Monday, May 23, 2011

Review: Nexus S 4G



Finally it's around.....a pure Google phone on Sprint.  I've been waiting a long time for it while the T-Mobile kiddies taunted us with their joys.  Coming from an Evo 4G and Epic 4G, I've already got a high set of standards for performance and features.  I'll admit I was hesitant to get it at first considering Samsung's track record on phones, but the phone not including their software was a win for me.


As for hardware specs, it stacks up pretty nicely:


  • Android 2.3 Gingerbread
  • 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor 
  • 1xEV-DO CDMA and WiMAX 4G radio
  • 4 inch 480×800 pixels Super AMOLED display
  • Integrated 16GB flash drive with no expansion card slot
  • 5 megapixel camera with LED flash
  • VGA front facing camera
  • Dedicated, touch-sensitive Back, Menu, Search, and Home keys
  • Proximity sensor, light sensor and digital compass
  • Integrated A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
  • Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
  • 3.5 mm headset jack
  • 1500 mAh lithium-ion battery
  • Dimensions: 123.9 x 63 x 11.2 mm and 129 grams


I've had this phone about 4 days now and have really enjoyed Gingerbread.  The battery life has gotten better, even with my constant abuse on it.  Time for the run down on the device......


Display:
The display is the Samsung Super AMOLED screens which are freaking beautiful.  Some people I've heard from say it's not as good on quality as the Epic, but after some testing I've seen the opposite.  One thing to consider is the UI that Samsung uses is a lot sharper and has brighter colors than Google. After installing ADW and changing out the stock icons, I found the quality just as good.  


The screen itself has a slight curve to it.  Not quite sure why this was done, but it didn't affect quality it any way.


Camera:
The phone has what's become almost standard now with the front and back side cameras.  I do wish they had gone with an 8MP camera on the back as it's in so many offerings, but I've been happy with the quality on it regardless.


One camera feature missing in the stock Android software is the focus option.  If you hold down the shoot button for the picture, it will still do a fine focus on the image, but no zoom in and out option.  That's.....well.....weird.


Video recording looks good.  Unfortunately Samsung elected to only do 480p recording as opposed to 720p HD like the other models.


One thing some might miss is a dedicated camera button on the side.  This was a little different at first, but then I realized I was no longer hitting the button on accident.  Easy replacement is just using an icon.


Android 2.3:
This thing is FAST.  Even with installing a ton of apps after my joy in how much storage it has, the OS hasn't skipped a beat and moves through everything very quickly.  Google did a good job under the hood of kicking up the performance on this one.  I did replace the stock home screen with ADW purely for the customization options.  


The photo gallery software included in Android is great.  It does a 3D tilt and angle kinda thing for viewing which is a nice touch.  Samsung used the same feature with their Epic phone, so I was pleased I got to keep it.  One thing I did notice when I first loaded in my pics.....let it sit there and load everything the first time.  It wants to be left alone to load them all the first time, and it will let you know about it when you try to scroll through.  Once loaded up, the pics scroll through seamlessly.


The stock browser works pretty well.  Page load times are fast, no issues running flash, and no quirkiness.  It's still not as good in terms of features and extra as some other options like you get with Dolphin Browser, and the gesture reactions aren't as good.


The stock keyboard is ok.  I wouldn't be the first to praise about it, but it gets the job done.  You're not going to get any extras in the stock build like Swype, but these can always be added to accommodate what you prefer.


Look and Feel:
I kinda like the curved design to it.  That along with the weight make the phone very easy to hold and use comfortably.


The shell has more of a plastic feel to it than most phones, but it still doesn't feel like cheap material.  I admit I am more spoiled on the cases that HTC uses, as they feel more durable.


The phone does lack an LED light on the front for notifications.  There are some other options which give you an on screen notice like NoLED.  Some people are reliant on that light, so if it's a must this may not be the phone for you.  Me personally, my phone always has a notice for something, so I usually ignore the light anyways.


Final Thoughts: 
I'll be the first to admit, this phone isn't for everyone.  If you rely on extra features some manufacturers include in their UI, you will be left out.  There are comparable substitutions on the market, but some features are still exclusive.  Getting a pure Google phone though is a nice jump in performance and battery life.


Overall battery life is better on Gingerbread, which is much needed on Android in general.  Believe me, it'll never make a Blackberry owner jealous.  Then again, then can't do 1/4 of the things we can do with our phones.  I personally would still recommend at least a task manager, or better something like JuiceDefender which manages that nasty data use when the phone is idle.  I've yielded better results with this compared to most other apps, and the purchase for the pro version is worth it.


The selling points to the phone are it's pure Google with no carrier BS, which means it's first to get all the updates.  There's no waiting for the manufacturer to make all their stuff work with it, and then the carrier.  Google makes it, I get it immediate.  Google has also done a solid job overall in the OS, so it holds it's ground with any other competition.

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