The Google Nexus S doesn’t ship until the end of the month, but if you caught our review earlier this week, you’ll know that we nabbed one early – and came away impressed. But share the wealth, we say: we got a bunch of Electricpig readers together to try it out before release. Read on to see what they made of it in our exclusive reader inquisition!
We sat down with our readers today in London’s West End, Google Nexus S in hand to shoot the breeze about Samsung’s latest phone and Gingerbread. Read on for everyone’s impressions.
Build
Matthew Lyons sizes the Nexus S up against his Galaxy S
Matthew Lyons, an operations analyst for Debenham’s website, was actually a teeny bit disappointed then the Google Nexus S was announced. Google had said there would be no Nexus Two, though it’s now apparent it got out of that with a technicality – by calling the sequel the Nexus S instead. “I was a bit gutted because I was holding out for a new Nexus….so I bought a Samsung Galaxy S, and then they release a new one.” But he and our other readers were still impressed by the design.
Ken Liu, who runs a personal training company, thought it was a step up from the cheapish build of the Samsung Galaxy S Android phone, released in the Summer. “I’m surprised it feels as good as it does – Galaxy phones have felt toy like so far”. Ritesh Gupta, a business analyst, was a bit disappointed at the capacitive buttons below the screen, which are invisible when the screen is locked: “I think those buttons should be physical. You’re tapping around….I don’t want to necessarily look down and see what I’m doing,” he said.
But, all were agreed that it looks the part – and reminded everyone, eerily, of the Palm Pre. Ken summed it up when he said: “It looks more organic, there are nice curves and flow to it.”
What about that screen?
Like us, our readers found that the curved “Contour display” didn’t actually do much to increase the comfort of holding a light piece of plastic against your face, save for Ritesh, who thought who could notice a slight difference when he experimented with a Samsung Galaxy S we had to hand alongside it.
Ritesh Gupta tries the contour display on for size
Ken thought that “you can’t really notice it when you hold it – I think it’s one of those marketing gimmicks.” But he, added, that Super AMOLED panel produces some great, vibrant colours: “it looks really good, the screen is really nice.”
Is Gingerbread all it’s cracked up to be?
Our readers were divided over the new look in Android 2.3 – the Google Nexus S is the first phone to run this version of Google’s operating system, codenamed Gingerbread. Ritesh didn’t “like the black they’ve gone with for the menus, it’s too minimalistic.” Ken on the other hand did “like the flatness of it…it does feel easier to use” – referring to the new notification bar, which has ditched the cartoony gradient and dropshadow.
All were agreed that the lack of network interference with the Google Nexus S was a good thing for them, as it meant the latest incarnation of Android without delay. “I think it’s good that any new versions of Android comes out, you get it straight away,” Ritesh told us. “It’s really frustrating when you have to wait for your network to roll out.”
Ken gets to grips with the new Android 2.3 keyboard
At the same, our readers weren’t sure Android 2.3 in its latest incarnation was necessarily better for your average consumer. Both Matthew and Ken’s girlfriends use HTC Android phones and love Sense, the company’s software overlay on Android with extra features, and while they agreed that the new on screen keyboard was an improvement on the previous QWERTY, Motorola, Samsung and Apple are all making better ones.
Ken thinks Android’s almost there though. “The power of the phone is less appealing than the usability now. Android’s getting there…the little touches like the screen off animation, the little bits of polish that make it special and nice to use,” he said.
Verdict
Ritesh and Ken aren't quite convinved it's worth the upgrade
Surprisingly, there was almost a sense of grudging reluctance when we asked everyone if they thought the Google Nexus S was the best Android phone yet – almost as if it was, just, but they were hoping for more. Ritesh has decided to stick with his BlackBerry Curve 8900 for another six months and see what the iPhone 5 brings.
Matthew said he would if he wasn’t on a contract, while Ken said “it’s an evolution, not a revolution…it’s not as exciting as I thought it would be.”
On everyone’s minds of course, was the avalanche of Android phones expected to launch around mobile World Congress in February – not least Samsung’s own rumoured dual core smartphone. Playing the Android wait and see game’s tricky, isn’t it? The Google Nexus S is the best Android phone yet, but our readers clearly don’t think it will be for long.
