An Android fan's take on the Galaxy Nexus | Hacker News Reader

An Android fan's take on the Galaxy Nexus

thetechblock.com

27 pointstechblock23 comments

I've had a Nexus for two months now (since launch day on Verizon) and I have only two real gripes about it. Otherwise, performance has been good, the screen is gorgeous, and I've been happy with ICS.

The camera quality is really bad. When using the flash indoors, the colors seem to be off by a mile. You can turn off the flash but then images are (obviously) dark and blurry. It's disappointing because things like the zero-shutter-lag and panorama features should make this an awesome camera phone, but it seems like they skimped on the camera hardware. Or maybe I just have a bum unit and I should make a warranty claim?

My other issue is the size. It seems that every flagship device (that is, one with specs worth buying at all) on the Android platform is engaged in this arms race for bigger and bigger screens. Frankly I think the old Nexus One and the iPhone are the perfect size.

Apple seems to have no problem selling 3.5" screen phones like hotcakes, so I don't know why the Android manufacturers think that the only way to sell phones is to have giant devices.

Screen size is a matter of personal preference. Few people like yourself fancy small screen sizes like that of the iPhone.. but for me, 4" screens have proven ideal and ergonomically the best of the many. Having different screen sizes is good because it offers the consumer the choice of choosing what he/she might feel best..

Having said that, I do agree with you on the GNexus screen size. 4.65" seems a little over the top..

For me, I actually think 4.65" is still a little small -- 5" would be best for me. Much to my very slight irritation, the only 5" phone currently is the Galaxy Note, which doesn't use T-Mobile US's 3G or 4G bands.

I do know a few people who prefer smaller screens, but it does seem that 4" is around the sweet spot for most people.

There was a theory floating around that the device had to be physically larger because of the 4g chip size and battery size, and the screen was just there to compensate.

The camera quality is probably a function of the 'zero-lag'.

I haven't laid hands on a Nexus yet, but I'm speaking from experience with my digital camera (not quite professional quality, but maybe one step down - still a very good camera). It has a similar mode (ISO-3200), which takes pictures instantaneously (no lag). The quality is dramatically lower with this mode, though, even though the camera takes beautiful pictures otherwise. I can speculate as to what causes this at the hardware level - it's not hard to imagine - but I'm not well-versed enough in digital photography to explain it.

What I'm curious to know before buying a Nexus is whether this can be turned off, or if it's built into the hardware. If the former, then flashing a custom ROM (or even a different camera application) could solve the problems.

I would totally buy this theory.

I think that tradeoff with the zero-shutter-lag feature is that the phone does a cursory attempt at focus/metering/white-balance (if it does one at all) and totally misses it most of the time.

You can try to focus by tapping the screen first, but it still doesn't quite get it right in my experience.

the screen is gorgeous

Unfortunately not for everyone when using "auto brightness".

http://www.google.se/search?q=galaxy+nexus+grainy+screen

I got my galaxy nexus last week, and I am over the moon about it. Came off a droid x, and it is just hands down awesome. The battery isn't all it could be, might have to go after market for that, but the screen is great, ics is finally competitive with iOS, and the fast camera is really nice for shots on the go. (which is all you should ever use a cell phone for anyways. If you want a real camera, BUY ONE.) it's not perfect by any means, but I couldn't find another android device that was comparable.

I bought the Nexus One for AT&T about 2 years ago, am totally contract free, and even grandfathered in on an unlimited data plan at AT&T. I do some develop on Android, as well as iPhone, and have been trying to figure out what the best Android developer phone would be to upgrade to in the next 6 months or so. Preferably, I'd have something like the Nexus One that I can just buy outright and plug into my unlimited data plan at AT&T even if it costs a few more $$$. I'm pretty much underwhelmed by all the Android offerings at this point. What are developers looking forward to in terms of contract-free developer Android phones in the next 6 months?

An unlocked GSM Nexus S or Galaxy Nexus is really the only way to go.

I was somehow under the (mistaken?) impression that the unlocked Galaxy Nexus would not work on AT&T or at least not work on AT&T 3G. A bit of research suggests this is not the case.

This was an issue for the Nexus One and the Nexus S, but not anymore with the Galaxy Nexus.

The Nexus S comes in two GSM versions, one that would only do 3G on T-Mobile's AWS band, and one come in a version that would do 3G on AT&T's 3G band. The AT&T model would only do EDGE on T-Mobile, and vice-versa. I think the AT&T version is only sold at Best Buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/null/Google-Nexus-S/pcmcat224600...

The GSM Galaxy Nexus has a pentaband radio and so you'll get 3G on T-Mobile or AT&T all on the same model.

Thanks for clearing that up - I hadn't really followed the changes to the bands.

I also get 4G on T-Mobile but not sure if that will be the case on AT&T as well.

It's upgrade time for me and I'm debating whether to stick with iOS or wait out for the Galaxy S3. A lot of people have recommended the S2 but I'd prefer to have the latest model before getting in to a contract for another 2 years

I'm a current Galaxy S user, with an upgrade available. I'm holding out to see what HTC announces at MWC, and comparing that to the S3.

If HTC really does come out with a Tegra 3, LTE phone, that's gonna be hard to pass up. Especially when you add in the HTC build quality and unlocked bootloader advantages.

Let me guess: Android fan tries Nexus, doesn't like it switches to iPhone, etc. etc.? Somehow I don't think "Android fan tries new Android phone and likes it" would be as newsworthy.

No, he's still using Android, he's just underwhelmed by the Galaxy Nexus.

I was a bit underwhelmed too. Both because the menu button isn't always in the same place anymore, and because the back button doesn't interact in the expected way with the new way of switching apps.

Could you elaborate on the latter?

I'm currently on an Incredible (CM 7 - so Gingerbread), and the back button is the third from left (home, menu, back, search), and the back button has unpredictable functionality (depending on the application).

Lets say I open up the web browser, then I use the application selector to go to my Twitter app. If I hit back I'll go to the homescreen, rather than the web browser. The app selection button somehow flushes out the entire back stack, which is really, really annoying. As to unpredictability regarding views within apps, its a bit worse but not hugely different.

I'm confused - I thought they were trying to get devs to standardize that, and that they also changed things in ICS?

The way it currently is (for me on Gingerbread) that some apps have the back button go back to the previous view, but some go to the homescreen. And if I (say) open a browser link in an app, the back button will take me back to the application. (That may also be app-specific, but I just tried it out with one app).

So what's different on the Nexus, and what part of that is ICS-specific changes (as opposed to things that app developers have to implement independently)?

(Apologies for the confusion, but I still haven't seen an ICS device, and I don't develop for Android, so my knowledge of this is fairly passive, as a consumer).

Not really. He's just going to wait for an ICS phone with better hardware.

I kind of have to agree with him. I've been disappointed with Google's decision for the 2nd year in a row to allow Samsung to make the "Nexus" devices as just upgraded (if that) versions of their Galaxy S phones.

I don't mind Samsung building them (although I really hope they are coming out with a new build material this year, other than plastic), I just mind that the Nexus phones, the ones that are supposed to set the standard in the industry, are just rehashed Galaxy S devices from half a year earlier, in both hardware specs and looks (other than the HD resolution).

I would prefer if Google waited until a new chip generation was available to put it in their Nexus devices, rather than use one that's already been on the market for the past 6 months or more. This has been really disappointing, and I think a lot of Android fans agree with me here.

For example, if it's expected for a quad core chip to arrive on the market for the first time in March or April, then make sure the Nexus is the first or one of the very first to use it. If it's expected for Cortex A15 to arrive in phones sometime by the end of the year, make sure Nexus is one of the very first to use it, and so on. Make the industry follow Nexus, and not Nexus follow the industry as it's been the case with the past 2 generations.

I know Google cares more about being the one with the latest major Android version, but it would really help if it was the one with the latest technologies, too. I don't want to have to choose between the latest hardware and the latest software. Not to mention that Nexus is a device that is targeted at early adopters, so you're kind of screwing early adopters there when you don't offer them the latest hardware technology, too. I'm hoping Google buying Motorola means they will finally combine the two, and offer the latest stock Android versions on the latest hardware.

Also, since he mentions it, I have a tiny issue with ICS. Why not actually close the apps from the multi-tasking list if you're going to "bother" to remove them from the list? It kind of seems like a pointless action to just remove it from the list to make it "cleaner" (why?), instead of actually closing them.

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