Remember the Droid RAZR ? That’s so yesterday. Or, earlier today. Whatever. The purpose is, Samsung’s just busted out the planet’s first Ice Cream Sandwich-based smartphone here in Hong Kong, a number of days late but hardly worse for the wear and tear. The Galaxy Nexus (formerly generally known as the Nexus Prime ) carries at the Nexus torch in spectacular fashion, and we’ve just spent a number of quality moments with one here on the launch event. Design-wise, it’s clear that the Nexus S DNA is here, though the rear reminds us many of the Galaxy S II. Those that abhor physical buttons can also be delighted, and while we’d gotten used to the total Power + Home for a screenshot at the GSII, Power + Volume Down works just fine in this fellow.
The 1.2GHz dual-core processor was startlingly fast. It actually felt a wee bit quicker than our Galaxy S II, and for the reason that Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus were apparently built for each other, we’re assuming there’s some deeply ingrained optimizations to thank. Swiping from pane to pane was faster than its ever been on Android, and the hot Roboto font actually is super eye-pleasing. The touch response of the capacitive buttons — similar to those at the original Nexus One — take just a little being used to, and we needed to mash ‘em only a touch harder than we anticipated to elicit a response. Not necessarily a foul thing, only a thing worth noting. We’ll be building out our impressions after the break and adding video in a couple of — for now, have a gander on the gallery below!
The full phone feels adequately thin, and while the 4.65-inch display sounds gargantuan, the handset itself doesn’t feel so massive to carry. Until, obviously, you grab the comparatively minuscule Nexus One. Still, we’ve been clamoring for a 1,280 x 720 display on a smartphone for what seems like forever, and now that it’s here at the Galaxy Nexus, we are not in regards to the kvetch. Indeed, the panel looks downright gorgeous, with unbeatable viewing angles, remarkably crisp text and graphics and a gorgeous feel as one swipes across it. The fingerprint magnet that could be a glossy overcoat continues to be here, but it is the only feel niggle we’ve found at the screen as an entire.
Having the three.5mm headphone jack at the rear sounds like an essential design choice given the tapering on the top, and in contrast to that other phone, there is no mute switch here — you’ll just should hold the quantity Down button for several seconds. The rear cover pops off in similar fashion to the Galaxy S II, however the ridged plastic cover has a miles softer touch than the aforesaid contemporary. The camera can be situated right within the center, with branding kept to a minimum.
The dearth of a physical Home button could be disorienting for Galaxy S II loyalists, however the Galaxy Nexus is really the 1st smartphone that expresses Google’s 1 desire 1 to make “one Android for all” — a mantra we heard about at Google I/O, but haven’t seen birthed into anything until today. We’ll be diving into the particulars of Ice Cream Sandwich in a separate post — it is a sufficiently big overhaul to demand its own screen space — but suffice it to assert, we’re thrilled with how the primary ICS handset has turned out. It’s understated, sleek, beautiful and packs a display that’s destined to drop jaws. Now, if only we knew how much, and what carriers…
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