D
Deleted User
Guest
Just thought I'd quickly boil down a list of things people are worried about, and do it all in one first post so people don't have to dig. Please add suggestions, or correct anything that's wrong/misleading.
The phone doesn't have HDMI. I wanted to hook it up to my TV!
The phone has MHL - Mobile High-definition Link. This is essentially HDMI over USB. There will be either a dock or an adapter cable to hook it up to the HDMI port of your TV, and it also allows the phone to charge at the same time.
The phone only has a 5 megapixel camera. That sounds bad to me.
It's not. The problem is that these tiny sensors get worse as you pack more megapixels into them. Read here for more detail.
There is no SD card. I need more space. Also, what happens if I wipe my phone?
Nothing you can do if you need more space. There are options for cloud storage - this thread has information.
However, don't worry about doing a factory reset on your phone. The internal storage is split into multiple partitions, and one of them will act JUST like an SD card. When you wipe/factory reset, all of your data will stay there. You can still backup apps with Titanium Backup, or keep your photos when you wipe, or whatever.
I think the battery is too small. 1750 mAh just isn't enough for 4G or that big screen.
Honestly, nobody knows the answer. Samsung has indicated that the US version of the phone will be "a little thicker" which may indicate a larger battery. However, let's not fret here. There have been a lot of improvements to the OS, including a huge performance improvement, which may net a lot better battery life. The "race to idle" school of thought says the faster you can get something done, the faster you can go back to having an idle processor. Therefore, significantly enhanced performance can have a big impact on reducing your battery consumption. Be patient, we'll all find out together.
What's going on with these on-screen buttons? Where is the menu button? What if my phone already has buttons and I get ICS?
Honeycomb displays a menu button for applications that require a menu button. We expect ICS will operate the same way - they will need it for backwards compatibility. Don't fret, there will be a way to access the menu when needed.
If your phone already has buttons, there will be no on-screen buttons for you.
Buttons can be hidden for apps that do not require user input. A quote from the SDK:
Obviously, in the future it may be that you can hide the nav bar even for user input - but consider that it may not be optimal to do that. You really want those buttons to be there all the time if they're going to be a primary navigation mechanism. You don't want something to hide them so it's hard to get them back.
Is the phone coming to Verizon?
Yes. Press release.
The processors aren't as fast as the iPhone. They aren't even as fast as Exynos. Am I going to be able to use my phone the way it's meant to be used?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes, and it's only the GPU that isn't as fast (the CPU is as fast as anything on the market right now, and faster than the iPhone). This will be the third fastest GPU on the market, behind the PowerVR SGX543 of the iPhone, and the Mali-400 of the Samsung Galaxy S2. For most tasks, of course, there will be tons of horsepower available for things like hardware acceleration of the OS, basic processing tasks, etc. These are not generally a challenge to most GPUs. The real question is, how will it handle games or apps like Google Earth or other 3D-intensive apps?
Think about this: when game developers release a game for the PC, do they optimize it so that it will only run on the brand new, top-of-the-line, $600 graphics card? Of course not. They wouldn't sell many copies, would they? Expect the same here. The PowerVR SGX540 of the Nexus is a potent GPU, one of the fastest on the market. Not being the fastest shouldn't be a concern.
This is a great post that describes some of the similarities and differences between the CPU/GPU in the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Nexus and points out that the Nexus actually has superior GPU performance in some ways.
Is it plastic or metal?
It's a plastic case with a textured back and a metal frame inside to help resist flexing and increase the durability of the phone. The tradeoff, of course, is that the build quality won't feel quite as robust as something like a Droid X, but it will be lighter.
Is the screen made from Gorilla Glass?
Corning has confirmed that the phone does NOT use Gorilla Glass (see here), contrary to what Samsung indicated at the launch party. Samsung indicates that they use another brand of "fortified glass" so it should still be extremely hard. Gorilla Glass is one brand of fortified glass and lack of it does not mean the screen will be prone to scratches - but without more information about the particular glass used, only testing will determine how hard the glass is.
Does it have a notification LED?
Yes, on the bottom bezel in the middle. Click here for a picture of it.
Does it support USB host mode, so we can attach flash drives and devices to the USB port?
Yes, ICS supports USB Host Mode. The Galaxy Nexus definitely supports it with its hardware, too, because it was announced that it would support USB game controllers. How it will treat attached flash storage is not known yet but it is almost certain that the functionality will be there.
The phone doesn't have HDMI. I wanted to hook it up to my TV!
The phone has MHL - Mobile High-definition Link. This is essentially HDMI over USB. There will be either a dock or an adapter cable to hook it up to the HDMI port of your TV, and it also allows the phone to charge at the same time.
The phone only has a 5 megapixel camera. That sounds bad to me.
It's not. The problem is that these tiny sensors get worse as you pack more megapixels into them. Read here for more detail.
There is no SD card. I need more space. Also, what happens if I wipe my phone?
Nothing you can do if you need more space. There are options for cloud storage - this thread has information.
However, don't worry about doing a factory reset on your phone. The internal storage is split into multiple partitions, and one of them will act JUST like an SD card. When you wipe/factory reset, all of your data will stay there. You can still backup apps with Titanium Backup, or keep your photos when you wipe, or whatever.
I think the battery is too small. 1750 mAh just isn't enough for 4G or that big screen.
Honestly, nobody knows the answer. Samsung has indicated that the US version of the phone will be "a little thicker" which may indicate a larger battery. However, let's not fret here. There have been a lot of improvements to the OS, including a huge performance improvement, which may net a lot better battery life. The "race to idle" school of thought says the faster you can get something done, the faster you can go back to having an idle processor. Therefore, significantly enhanced performance can have a big impact on reducing your battery consumption. Be patient, we'll all find out together.
What's going on with these on-screen buttons? Where is the menu button? What if my phone already has buttons and I get ICS?
Honeycomb displays a menu button for applications that require a menu button. We expect ICS will operate the same way - they will need it for backwards compatibility. Don't fret, there will be a way to access the menu when needed.
If your phone already has buttons, there will be no on-screen buttons for you.
Buttons can be hidden for apps that do not require user input. A quote from the SDK:
Obviously, in the future it may be that you can hide the nav bar even for user input - but consider that it may not be optimal to do that. You really want those buttons to be there all the time if they're going to be a primary navigation mechanism. You don't want something to hide them so it's hard to get them back.
Is the phone coming to Verizon?
Yes. Press release.
The processors aren't as fast as the iPhone. They aren't even as fast as Exynos. Am I going to be able to use my phone the way it's meant to be used?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes, and it's only the GPU that isn't as fast (the CPU is as fast as anything on the market right now, and faster than the iPhone). This will be the third fastest GPU on the market, behind the PowerVR SGX543 of the iPhone, and the Mali-400 of the Samsung Galaxy S2. For most tasks, of course, there will be tons of horsepower available for things like hardware acceleration of the OS, basic processing tasks, etc. These are not generally a challenge to most GPUs. The real question is, how will it handle games or apps like Google Earth or other 3D-intensive apps?
Think about this: when game developers release a game for the PC, do they optimize it so that it will only run on the brand new, top-of-the-line, $600 graphics card? Of course not. They wouldn't sell many copies, would they? Expect the same here. The PowerVR SGX540 of the Nexus is a potent GPU, one of the fastest on the market. Not being the fastest shouldn't be a concern.
This is a great post that describes some of the similarities and differences between the CPU/GPU in the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Nexus and points out that the Nexus actually has superior GPU performance in some ways.
Is it plastic or metal?
It's a plastic case with a textured back and a metal frame inside to help resist flexing and increase the durability of the phone. The tradeoff, of course, is that the build quality won't feel quite as robust as something like a Droid X, but it will be lighter.
Is the screen made from Gorilla Glass?
Corning has confirmed that the phone does NOT use Gorilla Glass (see here), contrary to what Samsung indicated at the launch party. Samsung indicates that they use another brand of "fortified glass" so it should still be extremely hard. Gorilla Glass is one brand of fortified glass and lack of it does not mean the screen will be prone to scratches - but without more information about the particular glass used, only testing will determine how hard the glass is.
Does it have a notification LED?
Yes, on the bottom bezel in the middle. Click here for a picture of it.
Does it support USB host mode, so we can attach flash drives and devices to the USB port?
Yes, ICS supports USB Host Mode. The Galaxy Nexus definitely supports it with its hardware, too, because it was announced that it would support USB game controllers. How it will treat attached flash storage is not known yet but it is almost certain that the functionality will be there.
