Official G-Nex first impressions thread Love it? Hate it?

wyggles · Nov 30, 2011

I was so busy during the short 24 hours I had the phone I forgot to post here. My first impression when I took it out of the box was that it was so incredibly light without the battery. Coming from a Nexus One the screen was completely massive. It's pretty much like everyone says: It's a dream.

The only problem was that mine was broken. Within the 24 hours I had the phone the screen malfunctioned at least ten times. It would shut off and not come back on, it accepted input, but showed nothing. I shipped it out today to Expansys for a refund.

I am now satisfied for the time being and am waiting for the Verizon version to come out(I spend a lot of time with little to no signal with att in areas with full LTE coverage).

Wolfedude88 · Nov 30, 2011

Well my phone shipped from expansy today and will be here tomorrow, I will give my first impression, sometime tomorrow evening or early Friday morning.

Rogue · Dec 1, 2011

Any UK users suffering from poor call quality? There's a definate "haze" when you're on the phone...

ryknoll3 · Dec 1, 2011

acrebo said:
Long time iphone user trying out android for the 1st time. A pretty steep learning curve but all.good so far!

One question - how do i get rid of the vibrate when using the keyboard?

Go into the settings menu, should be Language and Input option. Find the keyboard settings and there should be a menu for haptic feedback. You can disable it there. I'm going off of Gingerbread and Honeycomb settings, so it may be slightly different in ICS.

MKeditor · Dec 2, 2011

I am really digging my new digital assistant, Samantha. She is almost as smart as Siri. This is a cool app from Speaktoit. It is a blast....and a time sponge.

Wolfedude88 · Dec 2, 2011

Mine was just delivered a few minutes ago, man this thing is awesome.

At first glance the phone is huge though. It is bigger than my Galaxy S II and way bigger than the iphone I had to use.

Love the screen, phone feels great in my hands, it looks huge but I haven't thought it was too big for me and I don't have huge hands.

Wolfedude88 · Dec 2, 2011

I know everyone everyone has been talking about the camera, and with just short usage so far, I say I like the Galaxy S II camera better so far.

This is subject to change, but right now I am getting a lot of blurry pics, I like how fast the pictures are being taken but this is making my pictures a little blurry. When the pictures aren't blurry they have been good, as good as the Galaxy S II and the iphone 4s or pretty close.

I know this is my fault about maybe moving the phone a little bit when taking the picture, but I bet a lot of users will have difficulty with this at first and I am sure some will be upset.

I know I will get use to it and will probably appreciate it more when I do. So for right now it is a slight issue, but I am sure it will be fine later one.

Fabolous · Dec 2, 2011

Yeah, I feel like the camera, if asked to, will just skip focusing. This is very useful if your initial shot is already focused, and you want to grab a bunch in a row afterwards.

However, to get good shots, you still have to hold the button down, wait for it to focus, then let go.

I feel like a lot of reviewers didn't understand this and gave the camera bad marks because of it. Sure, there's zero shutter lag, but not instant focus.

Sandroidfan · Dec 2, 2011

Wolfedude88 said:
I know everyone everyone has been talking about the camera, and with just short usage so far, I say I like the Galaxy S II camera better so far.

This is subject to change, but right now I am getting a lot of blurry pics, I like how fast the pictures are being taken but this is making my pictures a little blurry. When the pictures aren't blurry they have been good, as good as the Galaxy S II and the iphone 4s or pretty close.

I know this is my fault about maybe moving the phone a little bit when taking the picture, but I bet a lot of users will have difficulty with this at first and I am sure some will be upset.

I know I will get use to it and will probably appreciate it more when I do. So for right now it is a slight issue, but I am sure it will be fine later one.

Did you tap on object to focus before taking shot? Maybe that will resolve the focus problem.

mrvirginia · Dec 2, 2011

Wolfedude88 said:
I know everyone everyone has been talking about the camera, and with just short usage so far, I say I like the Galaxy S II camera better so far.

This is subject to change, but right now I am getting a lot of blurry pics, I like how fast the pictures are being taken but this is making my pictures a little blurry. When the pictures aren't blurry they have been good, as good as the Galaxy S II and the iphone 4s or pretty close.

I know this is my fault about maybe moving the phone a little bit when taking the picture, but I bet a lot of users will have difficulty with this at first and I am sure some will be upset.

I know I will get use to it and will probably appreciate it more when I do. So for right now it is a slight issue, but I am sure it will be fine later one.

i wish i could've posted the photo i took of myself before my first one died. it was a really good photo haha. and now it's lost

Wilfred B · Dec 2, 2011

As was said before tap the screen to focus. Works really well then. I dont think people have got the gist of this camera, you still have to focus properly, but the no shutter lag is there for when your in dire need of a shot quickly.

Anybody tried uploading pics on the official Facebook app? I dont know whether its the Nexus, but the app recognises faces and allows you to tag people before upload.

Wolfedude88 · Dec 2, 2011

Of course I know to tap the screen to focus, but as fab said you have to do it in each shot. Also I don't always hit the screen to focus, and it looks like it is great but the split second I take the shot it gets blurry, but the pics have been looking better.

blkrbt · Dec 4, 2011

I got mine in from Expansys-USA on Tuesday and just now tried to take screenshots... but it won't seem to work. I'm pressing volume-down + power button and nothing happens. Anyone else having this problem?

Wilfred B · Dec 4, 2011

Make sure your pressing both at the same time.

Wolfedude88 · Dec 4, 2011

Wilfred B said:
Make sure your pressing both at the same time.

Yeah make sure you are pressing both down at the same time and make sure you hold them both down for a second, it has been working for me just takes a second.

Hold the buttons down until the screenshot is taken.

MKeditor · Dec 4, 2011

Speaking of the camera....I just discovered that it still makes sounds even when the phone is in silent mode. That can be a problem. I took a photo this morning during our church service of the cool backdrop. It made a loud shutter sound and a number of people gave me the eye.

sc4fpse · Dec 5, 2011

MKeditor said:
Speaking of the camera....I just discovered that it still makes sounds even when the phone is in silent mode. That can be a problem. I took a photo this morning during our church service of the cool backdrop. It made a loud shutter sound and a number of people gave me the eye.

Feature, not a bug. It's for privacy reasons -- to prevent certain kinds of photos being taken, like upskirt shots. There was a big fuss over this kind of stuff in Japan a few years back, and the "feature" spread throughout the world.

Developers, however, can disable the sound with custom firmware. (Actually, it might not even need a new ROM - there's probably another way to disable it. But it definitely will require root at the least.)

SLVR · Dec 6, 2011

Hmm I just got my galaxy nexus today. So far my only complaint is I wish the screen was more cooler as in bluer and whiter. Awesome speed and what not. I just need to get a 4g sim card for tmobile cause I still have my 3g sim from my nexus one

Travillion · Dec 6, 2011

Can any of you lucky G-Nex owners confirm whether the headphones work on non-Samsung Android phones? I know they'll still work as headphones, but does the microphone still work for answering phone calls, etc.? (I presume the headphones do have a mic and aren't just headphones....)

Thanks! Looking forward to getting mine on Friday....

dan2505 · Dec 7, 2011

Got mine yesterday and loving it so far. I've moved up from an HTC Desire HD and the difference is incredible. So much smoother, amazing screen (although can be a bit grainy, especially with greys) and much improved sound quality over the Desire. Only real issue so far is that there seems to be quite a few apps that aren't compatible yet (not sure whether it's the phone itself or ICS...)

NecoD · Dec 7, 2011

Thanks for the excellent write up. This makes me even more jealous and envious that I want mine!

Wolfedude88 · Dec 8, 2011

MKeditor said:
Speaking of the camera....I just discovered that it still makes sounds even when the phone is in silent mode. That can be a problem. I took a photo this morning during our church service of the cool backdrop. It made a loud shutter sound and a number of people gave me the eye.

Wanted to let you know you can silent the camera when taking pictures. When in the camera app turn the volume down.

I am not sure if it was just the media that did it or if they have a camera volume now, but when I took some pictures tonight I was able to silent it by hitting the volume button down all the way.

Not a sound. Cheers!

Options · Dec 8, 2011

For any of you that have the phone in the US, can I ask where you bought it and what service provider you are using?
I am considering buying an unlocked GSM model to use with T-Mobile because it is so much less expensive in the long run than Verizon. I am hoping a few here may have done something similar and can let me know how it worked out, hopefully someone can comment on T-Mobile and 4g service.
Thanks for any feedback.

Wolfedude88 · Dec 8, 2011

Options said:
For any of you that have the phone in the US, can I ask where you bought it and what service provider you are using?
I am considering buying an unlocked GSM model to use with T-Mobile because it is so much less expensive in the long run than Verizon. I am hoping a few here may have done something similar and can let me know how it worked out, hopefully someone can comment on T-Mobile and 4g service.
Thanks for any feedback.

I bought mine from expansy-usa and had a 20 off coupon. Others have bought from negri electronics and handtec, all seem to be reliable.

Unfortunately I am using mine on AT&T so I cannot comment on how it is working on T-mobile, though it should work with their 3g and 4g service without problems. It has been excellent on AT&T for me.

Fabolous · Dec 8, 2011

Options said:
For any of you that have the phone in the US, can I ask where you bought it and what service provider you are using?
I am considering buying an unlocked GSM model to use with T-Mobile because it is so much less expensive in the long run than Verizon. I am hoping a few here may have done something similar and can let me know how it worked out, hopefully someone can comment on T-Mobile and 4g service.
Thanks for any feedback.

I'm using it on T-Mobile. I have the Even More Plus plan, $60 for 500 mins and unlimited text and data. Depending on how their reception is in your city, the HSPA+ speeds can be blisteringly fast.

The pentaband HSPA+ radio in the Galaxy Nexus is capable of 21Mbps 64QAM connection. Here in my town, we were recently upgraded to 42Mbps HSPA-DC, so I was able to take advantage of the backhaul improvements:

So, yeah, it's all dependent on how good the signal is where you live/work/play. For me, it's comparable to VZW at a fraction the price.

***Official G-Nex first impressions thread*** Love it? Hate it?

Well-Known Member

Android Expert

Well-Known Member

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Android Expert

Android Expert

Superuser

Android Expert

Android Expert

Member

Android Expert

Lurker

Member

Android Expert

Well-Known Member

Newbie

Member

Well-Known Member

Lurker

Well-Known Member

Android Expert

Lurker

Android Expert

Superuser

BEST TECH IN 2023

Smartphones

Best Android Phones

Upcoming

Best iPhones

Upcoming

Tablets

Best Tablets

Upcoming

Laptops

Best Laptops

Upcoming

Televisions

Best TVs

Upcoming

Game Consoles

Best Game Consoles

Upcoming

Wearables

Best Wearables

Upcoming

Smart Home

Smart Home Tech

Upcoming

Similar threads

Official G-Nex first impressions thread Love it? Hate it?