Galaxy Nexus Australian Review

Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the newest flagship phone from Google showcasing Android 4.0 – the latest version of the Android smartphone operating system. The phone was launched in Australia last December just in time for Christmas and is now available on a wide range of plans across all major carriers.

Lets start with the design.

The Galaxy Nexus looks good. It is slim, light, glossy and unlike other Galaxy phones doesn’t feel plasticky or cheap. It features the subtle curved glass front we first saw in the Nexus S. The front face is in a piano black finish and there are no navigation buttons – physical or capacitive. This gives the phone a clean glossy look, though it does cause some confusion about which is the right way up when picking up a switched off phone! Back cover is made of thin textured plastic called ‘hyperskin’ that supposedly helps with better grip. I didn’t experience any slipping issues with my test unit yet I’m  reluctant to credit the hyperskin. Its a nice touch nonetheless.

The phone measures 6.79mm wide by 135.5mm tall and just 8.9mm in thickness. With these dimensions it should feel big, but somehow it doesn’t so until you lay it down next to its older cousin. One handed operation is not difficult, even for someone with small hands like me, although you need two hands for most functions.

 

 

Now a quick hardware tour:

Galaxy Nexus has decent hardware for a phone of this level, but really nothing to write home about. Except for the screen. The screen you can definitely put in your letters.

At 4.65 inches, the super AMOLED screen is one of the best we’ve seen on a phone display. It packs in 720 by 1280 pixels which translates to a pixel density of 316 pixels per inch. It uses PenTile pixel structure which means pixels share subpixels, instead of each pixel having its own set of subpixels. On paper this layout is supposed to result in a slightly poorer output but we loved the screen and found no cause for worry at all. The colours pop accurately, blacks are black and whites are bright. We did notice a slight yellow tinge only because we were looking for it and compared it side by side with a Nexus S.

All navigation is managed by Ice Cream Sandwich which means the buttons appear and disappear as needed. This is particularly useful while playing games and watching videos where the full 4.65″ of screen estate comes into play. More developers should start to take advantage of the flexible buttons over time. Incidentally, for the first time ever, Google have issued design guidelines for developers to enable a more consistent look and feel across ICS apps.

At the back you have a 5MP autofocus Camera with LED flash. Don’t let the low pixel number fool you, the camera pulls its weight where it counts. The camera performs really well especially in well lit conditions. Google say it has ‘zero shutter lag’ which is more or less true. There is hardly time between click and capture. Autofocussing does add a few seconds but that is true of standalone cameras as well.

The camera also does 1080p full HD video with continuous autofocus and real time zoom. And a collection of real time video effects add a bit of fun.

Google started adding NFC chips into their Androids with Nexus S. While we still wait for real life applications of NFC, Galaxy Nexus comes with Android Beam – a way to directly communicate with other capable devices using NFC. You can transfer files, links, information using custom NFC tags. We miss the IR capabilities of older phone that allowed phones and laptops to communicate easily. Bluetooth is just a tad less practical in that way. Hopefully once NFC becomes ubiquitous information sharing should become easier.

Android 4.0 or Icecream Sandwich:

The Galaxy Nexus is a Nexus. That is the name for Google’s assurance that it will be the first phone to receive the latest updates, unburdened with carrier or manufacturer bloatware. Lets now see what pure Icecream Sandwich looks like.

Overall ICS has a slicker, cleaner look. A new font, Roboto, and a black and teal colour scheme create a futuristic feel. The teal blue scheme appears many times across the UI – icons, highlights, shadows – this subtle consistency bringing various OS elements together. We suspect a the Android dev team may now include a designer!

There are 5 homescreens set up with default widgets and shortcuts, open to endless customising. Once you get into the applications menu, you can group apps into folders for easy access and place them on a home screen. A sideswipe takes you to the next tab with a grid of available widgets. This is a big improvement from before where you needed a long press on the homescreen to access widgets.

Previous versions of Android featured the typical 3 button layout with menu, home and back keys. With Gingerbread we saw the move to capacitive buttons. ICS does away with buttons altogether allowing the OS to manage the keys. This frees up the entire screen to be used by applications with navigation keys showing up as needed. You see it best when watching videos and taking photos where the full screen makes a great difference to the overall usability of the phone.

It will be interesting to see how existing Android phones with hardware keys manage ICS softkeys. There will probably need to be some provision to disable softkeys if hard ones are present.

An interesting enhancement is the presence of the task switching softkey in the main navigation panel. Multitasking has always been a core Android capability, but moving between tasks was always tricky. The Galaxy Nexus plays up this strength and places the switching key right upfront. Press the switcher to bring up all currently running tasks in a scrollable panel of screenshots. Tap on a screenshot to switch to that task and swipe it off to the left to kill it. Easy.

 

 

 

 

Another little ICS gem is the ability to take screenshots of your phone without any special software. Just press the power button and volume down key instantly. Great for posting high scores, capturing bugs and of course doing phone reviews.

ICS does much to make the 5MP camera pull its full weight. There are 3 modes to select from – camera, video and panorama with a suite of options under each. Camera and video work as expected and come pre-bundled with a host of effects and animations. The panorama mode, previously available through downloadable apps, allows you to sweep 360 degrees across a scene to produce a single horizontal image. It guides you as you sweep, flashing warnings if you go too fast or move around too much. If you try a square sweep instead of a line, it produces some surreally interesting photos.

ICS updates most of the core Google apps, deserving special mention are the People app, web  browser, keyboard and Gmail.

The People application, earlier known as Contacts, borrows some good ideas from Windows Phone 7. It has a slick magazine style layout, multiple access option for each contact and a readily accessible view of all their updates across various social media.

The browser is much faster and handles a wider variety of websites than before. Couple that with the huge screen, and you could easily live without a tablet in your life. Gmail has a new interface that better aligns with the web version with a cleaner layout and more features.

The keyboard is looking better as well with improved prediction and error checking. But ICS still doesn’t match the prediction powers of the little known INQ. It supports improved voice recognition with support for punctuation. But voice recognition only works with full data connectivity as all recognition processing happens in the cloud. No data, no voice recognition.

Other apps to get a facelift are Calander, Google+, Gallery, Notifications and Google Music.

What we didn’t like:

The phone ticks most boxes but misses a few. The camera is decent but given that it is one of the most used smartphone features, could do with better low light sensors.

Other big gripe is the lack of expandable memory. While the built in 16GB sounds okay on paper, it disappears pretty quick with a few HD videos and games under your belt. US versions come with high memory capacity but in Australia we have to make do with 16GB.

Then there is this glitch that showed up with our test unit after a few days of playing. The phone went into a continuous boot loop. It would power up, get to the home screen and then restart all over again. Only way to stop the process was to pull the battery pack out of the phone. A bit of research showed the problem is related to the WiFi module and needs a factory reset to fix the issue.

There are other Android phones with better hardware specs lined up for an ICS upgrade over the next couple of months - Samsung Galaxy S2 and Motorola Razr to name two. But they will come with manufacturer customizations and delays that detract from a pure Google experience.

Final thoughts:

So there you have it: the Galaxy Nexus with IceCream sandwich. Overall it is an excellent phone – we particularly love the screen and the new look OS. There are a few small kinks that need ironing out, but its only a matter of time before G push out software fixes.

Should you get one? Sure. If you already like Android, you’ll love this Nexus and all the ICS goodness. And if you come from the iOS camp, discovering the ins and outs of this phone will be a fun adventure.

You can compare all the latest Galaxy Nexus deals here.

Thanks to Mobicity for providing us with the review unit. Do look them up if you are looking to purchase an outright phone.

 

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