I finally saw a real Nexus S in person last night! In one week, the Nexus S will be released for public consumption. This is the second generation of unlocked Android phones from Google. It’s Samsung hardware. Public release date is December 16th, 2010 available unlocked so it will work on any GSM carrier’s network including T-mobile. It will cost $199 with a contract on T-mobile or $529 without a contract.
Let’s explore initial impressions, features, the potential shortcomings of this phone. You can check out the full list of technical specs at Google’s Nexus S site.
Initial Impressions
As a technology geek who’s had a smartphone, there are particular things I notice when checking out other people’s phones. Sort of like two dogs sniffing each other, you could say.
Tonight I’ll share a few of those observations. The other part is when a gadget has been churning in the rumor mill for months with sightings in the wild, you want to see if what they really say is true.
Photo Credit: Google Nexus website
Nexus S Weight. This smart phone is very light. Compared to the Android G2 or even the iPhone 3GS, I found the Nexus S to be on the light side. According to Google’s site, the Nexus S weighs 4.5 ounces while Apple’s iPhone 3GS is 4.8 ounces and HTC’s G2 for T-mobile is 6.3 ounces making the Nexus S the lightest smartphone I’ve considered buying. Interestingly, the iPhone 4 also weighs 4.8 ounces but that was never on my geek gaget drool list. I like the lighter feel because it means less pocket sag!
Photo credit: AndroidOS
Nexus S Body material. Unfortunately, it seems to have a plastic body casing. When I played with a co-worker’s G2, I really liked the feel of the metal in my hands. This is also one of the reasons I love my 13″ macbook pro. Brushed aluminum cases feel like higher quality gadgets. They certainly clean up easier than plastic. Speaking of which, I was unable to find anyone selling Nexus S cases online as of yet.
Photo Credit: Google Nexus website
Nexus S Screen Dimensions. This smart phone seemed wider than what I was used to. It’s almost 2.48 making it almost 2.5 inches wide! That’s a lot of screen real estate when you compare it to:
- Apple iPhone 3GS – 2.4 inches wide
- Apple iPhone 4G – 2.31 inches wide
- HTC G2 for T-mobile – 2.3 inches wide
On the Google site, they have this wonderful video for the Nexus S where there are little gingerbread cookies and a warm roaring fire. But what I noticed (and I’m hoping this was not digitally enhanced!) was the video quality displayed on the device:
Why gingerbread men? The new Android operating system, 2.3, is nicknamed “Gingerbread”. Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, names major versions after Jazz artists so there’s a long history of computer programs having cutesy nicknames.
Can’t wait to see what the video quality looks like on my phone! Is there a Hulu or Netflix Android App? I couldn’t really bogart this person’s phone and sit down to watch something but if I do get a chance to, I’ll update this post!
Nexus S Cameras and flash. There are two cameras, I REPEAT, two cameras in the Nexus S. One is facing away for you to take photo and video while the other faces you so you can do video calls. So exciting! You all may remember Jason Calacanis joking on Twitter that the new iPad would have two cameras. I’m a big fan of mobile photography. I capture my world in the lens and am able to look back over the photos and rebuild the amazing experiences I’ve had over the last few years. Cooking is one of my new and enjoyable hobbies and I love to snap photos when I’m out eating with friends! Conferences, skylines, weird people in San Francisco, I capture it all. Since the loss of my iPhone 3GS (upcoming post), I’ve tried to hold off taking photos as the iPhone 2G’s camera is quite pitiful. As an iPhone user, I’m also looking forward to having an LED flash, finally! Again, I didn’t wan to be taking photos and transferring them to my mac but I-won’t-be-waiting-too-long!
Nexus S Virtual Keyboard. There’s an on-screen keyboard, similar to the iPhone. Nothing else too mentionable until I get mine and play around with it more. The benefit of a virtual keyboard is you don’t have to worry about breaking a hinge or losing a key so for those of you in colder climates (*cough* Minneapolis) texting on a physical keyboard when it’s -24 with the windchill is re-dunka-lious. If you had a separate keyboard (see bluetooth mentioned below) then you’d have to wrangle batteries for the keyboard and suffer additional battery drain on the phone. Now, I will say that if you’re going to be somewhere for a while, like a coffee shop, I really liked being able to prop up my Windows mobile device, attached the external keyboard and type up a storm while sipping on a breve latte (steamed half-and-half with espresso).
Mmm, spelling, copy/paste on the Android is a little bit different. It’s hard to explain but once I get some more hands-on time with the OS, I’ll explain the differences. When I first got an iPhone, I thought the on-screen keyboard was dumb. I searched high and low about connecting my existing bluetooth keyboard used with a palm and windows mobile device to the iPhone. With each new update to the iPhone iOS, I had fingers crossed they would update the bluetooth standard….no such luck! As people can attest to in Minneapolis, I was just about the slowest mobile typer in the world! I got advice on how to hold the iPhone, type with fingers and thumbs, having “faith” that Apple’s spell check would correct my keystrokes automatically and so on. It really took over a year for me to master typing on a flat screen. I’ve never been a big “text’er” sending messages back and forth on my phone. Always thought of it as a kid’s “sport” and something Blackberry geeks did. Why wear down my thumb pads when I could head over to a regular sized keyboard? That’s all changed now and I can type out entire emails on my iPhone, no problem…and quickly!
Nexus S Features I Drool For….Coming Soon
I’ll continue with features later this week like the ability to tether up to 6 other devices from your Nexus S!
