Is anyone else just a little bit underwhelmed by Nexus S?

[JadeEyedWolf]

Seriously, with all the hype about the Nexus S supposedly having a dual core processor and all new innovations like better screen, and a GPS that actually works, etc etc. Now that it's out, and we see that it's basically a polished up i9000 with Gingerbread and a near-field-reader-whatchamacallit, I kinda fell like syaing, "Ok? So what? Big deal!"

Samsung and Google, together, could have turned this baby into a beast, but instead they took an existing platform, and rushed it out of production lines in time for the holiday season...

Looks like I'm going to play the patience game and get a Tegra2 device when they become available hopefully in Q1 2011. I'm looking at you Motorola Olympus!

 

[fireonhigh]

agreed,i will be looking at the new Moto as well

 

[skinien]

I feel the same exact way!

I'm actually pretty happy that the phone disappoints; I REALLY didn't want a reason to buy another Samsung. It's basically a Galaxy S with 2.3 and a WORKING GPS (I assume).

I'm looking forward for the Olympus as well. The screen-shots show that it comes with Froyo so I'm hoping that when the announce the phone, they note that a 2.3 update is on the way. I'll actually believe Motorola

 

[mnemonicj]

Don't forget camera flash and a front facing camera.

The Nexus S is supposed to be the bread and butter, yes, but having a phone that is able to work for a single day on a charge is pretty important too. Without better battery technology or a heavier phone, a super charged Galaxy S may not be possible right now.

What the Nexus S does show is that the Galaxy S phones are more than capable of running Gingerbread, as well as many other phones on the market right now. And it may be a good reason why Google didn't want to designate Gingerbread as 3.0 and making people think they need the next generation of phone to be able to run it.

 

[skinien]

Don't forget camera flash and a front facing camera.

The Nexus S is supposed to be the bread and butter, yes, but having a phone that is able to work for a single day on a charge is pretty important too. Without better battery technology or a heavier phone, a super charged Galaxy S may not be possible right now.

What the Nexus S does show is that the Galaxy S phones are more than capable of running Gingerbread, as well as many other phones on the market right now. And it may be a good reason why Google didn't want to designate Gingerbread as 3.0 and making people think they need the next generation of phone to be able to run it.

Some Galaxy S phones already do have flash and a front facing camera. The only REAL difference is the NFC and (hopefully) a working GPS.

haha, I don't think that a number (3.0) will make manufacturers assume that the OS won't work on their hardware. I'm sure there's at least one person who works for the company and has the job title of, "Guy Who Looks Up Minimum System Requirements."

 

[emuneee]

The Nexus series are not supposed to be the very bleeding edge. I view them as developer baseline devices for 2011. As a developer, what the Nexus S says to me is this is the hardware baseline for all high end Android devices going forward in 2011.

I think there is more innovation that can be done on the software side until the hardware (in combination with battery/energy efficiency) can catch up. I'm sure if dual-core processors were ready for the Nexus S, they would be in the Nexus S.

 

[rfound]

I believe this Nexus release bodes very well for Captivate/Vibrant (or any Galaxy S GSM phone) owners... the hardware looks to be very similar to what we're seeing on the Nexus S... meaning more development should carry over from the Nexus... I for one am very happy with the details of the release.

 

[mnemonicj]

haha, I don't think that a number (3.0) will make manufacturers assume that the OS won't work on their hardware. I'm sure there's at least one person who works for the company and has the job title of, "Guy Who Looks Up Minimum System Requirements."

I was speaking of consumers not manufacturers. Manufacturers would be the ones playing the game. Rather than let people upgrade to 3.0 on their current phones, they would require consumers to purchase a fancy new phone to be able to get 3.0 because their old phone couldn't handle it. Most consumers wouldn't know the truth and would get a new android phone to get 3.0.

 

[Endoran]

I am perplexed on google's choice of manufacturer. Samsung, really? This company pisses people off, isn't that contrary to google's "values"? But, yes underwhelmed for sure. The phone doesn't even have a smoled screen, although I do like how it's contoured. They do say the screen is better but fail to say why or show videos. I'm not only underwhelmed by the Nexus S but with gingerbread as well. NFC, ohhh nice my phone can now read advertisements from a poster and send me to the website!!! I'm giddy with joy. A new improved keyboard? I'm assuming the Nesus S will come with swype and probably all new android phones. Google is just buying time until they can cook up their own swype alternative via their recently purchased BlindType. I for one am not drooling over gingerbread. The things that make me drool are improved performance, stability, battery life, and perhaps an email app that works well? I see no mention of any of those things on any of the what's new with gingerbread press releases, although I'm sure performance and stability are improved apparently not enough to be worth mentioning. I'll end rant here, seeing as this is a rant thread I don't feel bad.

 

[shrivelfig]

I don't want to be overwhelmed. I'm not looking to impress the unwashed masses, I just want a reliable and capable smartphone without any crapware, locks or other carrier BS.

The Nexus S is perfect for me. It's not so advanced that it sports a premium price, and it's not so big that it feels like holding an iPad to your face. Unlocked and contract-free, it's guaranteed free of crapware. And no maker or carrier to block any OS updates.

This is my next phone

 

[skinien]

I don't want to be overwhelmed. I'm not looking to impress the unwashed masses, I just want a reliable and capable smartphone without any crapware, locks or other carrier BS.

The Nexus S is perfect for me. It's not so advanced that it sports a premium price, and it's not so big that it feels like holding an iPad to your face. Unlocked and contract-free, it's guaranteed free of crapware. And no maker or carrier to block any OS updates.

This is my next phone

Yeah, I'd get the phone too... if I had a T-Mobile contract.

 

[cstavaru]

I too am underwhelmed by the Nexus S. I am not really sure why they even released it at this stage.

It lacks the notification light. The main problem for me. I love the Nexus One notification trackball !

About the Super AMOLED screen, I played with a Galaxy S and although the screen is brighter than the Nexus, the pixels are more spaced out because it has the same resolution as the N1 but over a larger diagonal of 4". The Galaxy S is also not faster than the Nexus One when operating the phone. Probably the graphics are better but I don't play games anyway.

The plasticky feeling of the Galaxy S is awful. The back cover is very very thin, thinner than you could ever imagine. The whole phone is bigger, at the same resolution. Don't see the point.

Also, the phone is curved, it fits nicely in the palm and of the face, but how does it feel sitting vertically in the jeans pocket ?

First I was thinking that maybe in 5-6 months I could see the need for the Nexus S. But by that time who knows what new hardware is already on the table...

 

[Bandage]

Lame remake of Galaxy S...and NO SDcard Slot WTF?! How lame...stuck with 16gb max.

 

[JadeEyedWolf]

The phone doesn't even have a smoled screen, although I do like how it's contoured. They do say the screen is better but fail to say why or show videos.

I'm not so sure about that... They may not have come out and said it outright, but I'm pretty sure it is the same SAMOLED display we already have on our Galaxy S devices. Sure it's curved, but that's a much easier thing to implement with OLED technology than LCD tech.

 

[JadeEyedWolf]

Yeah, I'd get the phone too... if I had a T-Mobile contract.

Yeah, it gets the 900, 1700, and 2100 3G love, but no 850/1900 for us AT&T folks. Figures...

AT&T must have moaned and complained that they didn't want any devices on their network that they couldn't control, "You mean to tell us that this phone does video conferencing, Wifi hotspot/USB tethering, unlocked and unfiltered access to any app anywhere etc, and there's nothing we can do about it?" So Google and Samsung were like "Umm, well, yeah. Right out of the box!"
AT&T, "NO!! We cannot allow that! If users want those services, they have to obtain them through us by means of proprietary crapware and pay extra! Either that, or buy and iPhone4 and still pay extra... iPhone must remain supreme!!"
Samsung/Google, "Well, fine then! Hey T-mo, let's talk!"

*sigh*

 

[FreshPrince]

This phone doesn't even have a ****ing microsd card slot.

What an epic failure.

 

[nardva]

I'm on T Mobile and I have a Nexus right now. No hspa + on the Nexus S is a deal breaker for me. That was my main reason for wanting a Nexus S. I guess I'll stick with the old nexus a little longer and wait for the 2.3 ota.

 

[StarMenace]

No SDCard slot? It's a Samsung made iPhone then.

 

[Shawnz]

AT&T people rejoice! You finally got a decent android option!

All kidding aside, this is the best thing that could happen for Samsung. Samsung is the WORST when it comes to software updates. Having this device as a Nexus Phone pretty much cleans up the ROM scene for the Galaxy S line of phones.

How long till a variation of the Galaxy Tab is released as the Nexus Tab?

 

[hitekalex]

This phone doesn't even have a ****ing microsd card slot.

What an epic failure.

Yep, it's amazing that they decided to release it with 16GB of non-upgradeable storage. Do they expect people with 32GB MicroSD phones to downgrade to this?

 

[DKYang]

The Nexus series are not supposed to be the very bleeding edge. I view them as developer baseline devices for 2011. As a developer, what the Nexus S says to me is this is the hardware baseline for all high end Android devices going forward in 2011.

I think there is more innovation that can be done on the software side until the hardware (in combination with battery/energy efficiency) can catch up. I'm sure if dual-core processors were ready for the Nexus S, they would be in the Nexus S.

Ditto. Just quoting the post so others will see it if they don't feel like reading through the depressing posts.

 

[StarMenace]

Ditto. Just quoting the post so others will see it if they don't feel like reading through the depressing posts.

It's been depressing because it should've at least had a couple of main things that it's lacking such as a micro SD Card slot and support for HSPA+. That should at least be a minimum. The Nexus One has the micro SDCard port so this one should've at least had that and with T-Mobile moving it's products to support HSPA+ that should be there too. Anything else would be a bonus such as the front facing camera and NFC among others.

 

[happy0506]

i am underwhelmed also. it just proves the almighty dollar is king. samsung showed google that they can sell a ton of phones, even if they're buggie (to say the least). so, google gave them the nexus line. to me, it says more about google than anything else.

 

[TheSkiShow]

I am far from underwhelmed, and I own a Droid Incredible. The specs of the phone seem up to par for me.

-4" screen seems like a perfect size.
-Front facing camera is something I wanted on my Incredible, and you can see it most likely will become a standard for high-end phones.
-The processor is the same speed as in my Incredible. I can handle that, my DInc is plenty fast enough.
-5 MP camera is suppose to be a downgrade, but I can't distinguish that much of a difference from an 8 MP camera.
-What exactly are the benefits of having a contoured screen? I'm not too sure about this one, but hey, I'm sure it's probably SAMOLED, which is better than what I have. I can barely see my phone in sunlight if I try really, really hard.
-and the biggest of all... ANDROID WITH NO STRINGS. I wanted the Nexus One before I even knew of the Incredible, and when they announced it would not be coming to Verizon, I was disappointed. I want plain Android. No waiting for upgrades from manufacturers dropping their custom skins over it (I'm not saying I have a problem with Sense UI, but there is nothing wrong with vanilla Android and I'd rather have that than waiting 2 or 3 months for HTC and Verizon to release the update, by which time Google is already dropping the next version)

All that said, I would love to have this phone. Battery life is probably 1,000,000x better on this than my DInc too. Wish this had dropped on Big Red, because even if I didn't have an upgrade, I'd drop the cash on this thing.

 

[Bearsyzf]

Samsung or AT$T isn't treating us right so i doubt i would get the Nexus S made by Samsung .