So, the same thing kind of always happens when a new phone launches: usually the media
gets review units before they're widely available, and we get to use them for a few days or maybe
a couple weeks if we're lucky, while we write our review.
Then the date and time of the press embargo arrives, the embargo lifts, everyone posts
their reviews and videos at the same time, it's a huge frenzy, commenters go nuts, there
are defenders and attackers and it's a whole giant explosion of opinion.
For about ... a day.
And then it all goes away.
Sure, there's followup coverage as people find bugs and more news happens, but after
that initial blast, not a lot of people revisit the device to see how it feels a few weeks
or months later, because we're all onto the next thing already.
So let's do something about it.
Let's take a look at another device whose day as the media darling has come and gone.
I'm Michael Fisher, with Pocketnow.com, this is the Galaxy Nexus LTE from Samsung, and
this is Episode 5 of After The Buzz.
The Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus LTE, was supposed to be my cure
for phone-jumping.
It was supposed to be the device that kept me satisfied for longer than a few months.
It was a series of firsts: it was: my first phone on Verizon Wireless, my first LTE phone,
and my first Nexus device.
And it wasn't just new ground for me; it was the first time a Nexus-class phone had been
sold by Verizon, and it was one of their early LTE devices.
Not their earliEST, but this was a big deal when it launched a little over seven months
ago.
And it held a lot of potential.
So, after over a half year of use, how has it lived up to that potential?
Well, there's good and there's bad, in the hardware, and in the software.
Let's go in order.
I've often picked on the Galaxy Nexus when comparing it to other phones because it's
never really seemed, to me, to ... aspire to anything.
It's what I'd call a "handsome" device.
It's not ugly, but it's not mind-blowing.
That said, it has got a lot going for it: I like the teardrop-type design, I like the
textured battery door, and I like the ever-so-slightly curved display glass.
I adore its notification LED; all I need to do is glance at the phone to see if I've missed
something, and the color tells me what it is.
And ... I don't know whether this is just me, but almost every time I return to my Galaxy
Nexus from time with a review device, I feel a striking sense of relief.
The device feels wonderful in the hand, with perfect width, and -especially with the extended
battery door- it sits perfectly in the palm.
It's a very comfortable device to hold, and it doesn't make me struggle as much when trying
to get to the notification drawer as other larger devices, like the Galaxy S III or HTC
One X.
And even though it's not winter anymore and I've switched to shorts, it fits just fine
in a pocket.
The hardened display glass isn't foolproof - it does scratch.
I don't use a screen protector so I've scratched it up in a number of places.
The panel itself continues to be a real disappointment.
I like the deep blacks that S-AMOLED provides, and I like that it's big and it's 720p, but
the whites are just awful, washed out and gray and ugly; the colors often seem dead,
and the panel is quite dim and lacking in color.
It's sad.
As for the rest of the phone, the plastic casing picks up hand oil quite readily, which
is annoying.
As a bonus, though, the textured battery door hides scratches there very nicely.
From a hardware perspective, this phone is a real trouper ... I haven't beat it up too
bad, but I haven't always been kind to it either ... and it's held up really well.
Unless you're a real abusive phone owner, you shouldn't have a problem with the Galaxy
Nexus hardware.
So ... how'bout the software and the rest of the experience?
I'm running stock 4.0.4 ICS on my Galaxy Nexus, and once again ... returning to this phone
from review units always gives me a strong sense of relief.
Responsiveness, even after over six months, is superb.
And this is ICS, not Jelly Bean ... it really just runs like a finely-tuned watch.
I seldom experience crashes, and I've never had to do a full device wipe and reset.
I have plenty of storage -32Gigs, and use it as my primary media player with very few
problems.
The OS runs just beautifully on this phone.
But it's not all sunshine and rainbows.
It didn't take me long to realize that this phone has some serious shortcomings.
Remember how we talked about it being an early LTE device?
Well, it takes the Galaxy Nexus forever to connect to the network if you've lost signal.
Now, normally, that wouldn't be a problem ... but I take the subway somewhere almost
every day ... and we don't have coverage underground here in Boston.
So at least once a day I'm waiting ... sometimes over a minute ... for the device to find the
network connection again.
And often it prefers the 3G connection even when a strong 4G connection is available.
The software says everything's fine, and the raw signal metrics say it's performing as
well or better than other Verizon 4G devices ... but most of the time, it sure doesn't
seem that way.
Maybe because of all this network stuff, battery life suffers accordingly.
Even with the extended battery, there's no way I could make it through a full day with
the Galaxy Nexus LTE without my trusty spare battery and power pack.
I'll put it this way: I pretty much always leave the apartment the same way: I walk to
a bus stop, ride a bus to a train stop, and wait for the train.
That takes about ten to fifteen minutes, during which I'm using my phone the whole time.
Before the train even arrives, in less than 20 minutes, I'm down below 90% of my battery
life.
It's ridiculous.
The camera has really fared no better; but everyone knows this already ... you don't
buy a Galaxy Nexus for its camera.
You're going to get okay shots in the daytime or indoors if there's enough light, but for
dim environments you're not going to be blown away.
The shots look slightly better on a computer screen than they will on the phone because
of that washed-out display, but bottom line: it's still not a very good camera.
By far the most frustrating part of this device, though, has been in the Nexus sense.
Nexus phones are supposed to get timely, first-crack updates to the latest version of Android from
Google ... and Verizon has really, truly botched the entirety of that experience.
I've talked about this already in a piece on the site called "This Ain't No Nexus Phone,"
which you should read, and YES ... I know, that's the nature of the beast with a CDMA
device ... but it shouldn't be marketed as a Nexus phone if my update to 4.0.4 is going
to arrive months after it does for the non-Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
That's a huge messaging failure, and a real disservice to anyone buying this phone for
the pure Google experience.
Still, more than a half year after release, the Galaxy Nexus LTE is still a great Android
phone with awesome data speeds.
If that's all you're getting it for, as a smartphone, with all the Nexus stuff aside
... you'll be pretty happy as long as you: a) carry a spare battery, and b) don't expect
much from the camera.
If you're okay with those things, this is a great, great Android smartphone.
It really is.
And I don't hesitate to recommend it even now that we're probably more than halfway
down the road to seeing its successor.
ON THE OTHER HAND, if you're looking for a real Nexus device, with direct-from-Google
updates in a timely fashion, I also don't hesitate ... to say run.
Run, far, far away from this device, go to the Google PLay STore, and snap up the unlocked
HSPA version of the Galaxy Nexus.
It's priced very reasonably, and most importantly you'll be getting what you pay for: a REAL
Nexus device, which this, though I like it very much, is not.
At all.
Guys, this has been episode 5 of After The Buzz.
We hope you liked it; leave us a thumbs up here, and a comment on the post at Pocketnow
if so.
You can follow us on twitter at pocketnowtweets, you can follw me on Twitter at Captain2Phones,
and you should stay tuned for future episodes of After The Buzz; they're coming soon.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time!