[Nexus S General] adamsfbay:
As an admitted Apple fan who's had an iPhone from V1, up to the iPhone 4, and;

As a guy who's tried Android - Droid X, Samsung Fascinate,

The Nexus S is the best Android phone I've ever used. There are things I still love about the iPhone 4: retina display, build quality (use of metal, scratch-resistant front and rear, amazing battery life), fantastic app selection and peripheral choices galore.

That said, I am really enjoying the Nexus S. The design aesthetic is equal to the latest iPhone in my opinion - the all-black face, the lack of logos on the front face, the curved glass (which looks great and feels great). Gingerbread is more aesthetically pleasing than previous Android versions. The customizability inherent in Android is nice. The app store/marketplace is getting better although there are still glaring omissions vs. the iPhone store (CNN news, for example).

Hardware-wise, I greatly prefer the Nexus S to the Droid X or Samsung Fascinate (Verizon). Better aesthetic, better feel when held in hand or by the face. I wish Samsung had made the back cover out of higher-quality, less scratch-prone materials. Software-wise, it's totally worth it to get faster major updates from Google than to wait for the carrier and device OEM to get their build out. Also, the lack of carrier crapware is much, much better for the consumer.

I'd like Android to combine its great notification system with on-screen notifications when the device is locked a la iPhone (e.g. push news alerts). I'd like a more elegant folder design a la iOS. The new cut & paste and text selection is nice, but I'd like consistency across ALL apps in this regard a la iOS. I'd like a unified inbox for communications from various sources. I'd like them to fix the annoying field bug when adding contacts from Map listings. Android still lags iOS in the clever use of multi-touch gestures across the OS, and it needs to address this. I should be able to swipe and delete like iPhone, vs. long press and menu select, etc. Android also needs its own form of eye candy sprinkled more liberally throughout the OS. Gingerbread's "display off" emulation of a cathode ray tube is a small step in the right direction. The OS should have a lot more of this compelling eye candy to meet or exceed the fit and finish of iOS, but it has to be "uniquely Android" or it will seem like a poor facsimile.

Hardware: I'd like Samsung to keep what they're doing, but up the quality of build materials, particularly on the back of the device. The Nexus S is a big step beyond the Galaxy S design, in my opinion, and better materials like the Nexus One had would go a long way.

In a nutshell, this is the first Android phone that I prefer at times over my iPhone 4. But not always. iPhone still has the advantage over "Pure Google" in Hardware build (some), software elegance (more), and ecosystem app and peripheral choices (most). Vs. the "non-pure Google" phones, it's not even close. People may complain that Apple is "closed" but at least they focus on what's good for the end user. The choices that are made by OEMs and carriers in the Android universe are rarely good for end users, and this is on display with the superior Nexus line of products.