Engadget's review on Nexus S

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/10/nexus-s-review/

by seahsq • 16 years ago

53 28 16 years ago

seahsq• 16 years ago

"To have this many options and discrepancies over something as simple as copy and paste should be embarrassing to Google. What it mostly is, however, is a pain to the end user.

And that's kind of the crux of our problem with Android in its current state. We don't question the power of the OS, but the fit, finish, and ease of use simply is still not there."

I think Joshua Topolsky nailed it right at the heart of the problem for Android, at least from a typical smartphone user's point of view.

spot3• 16 years ago

the UI gets overhauled in honeycomb. the focus of this release was performance.

potatolicious2• 16 years ago

Which means most users will have it by... Q4 2011? Q1 2012?

I mean, we're up to 2.3 now, many devices are still being sold with 2.1, and while a lot of 2.2 updates are out now, they took forever.

I fear that the way the OEMs drag their feet on Android updates is a serious problem for the platform - cursed to constantly be chasing iOS which can get its new features to users months ahead of Google's schedule.

jsz02• 16 years ago

One of the things that bugs me about the Android UI, which doesn't seem to have been addressed in 2.3, is the lack of any decent UI management for multi-tasking. There's the alt-tab switcher if you hold down your home button which isn't a very obvious solution and it just takes too long. On my phone I have to hold down my home button for several seconds. This is probably a good example of what Topolsky is talking about.

sandipc• 16 years ago

2 seconds is too long?

abhimishra• 16 years ago

Is this thing actually fully-unlocked if you get it with a T-Mobile contract?

The FAQ that Best Buy put out was pretty ambiguous. I called Best Buy's dedicated Nexus S helpline to clarify that, and they were basically useless.

gte910h2• 16 years ago

Phones in the US have a 30 mandatory day return window by law. Easiest thing to do is just buy one and return it after testing it out on another GSM network's sim.

kylec• 16 years ago

Some states may have a 30-day window, but I don't think the US does as a whole. I only had 14 days to return my Nexus One.

barake• 16 years ago

I believe it's 3 days by law, with no real charges. Many carriers allow 30 with prorated usage and restocking fees.

orangecat2• 16 years ago

The N1 was unlocked even if you bought it on a T-Mobile contract, so I'd expect the S will be as well.

Banekin• 16 years ago

I don't understand why people expected so much from Gingerbread in the first place. So they expect Google to only release updates with massive feature additions? Personally I would rather have small incremental updates than nothing at all.

yanw• 16 years ago

It has massive new features: SIP support, gyroscope support, NFC support in addition to the various Dalvik and NDK upgrades and APIs.

Feature-set was never a problem for Android. The UI didn't get an overhaul though, just nips and tucks, and is the only quarrel in that post. Personally I like the Android UI specially after the black/green/orange refinements in 2.3.

nimrody• 16 years ago

Even the hardware manufacturers expect big improvements in every release.

Integrating a new release, testing and verifying correct operation of a cell phone is a long and costly procedure. This is why many phones still don't have an update for 2.2.

So cell phone makes would prever big upgrades with many new features -- but release infrequently.

The "release early, release often" mantra just doesn't suit this type of market.

jsz02• 16 years ago

Competition. Apple stepped it up in iOS4 and has continued adding user facing features in each point release since -- HDR, Game Center, AirPlay, AirPrint, etc. Then you have WM7 with, at minimum, a very attractive GUI. RIM has some eye-candy stuff on the way with the PlayBook GUI. I think the big disappointment is that Google hasn't been able to spruce up the Android UI. We're starting to drift into this uncomfortable Windows Mobile 6.x territory where the UI is clunky, somewhat difficult to use, and just not all that nice looking. In my opinion at least...

slashclee• 16 years ago

“It seems like every couple of weeks we're saying something along the lines of "x is the best Android smartphone on the market right now." We'd like to tell you differently when it comes to the Nexus S, but the truth is, it really is the best Android device available right now.”

THAT is the most annoying thing about Android by far. It's impossible to feel good about buying an Android phone when a newer sexier one always comes out a couple weeks later.

gloob• 16 years ago

Well, unless your mood is not dependent on having the newest sexiest thing all the time.

narrator• 16 years ago

That's why I'm sticking with the IPhone! I always want to be assured that I won't be out-sexied by any other smart phone user, as long as I upgrade once a year.

People will also know that my choice of IPhone as my primary communications device signals that I have the largest number of sex partners, on average, of any smartphone user.

http://mashable.com/2010/08/10/iphone-sex-okcupid/

xtho• 16 years ago

In a communist society or as an Apple user life sure is simpler.

brown9-2• 16 years ago

I can sympathize with this - I've been debating Android vs iPhone for a while and while Android is winning the mental debate lately, it's been hard to decide when to buy an Android phone - it perpetually feels like if I wait just 4-6 weeks more I can get a better phone for the same price.

(which I guess is a good problem to have in a way)

cletus• 16 years ago

I've said for a long time that it's wrong to compare the iPhone and Android. iPhone is a phone and a brand. Android is an idea, arguably a philosophy. It is not a brand.

Let me put it another way: when people buy an iPhone, they're buying an iPhone. When people are buying an Android phone, they're buying a phone (or, in some cases, they're not buying an iPhone).

I've now had the opportunity to use a HTC Desire, an iPhone 4 and a DroidX (in that order).

Inconsistency of UI/UX (as well as hardware) is a huge problem for Android. Even Microsoft abandoned the handset manufacturer and carrier customization model with Windows Phone 7.

You are seeing what carriers are doing: the Samsung Fascinate from Verizon is just the most recent example.

You also see people still releasing 1.5/1.6 devices when there really is no technical reason to do so (carriers/manufacturers like product differentiation, no matter how illogical or how much it hurts the UX long term).

That being said, from Google's perspective, Android is a huge success. Google is successfully commoditizing the mobile OS, lowering costs and driving adoption of smart phones, which drives mobile Internet usage.

The carriers and manufacturers are simply being complicity in their own execution in this race to the bottom. It reminds me of net books actually (almost no profit, commodity hardware, very cheap).

One error made with Android (IMHO) is the proliferation of buttons. It's confusing, inconsistent and (with the possible exception of the back button) unnecessary (beyond the one home button).

Well see just how much pent up demand there is for the iPhone when it spreads to other carriers. My guess is a lot.

Engadget's review on Nexus S

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