Review - Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Verizon)

So it's been 3 weeks since I've gotten my Galaxy Nexus phone, and I figured I should give a report on my usage for my new phone that I have been waiting for for so long. It's been keeping me entertained, that's for sure.

Now, the first thing to note is that I have it plugged in and charging at almost all times. Could be annoying, but if I end up having to go somewhere unexpectedly (which happens an awful lot when the people you live with don't ever plan things ahead), having it fully charged and ready to go is pretty important. What makes it so important is because the battery life really isn't the strong point when everything else is so powerful, it eats up power that much faster; particularly the HD, Super AMOLED screen. At average, the phone has lasted 8 to 9 hours on battery. Given this fact, it... just makes sense to have it plugged in whenever. Thankfully, the Galaxy Nexus does charge very quickly, at least with the Mini USB Type-A cable that the phone came with. If you use a different cable, much like my previous phone's cable, it... gives it enough power to stay powered, but not charge it at the same time, apparently. I wish these cables were better labeled on how much electricity they transfer per second.

Aside from the battery issue however, everything runs very smoothly. Slowdown and lag issues almost doesn't exist, despite switching through many different apps. I DID notice some frame rate drops when I was playing Dead Trigger after switching back to it from some other app, although only for a second or two, but I'm pretty amazed at how well a cellphone can run a FPS game like that as smoothly as it does. What's NOT so smooth however, is perhaps the 4G coverage in my area, down here in Orlando, FL. It exists, but can be spotty at times, which can cause me to get knocked off of my network connection for 10 seconds or so until it switches to 3G, or possibly longer if it can't find 3G signals either. That becomes an issue for anything that includes internet usage, GPS location tracking, and even phone calls and texts as well. If you have a stable Wi-Fi connection available however, then a lot of the functions will still be fine, except for phone calls and texts, which I would think is the more important feature of a phone. There have been reports about a faulty Galaxy Nexus batch earlier in its production where it was having trouble connecting to networks at all, but I don't think that's the case with me, thankfully, as I do get connection often enough to function. I wonder whether if the 4G/3G signals can be improved in the future however, as it IS still an inconvenience to lose signal like that.

Those two flaws are the only issues with the Galaxy Nexus as far as I know. Everything else works so well, I don't know what else to say. Touch screen is responsive, phone is much easier to customize with custom ringtones and notifications than the iPhone, and the Galaxy Nexus has a notification LED next to the screen that can blink in several different colors to show that you have a notification waiting, even when the screen is off. Most up-to-date apps will have features for being able to customize your notification sounds and the color the LED will light up, but not all of them have that support it seems. I'm looking at you, Zynga games. >_> At least let me customize my notification sounds, or add a unique one for Scramble with Friends which has none currently, other than just vibrating.

Customization was something I really cared about when picking out a new phone, and it's something I still enjoy doing with this phone. Not only is customizing the ringtones and notification sounds as easy as dropping in the .mp3 files into the appropriate folders in your phone, which is easily accessible via the USB cable you use to charge your phone with, but I am having fun with Android's home screen and all the widgets that are available for it. Widgets are neat things that you can drop onto your home screen which may serve certain functions, like a window that shows my E-mails right on the home screen, so I can see what E-mails I have without even having to open up the E-mail application, or a simple, analog clock for the home screen, next to your usual apps. On top of that, the Galaxy Nexus comes with a few Live Wallpapers that provides an animated background on your home screen. My plan was to have a picture of Firion as my wallpaper, but when I saw some of the Live Wallpapers, especially ones that are interactive, it was just too cool to pass up. I am very content with my phone right now, especially after I have customized it to my liking.

I also find myself using the Typing by Voice feature as well, where you just speak into the microphone to type in words instead of using the touch screen. It is very useful, especially when you're doing a Google Search, considering there's a Google Search bar at the top of the home screen. Searching for things is very quick when you can press one button (on the screen) and speak what you want to search. So far, everything I have done this with has been spot on, even for checking into stores and the likes on FourSquare. A lot less searching through a list of venues, and a lot more ease of including technology and fun into my life. Seriously, it's making me feel more active and social through the use of my phone, aside from talking on the phone itself.

Other than that, the rest of the information about the phone can be obtained from the specs off of websites that sell them like with any other devices.

Also, I will be featuring some of the apps that I have tried and give a simple, mini-review for them. I will be covering both games and other utility apps that are available on Google Play, mostly.

Edit: Please check out the Jellybean update post for a more, up-to-date review of this phone's performance.