Summary
Samsung and Google have collaborated to bring the future of Android phones - the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. With a 4.65-inch HD display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and HD camera, the Galaxy Nexus is the latest in high-end tech.
Description
DesignWhich doesn’t mean that its hardware should be overlooked at all. In fact, the Nexus is one of the classier, most powerful handsets to come from Samsung in a while. Its massive 4.65-inch screen squeezes in a 720x1280 pixel resolution display with brilliant 316ppi clarity, all in a plastic chassis weighing a feather-light 135g. This outstrips the even more plasticky Galaxy S II by 19g and the increased heft feels better in the hand. A textured back mimics the leatherette look of the moneyed BlackBerry Bold 9900 (those good old non-touch-screen days) but the flimsy plastic back cover we detested in the Galaxy S II is still present – so it doesn’t quite approach the futuristic glass-and-steel construct of the iPhone 4S. ?The five-megapixel lens protrudes from the contoured back, which curves ever so slightly outwards. The 8.9mm profile is impressively slim for such a large device, while the minimal bezel gives the expansive display even more room.
A front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera lets you make video calls – or Hangouts, if you’re using Google+ – and of course, Face Unlock, the new feature incorporating face recognition to unlock the phone. Under the hood, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor works with 1GB of RAM to keep the Nexus whizzing along. The touch-screen is one of the most responsive we’ve tried, easily on par with current champ, the iPhone 4S, while the virtual keyboard is comfortable and quick, with the main screen housing a row of numbers, a dedicated full stop and even an emoticon menu. Surprisingly however, there’s no microSD slot to expand memory, so you’ll be limited to just the 16GB or 32GB.
Using the phoneThe draw of Google’s Nexus line is the ‘pure Google experience’. So though the phone is branded as a Samsung device, its software innards are all Google – and with this third phone, the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade of Android is front and centre. It’s the most substantial upgrade yet, taking the most efficient bits of the Gingerbread version found in Android phones and the Honeycomb version in Android tablets to create a new minimalist look with icons slimmed down and widgets squared off.? Core navigation has been streamlined as well, with the standard four touch-buttons pared down to just three: Home, Back and Multitasking, as seen in Honeycomb tablets. Missing is the Menu button that used to provide a context-specific set of options in any app; instead, you’ll have to poke around each app to squirrel out your various possible actions.
The Multitasking button is an excellent addition, allowing you to view thumbnails of up to 16 open programs and scroll through to bounce to the one you want. In our week with the phone, we never experienced any lag despite having the full allotment of programs open. ?Loading up the phone for the first time simply takes you into the default home screen setup with just a few Google app shortcuts and a toolbar at the base housing the standard shortcuts – Dialer, Contacts, All Programs, Texts and Browser.
Hitting All Programs shows all your apps and widgets, and we love the new visual menu for widgets ¬– instead of a text list, you can actually see what each of the widgets would look like. ?However, adding shortcuts and widgets to the home screen has become less intuitive – instead of pressing down on a home screen to add an icon, you have to head into All Programs and press down on the shortcut you want to bring up a carousel of all the home screens to pop the icon onto. Once you know this, it’s easy enough to acclimatise, but a smartphone first timer could feel pretty lost. ?Indeed, there are no startup help screens as with HTC’s Android phones or even Samsung’s own line – this is the clean slate Google look and you’ll get no hand-holding to set up email, social network or even Wi-Fi accounts. ?This makes the Nexus a real early adopter phone, one for the tech-savvy who know what smartphones can do and don’t mind playing around with settings a bit to get things just right. ?At press time, we were still experiencing occasional freezes and force-closes on apps, though this may have been rectified in a software update since.
PeopleOne of the most streamlined, powerful features of the phone is its social integration to create what Google is now calling ‘People Chips’, essentially contact cards that comprise all a friend’s details from phone number and email to Facebook, Twitter and any other messaging apps you might download, such as WhatsApp and Skype.
Contacts sync automatically, though at press time, Facebook was not fully working on Ice Cream Sandwich phones, so though the app was functional, we couldn’t sync our Facebook friends with our contacts book. ?Rather like Microsoft’s Windows Phone People Hub, each Chip shows all a person’s details as well as their latest posts and photos. And design-wise, the square profile pictures of your favourite friends really, really looks like Windows Phone’s Live Tiles. It looks good, so we’re not complaining.
A front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera lets you make video calls – or Hangouts, if you’re using Google+ – and of course, Face Unlock, the new feature incorporating face recognition to unlock the phone. Under the hood, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor works with 1GB of RAM to keep the Nexus whizzing along. The touch-screen is one of the most responsive we’ve tried, easily on par with current champ, the iPhone 4S, while the virtual keyboard is comfortable and quick, with the main screen housing a row of numbers, a dedicated full stop and even an emoticon menu. Surprisingly however, there’s no microSD slot to expand memory, so you’ll be limited to just the 16GB or 32GB.
Using the phoneThe draw of Google’s Nexus line is the ‘pure Google experience’. So though the phone is branded as a Samsung device, its software innards are all Google – and with this third phone, the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade of Android is front and centre. It’s the most substantial upgrade yet, taking the most efficient bits of the Gingerbread version found in Android phones and the Honeycomb version in Android tablets to create a new minimalist look with icons slimmed down and widgets squared off.? Core navigation has been streamlined as well, with the standard four touch-buttons pared down to just three: Home, Back and Multitasking, as seen in Honeycomb tablets. Missing is the Menu button that used to provide a context-specific set of options in any app; instead, you’ll have to poke around each app to squirrel out your various possible actions.
The Multitasking button is an excellent addition, allowing you to view thumbnails of up to 16 open programs and scroll through to bounce to the one you want. In our week with the phone, we never experienced any lag despite having the full allotment of programs open. ?Loading up the phone for the first time simply takes you into the default home screen setup with just a few Google app shortcuts and a toolbar at the base housing the standard shortcuts – Dialer, Contacts, All Programs, Texts and Browser.
Hitting All Programs shows all your apps and widgets, and we love the new visual menu for widgets ¬– instead of a text list, you can actually see what each of the widgets would look like. ?However, adding shortcuts and widgets to the home screen has become less intuitive – instead of pressing down on a home screen to add an icon, you have to head into All Programs and press down on the shortcut you want to bring up a carousel of all the home screens to pop the icon onto. Once you know this, it’s easy enough to acclimatise, but a smartphone first timer could feel pretty lost. ?Indeed, there are no startup help screens as with HTC’s Android phones or even Samsung’s own line – this is the clean slate Google look and you’ll get no hand-holding to set up email, social network or even Wi-Fi accounts. ?This makes the Nexus a real early adopter phone, one for the tech-savvy who know what smartphones can do and don’t mind playing around with settings a bit to get things just right. ?At press time, we were still experiencing occasional freezes and force-closes on apps, though this may have been rectified in a software update since.
PeopleOne of the most streamlined, powerful features of the phone is its social integration to create what Google is now calling ‘People Chips’, essentially contact cards that comprise all a friend’s details from phone number and email to Facebook, Twitter and any other messaging apps you might download, such as WhatsApp and Skype.
Contacts sync automatically, though at press time, Facebook was not fully working on Ice Cream Sandwich phones, so though the app was functional, we couldn’t sync our Facebook friends with our contacts book. ?Rather like Microsoft’s Windows Phone People Hub, each Chip shows all a person’s details as well as their latest posts and photos. And design-wise, the square profile pictures of your favourite friends really, really looks like Windows Phone’s Live Tiles. It looks good, so we’re not complaining.
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