The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first smartphone with the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. We have one in our hands, and it’s the best Android phone yet.
A new era in the impressive story of Google‘s Android operating system has just begun with the release of the Nexus. Gone are those antiquated buttons at the bottom. Now when you look at the front of this relatively large smartphone, all you see is an enormous screen — an impressive 4.65 inches diagonally — that looks even bigger without those clunky buttons that until now have always resided at the bottom of Android phones.
The result? Except for the tiny amount of bezel on the top and bottom and a slender sliver on either side, the front of this phone is almost all screen.
The Hardware
It’s a lightweight phone at 4.8 ounces, with a HSPA+ radio inside (this test model sent to us by Google is using the T-Mobile network — a Verizon model using that company’s faster 4G LTE network will be slightly heavier). The phone has a cheap plastic feel to it, but once I spent some time with it, I didn’t mind its light weight, especially given its large size, which is about an inch shorter than an average-sized hand.
With that large size comes a gorgeous screen. If the term “1280 x 720-pixel Super AMOLED high-definition display” doesn’t mean much to you, suffice to say that even when a screen measures a huge 4.65 inches diagonally, that high number of pixels is still tightly packed onto the screen, resulting in an exquisitely sharp view. If a screen were any sharper than this, it would be hard to tell the difference unless you had super-human eyesight.
Looking at the phone from the side, I realize this is not the thinnest smartphone I’ve ever seen — that honor goes to the Motorola Droid Razr — but at 8.94mm, it’s slim enough. And, it’s the first smartphone I’ve ever seen with a gentle curve to its body, accompanied by a remarkable “Contour Display” whose glass is also gently curved. It’s a subtle effect, but I think it’s downright beautiful.
The back of the Galaxy Nexus is plastic, but it’s an attractive and practical design that gives you a good grip on the phone. At the bottom of the back, there’s a slight chin, but it’s not obnoxious like that of too many other Android phones, and this one gives you a slight rise it makes it easier to hold onto the phone, especially when you have it oriented in a horizontal position.
The entire rear panel is easy to remove, facilitating battery removal, and with a few rehearsals, I learned how to quickly snap it back into place. Who says you can’t have a removable battery and still enjoy clean, minimalist lines on a smartphone? Whoever made that arbitrary proclamation hadn’t seen the Galaxy Nexus. Even though the Galaxy Nexus is still a plastic phone with a glass screen, in my view, its form factor is a spectacular success.
That clean design on the outside gives you a hint of the highly capable hardware inside, with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor from Texas Instruments (the first time Samsung’s used such a processor), 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The result of that processing power is snappy performance and quick startup.
What we don’t know yet is how all this hardware and that huge screen will affect battery life — we’ve only had the phone for a short while, not long enough to do longer-term battery testing, which is an inexact science at best. However, to give you an idea, when we started testing today, the battery was at 63% and six hours later, it was almost depleted.
Those who are obsessed with specs (Galaxy Nexus specs are all here) would at first be disappointed with its 5-megapixel camera on the back (with a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for videoconferencing), but when I compared identical shots between the Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone 4S, I realized that even though the iPhone 4S’s 8-megapixel camera looks slightly sharper in brightly-lit situations, the quality of this Samsung Nexus camera in low light matches it nicely. Take a look at our gallery for comparison shots. And, the camera started up quickly, takes multiple pictures in rapid succession, and even has a handy ability to grab panoramic shots. Topping it off is a 1080p video camera which did an admirable job of grabbing acceptable HD footage.
Ice Cream Sandwich is Delectable
All that hardware is brought to bear on the centerpiece of this new phone, the first smartphone shipping with Google’s Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” (ICS) operating system. It represents a giant leap in usability for this popular operating system. The first thing I noticed was its ability to smoothly scroll down long lists, the complaint I’ve had against Android-packing phones from the beginning. Finally, you can scroll up and down a Google+ stream and slide down lists of emails with smoother response, although not all apps I tried enjoy that butter-smooth scrolling yet.
Besides the user interface that’s cleaned up considerably and much more intuitive, there are unusual new features I was eager to try. One feature I consider to be more demo-ware than useable is its facial recognition to unlock the screen, which worked well as long as I was in the same lighting as the first shot it took to learn how to recognize me. However, when I was outside with a hat and earmuffs on on a blustery Midwestern day, the phone didn’t have any idea who I was. Nor did it recognize me in slightly different lighting conditions. For now, this facial recognition failed more than it succeeded, and in my experience is not practical to use.
Because there aren’t physical buttons any more (except for a volume control on the left and an on-off switch on the right), the apps must give users a way to navigate from one place to another, and there are some apps that aren’t quite ready for this yet. However, you can still find your way around, and instead of physical buttons you can now use three icons that take you Home, let you go Back, and access recently used apps.
Beyond that, everything on Android 4.0 just looks a lot better, and it’s more than just window dressing. Among its many improvements, my favorites were the way you can toss off notifications by swiping to the left or right, more easily switch between apps that are running with Android’s true multitasking, the way there’s a new center button (the app drawer) that immediately takes you to screens full of icons, the way those icons show apps separately from widgets, and the subtle way the app icon screen seems to slightly tilt sideways when you try to slide beyond the last one.
There’s another new feature called Voice Actions that uses speech recognition to let you send text, dictate emails, navigate to different places and call up web pages. Although Google puts on a pretty good demo of this capability, in the real world it falls short. It’s no Siri, but if Google can make its Voice Actions easier to use and more accurate, and give it some basic smarts, it might someday become useful. For now, I’m not going to be depending on Google’s speech recognition anytime soon.
We Have a Winner
Beyond those gimmicks that don’t work as well in the real world as they do on television commercials, Ice Cream Sandwich’s main claim to fame is that it’s a more-polished version of Android — it’s easier to use and more aesthetically pleasing than any of its predecessors. Bravo, Google — I’m looking forward to further refinements of Android, and if this leap forward is any indication, the world’s most popular smartphone operating system has even brighter days ahead.
Couple that with this gorgeous and subtly curved handset, and you have yourself a winner. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is by far the best Android phone I’ve seen yet.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Previous 1 of 16 Next
View As One Page »
Print StoryEmail StoryReprints
Topics to follow
41,146 followers
Follow
Android
6,270 followers
Follow
Smartphone
989 followers
Follow
Review
44 followers
Follow
Ice cream sandwich
89 followers
Follow
Samsung galaxy nexus
7 followers
Follow
For more Mobile coverage
Follow Mashable Mobile Become a fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Ads by Google
Race Processor for Nexus - TBS/PBS, start line, logging & more for Nexus instrument systems
OnTargetMarine.com
63 Comments
To leave a comment on this story, please log in with Facebook or Twitter
squidjam Follow
“Who says you can’t have a removable battery and still enjoy clean, minimalist lines on a smartphone? Whoever made that arbitrary proclamation hadn’t seen the Galaxy Nexus.” Too soon :(
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
John Turner Follow
“It’s a lightweight phone at 4.8 ounces, with a HSPA+ radio inside (this test model sent to us by Google is using the T-Mobile network” so there will be a t-mobile version? nice!
November 17, 2011 Reply 2
csaxon128 Follow
google sent them an unlocked version of the phone. But i do think it will be on T-mobile
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
John Turner Follow
ok gotcha, I have the nexus one unlocked right now, but I think it optimized for t-mobile’s spectrum.
November 18, 2011 0
MuftyDufty Follow
Nah, its optimized for the standard GSM spectrums, but includes support for the weird GSM bands.
November 22, 2011 0
ahashki Follow
dislike
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
Skyler Sweet Follow
Would have loved to have seen a 30s -100min clip of the phone in action.
You could have even pulled up the Mashable site as a fun promo.
Thoughts for the future!
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
Skyler Sweet Follow
lol *1:00 min
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
ianmccully1 Follow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjSQkVI0qYg
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
Shawn Farner Follow
Voice Actions have been around for a while, sir. Now you can do longer dictation.
November 17, 2011 Reply 2
plant_magic Follow
Anyone want to explain that peculiar chandelier and backyard?
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
plant_magic Follow
…in the pictures that is
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
Charlie White Follow
That’s our Midwest Test Facility. That light is a spelunker, a mild-mannered cave explorer who lives in one of the darker areas of the facility, deep in the netherworld where we test home theater equipment. The pond is a place where we go to gather our thoughts before writing such reviews as this.
November 17, 2011 1
Alex Murphy Follow
Good description of the phone. Voice Actions have been for a while, though, and I’ve found the recognition spot on for texting. Google eventually “learns” your voice so the recognition gets better over time.
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
viaria Follow
it HAS radio, that is awesome. i was looking forward to see that. it has Android 4, that is big plus also. i will get it asap.
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
appleDOESNT Follow
“Although Google puts on a pretty good demo of this capability, in the real world it falls short. It’s no Siri, but if Google can make its Voice Actions easier to use and more accurate, and give it some basic smarts, it might someday become useful. For now, I’m not going to be depending on Google’s speech recognition anytime soon.”
Good review but this is just plain wrong. I have been using Voice Actions and voice texting for over 2 years. It works flawlessly. Voice Actions does 95% of Siri without all the lip.
Apple bought a app, half baked it into the OS and now its the world leader? No, sorry.
Ask both “What’s the best way to boil an egg?” Siri thinks about it, can’t answer and does a google search. This takes 10+ seconds to 1 second for googles voice search. The truth is, there is not just one ‘best way’ to boil and egg and the standard in life is to google search and find a article that you feel is best.
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
Charlie White Follow
If you get that kind of performance out of Voice Actions, more power to you. But from here, your results look to me like a miracle.
For me, it was nowhere near as accurate as Siri, but then maybe it needs two years to get to know me. I’ll keep trying.
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
appleDOESNT Follow
Thank you for your response, try this… honestly I used to work at VZW and my sales pitch included the following… in one long sentence say this (no puases, just straight through)…
“Note to self, going to Costco, remember to buy eggs, bacon, ham, cheese, sausage, milk”
It will bring up the note to self app, populate your email address, type what you said and is ready for a 1 click send…
November 17, 2011 4
Charlie White Follow
Good sales pitch, Mr. anonymous Apple-hating Android salesman, but that didn’t work. I wish this speech recognition was as easy and perfect as you say, but it just isn’t. Siri is not that great, either, but let’s be real here.
November 18, 2011 1
Hell_Valley Follow
Well, considering my Motorola Atrix works perfect with voice actions, and is about 90% to 95% accurate. You must’ve had one of those cheap phones.
Siri isn’t as good as apple fanboys say it is. in fact, there is an app that’s called “Iris” (for android) and does most of what Siri does, and its in Alpha. I believe it was made in 8 hours. It also knows the answer to boiling an egg. :)
November 19, 2011 1
Christian Econ Follow
Just dropped by to see if the iPhone jealousy ends with any articles mentioning Apple. It doesn’t. Sheez get a real iPhone, or quit whining already.
November 19, 2011 Reply 0
Paulo Silveira Follow
A new era in the impressive story of Google‘s Android operating system has just begun with the release of the Nexus. Gone are those antiquated buttons at the bottom. Now when you look at the front of this relatively large smartphone, all you see is an enormous screen — an impressive 4.65 inches diagonally — that looks even bigger without those clunky buttons that until now have always resided at the bottom of Android phones.
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
joegrimjow Follow
ahhhh, want one!
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
Xezuka II Follow
While some points are off as some have already stated, it was refreshing and a good read Charlie. I’m excited about everything this phone has to offer: the weight, dimensions, ICS, NFC, front-facing camera, 4g, vanilla Android, etc… (aka, a bunch of fun stuff to develop on)
I’ll be looking forward to developing on/using this device! My heavily modded DX face-planted in the midst of a move this past week… which couldn’t have happened at a better time (ironically).
Now I just have to wait it out a bit longer for the next chapter of Android!
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
Andriy Armstrong Follow
love this android phone…
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
Gerry Wieder Follow
Will it be able to run Android 5.0? Google has said it’s first phone, Nexus One, won’t get the 4.0 upgrade because it’s “too old”. Goodbye Nexus One, Hello iPhone.
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
Danny Swisher Follow
Really? Do you think iOS 5 runs (where runs means is usable) on the 3G or even 3Gs, I mean you can’t even use the new features like siri on your iPhone4. Wake up and realize your hardware is old and the fact that you have software updates for this long is a testament to Google
November 18, 2011 Reply 1
WiCElL16 Follow
Another thing about having a Nexus phone is having the option to customize freely more than any other Android device, do you know what that implies? Sucking up that you wont be getting an official 4.0 update from Google and slapping a nice AOSP 4.0 Custom ROM on it. If you really need an official update to be happy with one helluva device that can be customized in anyway imaginable software wise than go ahead and switch to iJunk. We don’t need people like you that whine when a silver spoon isn’t shoved in your mouth to use Android.
5 days ago Reply 0
Blessing Matore Follow
i have been using the galaxy s2 for a week and my first impression was to give it away as a present to someone, 6 days later, i find my iphone boring. good that ICS is coming to the S2. using both an iPhone and S2 i find myself using the s2 more, but maybe, because its my firs android device and i am excited about discovering what more i can do with it.
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
Paweł Jonik Follow
Another _bigger_ phone… It has to be some small-something-complex or something;). Last phone that was comfortable in one-hand usage was 4″ Galaxy S1. Then the super S2 came out & it’s brilliant in specs and software but for me, it’s not good to use in one hand – it’s just too big. I can’t reach upper/bottom-left icons without dribbling the phone in my hand up and down. 3.7″ Galaxy S2 mini was a great roumor… too bad it was just a roumor…
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
Mindplague Follow
“Its no Siri” Please! Siri is (imo) garbage and unusable. its a beta as beta can be. People kid them selves thinking its in. They look pretentious.
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
csaxon128 Follow
BOOM!!! Siri sucks…android did this just without talking back long ago. good thing i can read.
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
bigbuckschucks Follow
RE: texting compared to the nexus S. one of my smallest, but most annoying gripes.
currently on the Nexus S, the text box will only expand to 3 lines when you are composing; and I find it quite irritating to scroll in such a small box when checking for mistakes before sending. Is this much the same on the galaxy nexus, or does the box expand to show everything that you have written before sending?(Like it does on HTCs for example)
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
johnsonTBO Follow
Please explain: Why on heaven’s Earth is nobody able to make a more beautiful phone than Apple,
why does this phone have to look like it’s from the Bill Gates era? I’d really like tu use Android on a daily basis but I’m going to order the 4S now. I’m so fed up with ugly things.
November 17, 2011 Reply 1
James H Follow
Because other companies prioritize practicality, functionality, reducing unnecessary weight, and keeping costs down.
Apple prioritizes pretty.
It depends which aspects you want your $300 to go toward.
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
johnsonTBO Follow
So there is no room in this team for a capable designer? Apple’s number one mobile devices design thief Samsung doesn’t have room for doing things right? C’mon. Taken aside that I fully respect your view. And I’m someone who needs a clear and aesthetically healthy self and environment.
November 19, 2011 0
MuftyDufty Follow
I heard that LG actually design the Nexus Series, while Samsung actually manufacturer them.
November 22, 2011 0
WiCElL16 Follow
I’ll take $300 of phone that doesn’t need to be fixed after one drop. That’s all the iPhone is, is “pretty” and even then it looks ugly as hell to me. if anything it epitomizes the smartphone stereotype of “slabs.”
5 days ago 0
Margot McGraw Follow
My year old Samsung GalaxyS (Captivate) is still the best looking phone I have seen. Too bad it is not so pretty on the inside.
November 20, 2011 Reply 0
bryanrbeal Follow
The Motorola Droid Razr is supposedly getting an Ice Cream Sandwich update very shortly after the Nexus debut. I think it will give the Nexus a run for its money.
November 17, 2011 Reply 0
WiCElL16 Follow
The RAZR is more uncomfortable in the hand then a Dell Streak 5, and it’s not getting it’s ICS update until Feb or March. Not to mention it’s going to be skinned and full of bloatware to bog it down.
5 days ago Reply 0
Cristhian Ferrufino Follow
totally on my wishlist
November 18, 2011 Reply 1
Loudell Mirambil Follow
ice cream sandwich?ice cream nasa buns
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
Michal Kolman Follow
Galaxy S II or Galaxy Nexus? I am not sure…
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
A Khalifa Follow
I know the feeling…I can’t decide.
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
WiCElL16 Follow
Same thing for me, I want to wait for the Nexus, but I can only wait for so long.
5 days ago Reply 0
A Khalifa Follow
And to think, I was all set to get the Samsung Galaxy S II.
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
Hollis Bartlett Follow
1280 x 720 screen on a phone? I have a 15″ laptop with those specs. Suck it, Apple.
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
Mo Bile Follow
This is on my list now…
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
Sarmed Siddique Follow
How bout a hands-on video?
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
James H Follow
I’m still kind of picking my jaw off the floor from the fact that this is a glowing review from Charlie White that *isn’t* about an Apple product.
Still, there still a little too much focus on the “pretty” factor for my taste. (This isn’t an Apple device, so try not to fall into Apple-centric habits. :P ) Yes, the huge screen, high resolution, the curve, and the size/weight/feel are important and major selling points. But there’s more to the usability factor of the phone than just ICS:
- It would’ve been nice to have seen at least a bare mention of NFC and its significance, which is kind of a glaring omission.
- Also some tests on the quality of the front-facing camera.
- The fact that there is no microSD slot is also a pretty major point — especially given the relatively small 16GB capacity — and definitely worth mentioning.
- Confirmation of MHL — which is HDMI out via the microUSB port. (And an overview of its advantages/disadvantages over separate HDMI and USB.) Pretty important spec given that this is running directly against the RAZR, which has native HDMI out, and the 4S, which allows mirroring via the dock connecter.
- Confirmation of USB OTG — which is the ability to act as a host for some USB devices, such as flash drives, SD card adaptors (possibly compensating for the lack of built-in microSD slot), USB gamepads, etc.
- Mention of the multicolored notification LED. (Seems to be a major factor for some people; not me, but for many who are used to having it on previous phones.)
- Position of the headphone jack on the bottom edge of the phone. (Granted it does get a passing mention in the photo comments.)
November 18, 2011 Reply 1
Charlie White Follow
Thanks for your critique, Mr. Anonymous “James H.” Obviously, you’re far smarter, more clever, and probably better-looking than I am. I bow to your expertise, and will be sure to include all those points the next time I review something.
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
jwesbruce Follow
I’m guessing you don’t like being critiqued much do you?
November 18, 2011 2
Mauro Kioshi Follow
You’re so damn insecure about yourself you have to reply negatively to a user who isn’t trolling you and actually make some decent points?
November 19, 2011 1
Zaihan Hassan Follow
How does it compare to Samsung GALAXY note I’m eyeing at the moment?
November 18, 2011 Reply 0
Misha Silin Follow
Gimmie.
November 18, 2011 Reply 1
Foster Collis Follow
As a owner of a Verizon Retailer, I know that Motorola is waaaaaayyy ahead of Samsung with Android phones.. Waaaaaaayyyy ahead.. I will have to see the phone in use before I put above the Razr or Bionic..
November 19, 2011 Reply 0
Siddharth Bandhu Follow
Ah, there goes my Nexus One now.
November 19, 2011 Reply 0
Manoj Rao Follow
Ice Cream Sandwich is out!
November 19, 2011 Reply 0
GuttaMoss Follow
If you’re such an Android-hater why did you write a piece on an Android phone?
November 20, 2011 Reply 0
Dl Betty Follow
We have all different devices in our home android to Iphone, but my first ever Apple Device was because the first Samsung phone I had started on fire, I am on oxygen, so I turned in the black lump to the phone company and replaced it with my first Iphone ever, and I just love it. I thought the scrolling was fine on the first Samsung I had before it attacked me lol.
November 20, 2011 Reply 0
Dl Betty Follow
You might want to try Nuance, Dragon software app for speaking device on your phone they should be available for Android or Vlingo, they are pretty good. HTH
November 20, 2011 Reply 0
Aakash Chandwani Follow
http://bit.ly/vUuPyS
VISIT THIS LINK TO SEE THE DRAWBACKS IN ANDROID 4.0
November 21, 2011 Reply 0
SUBSCRIBE TO MASHABLE
Recommend on Google
LinkedIn YouTube Stumble RSS
Android
iPhone
iPad
More subscription options »
MASHABLE NEWS IN YOUR INBOX
Top Stories
My Stories (Personalized)
TRENDING VIDEOS
TOP FROM OUR PARTNERS
Causecast 4 Ways Companies and Causes Can Partner for Good on Facebook 16
Causecast How to Integrate Cause Into Your Holiday Spending 7
paidContent Nokia Delists From Frankfurt Stock Exchange 5
paidContent Future of WebOS: HP Decision Expected in Two Weeks 1
GeekSugar 3 Ways to Hide Your Online Shopping From the Boss on Cyber Monday 15
TRENDING TOPICS
41,146 followers
Entertainment
2,466 followers
Gadgets
6,372 followers
YouTube
10,513 followers
43,336 followers
US
369 followers
Black friday
116 followers
Apple
34,816 followers
Startups
6,698 followers
TOP STORIES TODAY
1
Here’s How People Look at Your Facebook Profile — Literally 96
2
10 New Google Analytics Features You Need to Start Using 27
3
Your New Facebook Status: 63,206 Characters or Less 50
4
Everything You Need to Know About Facebook’s $100B IPO 21
5
Tom Sawyer Gets Google to Paint the Fence for Mark Twain’s Birthday 7
PARTNERS
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন