Dec 18

The Galaxy Nexus

It is time, after two weeks of using the Galaxy Nexus I feel that I can write a decent review.

Firstly, for those who don’t know, I am pretty much strictly an Apple guy, but I do have alternate tech tendencies and am definitely Android curious. My phone of choice (and still is) the iPhone 4S, but having the Galaxy Nexus in my pocket has many benefits and there are many things about the phone and Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) (Android 4.x) which I like.

The biggest difference between the two phones (iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus) is that there is nothing that drives me mad about the iPhone 4S. It certainly lacks some things that I would love to have but I have never said “Really?!” to my iPhone. My first Android phone (a Nexus S) constantly tempted me to see how far I could throw it into the ocean, I am very pleased to say that the Galaxy Nexus has not come close to achieving this level of frustration but there are some things which do drive me bonkers.

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Size
The first thing that you notice about the Galaxy Nexus is the size. I remember back in the 90’s when the idea for a phone was to get it as small as possible. The era of Smartphones is seeing this trend reverse, to the almost ridiculous. Personally I find the Nexus S to be the screen-size I am most comfortable with in a phone. The Galaxy Nexus for the most part doesn’t feel nearly as large as it is, but there have been times when I just feel that it is too large. On one such occasion it lead me to tweet -
There are times when I really like the screen-size, normally when it comes to viewing videos, photos and books. When it comes to reading Kindle books on a phone, the Galaxy Nexus is king.
The Feel

Other than size, the Galaxy Nexus feels pretty good in your hand. I like the textured battery cover, it has a nice rubbery feel that makes you feel confident with the phone in your hands. It is also reasonably light for its size.
One of the problems the hardware does have, is a lack of physical buttons or controls. With only a powerbutton and volume rocker you quickly learn to appreciate the iPhone’s home button.

A welcome addition to ICS is the ability to take screenshots. Finally!! However I am still yet to master the right conditions under which you can press the volume down button and the power button at the same time to snap the screenshot. (The few shots in this post were attempted many many times).

Ice Cream Sandwich

The Galaxy Nexus’ biggest point is Ice Cream Sandwich. Clearly the folks at Google have been working on this for some time and it feels for the most part pretty slick. A huge step up from Gingerbread. (I know this because I don’t swear at my phone every other hour).

While ICS is awesome, it is no IOS5. Apple’s operating system is clearly a more refined, consistant and polished product.

However in saying that, there are definitly some points that I would love Apple to steal from Android. The biggest one is Widgets.

Android’s widgets have always impressed me. These widgets serve a varitey of functions eg: on screen updating of news, weather, features in apps, or access to phone settings. And it is something that I use often and really depend on when using my Android devices. And I really, really miss when I come back to my iOS devices. 

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Apple - I would settle for just this one widget
One of the biggest problems that Android has had is inconsistancy across apps. ICS is no different with the most glaring example of the menu “button”. As shown below it is in different locations on different apps. This drives me insane! 
Another thing that my Galaxy Nexus loves to do is just randomly reboot. The phone will be sitting on my desk doing nothing and then all of a sudden the opening splash sequence begins and my phone is out of action for the reboot process. Seriously annoying and seriously frustrating.
The biggest thing that drives me nuts is the screen rotation. This breaks down into several points. On my iPhone if am watching a video and I want to rotate the screen (to either landscape or portrait) I double tap the home button, up pop the controls, hit the unlock screen orientation, go back to the video and rotate the screen, the video continues through the whole process!!

On my Android devices I have to quit the video, go to settings ➛ display ➛ turn auto rotation on return to the video and then I can rotate the screen. What makes it even worse, the video stops while the screen rotates. I have now PURCHASED a widget which gives me faster access to the screen settings cutting out a few of the steps, but I still need to quit the video, hit the widget, return to video and experience the pause while the phone catches up.

 

Apps

Just a quick note on Android Apps. I really dislike the marketplace. I hate that it shows me apps that I cannot access or purchase based on my location. (Netflix and Google Current being the two that came to the fore these past weeks). On my iPhone I just went to my iTunes account and downloaded them; no such joy for Android. The other thing I have noticed is that for the large part iOS apps (even from the same developer) feel more polished and thought about. Android apps feel rushed and rough or just incomplete. There are of course exceptions, but on the whole that’s how it feels.

So should you buy the Galaxy Nexus?

I would strongly encourage you towards the iPhone. It is clearly the better phone with a better experience. However if you hate Apple, or what a monster screen and live in the Googleverse then the Galaxy Nexus is a pretty neat bit of kit.

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