After a few false starts, today I received my Galaxy Nexus purchased from Mobicity and so far this phone is definitely living up to my expectations. The Nexus is not as wide as I expected, it fits in the hand quite easily and is pretty manageable for one-handed operation. It is light, much lighter than I thought it would be, and is also remarkably thin.
Ice Cream Sandwich is polished, quick, and feels like a major upgrade from Gingerbread. People who have used a Honeycomb tablet will probably adjust to it quickly, but coming from a phone running CM7 I know it will take me a little while to get used to it. I will definitely miss my 32gb microSD card which has served me well for the past year or so, but adjusting to the 16gb onboard storage is worth the sacrifice to use this phone.
One of the Ausdroid team will have a full review of the Galaxy Nexus up within the next week, in the meantime feel free to ask questions in the comments.
Got mine today. My impressions mirror those of the OP!
I just got mine a couple of days back.. the system volume is damn low! anyone facing similar prolem? at full volume also i can barely hear the screen lock sound! any fix for this?
Hi there. You can purchase Volume+ (Sound Boost) from Market Place to resolve this low volume issue. I did and it has helped.
Is there a freakin 32GB version or not????? If yes, when the hell can I get it?
Highly unlikely there will be a 32GB GSM version. I’ve seen proof of a 32GB CDMA (Verizon) GN but nothing concrete on the GSM. I don;t think it will be released
Should I go with Mobicity or Handtec? I was going to go with Handtec but seeing the comments it looks like people are going with Mobi even with the $100 difference in price.
Up to you. Mobicity gets you a 24 month local warranty, but you pay a bit more for it. Handtec is cheaper but if something goes wrong you have to pay to send it back to the UK for warranty. I’ve bought from both before and had good experiences with both
Thanks Matt, I have never had a warranty issue with devices before, I reckon it’s hard to justify paying extra for warranty purposes on anything less than $1000. I went with Handtec, if the postage time was more like a couple of weeks instead of 3-5 days then I may have reconsidered. Cheers.
Handtec are dodgey and shouldn’t be trusted..buying from them was a bad experience.
My main concern about this phone is that it is too big. Im not worried about how it fits in pockets but I’m more worried that it will be tricky to operate with one hand.
Since I do plan too order from MobiCity without trying the device, I would appreciate detailed comments about operating it one handed.
I’m having no problem using it one handed, and I don’t consider myself to have large hands. Left handers will struggle since the default position for the menu button is on the right. But there are mods available to put the menu button on both sides, great for one handed operation in either hand.
The tone of your reviews are becoming more and more bias. Mobility favouritism, compromises on downgraded specs, don’t lose it guys. You are one of the only voices we have in oz, please.
Every phone is a compromise to some degree. There is a lot I would change in the Nexus but the good points outweigh the negatives for me. For others the negatives mean they will wait for the SGS III. This is a phone I (and many others) have eagerly anticipated for months now, forgive me for being a little over-enthusiastic when first playing with it 🙂 Since this is my everyday phone rather than just a review phone expect an honest assessment of the good and the bad – and there are a lot of little things that annoy me… Read more »
Jealous 🙁 I’m waiting for it to come to Optus (hopefully it does) before i get one
my question is how does the battery life fair up in real world use? are you able to get a full day or what not from it? 🙂
Seriously I am getting so pissed off with all this shit. I’ve got an iPhone was determined to get rid of it for the android experience and want this phone bad. Pre-ordered a 32GB from expansys. IS THERE EVEN A BLOODY 32GB VERSION??? If there isn’t, 16GB is bullshit and I am disappointed and never getting one.
Matt, in the full review could you please test the speaker volume. I have heard that its hard to hear incoming calls in noisy environments. I would appreciate a comparison with the nexus s and sgs 2 in this regard.
Also if the the max speaker volume is too low, could you please suggest a solution or work around for this problem, maybe an app or something.
After become accustomed too the great speakers on my galaxy tab 10.1, I’m dissapointed too hear about this problem.
Speaker volume is pretty low, much lower than my Atrix was. But volume output via headphone jack is great both in volume and clarity. There are apps on the market to boost volume, but it will get to a point that the sound becomes distorted.
Does it come in good?
It comes in ‘better than SGS II’
I’ll take one, specifically yours.
As I’ve been discussing over on G+ with Geoff F, I too will miss the microSD card slot. I’m also a little peeved that we probably won’t get a 32GB model (especially given that lack of microSD). I was mad keen to get me one of these babies, and I still want one, but right now I’m looking around for how to migrate all my data onto the Nexus from my CM7 Desire. Looks like I will have SMS sorted using SMS Backup, but regular app data is not looking great – some data is backed up to Google’s servers,… Read more »
Does it have fm radio? Tried to look for information on it but have been getting conflicting answers…
No fm radio
Pretty sure the hardware is present but it isnt enabled
can you use spirit fm radio for fm radio?
http://goo.gl/9sdZu
http://goo.gl/nU8Bc
worked for me on sensation CM7 before fm radio was working…
Matt, Did you order it from MobiCity??
If you did when did you order it? I ordered mine on the 6th of November and the status is still that of “Pre-Order”
I ordered the 3rd November or maybe a few days earlier
Mobicity statement on the situation https://mobicity.zendesk.com/entries/20705273-samsung-galaxy-nexus-volume-bug-shipping-information
Thanks for the link Matt!
Sigh…
Can i have one?!?!
Could you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let us know what the battery is like in the real world? Will it last a full day 6am – midnight on a single charge with medium usage/wifi on/push emails etc.
Thanks!!! 🙂
I too wouldn’t mind hearing details on the battery life. I’m currently using an SGS2 and the battery life is woeful and unpredictable. I’m waiting on my G-Nex and hoping it’s going to be better in this regard.
Are you entirely sure you shouldn’t be using GB units as in GigaBytes? Rather than what you are using there: gram bits….?!
If you know exactly what I mean.. does it matter?? Pretty obvious the phone doesnt have 16 gram bits onboard storage
i dont know- i could have sworn you were referring to gram bits 😛
when did u make the order ?
I ordered mine on the 18th nov and got it today (28th nov), from mobicity.
So does this mean mobicity has the Galaxy Nexus in stock now ready to ship?
Mobicity are waiting on stock from the UK I believe, Samsung halted shipments for a while due to the Volume bug but have now resumed shipping, i`d suggest jump on over to the Mobicity website and engage their live chat and see if they can help you out on an eta.
GAH!!! Not your fault, but i placed my order on the 8th of Nov with mobicity and they are telling me it wont ship till Thursday. 🙁