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***Official G-Nex first impressions thread*** Love it? Hate it?

After 3 days of owning this phone, I love it. Definitely a big step up from the Droid X.

Pros:
Camera
Speed
Recent Apps
Easier access to widgets
Screen
ICS
Screen shots

Cons:
Battery life
Lack of a menu button
Google search bar taking up screen real estate.

The Menu button is the 3 dots that sometimes appear next to the task button, or at the top of the screen, depending on the app.
 
I'm going to do a review tomorrow on mine. But for now remember people that it's new and so is 4.0 so a lot of apps and live wallpapers are not optimized for 4.0 right now so that should be getting better soon. I need to say this but the screen is amazing. I just don't know how some people can't see that. Put it next to other phones and you will see it. Compared to my last two phones the Dx and d3 the screen is a billion times better. Blacks look black, colors are vibrant and I can read text on a screen without zooming in. I could not do that on the other phones. I've put mine next to an iPhone 4 and I thought it looked as good.
 
I've been doing a lot of comparison between screens, my HTC Incredible (AMOLED), my girl's Incredible 2 (SLCD), and my Nexus (AMOLED).

It's really a matter of preference, more than what is better. For me, each screen is suited better depending on the task.

I find reading on the SLCD screen is better. Screen color is warmer, while the AMOLED looks dull. Neither of the AMOLED's exhibit the usual pentile complaints, so text sharpness is fine on both. Between the two AMOLEDs, the Incredible is easier on the eyes for me, despite the smaller screen.

On the other hand, watching video (Katy Perry's ET is a good video to compare with) looks better on the AMOLED, this is where that black level really makes the difference. Also with that video, lighting in that video appears more purple on the SLCD, while more blue on the AMOLED.

The SLCD seems to have better overall brightness, but this could be worse for battery life.

Playing a game, such as Angry Birds Rio, looks great on both! Again, the AMOLED makes the background look more blue, while the SLCD looks more purple.

My conclusion: unless you constantly live in the dark, and are always using a dark theme, both screens look great, and the differences only stand out when the screen are side by side.
 
I absolutely love this phone. I am still figuring out basic tasks (this is my first android phone). Androidforums has been a great asset. My only gripe is that i constantly hit the volume button when holding the phone....it's getting really annoying. I wish I could lock the volume at one level, through an app or menu setting, thus rendering the volume button dead.
 
Got mine launch day and am loving it so far. 4G is fast great for browsing and downloading apps is done in a snap. I am really liking having software buttons with ICS. The screen is amazing. I like having the larger screen. It makes my girlfriend's iphone screen look so small LOL. Battery life is expected, but I been using the phone a lot. I ordered the extended battery so hope this helps. The speaker is not great on it and I wish the ringtones and notifications were louder. ICS is great, it finally feels like a smooth polished OS. Put Google Wallet on it today, and looking forward to trying it out and getting looks from people when I pay with my phone. Can't put this thing down!

GNex FTW!
 
I posted this in droidforums and then realized how much I wrote, so thought I'd share here as well:
Coming from an OG Droid, I have been contemplating which phone to upgrade to for some time now. My list was narrowed down to the Nexus and Razr.

I waited until the Nexus was released and picked it up based on the hype, specs, and positive reviews of the GSM version. I now have until 1/15/12 to decide if its a keeper or if I switch to the Razr. I do like this phone, but it does have its share of issues. Some of the issues are just due to the fact that its a new phone with a new OS and these will be addressed in updates. Some of the other issues are not and I would have to live with. The pros of the Nexus have been discussed many times (ICS, NFC, no bloat, etc) so I wont go into them. Compared to the Razr, here are the cons I am finding with this phone:

1) While the phone feels sturdy, the build quality is just not the same as the Razr. I hate phone cases, yet I have one on the Nexus now. I hate screen protectors, but I think I will be putting one on soon. With the Razr I would have no problem keeping the phone "naked" like I did with my OG Droid for 2 years.
2) Even after several full charge cycles, battery life will not be as good as the Razr, and thats not saying much. Granted this is partly due to the much nicer screen, but still, battery life is important to me. I don't even have LTE turned on (don't have it in my area) and the battery is still draining rather quickly. Yes, I can get a full day, but I am not a heavy power user.
3) The camera has been MUCH less than desirable so far. Yes, it is quick at snapping a pic, but whats the point if the output is a mushy mess? I took many pictures at a family holiday gathering yesterday and seriously could not get ONE good picture. It was daytime, indoors, plenty of natural light. I was sure to hold my hand steady, touch to focus, and then snap. Yet still the pictures just looked a little blurry and simply lacked detail. I had to keep reverting to my wife's iPhone 4s to take some pictures we can keep. I know people will say "Its a phone not a camera. If you want good pics use a real camera", but I disagree. Technology is at the point where quality pics are achievable from a smartphone, but in my opinion not from this phone. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in an update or aftermarket app, but I'm not counting on it.
4) Bugs in ICS. I am sure most will get resolved in updates. I've had a few random black screen reboots. I am using the email widget which I LOVE, but after some time the widget just doesn't want to refresh with new email, so I have to remove the widget and re-apply it.
5) Volume too low and vibrate too week. With my OG Droid, the vibrate was nice and strong so in my pants pocket I would know right away when a call or notification was coming in. The vibrate mechanism of the Nexus just feels much weaker and I often don't even notice it. Not sure if this can be fixed in an update. And we are all aware of the low volume issues. I hear there is an app that will help, but havent yet tried it.
6)I might be alone on this, but I do notice occassional stuttering when scrolling through the app list, screens, etc. I didn't notice this on the Razr I played with in store. Of course it might be a different story if I brought it home.

Please note I am not bashing the phone. These are just the cons I am noticing. I do realize the Razr has its own set of cons which I will need to investigate should I decide to switch. I do plan on keeping this Nexus at least until the 2nd week of January and then will decide. This will allow time for the 4.0.3 update to be released and for me to continue personalizing and tweaking the phone, settings, etc. I have not included the Rezound in my short list. I played with it in store and while it is a slick phone, I found it too bulky and do not like HTC Sense. Again, just personal opinion.
 
Coming from the Incredible.
My goodness this thing is HUGE!!! And beautiful. Very happy with it but will admit struggling a bit with my learning curve. Been spending a lot of time on the different forums with pen and paper in hand writing down tips and tricks.
I'm NOT loving landscape for texting. Very laggy and long pause getting into landscape in the first place.
Struggling with the fact that in many places I can't use pinch to zoom. I need that.
Have given up trying to set up my bookmarks.
Can't find that amazing speak to text function they were bragging about.....
I really like the phone.....my brain is just on overload.
 
@ Grandmadroid:

Easiest way to setup your bookmarks is via the Chrome browser, while signed into your google account. The GN will sync w/ your saved bookmarks in Chrome.

The voice-to-text is engaged by simply tapping the microphone button on the keyboard.
 
5) Volume too low and vibrate too week. With my OG Droid, the vibrate was nice and strong so in my pants pocket I would know right away when a call or notification was coming in. The vibrate mechanism of the Nexus just feels much weaker and I often don't even notice it. Not sure if this can be fixed in an update. And we are all aware of the low volume issues. I hear there is an app that will help, but havent yet tried it.

Definitely check out volume+.

The free version of the app lets you set the volume boost to +4. I am using the free version at +4 and it definitely helps.

If this is not enough for you, the paid version lets you set the volume to +7.

A good way to test the boost is to play some music on your phone (via the speaker, not headphones), and then go into the volume+ app and change the boost from 0 to +4. You will hear the difference.
 
Hi.
Love the Gnex. Great phone experience!
I have but one problem. I am receiving text messages with the wrong caller id on them.
Result being repies going to the wrtong place.
Emabarring when it's your boss or ex wife.
Anyone elsse had this issue or know a fix.
Only other alterntive is to replace phone.
Thank in advance.


I've had this problem twice so far using handcent. I don't know if it's happening in the native app as well.

When I see it happening in handcent a reboot clears it up. I sent the devs an email, hopefully they'll work it out soon.
 
Wow. Awesome! Just spent the weekend with the phone and here are my initial impressions coming from an Incredible.

1) I used Sense for a couple months and replaced it with LauncherPro. Sooo much better than Sense. Sense to me was just laggy and limited. That being said I absolutely love the new ICS launcher. The thing I miss the most is swipe actions. Minor gripe: no list view option for the widgets.

2) I find find that the Gnex screen is FAR superior than my Incredible. Less pixelation and just better looking all around (especially in the sun). I had the AMOLED version of the Incredible.

3) Battery life. Was really expecting that to be worse on the Gnex but I have to say that I am finding it to be on par if not better than the Inc. I'm losing about 8-10% an hour with full brightness, GPS, bluetooth, and 4G enabled (switches a lot at work between 3G/4G). I'm also playing on it more than my Inc so I'll need a few more weeks to really compare. My normal usage: gmail app here and there, light SMS/MMS, couple calls, news, phandroid app, maybe a few minutes of angry birds or other games on my shuttle). For now, I have to say that I'm impressed given my extremely low expectations for the battery. It will last me through the day FOR SURE. Meaning off the charger starting around 8:30am through around 6:30pm). If I need more, I'll start turning off radios but I'm the kind of person that just leaves everything on.

4) Read all the horror stories here but I find that my reception is on par with my Incredible. I get the same number of 4G bars at home compared to the 3G bars on the Incredible. At work I'm finding that the Gnex is switching a lot between 3G and 4G but in terms of reception I don't see a difference really.

5) Camera. Just about the same as my Incredible in terms of quality. Much easier to take pictures now. Before I needed my family to pose without moving for 5-10 seconds for a decent shot which was almost impossible with my 18 month and 4 year old daughters. While the quality is not as good as my friends fruit phone I have to say that I'm satisfied because I can at least take pictures of my family on the go now and produce "OK" pics on par with my Incredible. I'm not afraid to actually use it now.

6) Audio. One word--fantastic! I'm talking about through the headphone jack and streaming via bluetooth. Don't really care about audio quality through the speaker. Streaming audio from my Incredible to my Sony unit in my car was muddled and kinda sucky. Streaming audio from the Gnex is worlds better. Can't tell you how happy that makes me since I can't plug in the cord to the AUX now with my vent holder. The little arm that holds it blocks the 3.5mm jack on the Gnex.

That's it for now. Best phone I've ever had and better than all the phones my wife has ever had (all are: Incredible, LG Ally, Droid 2, blackberry 8230).
 
Love the phone overall, coming from a OG Droid.

But I have one LOUD complaint.

The speaker used to playback sound, movies, alarms, etc. - is absolute GARBAGE. It is completely under-powered, and really disappointing.

The camera isn't really all that bad - the quick snapshot makes up for the relatively mediocre camera, and the video is more than adequate .

Overall, love the phone - but I won't lie to you and tell you it's perfect - there are still things I miss about my rooted GB D1 (no, not talking about the physical keyboard) that I'm still trying to learn, or correct myself with on my GNex :)

Oh, the Browsing experience is heaven, however. On Wi-Fi or LTE, by far the best browsing experience ever on a phone - a lot of that is thanks to ICS, not the hardware.

Quick Edit:

Oh, the thing fits perfectly in your hand and pants pocket. Has a nice balanced weight to it, and doesn't have that cheap feel to it you find with a lot of "lighter" smartphones.
 
This phone is a big upgrade from OG Droid, and i am quite happy with it so far.

Pros
Screen, although does turn blue when looking at an angle.
ICS is fast and huge upgrade from gingerbread
Browsing is fabulous with no lag.
I love the build and fits nicely in hand not too big

Cons
Speaker sound, have fixed this using volume+ app the level set to +8
Signal strength could be better but i have no dropped calls and have not dropped to 1x as my OG would sometimes do.
Battery life was bad first two days but is getting better. Can go 10 hours on LTE
with moderate use, much longer on wifi.

I feel a couple of minor software updates and this phone will be everything I expected.
 
Note: I realize some of the stuff below is not necessary. I'm only writing what I did and my experience so far.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus arrived Friday afternoon around 3pm (was overnighted). It was chilly out and the SGN box and device were pretty cold. Decided to just let it sit and warm up a little to room temps.

Around 5:30pm I activated over my home phone. I then installed the SIM card and the stock battery. I did NOT turn the SGN on. Instead, I plugged it in and left it alone.

I was up late Friday night so at around 1:30am I disconnected from the outlet and I turned it on and activated. I used a fresh google account (different than the one from my OG Droid) -- I wanted a clean start. I used the phone for a while, just checking out some of the features and hoping around the OS. The only settings I changed were turning WiFi on and brightness off (by clicking options in the power control widget). GPS and sync were on and Bluetooth was off (by default on my phone).

Went to sleep around 2:45am and left the SGN unplugged. Got up Saturday morning around 9 and had a day of general use. Installed the software update, threw a still image on there for the background. Went to lunch with my family, did a little bit of shopping. I used the phone to occasionally snap a picture and upload a photo to Facebook and read a quick article on the net. I was out and about for about 4 hours total.

Battery not looking terrible, while back at home I did not use it constantly but checked it every once in a while and responded to a text or google talk message. Read an article here and there through the news/weather app. Installed a new app every so often.

Later in the evening I watched a few videos on youtube (looked great). I also played with the camera a bit more and tried google video chat which worked nicely. Played with some of the wacky features of the video camera. Throughout the rest of the evening I played with it every once in a while.

It's now almost 3am and some battery info is below.

I was an original Droid owner, really liked that phone. It went through a lot, even came back to life at one point when I thought it was completely dead from the abuse it took. But that's another story.

I do love the SGN so far. It's fast, a great size (I wouldn't have minded it even being a little bigger), and everything works fine so far. I notice a few quirks. The WiFi and overall reception seem slightly worse than the Droid so far. HOWEVER, I will say that there were times my wifi AND cell signal had no bars and I was still able to surf the net and stream video with NO hiccups or noticeable slowdown in speed. Leads me to believe the WiFi signal indicator is a little off.

I've seen a bunch of battery life complaints and perhaps it is bad when you use the phone much more. But for me, so far, it seems fine.


sgn_screen5.png

Reads like a novel. I feel as if I were actually there with you. Good info.
 
I absolutely love this phone. I will play with this more and report back later. I have no time to waste! :D
 
humm I just got mine today and after calling verizion they have informed me they are working on a software fix for the ones getting bad signal strength such as my self but am in love with this phone so far ... and its already unlocked and rooted woot woot
 
Absolutely LOVE it!

Had it for 3 days now and I've yet to see a bug / reception is great even in my house I'm getting decent 4G, volume is actually louder and more clear than my Dinc2 / Battery life so far has actually been great (have the extended battery) / zero crashes / blazing fast / and have easily unlocked and rooted using OS X, yep that's right I'm a Mac lover but also an Android lover :) Contrary to popular belief it is possible to be a fan of both... ;)

Oh, and the screen is beautiful, compared it to my Dinc2 and my wife's Atrix and it is far better than both of those. Blacks seem blacker, and no issues at all with the blue'ish somewhat off colors others have reported. Speed tests on 4G have been around 20+Mbps up and 14+ up outdoors, indoors I'm only getting about 1 to 2 bars and getting 2-3 down and 3-4 up.
 
My reception on the GNex wasn't as good as my Incredible, and 3G wasn't as fast. Suddenly since last night, both have been great.
 
Just picked this phone up yesterday and used my upgrade to replace my Droid 2 Global. picked it up at best buy and i couldnt be happier

Screen-4.65" absolutely beautiful. Really crisp and clear and a hug step up from my D2G

Reception- Great. Maybe i just live in a great spot for 4g but im constantly getting 2-4 bars in my house.

Form Factor- Don't really understand how people arent going crazy over how this phone looks. It's large and its in charge. I love how light the phone is and fits great in my hand

ICS- Smooth, responsive, no lag at all. Web browsing very fast

Battery Life-(Using stock battery) No problems here. I am constantly on LTE and web browse quite a bit and right now my phone has been on for almost nine hours now and i still have 68% battery left. I turn off NFC, bluetooth, gps when not in use. Maybe because i live in a strong 4g area this is dramatically increasing my battery life?

Overall this phone is spectacular
 
My reception on the GNex wasn't as good as my Incredible, and 3G wasn't as fast. Suddenly since last night, both have been great.
Wow, me too. What happened you think? I went from -113 to -94 overnight. I'll check speed tests now... d/l same around 6-7 meg but upload went from 500k to 5 meg up. Not bad.
 
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