[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] GinoSylum:
Ok, I picked up the Nexus on December 15th at 9:30 am from Best Buy. I said it on another thread; I think I’m one of the lucky ones that got a good unit. The list of issues that some phones are having I THANKFULLY have not seen. First thing I did with it was unlock it. It is a nexus after all. I’m not rooted as of yet.

First off, the screen is amazing. It’s a PenTile display, fine, who cares. Anyone worried about that, get over it. :p I think sometimes we spend so much effort researching every little detail on paper and forget that the real world execution of the tech is all that really matters. It’s not a perfect display but I can’t think of too many phones that have a better one. It’s right on par with the iPhone 4S (if not richer), and almost an inch bigger. The whites are ALMOST perfectly white (on mine anyway) and I’m not seeing any blue or green tint. The blacks are just about pure black.

The only lag I have seen on this phone is with home screen swiping (this is very rare), and app drawer especially in the widgets section (this is consistent). From what I have read, this is a bug with 4.0.2 and hopefully fixed with 4.0.3. I know people have roms up and running and say its butter smooth again. The phone is fast has hell. It doesn’t have the break neck speed of the SGS2 but it has a smoothness you really only see on the iPhone. All the native google apps load quick and are very responsive. I have run into some games and general apps that simply don’t play nice with ICS, but these will be fixed in time I’m sure. I also picked up the Xoom on day one, so I’m used to having some apps not working out of the box. :D

The camera is good, not great, but good. I have read people calling it total garbage; I don’t think that’s true at all. For the life of me I don’t know why they DIDN’T go with the 8 mega pixel one from the SGS2, but they didn’t. It is what it is. My thinking, and I could be totally wrong here, is that the “no shutter lag” was a big selling point. A 5 mega pixel image may have worked better at achieving this. The no shutter lag thing btw is very cool. Great for getting the shots that normally blow by you when you are waiting for the damn phone to snap already… hehe. The only down side is you will get some blurry pictures. Just have to learn to have a steady hand and it works just fine. I have noticed a yellowing of indoor shots when the flash is on. If you can get away with it and there is enough light in the room, just leave the flash off. Without flash the pictures actually look better. Outdoor shots look great. No complaints at all here. Pictures to have on your phone; show friends, post on twitter or facebook, the camera is more than good enough. If you want professional level pictures that you can blow up to poster size, get a real camera.

I spend a lot of time around wifi. I normally have a very strong signal but I will say that as I get further from the router location the weaker the signal gets. This is true for all phones, obviously, but more with the nexus then other phones I have used. My house has almost no coverage from Verizon, but there is enough to make calls and text. When I’m home, wifi is all I use for data. I have had the phone a week, and have yet to drop a single call, miss a text or have a text not go through. People I call say I sound like I’m on a land line. It’s been crystal clear on my side and theirs. I know others have had problems, but I can only speak to my experience. When I leave my house I pick up 3g with no problem. I get the same 3g signal strength as my old Droid Incredible. When I go into town and get into 4g area, I pick it up NO problem at all. Pops right on, and holds it strong. Web browsing is lightning fast and doesn’t drop. To save battery, I leave LTE off when not in town. It’s a good habit to get into. If the coverage isn’t good, don’t try and force it. As far as batter life, I was worried at first. After a few days of charging with the phone off, then letting it run all the way down to dead, the life has been great. (see the screen shot) Admittedly, it was a light use day, but I spent time on wifi, some 4g, some 3g. 46% on 12 hours and 36 min. Can’t complain.

Overall I would have to say it’s the best phone I have ever used. Is it a perfect phone? Nope… But lets think about this. New hardware mixed with a brand new OS on Verizon’s “work-in-progress” LTE network. Anyone who thought this was going to be bug free coming out of the box was kidding themselves. This is a Nexus phone. We will be getting regular updates. Some will fix things, some will break things. One thing you can count on is Google will be supported for at least 18 months. This is something you can’t say for most every phone. If you have the patience to put up with early growing pains, this is a device that will reward you.

I think I have babbled enough… To sum up, phone good… :cool: