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The Galaxy Nexus, the new Android flagship phone from Google and Samsung is finally out of the bag. I am like, omega-level excited about that screen, and Ice Cream Sandwich looks tasty, too. Let’s take a bite. Update: Hands on below.
First off, it runs Android 4.0, a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich. ICS has a very new look and feel. It’s like Gingerbread and Honeycomb had a baby, and while there are bits and pieces from both mommy and daddy, there’s also a lot of new here. 1280×720 is ICS’s native resolution — and, what a coincidence, those are the dimensions of the Galaxy Nexus. Means all that beauty should run nice n’ quick on the Galaxy Nexus.
Speaking of 1280×720, this is the highest resolution we’ve ever seen on a Super AMOLED Plus screen. Super AMOLED Plus is bright, crisp and really beautiful, and now that the resolution has caught up to that technology, it should an exceptional, true HD experience. The 4.65-inch screen has a gentle curve to it, similar to the Nexus S, and there are no physical buttons anymore, which gives you that big screen without making the phone that much bigger in your hand.
The Galaxy Nexus has an NFC radio, which will play a critical role in the upcoming mobile payments revolution (which may or may not change the way we pay for everything). It has a barometer for… well, who know’s why, but it has a freakin’ barometer and I want to see what developers do with it! Gyroscopes and accelerometers and GPS as you’d expect. It will have LTE radios in certain markets/countries and HSPA+ in others, meaning you should get speedy internets no matter where you live (provided you have coverage). It’s also packing a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP processor from Texas Instruments (a first for Samsung) and 1GB of RAM.
The camera and its app both look good. In the native app you can shoot panoramas and time-lapse videos, and even apply “hipster filters.” (Subtle guys.) You can also apply video-filters (fun, face-warping stuff) in realtime while video chatting. The phone has an instant shutter (like the iPhone 4S), and you can shoot video at 1080p. It’s just a 5MP sensor vs. the iPhone 4S‘s and the myTouch Slide 4G‘s 8MP, so we’ll have to see how it measures up in real world testing.
The phone and its screen look great, but Ice Cream Sandwich is the real star of the show here. You can read our full report on it here, and you can see some of the tastier bits in this Galaxy Nexus video from Google.
Hands on from Erica:
“The most noticeable thing about the Galaxy Nexus upfront is that it’s something is missing: the buttons. There’s basically nothing left besides the screen itself. Just the volume and power buttons on the side. This is it, guys.
The phone is sleek, coming in at barely 9mm. It’s thin. Maybe too thin. It’s light, and while it doesn’t feel fragile, it doesn’t feel as solid as I’d like a phone to feel. (Not that I want to be carrying around a brick, but heft isn’t simply useless weight.) And we don’t need to tell you how massive it is again—4.65 inches—but the superthin bezel makes it seem even more gargantuan. On the other hand, it’s still possibly going to feel less than comfortable for people with smaller hands. I guess the point is, while it’s got a nice textured back, I don’t quite love the ergonomics.
The screen is a beautiful killer, though, thanks to the combination of pixel density and Super AMOLED’s super rich colors.
The device is certainly responsive, thanks to its snappy dual-core 1.2 GHz processor—it’s more than equipped to handle Ice Cream Sandwich, the star of the show.
Using it, I barely noticed the absence of any dedicated buttons. Most users familiar with Android will find Ice Cream Sandwich to have a very short learning curve, even though the interface has been revamped—refined in our opinion.
The best part about the new software—aside from face control, voice dictation and all that jazz—is the ability to switch between running apps and the ability to actually kill them quickly, something that was heavily missing in Gingerbread. There’s also a segregated widgets and apps menu, which allows you to quickly manage things on the home screen. Oddly enough, though, we couldn’t find the Mail app like before—just Gmail—so if you’re using a different service, you may be out of luck.
The camera app is substantially improved. There really is no shutter lag, although that doesn’t always mean you’ll get the most pristine pictures. (This is actually something that I suspect hinges more on the Nexus’ image sensor.) Panorama mode works effortlessly; one plus for Android. Browsing is a good experience too. Though it’s pretty straightforward, the best feature of Android’s updated browser is having the option to easily switch between mobile and desktop view.
Ice Cream is potentially amazing, basically. I just wish I could hold it in my hands a little bit better than I can on the Galaxy Nexus.”
So, what do you think? Did Apple leave the door open, and did Android step on in? We’ll find out when we get some real time with it. We know it’ll be available in November in the US, with other countries not confirmed yet — but it’s bound to make its way to the UK, being Google’s new flagship phone and all.
Here are the full specs:
Galaxy Nexus
Network: HSPA+ 21 850/900/1900/1700/2100; EDGE/GPRS (LTE will be available depending on region)
Processor: 1.2GHz TI OMAP4460 dual-core processor
Display: 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED
OS: Android Ice Cream sandwich
Cameras: Rear cam: 5-megapixel, Front cam: 1.3-megapixel for video call
Video: Playback and recording at 1080p (30fps, MPEG-4/h.263/h.264)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0, USB, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, NFC
Sensors: Accelerometer, compass, gyro, light, proximity, barometer
Memory: 1GB ram + 16/32GB storage
Battery: 1750mah standard battery
Size: 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94; 135g
Show of hands, who was up at 3am this morning for the announcement?
*Raises Hand*
Just Me Then
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!
I suppose the barometer can be used to make the weather app more accurate perhaps, or maybe it will measure pressures exerted on the phone itself. Sounds interesting though.
I just hope I win one with Googles nexus twitter competitions when they start again as I cannot afford to buy one outright! Boo hoo!
I’ll let you look at mine, when I get it. Just waiting on dates and prices. So far 3 and Vodaphone have confirmed they will have it on contract if you can’t afford outright.
Any ideas yet on what the 3 connector points on the side are for?
Charging via drop in dock
Is the processor a big improvement over what is in the Galaxy SII?
Not especially — both have 1.2GHz dual-core processors, but the Galaxy Nexus’ is a TI OMAP4460 and the Galaxy S II uses one of Samsung’s Exynos chips, which is said to be better. Both have 1GB of RAM though, so I imagine they’ll be pretty comparable in speed tests.
Though obviously we’d like to test that theory out!
The real difference is that ICS is hardware accelerated so you will get a better experience on the nexus, at least till (if) the SGS 2 gets updated.
So other than the Engine and the body styling there’s very little to sell this Ferrari over a BMW
It’s hard to say when the S2 will get ICS (or if it will since Samsung will want to sell the S3 soon). Certainly the S2 is still a really good phone and sooner or later there will be a phone as good as it, or better but with ICS (probably the aforementioned S3) It is the way of things in the Android camp. However Google spends a lot of time moulding the hardware and software on the nexus phones together, this is why the Nexus One is still a great phone compared to the HTC Desire, which is basically the same phone.
Definitely drool worthy. Got the SGSII at launch, so I’m not due for an upgrade for a few months, but this is looking rather nice.
Here’s to hoping for an early release of the ICS source, and CM getting it sorted quickly.
Looks like a nice handset, but not enough to make me regret getting a 4S. Good to see them pushing each other forward tho- competition ftw!
I have an iPhone 4 myself and will most likely get the next iPhone eventually, but I must say this phone looks VERY slick. I like the lock screen :3
Don’t worry, Apple will probably have integrated the new features of Android in a year or too.
Don’t listen to Darrell. His posts are usually quite lucid. But when it comes to Google or Android. He loses the plot a little.
While I agree with you, it does look quite sic, Android O/S has always, and still does (GS2 sitting in my drawer) feel clunky and unfinished. Sort of how the old Windows HTC phones running Winmobile felt. I just cant shrug that feeling off.
I switched back to my old iPhone 1.
I object very strongly to this, since when have any of my posts been lucid
Dont listen to token, darrell, iphone fanboys, and android fanboys can both be ignored.
All this ‘which OS is better’ often comes down to which one you tried first. A lot of people tried iOS, became locked into the systems/software, became used to the restrictions/benefits, so moving to something which is very different but similar doesn’t go so well.
It is the same the other way around, as I discovered when going from a Galaxy S to iPhone4S. Is the iPhone4S smoother to use – in some cases yes; was it quicker – sometimes yes, sometimes no; does iOS offer loads of apps – about the same maybe even slightly less variety for the same type of app; will I be keeping the iPhone 4S – no for the simple reason that whilst yes in some cases it was quicker, smoother etc, it also doesn’t feel like my phone in the same way the Galaxy S did. Of course my old Galaxy S would stutter sometimes and be a bit slow at other times, but it still felt like my phone to do with as I pleased. The iOS has many great things which people love but the phone just doesn’t feel like it is mine, it feels like someone elses phone I am allowed to play with but only with supervision.
I stuggle to work around the limitations of iOS given the freedom I had with my old Galaxy S much in the same way I’m sure iOS users struggle with aspects of Android.
As it stands I’m giving back the iPhone but will I go straight for the Galaxy Nexus – it will depend on how it works in the real world. If the new RAZR comes out in the UK and is as good as it claims then I may go for that or the SGSII at least for the next year to see what happens with WP7 during that time.
I think what you say is correct udimion. It depends entirely on what you’re used to. I definitely think I’d struggle on a phone using an interface that is unfamiliar to me. I’d eventually get used to it, but its the design of iOS, and the way it works that appeals to me. It’s like when people say ‘Why don’t you just get an Android that does the same thing but for cheaper’. The answer is because its not just about what it does. It’s about the customer experience as a whole, and with the iPhone, I find it suits my needs perfectly.
Any word on if all the Honeycomb hardware accelerated UI stuff is in ICS?
It does.
Kay – any idea how smooth 720p on-screen playback is (and whether you could tell the difference between this and an SD video on a qHD screen)?
Given the quality of the screen I’m surprised none of the blogs have mentioned this…
Pardon the typo – I meant ‘Kat’
I’ve not tried the phone personally, unfortunately!
This phone is going to unreal when MIUI get a custom rom out on it usability wise, I’m still not a fan of stock android, though there’s certainly improvements here it’s still a bit wonky and weird in my opinion
It looks nice! The big screen phone I’ve been looking for that apple did not deliver perhaps!
Is the 16/32 GB memory internal or external? If internal, is there also an external slot?
Confusion reigns on this question. I’ve seen both answers in various places. The no external slot side appear to be winning.
It is internal and there is no expansion slot.
Based on the current info I can find, the 16gb defo coming to the UK, 32gb may not be.
Some nice specs, 5mp camera is a little weak, but the quality looks solid with zeo-lag. But that screen is so hot. If someone put a S2 and this in front of me, both with ICS on, I’d find it very hard to pick which I prefer, as they both shine.
I look forward to some news on ICS and the S2, and really look forward to a side-by-side of the Nexus and S2 running ICS, and maybe throw an iPhone 4s iOS 5 in the mix for good measure.
I love ICS, but I’m thinking 2012 and Kal-El, I am thinking smartphone with tablet dock. I am thinking almost but not quite, and that applies to all contenders to the thrown.
4.65 inches? Seriously? Why are phone’s getting so big? Less than 4 inches and it would be perfect.
It is something to do with people wanting to use it for media content in an enjoyable fashion. People, what do they know?
Hold up!!… Has someone just made a pretty android phone?! I think I like.
I just watched the hour long presentation. I’m looking forward to getting the phone but did anyone else notice the lack of ‘Apple-like’ crazy ass people manically whooping every time the word Google was mentioned, as they do with Apple presentations?
Also, although it looks good (especially the data feature), the 3 ICS demonstrations I was looking forward to didn’t work. Namely: Face-unlock, texting person when being called and the panoramic photos. Although the latter did work….. It didn’t. I have Pano and it does a much better job. However, of all the things they showed, that’s the thing that was applauded.