I want to switch to this camp

[winter7200]

Hi,
So I always had an iphone, but recently I have had it. I have an iphone 4. This device is a total joke, antenna problems are real, to the point where I cant even talk to my friends if I hold the damn thing wrong. And it scratches like crazy. Put it on the table...SCRATCH! Put in my pocket..SCRATCH!!!
So I want to switch to this camp. I am tired of itunes BS, jailbreaking and the rest. But I am also not in the mood to wait for a vendor to update the branded OS so I can enjoy the latest goodies. So I stopped at the Google Nexus S.

What I want in a phone:
-good phone signal and call quality, decent speed and battery life
-front facing camera and working skype
-wi-fi hotspot built-in
-a simple cable to charge at any PC without any additional software
-drag and drop files (i have itunes now)
-a nice touchscreen, please remember I come from iphone, which, like it or not, is a nice device from this point of view
-being able to simply download the OS, update and voila!
-not a branded phone !
-not a huge semi-tablet screen, I keep this in my pocket, not in a handbag.

I my choice ok with this one? I went to all these vendors, all they have are plastic toys so I can not really experience the phone. I don't want the fastest, best, greatest of them all, I just want a replacement for my iphone 4

So help me switch !

Thanks.

 

[starxpilot]

Hello and welcome to AndroidForums! :3

The Samsung Galaxy S is indeed praised for its specs, I believe though you might get the best experiance with the new Samsung Galaxy II that's already out I think for certain carriers, coming very soon for others.

There's a Galaxy S Plus that I hear is an upgrade to the current one, could be something to look into.

There's a site called Phone Arena - Phone News, Reviews and Specs that you could get the exact specs and capabilities for phones, may help to take a peek before you buy. As for what you're looking for, does look like the Galaxy is best suited for you.

That's just my two cents, welcome to the forums again!

 

[UTR]

My first and only smartphone has been and still is the galaxy s and its an awesome device that being said my friends have swapped from iphones to the s2, htc's of all types and few other makes. They all raved about thier iphones until they saw the s now 2/3 of them are on android phones. When I got the s I purchaded a case and some screen protectors 6 for

 

[jerofld]

"-good phone signal and call quality, decent speed and battery life"

Phone signal depends more on carrier than the phone. If you're thinking about switching carriers, make sure you have good signal strengths where you will frequently use the phone.

"-front facing camera and working skype"

This is a fairly standard feature with all newer Android smartphones

"-wi-fi hotspot built-in"

This is also a standard feature, but every phone requires that you have to pay for the additional service. You can bypass it if you root(jailbreak), though.

"-a simple cable to charge at any PC without any additional software"
"-drag and drop files (i have itunes now)"

Every Android phone can do this.

"-a nice touchscreen, please remember I come from iphone, which, like it or not, is a nice device from this point of view"
"-not a huge semi-tablet screen, I keep this in my pocket, not in a handbag."

This will be a dilemma. If you don't like the 4.3" screens, there are not a lot of smaller ones that can compare to the pixel density of the iPhone 4.

"-being able to simply download the OS, update and voila!"

We call these OTAs (over the air) updates. The phone will notify you when an update is available. You then click yes to install and it does everything else for you. This is standard across all Android models.

"-not a branded phone !"

By this you mean not a name brand phone? Unfortunately, in the Android world, bigger brands typically have higher quality phones. HTC, Samsung, and Motorola make the best Android phones. Not to say all HTC, Samsung, and Motorola phones are good, but if you buy some chinese crap from eBay...good luck. The Nexus S is made by Samsung, IIRC.

So overall, decide what carrier you want to be on. Then we can help you from there, really. If you switch carriers, make sure it's to a carrier you'll like dealing with.

 

[winter7200]

I'm not planning on switching providers, just the phone
For the screensize, the nexus s seems a good choice.
Now, what's the deal with the vendor os?
So many questions about "is this going to get the ice sandwich?"
From what I understand, the nexus s will get all the updates, it is an open phone, whereas galaxy s will depend on what samsung decides?
Can you install a plain os onto that galaxy s? Or only the nexus will be getting these regular updates?
Are there other versions on the nexus s? Can't seem to find nexus s plus or nexus s II...
I'm on the Rogers network in Ontario.

 

[Stuntman]

"-good phone signal and call quality, decent speed and battery life"

Phone signal depends more on carrier than the phone. If you're thinking about switching carriers, make sure you have good signal strengths where you will frequently use the phone.

This is my experience. I went through half a dozen different phones over the past 10 years and had the same reception issues at a particular location. I am unable to change carriers as it is my work phone.

 

[lunatic59]

I'm not planning on switching providers, just the phone
For the screensize, the nexus s seems a good choice.
Now, what's the deal with the vendor os?

I am going to assume you are talking about the launchers each manufacturer puts on their phone ... Samsung = TouchWiz, Motorola = Blur, HTC = SenseUI etc. These are highly discussed points about the phones. Some love them others hate them. Some like the HTC hardware but would prefer TouchWiz. What you can't do is use another manufacturer's UI Launcher on the phone if it's a different make. What you can do is install a third party launcher (and there are several very good ones) that are highly customizable and can let you emulate the desired interface. Or, if you are ambitious, you can root your phone and flash a completely custom ROM that has the desired features (assuming you can find one for your make and model handset).

So many questions about "is this going to get the ice sandwich?"
From what I understand, the nexus s will get all the updates, it is an open phone, whereas galaxy s will depend on what samsung decides?

There have been few Official Google phones. Currently available are the Nexus One (still my daily phone), the Nexus S and now the Nexus S 4G. These will always be the first to get updates because they come directly from Google around the same time the new version is released to the manufacturers. What the manufacturers then do is add their customizations to the new version and test, etc for each current and future handset. It's up to them when to drop support for legacy models. If you look at history, HTC has been pretty good, Samsung, not so much but just like they say in the stock market, "past performance does not guarantee future results."

Can you install a plain os onto that galaxy s? Or only the nexus will be getting these regular updates?

The only phones that come with vanilla Android are the Nexuses (Nexii?) If you want to install a custom ROM to eliminate the manufacturers customizations, you then must look to the ROM developer for updates.

Are there other versions on the nexus s? Can't seem to find nexus s plus or nexus s II...
I'm on the Rogers network in Ontario.

There is the newer Nexus S 4G which supports the higher bandwidths of proposed 4G networks. While the carriers are putting in improvements, 4G availability is not forthcoming for many areas. Also, the original Nexus S did not support AT&T (and Rogers) 3G frequencies so if 4G is not there you get 2G/EDGE speeds on those networks. I really haven't kept up to know if Samsung released a model that does support AT&T/Rogers, but if they did, then you need to make sure you have the right version.

 

[dan330]

i can appreciate why you are looking to change... and welcome to this forum and android

but going from iphone 4 to Nexus S... is more a lateral move... not much of an upgrade. of course you are getting more functionality (to the list of your needs/wants).
but hardware wise the NEXUS S (single core) is 1 yr old .. like the iphone 4.

and because you want the latest OS updates as soon as possible and support longer from google.. you are correct choosing the nexus line of phones. But I suggest that you wait for the next NEXUS.. i think you will be upset getting a single core (cpu) phone, then when the iphone 5 comes out and(in a month or 2) it is a dual-core.. you will be upset.

--------------

if you are used to jailbreaking... then you should be fine with "rooting" your phone...

so that you can get a non-NEXUS phone.. root it.. and then you can drop in any new OS you want... update it more often.. try more flavors... from the very active development community of android