***Official Galaxy Nexus Pre-Release speculation thread**

[vasilator]

If my understanding of this is correct from watching this thread all day instead of doing my job well (poor first-graders, haha) it sounds like if a 5MP camera has a better lens/parts and exceptional software, it can hands-down be better than an 8MP camera with not such hot parts and software.

Correct. And being able to crop has very little if anything to do with megapixel's.

Use the HTC Incredible for example, that camera (I own one) is a piece of crap and it's 8 megapixles I beleive.

 

[Travillion]

Exactly correct so they locked it up for VZW. Hence, if Nexus is unlocked Moto/VZW have some explaining to do.

Wonder if the HD Netflix will work on the unlocked european phones?

I was trying to figure out why Sanjay said the RAZR would be the first phone able to stream HD Netflix (especially considering the G-Nex will be the first phone with a true HD screen). But it now makes sense IF you think that Sanjay knew the RAZR would be locked and the G-Nex unlocked. Perhaps Netflix hasn't negotiated with Google yet to allow HD streaming on an unlocked device. Hmm......maybe the G-Nex on verizon will be unlocked....hmmm.....

 

[BabyBlues]

Has anyone ever attempted to persuade Verizon to give them an upgrade a month or two early? Is it possible?! I dunno if I can wait till the end of December!

I've tried in the past with little success. If you're the primary line, they'll generally let you upgrade early for a fee of $20--but otherwise I've gotten no budge from them.

Once it's released call and try. If that doesn't work start asking friends if they have friends who work for big red. If you're lucky one will and they are most of the time able to do an upgrade (for the $20 or so) and put it under something like 'lifestyle change' or some crap like that. That was how I was able to upgrade before I got my DInc.

 

[burntorangefan]

Mods, not trying to be a jerk but can the 5 mp vs 8 mp discussion get a room? There must be 700 posts about it in this thread...

 

[civicsisedan]

Does anyone know if it has where you pinch to zoom it automatically wraps text to fit? Like on the incredible?

Is that a HTC thing because the Bionic did not have it. It is a nice feature to have.

 

[EarlyMon]

Well I'm not a gamer, but won't this frame rate affect other things, too? Will it affect flash videos, movies, browsing, animations, etc? Or is it just for games?

Not exactly - that frame rate is but one of several, measured for the GPU performing different tasks - put them together, you have a guesstimate of how the beastie responds under stress.

Videos tend to be 30 fps or less for the most part, and present less of a strain than games by far.

Browsing and animation are affected by the overall fps rate, that's true - but for simple 2d rendering, I'm not sure what that rate would be.

Wanted to revisit this subject because I found this interesting - apologies if already posted. From -

Why the Galaxy Nexus uses OMAP instead of Exynos | ExtremeTech

Why did Google choose the OMAP for its new Nexus? Well, it might not live up to the high graphical standards set out by the iPhone, but it is a solid chip in its own right. The OMAP4 platform makes use of an additional hardware accelerator called IVA 3 that makes encoding and decoding HD video a snap. The Galaxy Nexus has an HD screen, so this hardware focus on video is a big plus.

And frankly, that makes perfect sense to me. My HTPC setup feeding my 1080p TV has a Intel GPU that is absolutely hated by the gaming community.

But it pumps out video like you wouldn't believe and that's why I chose it.

Nexus - more and more a media phone.

 

[Stretlow]

Does anyone know if it has where you pinch to zoom it automatically wraps text to fit? Like on the incredible?

Is that a HTC thing because the Bionic did not have it. It is a nice feature to have.

This is one of the main reasons I currently use a sense rom over asop as i haven't found anything that handles the web pages better than HTC's browser (in my opinion of course)

 

[Travillion]

5MP on the same size sensor can also have BIGGER photosites that actually gather information for your photo. The smaller the photosites the less light and hence data they gather for you photo and inturn send BAD data on what the scene looks like to the image processing hardware on the phone. They could probably make 20mp cellphone sized CMOS sensors today, but the pixels would be so small they wouldn't gather hardly any light and you would just get a noisy crappy picture off the sensor.

Dyanamic range, color accuracy, noise reduction, low light capability, and lots of other aspect of photo quality can actually be IMPROVED by reducing megapixels and increasing photo sensor size when designing a sensor.

Agreed. And the presenters last night made a point of emphasizing the camera's great low-light performance, which may have contributed to their decision to go 5MP instead of 8.

 

[EarlyMon]

MOD Annoucement

Mods, not trying to be a jerk but can the 5 mp vs 8 mp discussion get a room? There must be 700 posts about it in this thread...

Yeah, I think we might need to consider that as a good idea.

Folks - Camera stuff is IMPORTANT.

Please consider that you may want your questions and advice to survive this pre-launch thread - a place where newcomers can go to get the straight dope on the megapixel myth and discuss the cool camera features. Something that we can either sticky later or put into the sticky index (my expectation for the screen tech and processor tech threads, btw).

So - move 'em out (meaning for new posts) so this important stuff doesn't get lost.

Start your own thread, camera lovers and debaters - that's how the big kids roll.

Cheers and many thanks!

PS - and please go for it - otherwise, you're asking one of us to perform hours of moving posts after this announcement.

Web isn't any faster for me than for you, yes?

 

[RadYOacTiVe]

I'm not here to defend CK but Verizon's history with phones like the original Nexus and the Merge is proof that Big Red can pull the rug out from under you.

In this case, I am the optimist and believe Big Red will get this phone, I'm just waiting for that official announcement.

My guess is they will announce after the Razr's pre-order date which is the 27th.

My god. You are clearly a pessimist at heart. All the "verizon yes/no" FUD is being perpetuated by people ignoring every possible clue, dropped hint and piece of evidence that would lead normal, rational humans to the conclusion that Big Red is their US LTE carrier. You think they let that VW branding just accidentally slip into their presentations last night? Nope. That type of stuff is done on purpose. I know you got your feelings hurt with the HTC Merge, but this is not that.

and now to lighten the mood, a joke.

There once were two young twins, about 10 years old. One was a pessimist and the other an optimist. This made them the ideal case study, and they were recruited to study the differences between a glass half full and a glass half empty. They separate the twins and put them both in locked, sealed rooms. The pessimist is in a room full of the newest toys and gadgets, all laid out for them to play with. In the optimists room, there's nothing but a huge steaming pile of horse manure. The scientists leave for a few hours and then come back to check in on the twins. They open the pessimists room first, and find them crying uncontrollably in the middle of the room, not having touched any of toys at all. "What's wrong?" they ask. "Well, someone left all these toys here, and I really wanted to play with them but didn't want whoever left them to get mad at me if I broke one." They then go to the optimists room to see how he's faring. They open the door to find the optimist on TOP of the pile of manure digging frantically with their hands and grinning like a loon the entire time. "What on earth are you doing?" they ask. The optimist stops digging just long enough to say "Well, I figured with all this poop in one place there's GOT to be a pony in here somewhere!"

 

[HanSolo]

Wanted to revisit this subject because I found this interesting - apologies if already posted. From -

Why the Galaxy Nexus uses OMAP instead of Exynos | ExtremeTech



And frankly, that makes perfect sense to me. My HTPC setup feeding my 1080p TV has a Intel GPU that is absolutely hated by the gaming community.

But it pumps out video like you wouldn't believe and that's why I chose it.

Nexus - more and more a media phone.

Nice! That seals it for me. I won't be playing games on it, but I'll be watching movies and HD shows on it.

Now, does anyone know if a simple micro-USB to HDMI adapter cable will work, to mirror netflix to my big screen?

I'm not hopeful on this thing having MHL, since I haven't heard anything about it yet.

 

[AntimonyER]

Wanted to revisit this subject because I found this interesting - apologies if already posted. From -

Why the Galaxy Nexus uses OMAP instead of Exynos | ExtremeTech



And frankly, that makes perfect sense to me. My HTPC setup feeding my 1080p TV has a Intel GPU that is absolutely hated by the gaming community.

But it pumps out video like you wouldn't believe and that's why I chose it.

Nexus - more and more a media phone.

Which makes perfect sense, mobile media is a HUGE market right now, where mobile gaming is almost exclusively casual gaming, i.e. not graphic intense.

 

[Don S]

Nice overview of the new ICS features on the Android developer site here:

ICS Features

 

[cereal killer]

My god. You are clearly a pessimist at heart.

Hey! I resemble that remark!!!

I've been a long time Verizon Wireless subscriber and have every right to be pessimist

I've been abused for way too long. no victims i allowed it.....

and no I didn't want the Merge. I don't buy product from HTC.........ever

 

[HanSolo]

. . . .What does Samsung and Google do? Well, I think they have to keep moving in a very aggressive direction. . . . .

I also think that, when you look at this latest OS release, Android has been much more innovative and aggressive than iOS.

This is a cool graphic from DL that shows how much each has progressed:

 

[3vil]

Nice! That seals it for me. I won't be playing games on it, but I'll be watching movies and HD shows on it.

Now, does anyone know if a simple micro-USB to HDMI adapter cable will work, to mirror netflix to my big screen?

I'm not hopeful on this thing having MHL, since I haven't heard anything about it yet.

I too am wondering this. It is curious that they didn't put a micro hdmi port on it.

 

[civicsisedan]

This is one of the main reasons I currently use a sense rom over asop as i haven't found anything that handles the web pages better than HTC's browser (in my opinion of course)

I completely agree.

And if it doesnt have the wrap to text when zooming feature do you think that Sense roms will come out for this phone?

I love sense but am thinking about picking this up instead of the Vigor. If a couple little things can be done with this then its a no brainer.

But the wrap to text is important to me as I couldn't stand the way the Bionic handled zooming.

 

[4lph4num3r1c]

I'm not here to defend CK but Verizon's history with phones like the original Nexus and the Merge is proof that Big Red can pull the rug out from under you.

In this case, I am the optimist and believe Big Red will get this phone, I'm just waiting for that official announcement.

Do we have any word on when this big announcement will be yet?

 

[overbyc1]

I'm with everyone who doesn't want verizon bloating this thing to death, but don't look over the fact google said a part of ICS will be the ability to delete any app, even gmail or market. Bloat will(read should) > be easily removed

Not really delete the app, on future ICS Carrier ROMS, because it will be part of the ROM, but, more like freeze it, and remove it from view, and no longer allow it access.

Im sure the carriers could turn this off... though.

 

[HanSolo]

Look, a nicer closeup of our baby!

 

[Old Member]

i would also suggest looking at swiftkey, by far my favorite of the keyboards/interfaces i have used

What he said. No other keyboard comes close. I've used them all. I was hooked on Swype until they played too many games. Made the switch and haven't looked back. The more you use it the better it gets.

 

[HanSolo]

Do we have any word on when this big announcement will be yet?

According to the majority, within the next week or so.

According to CK, when Hell freezes over.

 

[AntimonyER]

I also think that, when you look at this latest OS release, Android has been much more innovative and aggressive than iOS.

This is a cool graphic from DL that shows how much each has progressed:

I can already tell you what the iFanboys will say to this: Its because Apple got it right the first time, Android has had to change so drastically because they haven't yet.

 

[3vil]

Look, a nicer closeup of our baby!

anybody else notice verizons 4g symbol on the back...

 

[Old Member]

I also think that, when you look at this latest OS release, Android has been much more innovative and aggressive than iOS.

This is a cool graphic from DL that shows how much each has progressed:

Nicely done. A picture is worth 1,000 posts.