Wow, what a surprise!

[ArmageddonX]

So I've been shopping for my first Android device. I've been playing with lots of phones. I've been waiting for the upcoming release of the Evo3D or the SGS2. After an hour in a store playing with phones I decided that on a personal level a Super AMOLED screen was a must-have for me. Plus I disliked the Sense UI. Regrettably, that means I have to wait on the SGS2 later this fall. =(

Long story short, I decided to try out a few phones I hadn't played with before and went to play with the Nexus S 4G. Wow! What a surprise! The UI was quick and responsive. Much faster than the Thunderbolt or even the Atrix with its Dual-Core Processors. What an experience! It's left me asking: SGS2, Nexus 4G, or... Nexus 3?

I know the new Dual-Core 'Super'Phones coming are supposed to be very fast, but it's hard to imagine a smoother experience than the Nexus S 4G after today. I'm seriously considering not waiting and jumping on the Nexus S 4G bandwagon but I know the Nexus 3 is somewhat of a "coming soon" situation after Google I/O.

My only concern with a "pure" experience would be lack of social-networking widgets, but being new to Android I don't know a lot about them. There may be hundreds of them!

I might add, the only networks I would consider are Verizon or Sprint.

What do you think I should do?

 

[Jareris]

I was in a similar situation. Able to get any phone and with so many choices I didn't know what to do. Then I realized something. As awesome as the dual core, super smart phones are, why not buy the phone Google officially supports. I will get all updates before any of the other phones, I will experience the OS as the they intended and I am not a phone gamer really. All I need/want my phone to do is browse the web effectively, respond to my touch inputs, be smooth and fast and look good. I have found the NS4G does all of that really well.

I still want to look at the GSII and the Nexus 3. Truth be told, if they are that good, i'll just pay retail price for them and get it. But to me it sounds like you would be happy with the S 4G. Sprint offers a 30 day return period, that is what sealed the deal for me. If you don't like it, take it back. LOVE THAT!

 

[bamhm182]

I was originally 100% set on getting the Evo 3D, but I had a similar situation to you. I went into the Sprint store one day to mess with the phones, when fell in love with this one. My ONLY real complaint with this phone so far is the lack of a microSD card, but since Pandora exists and I have unlimited data, I don't really need it. I've got a few songs on my device, but they're mainly just ones I wanted to make ringtones out of.

I don't know what the Nexus 3 has in store, but I imagine it must be better than the NS4G. (Not that there's anything wrong with it, but why have a new phone if it's not better?) If you can wait for it, it might not be a bad idea.

 

[ArmageddonX]

I don't use my phone for intensive gaming, any music, or any movies.... It's a purely for web browsing (I need flash support), social-networking, youtube, text messaging, GPS, and phone calls. I do use a LOT of Applications as well for an assortment of things.

Plus the free tethering, which will come in handy when I get a Tablet. I can just grab the Wi-Fi only version and same myself even more money. Is it true you get spam text messages for using the free tethering? I heard a rumor Sprint/T-Mobile spam-text you if you use it saying "illegal tethering detected"

The Nexus S 4G really has me second guessing waiting on the dual-core phones.

So, those are the Pro's.

The Con's would be; I do prefer the 4.3 inch screen sizes much more & the Nexus3/SGSII are just around the corner. (supposedly)

Regardless the Nexus S 4G was a nice surprise today. I really liked the "pure" experience.
Besides losing some of those nice UI Widgets.

If my current phone breaks before the US SGSII or Nexus 3 launch I might pick up a Nexus S 4G over another non-SuperAMOLED choice. I'm not making any promises; but I'm seriously considering it.

(Not that there's anything wrong with it, but why have a new phone if it's not better?) If you can wait for it, it might not be a bad idea.

Those are my sentiments, exactly.

 

[Kimo19]

. Is it true you get spam text messages for using the free tethering?

Besides losing some of those nice UI Widgets.

No, you don't get spam text messages. It's a very nice feature built into Vanilla devices. If google wants you to have free tethering, you'll get it.

What you lose in widgets you can replace with similar functioning ones. I miss the integration with Facebook contacts and being able to text a group from my contacts widget like I could in Sense but that's a convenience vs. looking into another way of doing it.

I don't think you could go wrong with the Nexus S though. Battery life alone makes it better than the EVO I had.

 

[ArmageddonX]

I don't think I could go wrong either... I'd need to get in the Swype beta... I'm addicted to Swype... Nexus S 4G has Flash Support right?

I think the only question is, do I wait for the Nexus 3? Wait for the SGSII? Or just take the dive with the NS4G?

 

[lopezpm]

Just get it. You wont be disappointed. I love mine, I'm coming off the Evo and this thing is amazing. Very nice. Besides you have 30 days to try it out and you don't, return it and they give you back your upgrade, though there is a restocking fee of 35 bucks.

 

[Kimo19]

yes it has flash support...

If people are talking about how good it is now, I would get the phone. You don't know what problems future phones might have.

 

[bamhm182]

OP mentioned something about social networking widgets missing. I'm not sure what this is about since I haven't really looked into any other phones, but you can get a TON of social networking apps with widgets from the app store. 2 that I know for SURE are Facebook and Twitter. I don't know if they're different than other device's widgets, but they work fine...

 

[boteman]

I don't use my phone for intensive gaming, any music, or any movies.... It's a purely for web browsing (I need flash support), social-networking, youtube, text messaging, GPS, and phone calls. I do use a LOT of Applications as well for an assortment of things.

Your usage patterns match up pretty well with my intended ones, so we are birds of a feather there.

I was all set to pounce on this phone, but then the show-stopper reports appeared of the low signal indications and concomitant connection troubles, so I slammed on the brakes.

If this turns out to be cured by a software patch, then I'll get this phone in a heartbeat. My current phone is literally falling apart so I hope something drops soon. I can't keep waiting for the Next Big Thing.

 

[ArmageddonX]

My current phone is literally falling apart so I hope something drops soon. I can't keep waiting for the Next Big Thing.

Me too. My Palm Pre has been repaired twice... it's on it's last leg. Thank goodness because I hate my Palm, but that's another story.

I'd like to wait for the Nexus 3 or the SGSII for the 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus screen and dual-core goodness I'm sure they'll both have. It's only 0.3" but the Plus part is a nice addition.

Like somebody said above; Why not get a newer phone if you think you can wait for it? At this point, whether I can wait or not is up to my Palm Pre.

EDIT: Should I go ahead and sign up for the SWYPE Beta just in case? I really don't think I could go without SWYPE...

I was all set to pounce on this phone, but then the show-stopper reports appeared of the low signal indications and concomitant connection troubles, so I slammed on the brakes

Me too. I live in an Apartment and getting signal in here is already hard enough. We have an Air-Rave from Sprint for free and it helps alot.

 

[Shabbypenguin]

the nexus 3 im sure will release sometime this december, just like the nexus s did. the problem with that logic is you may be out of luck, sprint passed over the first nexus and the second one took them how long to get?hand down i will never again own a non nexus phone coming from the heroc to the epic to the g2 and now to the ns4g i am happy and content.. never have i had a phone perform so well and smoothly.

dual cores are overrated at this point, as not even the os FULLY uses em. glbenchmark shows that the tegra 2 platform gets on average 7 fps more then the ns4g.. when you think about dual 1ghz cpus and a brand new gpu made by nvida (of all people) only getting an extra 7 fps over a single core cpu at 1ghz... kinda make you wonder about it all..

the sgs2 will be a new breath of fresh air and so far from what i can tell will be an amazing phone but it will be locked down with touchwiz and carrier iq. as for the free tethering, hope you all enjoy it for now as google has a update in the works that will allow them to charge for it, they already blocked 4g tethering. regardless its a breeze to install android wifi tether...

 

[ArmageddonX]

I am in a small group that actually really likes TouchWiz... so that's not a big deal to me as long as it doesn't lag the device like with the Droid Charge. (which is woefully underpowered)

I can't wait until December... So the Nexus 3 isn't an option for me then... I can wait until the end of November at the VERY latest. Mid-September would be way more comfortable; but right now would be even better lol

 

[Shabbypenguin]

I am in a small group that actually really likes TouchWiz... so that's not a big deal to me as long as it doesn't lag the device like with the Droid Charge. (which is woefully underpowered)

I can't wait until December... So the Nexus 3 isn't an option for me then... I can wait until the end of November at the VERY latest. Mid-September would be way more comfortable; but right now would be even better lol

pfft like we havent solved that already

[APP] Touchwiz for Nexus S - xda-developers

its the tw launcher

i imagine the "sprint within" (codename for the sgs2) will come out around the same time as the epic did last year august 31st

 

[suprmallet]

The biggest draw of the Nexus line is that you get the updates from Google as soon as they're ready to go. Even if you like TouchWiz, there will be update delays with any phone that uses them (even the SGS2) because Samsung has to adjust the update to their flavor of Android. That was my big reason for going with the Nexus S instead of waiting for the EVO 3D or the Within.

 

[Androidalltheway]

I too am thinking about it, the evo 3d is on my radar, but if it gets oushed back to July, I may just fet the nexus s4g, overall a solid phone and an upgrade from evo