When the Nexus S was first announced, I honestly DREADED the concept of the device being modeled after the Galaxy S line of smartphones made by Samsung. Going from the build quality of HTC with its superior blend of soft-touch plastics and metals to the plethora of plastics on Samsung felt like a death sentence for the Google Nexus line. When I read the specs from online, I did not have high hopes for the Nexus S being a suitable successor. Lacking microSD AND a LED notification light did not work in favor of the device at all. Having 3G bands for only T-Mobile at the time of release was another negative point against Google's latest unit, and I was not going to be surprised if I never took the chance to use it. However, after news came of a Nexus S version being capable of supporting AT&T 3G, my curiosity was piqued.
It was an amazing day to FINALLY have pure vanilla Android in my hands once again! After tolerating so many custom interfaces created by numerous manufacturers who thought they knew better, I figured I could be delivered now that Nexus S supported AT&T 3G. I could instantly relive the euphoria I once had with the Nexus One, and I was eager to get started in the unboxing and forsake my Motorola Atrix 4G. After about a couple days, my previous misgivings about the Nexus S specs were verified through my own usage.
One unmistakable aspect of that phone when I unwrapped it was PLASTIC, PLASTIC, PLASTIC! As much as I hated beating a dead horse, Samsung absolutely drove me insane with its plasticky build components. At the end of the day, it was not a deal breaker, but certainly a downer when the predecessor from HTC was superior in comparison. The major cons that followed the plastic were the lack of LED notification light, microSD expansion, and a custom vehicle dock. I was previously under the impression there was no desktop dock, but was informed by a Twitter contact otherwise. Nonetheless, having a new found awareness of that dock did little to redeem the Nexus S. The glossy battery door attracted tons of fingerprints and smudges, but it was at least great to see a LED flash included with the 5 megapixel camera unit. Video chatting was never a regular activity for me, so the inclusion of the VGA front-facing camera was not a big deal at all. Tactile keys for power/standby and volume control exhibited good feedback. Small slits at the back for the speaker did cause worry for audio muffling if the phone should end up on a flat surface. While the curvature of the design seemed to be intriguing in the specs, it really did not have much presence in person. At the end of the day, this just appeared to be a design fad to me...nothing more. Having the headphone jack and micro USB port at the bottom was convenient for placing the unit in a vehicle holster.
The typical smartphone features turned out to be no different from previous models I had used. Signal reception for AT&T 3G was reliable in my local area, but I would have been lying if I said I was not a bit concerned for the Nexus S competing in a market of upcoming 4G devices. Sound quality from the earpiece on voice calls was clear, even if there was a desire for a bit more volume every now and then. Playing back music on the speaker proved to have sufficient volume, but higher levels sometimes went on the verge of being tinny. Sadly, watching movies with the same speaker did not give the same well-rounded audio impression I remembered from the Captivate. GPS was definitely a pleasant surprise after the Captivate debacle, for it turned out that Samsung could finally manufacture sound hardware! Using Google Maps and RunKeeper on a daily basis gave me absolutely no trouble in navigation or cardio tracking, and that was a HUGE relief for me! Connecting to WiFi in my home was easy as expected, and bluetooth worked with my Nokia BH-905i without any problems. Unfortunately, I was unable to pair and connect my Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard to the Nexus S. Attaching the phone to my MacBook via USB turned the Google phone into an external hard drive and allowed me to drag and drop multimedia files. Sadly, a little over 13GB of the internal storage drive was available after the first boot...causing me to miss microSD expansion on other devices. One accessory I thought would be a godsend was the wired in-ear headphones with the attached microphone and call button. Unfortunately, the ear inserts were much too large and were the only ones provided in the retail package. The ones I already owned were too small to fit.
At the time I was using the Nexus S, I was missing the custom accessory experience I remembered from the Nexus One and its docks. Once I had returned the unit, I was surprised to find out from a Twitter contact there was indeed a Samsung dock made for the phone. On a future Best Buy outing, I noticed a custom desktop AND car dock on the sales floor for the Nexus S. I guess releasing the handset on Sprint really got Samsung to get on the ball in that regard.
Overall, the Nexus S was an underwhelming letdown due to a number of factors. The screen resolution paled in comparison to my Motorola Atrix at that time, and I didn't realize just how much resolution affected my daily usage until I set the two phones next to one another. It was eye-opening to see how much more onscreen content could be gained from the Motorola's increased resolution specs. The internal memory limitation from lack of microSD support was not a deal breaker, but more of a nuisance...and the same applied to the lack of HD video on the camera and less homescreens. To me, the absence of NFC chip implementation in local retail businesses really made that feature a needless waste of time. Future-proofing the Nexus S for use with an upcoming product not yet tried and true in the real world (at least not in my corner) was a huge risk that Google seemed to lose out on. At the end of the day, I would have been happier with a microSD card slot instead of a NFC chip I would most likely not use anyway. With those cons stacked against it, even the original Galaxy S with its TouchWiz UI appeared to be a much better option for a well-rounded user experience with acceptable specs. Unfortunately, that so-called successor to the Nexus One felt like a project that was rushed and incomplete...and no curved oleophobic display, custom docks, or stock Android UI with latest dessert-named updates could deter from such a sad conclusion. Unfortunately, my time with that review unit did cast a stigma on the allure of having stock Android UI. I could recall seeing it first when Google's Larry Page had it at a tech convention to show off new software features from the company, and I was of course intrigued. It was funny how that eventually worked out to be the total opposite to Symbian's problem on Nokia devices of great hardware with lacking software. I just was not impressed with the second Nexus device, and could only hope that Google and its next hardware manufacturing partner could deliver some kind of improvement to redeem the Nexus brand.
Trent Smith
Sent from my Dell Venue Pro
http://about.me/trentsense/bio
It was an amazing day to FINALLY have pure vanilla Android in my hands once again! After tolerating so many custom interfaces created by numerous manufacturers who thought they knew better, I figured I could be delivered now that Nexus S supported AT&T 3G. I could instantly relive the euphoria I once had with the Nexus One, and I was eager to get started in the unboxing and forsake my Motorola Atrix 4G. After about a couple days, my previous misgivings about the Nexus S specs were verified through my own usage.
One unmistakable aspect of that phone when I unwrapped it was PLASTIC, PLASTIC, PLASTIC! As much as I hated beating a dead horse, Samsung absolutely drove me insane with its plasticky build components. At the end of the day, it was not a deal breaker, but certainly a downer when the predecessor from HTC was superior in comparison. The major cons that followed the plastic were the lack of LED notification light, microSD expansion, and a custom vehicle dock. I was previously under the impression there was no desktop dock, but was informed by a Twitter contact otherwise. Nonetheless, having a new found awareness of that dock did little to redeem the Nexus S. The glossy battery door attracted tons of fingerprints and smudges, but it was at least great to see a LED flash included with the 5 megapixel camera unit. Video chatting was never a regular activity for me, so the inclusion of the VGA front-facing camera was not a big deal at all. Tactile keys for power/standby and volume control exhibited good feedback. Small slits at the back for the speaker did cause worry for audio muffling if the phone should end up on a flat surface. While the curvature of the design seemed to be intriguing in the specs, it really did not have much presence in person. At the end of the day, this just appeared to be a design fad to me...nothing more. Having the headphone jack and micro USB port at the bottom was convenient for placing the unit in a vehicle holster.
The typical smartphone features turned out to be no different from previous models I had used. Signal reception for AT&T 3G was reliable in my local area, but I would have been lying if I said I was not a bit concerned for the Nexus S competing in a market of upcoming 4G devices. Sound quality from the earpiece on voice calls was clear, even if there was a desire for a bit more volume every now and then. Playing back music on the speaker proved to have sufficient volume, but higher levels sometimes went on the verge of being tinny. Sadly, watching movies with the same speaker did not give the same well-rounded audio impression I remembered from the Captivate. GPS was definitely a pleasant surprise after the Captivate debacle, for it turned out that Samsung could finally manufacture sound hardware! Using Google Maps and RunKeeper on a daily basis gave me absolutely no trouble in navigation or cardio tracking, and that was a HUGE relief for me! Connecting to WiFi in my home was easy as expected, and bluetooth worked with my Nokia BH-905i without any problems. Unfortunately, I was unable to pair and connect my Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard to the Nexus S. Attaching the phone to my MacBook via USB turned the Google phone into an external hard drive and allowed me to drag and drop multimedia files. Sadly, a little over 13GB of the internal storage drive was available after the first boot...causing me to miss microSD expansion on other devices. One accessory I thought would be a godsend was the wired in-ear headphones with the attached microphone and call button. Unfortunately, the ear inserts were much too large and were the only ones provided in the retail package. The ones I already owned were too small to fit.
At the time I was using the Nexus S, I was missing the custom accessory experience I remembered from the Nexus One and its docks. Once I had returned the unit, I was surprised to find out from a Twitter contact there was indeed a Samsung dock made for the phone. On a future Best Buy outing, I noticed a custom desktop AND car dock on the sales floor for the Nexus S. I guess releasing the handset on Sprint really got Samsung to get on the ball in that regard.
Overall, the Nexus S was an underwhelming letdown due to a number of factors. The screen resolution paled in comparison to my Motorola Atrix at that time, and I didn't realize just how much resolution affected my daily usage until I set the two phones next to one another. It was eye-opening to see how much more onscreen content could be gained from the Motorola's increased resolution specs. The internal memory limitation from lack of microSD support was not a deal breaker, but more of a nuisance...and the same applied to the lack of HD video on the camera and less homescreens. To me, the absence of NFC chip implementation in local retail businesses really made that feature a needless waste of time. Future-proofing the Nexus S for use with an upcoming product not yet tried and true in the real world (at least not in my corner) was a huge risk that Google seemed to lose out on. At the end of the day, I would have been happier with a microSD card slot instead of a NFC chip I would most likely not use anyway. With those cons stacked against it, even the original Galaxy S with its TouchWiz UI appeared to be a much better option for a well-rounded user experience with acceptable specs. Unfortunately, that so-called successor to the Nexus One felt like a project that was rushed and incomplete...and no curved oleophobic display, custom docks, or stock Android UI with latest dessert-named updates could deter from such a sad conclusion. Unfortunately, my time with that review unit did cast a stigma on the allure of having stock Android UI. I could recall seeing it first when Google's Larry Page had it at a tech convention to show off new software features from the company, and I was of course intrigued. It was funny how that eventually worked out to be the total opposite to Symbian's problem on Nokia devices of great hardware with lacking software. I just was not impressed with the second Nexus device, and could only hope that Google and its next hardware manufacturing partner could deliver some kind of improvement to redeem the Nexus brand.
Trent Smith
Sent from my Dell Venue Pro
http://about.me/trentsense/bio
2 comments:
"Having the headphone jack and microSD port at the bottom" I guess you meant microUSB right? :)
Yes, I most certainly did. Thanks for the notification. The correction has been made. =)
Post a Comment