS / LTE phones.

I'm not buying any more smartphones until then.

AT&T is becoming _very_ serious about high speed.

 

[TM WAZZA]

Finally a HD Super AMOLED. Best of both worlds, high resolution and the AMOLED technology. Only thing that let down with the S2's screen is its low res. This one solves that.

 

[GraphicsGeek]

The problem with Android phones is that another similar phone is out already or will be out in a couple of months. Don't get me wrong, I think this an awesome phone, but the argument has never been market share for Apple. Microsoft has a better market share than OSX but the people who use OSX love it and wouldn't touch a windows computer. Same as Android. Android is everywhere yeah, but that doesn't mean it's better. It just means its everywhere. Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys are everywhere but if I had the choice to get a BMW M5, I'd get the BMW M5. Bottom line, user experience trumps market share any day for Apple. Go have fun with your ice cream jelly cream sauce. I love my 4S and wouldn't trade it for the world. Wake me up when this Galaxy Nexus outsells the iPhone 4 or 4S and there are lines of people wrapped around the block days before it goes on sale.

 

[Nermal]

Great and all, but have they figured out scrolling on Android yet? It's infuriatingly bad, and iOS's has been superior since the first iPhone.

It's funny that you should say that. I got my first iPhone this week and I keep getting frustrated with the "sticky" scrolling compared to Android. It really does seem to be a matter of opinion.

 

[joshwithachance]

All the love over the Nexus hardly has anything to do with the Nexus itself, but with Ice Cream Sandwich (stupidest OS name ever by the way). I'm underwhelmed by the phone itself, but the OS is quite good now and Android has come a long way.

 

[Funkymonk]

The problem with Android phones is that another similar phone is out already or will be out in a couple of months. Don't get me wrong, I think this an awesome phone, but the argument has never been market share for Apple. Microsoft has a better market share than OSX but the people who use OSX love it and wouldn't touch a windows computer. Same as Android. Android is everywhere yeah, but that doesn't mean it's better. It just means its everywhere. Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys are everywhere but if I had the choice to get a BMW M5, I'd get the BMW M5. Bottom line, user experience trumps market share any day for Apple. Go have fun with your ice cream jelly cream sauce. I love my 4S and wouldn't trade it for the world. Wake me up when this Galaxy Nexus outsells the iPhone 4 or 4S and there are lines of people wrapped around the block days before it goes on sale.

Jesus christ... you have no idea what you're talking about yet you still chose to speak. I don't even know what to say to you, you're making my head hurt. it's like you didn't read a single damn thing. wtf man?

 

[miggitymac]

From the video review:

"It's definitely one of the best smartphones ever made. I would say it could be THE best smartphone ever made if the build quality were a little bit higher, maybe it weren't made of plastic but that's a pretty minor knock against it...it's one of the few devices I've ever reviewed that actually lives up to my expectations."

Wow...sounds pretty good to me.

 

[ercsliberty]

This thing has a huge screen, you cant operate reach the whole screen with one hand operation.
I am not getting another "ipad2" i allready have one

 

[miggitymac]

All the love over the Nexus hardly has anything to do with the Nexus itself, but with Ice Cream Sandwich (stupidest OS name ever by the way). I'm underwhelmed by the phone itself, but the OS is quite good now and Android has come a long way.

What's with the people who bitch about the name of the OS? Apple uses Kodiak, Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard (ffs...), Lion for their Mac OS. I fail to see how one system of naming is better than the other.

 

[abz1981]

Don't care what droid comes out. Would never go for a phone, that has copied the iPhone idea from

 

[SirStrumalot]

Looks like an excellent device. I'm almost debating getting one (when it comes out on AT&T) but most likely, I'm going to wait until next year and see what it brings when AT&T's LTE network is more widely deployed. This also makes me VERY excited to see what Apple will introduce next year

 

[Kariya]

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/17/2568348/galaxy-nexus-review

It's tied with the iPhone 4s as the highest reviewed phone he's done with a score of 8.6. I find Josh's reviews to be among the best in the business and very unbiased so this really is a big deal.

I am seriously impressed, now I don't know what phone to get next

Yes you do. Stop pretending.

PS- You should join a PR/Marketing firm...you're devious enough to be good at it.

 

[bp1000]

I'm a big iPhone fan but not ashamed to admit that this is an awesome phone.

I however could never leave iPhone now it has iCloud, iTunes Match and the whole ecosystem experience.

I had the old nexus before my 4s and after my 3G. It was a great phone but the speech recognition was dire and slow and the keyboard was terrible, even the latest iteration. It doesn't look like it has changed much in the latest version.

The spacing of the keys were all wrong and i constantly missed the keys and the autocorrect was never as good as iOS. This was a very important factor for me as the keyboard is probably the most used part of a phone.

Great effort, hope it does well, excellent phone and healthy competition.

 

[miggitymac]

I'm a big iPhone fan but not ashamed to admit that this is an awesome phone.

I however could never leave iPhone now it has iCloud, iTunes Match and the whole ecosystem experience.

I had the old nexus before my 4s and after my 3G. It was a great phone but the speech recognition was dire and slow and the keyboard was terrible, even the latest iteration. It doesn't look like it has changed much in the latest version.

The spacing of the keys were all wrong and i constantly missed the keys and the autocorrect was never as good as iOS. This was a very important factor for me as the keyboard is probably the most used part of a phone.

Great effort, hope it does well, excellent phone and healthy competition.

Actually, they've improved both the keyboard and the voice recognition for this version.

At the 4:39 mark of the video review linked in the OP, the reviewer says the keyboard is "massively massively improved". Looks like a clean and simple keyboard to use.

Also this video shows that the voice recognition is pretty damn accurate too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD_2yf3T4G0

 

[Jordan921]

Read the review and watched the video and i'm not gonna lie that phone is nice. But not nice enough for me to switch to android and leave apple and my iPhone.