[Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] m00nshake:
Hello everyone:

I don't set my expectations too high. I know that this is a new phone, and it is not without it's bugs, but it is an awesome phone and from reading others who were having issues, I wanted to get a Nexus S working right for me!

I purchased my first Nexus S at a local Best Buy.

Everything about the phone was fine, the battery life seemed good, it ran quickly, did not notice any lag or any other major problems. However, I did begin to notice the back-button being unresponsive, as many others have stated experiencing. From reading threads on XDA, the jury is still out on whether this is a software or hardware issue, but that some people were able to get a phone without the issue by returning it for a replacement.

So I did...

I exchanged for my second Nexus S at a local Best Buy.

This one was kind of odd. Took a little while the for the 'important system updates' notice to come up, so I had already synced with my gmail and had also manually updated google maps and a few other apps.

When I finally did install the system update and the phone booted, I got a systemcore process FC error off the bat. Not good news. Later on, all seemed well, but I noticed a lot of lag with using the GB keyboard (unresponsive at times), and also having difficulty with the end-call button to end a call in progress (again, unresponsive so I had to press it a bunch of times before it would respond). Also, the battery life did not seem to be nearly as good as the first Nexus S.

So... I turned it back to Best Buy, but they did not have another replacement. So I turned it in for a refund.

I called Best Buy toll-free number, told them about the trouble that I was having, and they waived the overnight shipping fee, took my order for a new Nexus S, and I got it via UPS the next day (just at the 24 hour mark)

With this phone, I booted the phone and chose skip to login/create a gmail account. Phone loaded up completely, and I was just signing into my gmail account when I got the 'important system updates' message.

I updated immediately. Everything went smoothly.

I have not noticed any problems so far. The phone runs smoothly. It had no FC upon first boot after the system update. The back button works as it should. I don't notice any lag with the keyboard. I pulled up engadget.com full site and did not notice any lag out of the norm, apart from it being slow to load as I'm working with the crappy Edge network here (who cares if there are 4G phones out when my area doesn't even have 3G yet and that is where I am mostly). I have also tested the ringtones. I moved some music to my SD Card. I downloaded/installed Ringdroid. I created a ringtone. I set the ringtone. I have rebooted my phone three times and my ringtone still works. I mounted and unmounted my SD card (even moved some files to it), and I still have my ringtone.

So, what was it? Was it three times the charm? Was it there was a bad batch at the local Best Buy? Was it that because of the volume of Best Buy over phone and online sales, you'll get a newer and better Nexus S going through that route? Was it because I installed the system update before doing anything else, including syncing my gmail? I'm not sure...

But I do know that I love this phone, and *knock on wood* it continues to work the way that it should, I'll be happy with it for a long time to come.

My advice for those who are experiencing the issues that I had with my first two Nexus S to try try again. I know it's disappointing that a customer would have to do that in the first place as it is time consuming and stressful, but in the end, there might be a happy ending with you and your Nexus S.