Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

I'm running 3.3.11

I need to see if I can upgrade my software, I need to start looking these things up.

CGFebTSX04

Verizon Nexus coming out tomorrow officially.

Source: http://www.androidcentral.com/offici...ty-announcment

Might want to call a store and place a hold cause I've seen a lot of posts with people saying they've called in to reserve a phone. They might not have enough for everyone.

CGFebTSX04

You could uninstall the Market updates in Manage app settings. However, you would need to delete the Market updater to prevent it from upgrading which requires root.

CCColtsicehockey

I called and none of the 4 stores around me will reserve a phone they said just get there when the store opens which is what I plan on doing tomorrow at 9am.

Edit: Apparently 5th store is the charm. They let me reserve one. so excited for tomorrow.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

^ you and 100 others... To bad my wife or I aren't up for upgrades.

My wife is earliest April

me not till Dec 2012 Jan 2013

CGFebTSX04

Nice. Droid Life is saying online orders will begin at 1 AM EST. Will probably write up my review of the phone tomorrow. So far I'm loving it. I'm trying to grab one of the later basebands that just came out but can't find a dump yet. I hear it speeds up 3G/HSPA+ considerably so I'm trying to get a hold of it.

CGFebTSX04

Have you double checked recently for your wife's? I hear that Verizon does allow early upgrades within a 6 month time period. May want to call in just to double check.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

Yea her contract is up 10/14/12 even though she bought it in like August of 2010. So 6 months early would be April




Im surprised Verizon doesnt have it up on their website yet.

GIBSON6594

1:00 am EST

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

I meant as in I thought they would have advertised it on their website.

CGFebTSX04

For the people getting the Nexus, this is the case I'm using. It works on both the Verizon and GSM version as it was test fitted to use the LTE version:


Its a Hybrid TPU/Rubber case and it feels awesome on the hand. The back has some kind of matte coating and it feels nice. Best of all, its only $10 and it comes with a screen protector. I got mine from Amazon and the guy selling it is an XDA member:



I haven't used a screen protector yet but what I'm finding out is that all dry screen protector applications will NOT cover the phone to the edge. This is to prevent bubbling at the edges. To get full screen cover support, you will need to buy the SGP Flex which is a wet application. Unfortunately, the downside will be the future possibility of yellowing and the textured feeling of the screen protector.

FiftyFive

Well going to my local Verizon store around 8 tomorrow hoping to score one. They are opening at 9. Hopefully I'll get one!

CCColtsicehockey

Yeah I ordered one of those cases this morning. Obviously won't be here in time for tomorrow so hopefully I will be ok being caseless for a few days.

I hope the outside isn't sticky like those silicone cases cause they are impossible to get into your pocket. I love my glossy smoke one I have on my Thunderbolt now that was from Verizon. I went with matte black this time though but hopefully it won't be to grippy in my pocket.

FiftyFive

^^ You heading out early tomorrow to get it? I'm wondering if I will miss out because I'm going to late. Not really sure what to expect but know enough that I've waited long enough and want one tomorrow.

Costco

My contract ended almost 8 months ago. I was eligible for an upgrade even earlier than that. I'm dying to get a new phone.

GIBSON6594

Anyone know when the Verizon exclusivity clock started ticking? I can't get Verizon, doesn't work in my apt.

CCColtsicehockey

Not really. I called a store and they took my name and number and put one on hold for me. Said since I have one on hold I can just show up exactly at 9am when they open and they will ring me up. Pretty awesome cause I am going to take my lunch break at 8:30am to leave and go get it since I get into work at 6:45-7am usually. Going to make for a long day but it will be worth it.

I know a lot of people have been trying to figure this one but I haven't seen anything documenting how long it is.

Typically from what I have seen they are usually 30 or 90 days long although I think at one point with some HTC WindowsMobile phones a couple were 180 but haven't seen any that long lately.

GIBSON6594

I'm hoping for 30.

CGFebTSX04

The one I posted doesn't have that problem. I know exactly what you're talking about as I used to have that problem with my rubber case for my Galaxy S. The one I posted has more of a felt like feel to it but it doesn't get stuck in the pocket. Really its one of the best cases I've ever gotten and way worth the $10.

CGFebTSX04

Keep an eye on Amazon and Wirefly. They seem to be selling the Nexus at a discounted price. I think they ran out of stock immediately at Amazon but I'm sure they'll get more.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/12...-respectively/

SaaBaaDoo

Have an appointment at 9am to get my Nexus! Can't wait!

FiftyFive

Woke up at 6am, couldn't go back to sleep. Gonna head over to Verizon around 7:30-8:00. There better not be a huge line! The store here wouldn't take any pre-orders and said first come first serve.

CCColtsicehockey

I overslept of all days WTF. So much for going to work ahead of time. I talso hought that there would be more traffic this morning so I left early to get to the Verizon store. Turns out I was wrong. Now going to have ended up having to wait 30min for them to open and I am the only one here lol.

FiftyFive

Just got one and LOVE IT!

Just ordered the Diztronic case shown above from Amazon, should be here tomorrow.

CCColtsicehockey

Well I got my phone and I love it. However apparently my case didn't get here soon enough cause phone fell out of shirt pocket and cracked the corner of my screen after only having it for 30min. Guess I will make my first warranty claim today already.

TSXy Luster

GIBSON6594

Weird, I overslept too and I never do.

CGFebTSX04

Man that sucks.

You guys should receive an OTA update notification within 2 hours of getting the phone.

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/12/15...e-the-details/

CGFebTSX04

Lol. People are lining up for the Nexus. Wonder what Samsung is thinking after their commercials regarding the iPhone. Hopefully Verizon gets the message that people want Vanilla Android not the RAZR and other crap phones they try to force down people's throat.

http://phandroid.com/2011/12/15/yes-...-galaxy-nexus/

SaaBaaDoo

Love it!!!

TSXy Luster

Samsung would still embrace the win because its not people lining up for a last generation phone.

What would Apple do? Create a commercial mocking the Samsung line with a guy holding an iPhone touting how small his screen is?

CGFebTSX04

Lol true. Samsung did already use the Australia ban situation with their ads there.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/15/s...tab-ad-credit/

They also said because of the lawsuit, it actually boosted their sales as people started hearing about the device. Apple fail.

CCColtsicehockey

Luckily I can still use it as only the top right corner has 3 small cracks in it. Replacement should be here tomorrow. I guess one positive if there can be one is least it can't be a refurb.

I got my OTA like 25min after it was activated.

I love this thing so far. The new design and movement of settings into each app actually works great I really like it. Hopefully Facebook sync will work in the next month cause I hate not having pics for my contacts.

about lining up. I was one of two at the store I went to and while I was getting setup 4 more came in but I was gone before anymore came so wasn't to busy.

CGFebTSX04

Well I guess I can write up my review on the Nexus now after having had it for the past few days. Now you have to remember I’m running a custom ROM (Modaco’s rI5) and kernel which isn’t too far off from stock as the phone is still brand new and not that many ROMs veer too far off from stock until a little later. So where to start?


If you guys read my first impressions on it, they’re pretty much the same. The feel of the phone is awesome. The balance feels great and the plasticness of the phone isn’t so obvious with the metal trim Samsung used. What’s weird is that with one hand use, I feel like the Galaxy Nexus is very well done compared to my Galaxy S which is smaller. Using the Galaxy S with one hand feels awkward but on the Nexus its perfect. I think it may be due to the curve body but I can’t say for sure. Since I used ICS on the alpha builds on the Galaxy S, not too many things surprised me on the Nexus in terms of features. All the ooh and aahs were already spent on the alpha builds which pretty much had the majority of things already working. With that said, I was very surprised at how snappy the CPU was on the Nexus compared to my Galaxy S. This is what I was worried the most about as I was thinking the Nexus should’ve gone with the Exynos processor instead of the TI OMAP. However, after having used the phone, I can say those worries are gone. I even went back to TouchWiz for a week which is hardware accelerated to get a feel of the Galaxy S full potential hardware wise just to see if it was the ICS alpha that was slow or if my phone was just getting old. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S is getting old, mainly due to the RAM, but it is still very capable with the right custom ROM (CM9?).


The camera is very fast. I haven’t really used it much except to play around with the no lag shutter. I really love the feature. You can just keep tapping it and it’ll keep taking pictures over and over. However, it’ll even take pictures before its done focusing. This might be an inconvenience for some but I don’t think it’s a problem especially if you can take 5 pictures at the same time it takes to take 1 in other phones. Quality is good enough for a phone. It does have that yellow tint which is very obvious in night pictures but nothing too crazy. (People will be instagramming them with filters any way. Lol.) The flash is crazy bright and I almost blinded myself trying to look straight into it. So don’t do it to save your eyesight. Haha. I was a little disappointed to find out that the funny faces/manipulation only works in video recording. Not that I’d use it all the time but I thought that feature would be in regular camera mode.


ICS is fast. I haven’t seen the stutter that reviewers were seeing, like clicking on Recent apps button, etc. It may be due to the fact that I’m using a custom ROM which optimizes a few things and I’m not sure if that’s included. When you first sign in to ICS, it’ll automatically install all your apps and settings from your other phone. I know that feature isn’t new but it was the first time I had gotten it to work on any of my phones and I think its pretty cool. Lol. Again, during this time as it was installing all of my apps in the background I didn’t get any slowdowns which is why the feature surprised me a bit because I didn’t know it was happening until I saw all the apps in my notification bar. The memory management is vastly improved in ICS which probably helps minimize and lags. The rotation animation is a little on the slow side on the stock ROM but with Modaco’s ROM, he sped it up to the point that its just perfect and I’m hoping other ROMs will incorporate this. Like I said in my previous posts, apps need to be optimized to make use of the ICS features. You can sorta tell which ones aren’t optimized because they’re not as fluid. However, its not something to make a big fuss over. Also I love the flicking away notifications and other things in ICS. Lol.


The screen is beautiful. It makes the iPhone look like a toy when you place it right next to it (And man is iOS 5 getting stale. Especially after using ICS. I can’t for the life of me find the beauty in it as its so simple that its boring. Sorry, side rant. Save for another time. Lol.) The AMOLED colors are what you expect with blacks being black and colors popping, etc. Despite it being Pentile, I haven’t been able to discern each pixel as people were concerned about. On videos, its just awesome especially when the whole screen gets taken up as in YouTube vids. Buttons don’t disappear all the time but they do dim so you don’t even notice them. The screen is a tad bit dimmer than other phones at the same settings. I think Samsung did this to save battery life but I always felt my Galaxy S was too bright especially at night that I have to use the Screen Filter app to dim the screen so the Nexus is alright in that regards. Haven’t had much extended use outside in the bright light but it should be fine.


GPS works awesome. Something that the Galaxy S failed on. I did have some issues trying to get a lock in the Google Navigation at one point but it may have been a fluke as after I got a lock in Google Maps, it worked every time since and it was spot on. Had a good test of it last night because of LA traffic trying to reroute on the side streets after finding out the freeway I was using was closed. The browser is really fast. I enjoy using it to browse websites and it doesn’t suffer from the checkboarding that the Honeycomb tablets were seeing in early builds. They also brought the Labs found in Honeycomb which allow you to swipe from the side of the screen to access the Tabs, URL bar and settings. It takes some time to get used to especially those who haven’t used Honeycomb but I love it. Haven’t really used Face Unlock but it works and its fast.


Music was the other thing that had me worried as the Galaxy S II used a crappy DAC and the Nexus uses something different from both the S II and Galaxy S. (I forget what its using but Supercurio said it was capable as the Galaxy S.) I have to say its pretty much on par with the Galaxy S in terms of quality. After using Voodoo sound on the Galaxy S, you get kinda spoiled when listening to music on other devices. Google Music does have a built in Equalizer now and also has Lockscreen Widget control. Music control also now shows up in the notification bar so anywhere you have access to the notification bar, you have access to the music controls. I did miss the power widget controls seen in TouchWiz and CM7 but that’s easily fixed with Widgetsoid which I recommend you guys get to have the widgets in your notification bar.



Lastly, call quality is pretty good. I really didn’t have much issues with my Galaxy S in this regards so I can’t really say much other than that. I did get a hold of the KL1 baseband but I got a hold of it too late so I can’t say if it improved data speeds like everyone was saying at XDA. Also, I’m still using the incorrect data plan so my speeds shouldn’t be trusted. They are pretty similar to my Galaxy S though but that may be due to AT&T capping my speeds. I did notice that my WiFi signal got a little better though with the KL1 baseband. I also noticed that I do get a little better reception in certain areas compared to my Galaxy S and I’ve been able to hold a phone call in areas I normally drop calls in. Battery life is decent. It doesn't seem to be as good as my Galaxy S but it may need a few more cycles. I hear the new baseband helps in that regard as well. Can't say for sure yet.


Well this was a long one. Lol. I think I covered pretty much everything I wanted covered. In short, I love the phone and I think this one will last me over a year well maybe until we get Quadcores and double the pixels. Lol.

Good:

- Love the phone and its worth every penny I bought it for
- It feels good in the hand and doesn’t feel like a plastic slab
- Weight balance is very nice
- Its not as big as I thought it would be as its easily usable with one hand
- Its fast even though its using an OMAP instead of Exynos
- Reception seems to be better than my Galaxy S
- Love the no lag shutter
- ICS is awesome and I wish manufacturers would stop with their skins (highly unlikely to happen any time soon)

Bad:

- Screen is a little dimmer than others. May be an issue for people who use their phones out in the sun all the time.
- Waiting for a good portion of apps to be optimized for ICS (they still function, but fluidity isn’t as good)
- Camera will take a shot even if its out of focus
- Phone may be too large for some people
- I'm not a big fan of MTP but it works. I prefer USB mass storage which is supposedly coming the near future.

CGFebTSX04

Well at least you're getting a replacement. Modaco is working on Facebook Sync. He already got it to work but you need to be a premium member on his site to get it. It'll trickle down to basic users in the next few days as they finish testing it. Facebook just needs to play fair and as much as it sucks that we don't get the picture sync through the official app, I hope Google doesn't cave. There are apps that do Facebook sync in the market as well.

http://heartofangel.com/google-contact-sync/

https://market.android.com/details?i...3RpZnlGcmVlIl0.

https://market.android.com/details?i...N5bmNteXBpeCJd

CGFebTSX04

Oh also if you guys haven't heard, GTA III was released last night:

https://market.android.com/details?i...dGFyLmd0YTMiXQ..


Also Sonic CD:

https://market.android.com/details?i...LnNvbmljY2QiXQ..

CCColtsicehockey

I will have to read you review tonight.

Oh so the Facebook app doesn't do picture sync? I guess that was just an HTC function I had that I didn't know that it did so lol.

CGFebTSX04

It doesn't sync on Google builds. The reason being is that Facebook and Google have two different thoughts on data ownership. Facebook doesn't believe that the information you upload to their service is yours. They own everything you do on Facebook, from your pictures, wall posts, likes, etc. If your friends decide to unfriend you, they automatically unsync that data info from you even if didn't want that unsynced. Google believes that the data you upload is yours. You can manipulate it any you want, remove it, back it up, etc. Basically, Facebook is using the guise that your info is important to the friends you keep to lock you into Facebook which is clever but restrictive. This is how they keep people from flocking to other social sites. OEM skins don't follow the same syncing that Vanilla Android does so that's how they get around it. Its probably not gonna be resolved by Facebook or Google any time soon.

CCColtsicehockey

Ahhhh I see. Makes sense then.

Have you used any of those 3 picture syncs you posted and if so which do you think is the best?

Also I guess that will be hard then to get my Facebook calender to show up in my calender on ICS then?

CGFebTSX04

I used the Heart of Angel contacts sync back in the day but haven't since. I hear Friendcaster works great. Syncmypix is hit or miss. If you're gonna use the Heart of Angel contacts sync, I suggest you make a backup of your contacts in GMail. Just export it for a just in case. I believe it adds a facebook profile in the comments section but other wise it worked great back in the day. Right now, I'm not using any of them as I'm waiting for Modaco to release his fix.