[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Aur3L:
Hi all xda galaxy nexus users,

Here is a little and hopefully honest review of my usage of the galaxy nexus, and the galaxy s3. It's not that much of a comparison between the two devices, since we are on xda, you already know about each phone's characteristics, so anyway, just a story. I was using a HTC sensation last year, and I knew I would be getting the next nexus, so in december 2011 I finally managed to get a hold on the Gnex.

At first, I was a bit lost, no manufacturer skin, naked, pure android, but it was a really efficient device, and the screen was so gorgeous. I kept using the HTC for a few more weeks, mainly because of the camera, which was working just great, but even if there were a lot of custom roms to install, CM was not really working on it, and development was kind of stagnant, the same rom, with different names and few different tweaks.

In the meantime, I started enjoying the Nexus, and like many of you, discovered the ParanoidAndroid Rom, which was sort of the reason why I had chosen the nexus in the first place. Since then, the Sensation ended up in its box. Though, the camera, portrayed as mediocre in the reviews, was a little grainy in low light conditions, I got used to it, and managed to make pretty pictures, even if that's far from being a regular camera. Then I became a flashaholic, spending much time installing roms which made my device even better. I could then understand the flavor of vanilla, and did not want to consider anything else from now on.

Out of curiosity, as I was reached by my phone provider,as I was due to an upgrade, I accepted a deal: they renewed my yearly subscription to their service, and I could sell the HTC, and for 37€, I could get a GS3, international version. So it is now three month since I have both the nexus, and the S3. Of course, as I work in the art fields, I was sensible to the camera, and the few gimmicks, mainly the S motions, but something always drew me back to the Gnex. First of all, the lack of a fully working CM 10, no sources, camera force closing, the developers could not push it to its full vanilla potential, so I had to use stock. Well, a quad core is nothing then, when not properly optimised, compared to our dual core last year google flagship. I was always surprised by the lack of reactivity of such a powerful device. Of course, games are loading faster, and the Gpu in the S3 is working great, in real life, there was nothing on that device that really grew on me. The S3 got updated to 4.1.1/2, and even the multi window was kind of redundant with the original multitasking on the Gnex, and it was not as snappy. The physical buttons, and the delay implied to get to view all the apps in the multitasking tray, felt like a drawback to me. So many horsepower, but so few optimisation, what is the point ?

The Gnex received its 4.2/.1 updates and after a not so desired format, I got like a brand new, softwarewise, device. Of course, there are still a few kinks, like the camera not rotating as it should, and the lockscreen being changed maybe not for the better, but this phone is, to me, at least, as performant as it could, and working wayyyyyy better than the S3. So yeah, I read and watch reviews of this year's top dogs, like the s3, the One X+, the Nexus 4, but right now, I've learnt a valuable lesson, again, at least for me: it might be wise to not follow the main stream, and the advertised qualities of a skinned device. In the case of the S3, on the paper it might look an improved experience, compared to stock vanilla android, in real life, not so much. Just to be sure my mind was not playing tricks on me, I did head to head, or side to side comparison, on daily operations, multitasking, opening the browser, the settings, the phone app, everything is working faster on the dual core. So, here I am, considering software optimisation rather than mechanical powerfulness, and well, I am amazed by my one year old device.

How about you guys, have you been in a similar condition, switching between two appealing devices? What have you found out from your experience, am I the only one considering things this way?

Anyways, thanks for reading such a block of text, and enjoy your nexus !