Welcome to the Galaxy Nexus!

[DucatiDude]

A few hours after buying my Nexus I get an email from 'Android Team', which for some reason I thought was from here. Nope. It's from THE Android Team, welcoming me to my new Galaxy Nexus. There's a couple of videos you can watch to get started. Pretty cool. The email said it was sent to me because I signed into my Google account on a Galaxy Nexus. Big brother is definitely watching.

Anyway, I thought we could use this thread to talk about our GN's once we finally had them in our hands, compare notes, etc..

So, from my perspective, here's some observations:

- The phone is amazing! It feels great in the hand. Solid. Does not feel cheap.
- Screen is really, really nice. Colors pop. Easy to view in daylight.
- The Verizon screen protector sux. Won't stay on in parts. Affects screen quality. I have one on order from Amazon that I'm replacing it with.
- LTE is fast! Wow! Over 25mbps download, 5mbps up. Coming from Sprint and AT&T there's no comparison.
- Call quality is great. Drove around NYC in places where my calls would have been dropped. Not one dropped call. Even in the tunnels.
- Ringtone volume really is low. Phone does not recognize my ringtones I bluetoothed to it. Had to use Ringtone Maker, import the ringtone, export the ringtone as is, then the phone sees it. Probably because it has to be in a certain directory.
- Speaker volume is really low.
- ICS is great. The OS is fast. I'm on 4.0.1.
- Face Unlock rocks....after you set it up properly. Set it up the first time it barely worked. Set it up again now it works almost 100% of the time. The trick is to hold the phone with the same hand at the same angle each time.
- The battery blows! Within 15 minutes of being unplugged I went from 100% to 87%, and hadn't even used the phone. I am on LTE all the time, though.
- I signed up to Google Music Beta and when I logged into my gmail account all my music appeared on my phone in almost an instant. Very cool. But man, that uses data.
- When I was setting up an account a Google Wallet screen appeared asking me to set up my credit card info to pay for services using my phone. I began to input data then suddenly the screen went away and now I can't get it to come back. Google Wallet is NOT installed. If anyone can send me a link to the .apk I would be much obliged.

I'm interested to hear others thoughts on their experiences.

 

[trophynuts]

1. are you in a good 4G coverage area?
2. Why do you leave 4G on all the time?

 

[Sandroidfan]

I was wondering where and how you got it, but just saw your other thread about it. So I wouldn't ask about it.

Sounds positive overall except battery. That sounds terrible like Tbolt. Do you have any apps installed that might be suspect for sucking battery?

 

[DucatiDude]

1. are you in a good 4G coverage area?
2. Why do you leave 4G on all the time?

I'm in a great 4G coverage area.
I guess cauae it's brand new, it's availabke, and I'm lovung the speeds.

 

[rawness]

1. are you in a good 4G coverage area?
2. Why do you leave 4G on all the time?

4G is something that needs to be turned on and off?

If so, that stinks...I don't want to be bothered with having to remember to turn it on every time I connect to the net and to turn it off each time I'm through.

 

[ItalianScallion]

It's not just LTE with subpar battery life. I'm running the unlocked GSM variant and battery life is mediocre.

 

[ChiTownJim]

Man I'm jealous I can't wait to get my hands on my Nexus . The battery thing doesn't surprise me , I've noticed everytime I get a new phone the first charge goes insanely fast but after a few cycles it kicks back in... I think I'll be getting the 2100mah battery I hear it actually will fit with the original back . So why not grab an extra 250mah and have a spare battery . Plus Verizon has those 50% off accessory coupons going around $25

 

[Citic07]

4G is something that needs to be turned on and off?

If so, that stinks...I don't want to be bothered with having to remember to turn it on every time I connect to the net and to turn it off each time I'm through.

No it doesn't NEED to be turned off and on. You can leave it on 4G. But your battery will die much faster. Keeping it on 3G helps the battery last a lot longer.

With 4G left on, barely doing anything, my phone is dead by 1-2 pm, unplugged about 7 am. With 3G only I can make it to 5-7 pm depending. (bluetooth, wifi, and GPS off of course)

Good ol' Tbolt

OH and this is with a 1750mah battery, not the stock 1450mah.

 

[rawness]

No it doesn't NEED to be turned off and on. You can leave it on 4G. But your battery will die much faster. Keeping it on 3G helps the battery last a lot longer.

With 4G left on, barely doing anything, my phone is dead by 1-2 pm, unplugged about 7 am. With 3G only I can make it to 5-7 pm depending. (bluetooth, wifi, and GPS off of course)

Good ol' Tbolt

OH and this is with a 1750mah battery, not the stock 1450mah.

Ok, this is disheartening.

Doesn't seem like too hard of a programming task to have this somewhat automated. Kinda like how the os can turn background data off; an option to make background data 3G only and to automatically shut off 4G when it's on standby and/or no app is directly calling for it seems like it would be effective.

Ah, well

 

[KevinMXoom]

- When I was setting up an account a Google Wallet screen appeared asking me to set up my credit card info to pay for services using my phone. I began to input data then suddenly the screen went away and now I can't get it to come back. Google Wallet is NOT installed. If anyone can send me a link to the .apk I would be much obliged.

Rather confusingly, Google Checkout has taken on the name Google Wallet. So "Wallet" asks for your credit card in order to pay for android market. I'm guessing that if you manage to get the NFC payment app installed on your phone, the credit card you entered for the market will already be there.

 

[trophynuts]

Ok, this is disheartening.

Doesn't seem like too hard of a programming task to have this somewhat automated. Kinda like how the os can turn background data off; an option to make background data 3G only and to automatically shut off 4G when it's on standby and/or no app is directly calling for it seems like it would be effective.

Ah, well

don't let that discourage you. It really isn't that hard to turn it on and off.

I usually leave my 4G off unless i'm about to watch a video or download something massive. Other than that there really is no reason imo to leave it on all the time.

 

[ChiTownJim]

My rezound I've just left it on and usually get 10-12hrs but on my CM7 Tbolt I had a toggle so I could turn it on and off as it made a huge diffrence . 4g on all the time 6-10 hrs when using the toggle 12-15hrs on the 1400mah Tbolt Battery


The 4g Toggle is really all you need as it will make the switch in under a couple seconds and most the time you 3g is all you really need

 

[s.m.knipe]

Ok, this is disheartening.

Doesn't seem like too hard of a programming task to have this somewhat automated. Kinda like how the os can turn background data off; an option to make background data 3G only and to automatically shut off 4G when it's on standby and/or no app is directly calling for it seems like it would be effective.

Ah, well

The HSPA+ version cycles between "4G" (HSDPA/HSUPA) and 3G (UTMS) on an on-demand basis. It sounds like the Verizon one isn't/can't...
Maybe because it has to activate and cycle between two different radios (whereas the HSPA+ and UTMS use the same radio)?

 

[ChiTownJim]

An app that would let you leave LTE on but deactivate it and switch to 3g when the screen was of would be amazing . I don't know if it exists maybe it does but you could always use Juice Defender it turns mobile data off but turns it on to poll every 10minutes . I have used it on and off it defeintly increases battery life and you really don't miss anything as your notifications still come in whenever it polls

 

[krouget]

Ever since I've jumped to LTE devices, I've relied on Juice Defender for better battery life.

Shutting off data when the screen is off, save for regular sync intervals every 15 minutes and/or streaming, has increased my battery life in excess of 100%, with "normal" usage (which for me is about 19+ hours, give or take). I'm not really interested in turning 4G on/off, as that's part of the reason I purchased the phone.

 

[DucatiDude]

Rather confusingly, Google Checkout has taken on the name Google Wallet. So "Wallet" asks for your credit card in order to pay for android market. I'm guessing that if you manage to get the NFC payment app installed on your phone, the credit card you entered for the market will already be there.

This wasn't for the market. That was done a long time ago on a different phone. This was something else. Besides, it never let me finish inputting my info before the screen went away.

 

[rawness]

don't let that discourage you. It really isn't that hard to turn it on and off.

I usually leave my 4G off unless i'm about to watch a video or download something massive. Other than that there really is no reason imo to leave it on all the time.

My rezound I've just left it on and usually get 10-12hrs but on my CM7 Tbolt I had a toggle so I could turn it on and off as it made a huge diffrence . 4g on all the time 6-10 hrs when using the toggle 12-15hrs on the 1400mah Tbolt Battery


The 4g Toggle is really all you need as it will make the switch in under a couple seconds and most the time you 3g is all you really need

Ya, turning it on/off may be really easy, but it's remebering to do it that will annoy me to all hell.

Sounds like what y'all are suggesting is like the GPS toggle that I have now, and put on my homescreen when my phone had issues leaving that on for no reason, draining my battery. Then, everytime i'd open maps to navigate somewhere, i'd get hit with the annoying message that I had to enable GPS (instead of just enabling it automatically, grrrrrr). Thus I choose to keep on pretty much all the time now, and thankfully Android, it's apps, an myself have gotten smarter about not having the GPS running when I don't need it. YAY!!!

Ever since I've jumped to LTE devices, I've relied on Juice Defender for better battery life.

Shutting off data when the screen is off, save for regular sync intervals every 15 minutes and/or streaming, has increased my battery life in excess of 100%, with "normal" usage (which for me is about 19+ hours, give or take). I'm not really interested in turning 4G on/off, as that's part of the reason I purchased the phone.

This sounds like a very viable option, thanks!

I concur wholeheartedly with the last sentence. I don't want to be bothered with toggling. I'd hate to go into youtube or Sunday Ticket and get to the point where my video is playing only to realize I have to exit, toggle 4G and start over (like I used to do with maps).

 

[Citic07]

don't let that discourage you. It really isn't that hard to turn it on and off.

I usually leave my 4G off unless i'm about to watch a video or download something massive. Other than that there really is no reason imo to leave it on all the time.

Agreed.