Galaxy Nexus Review(theverge.com)
theverge.com
Galaxy Nexus Review
http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/17/2568348/galaxy-nexus-review
20 comments
Not in good taste.
So, I was nervous of that but decided to post anyway. I think HN seems okay with this post (it currently has 9 points, for full disclosure) but if this type of post isn't welcome here, I will take it down. I'm not profiting off this and the project is entirely open source, so I felt okay about it. Does HN want it deleted?
In my opinion, it was dman's post that was in poor taste. Hacker news is and should be about people showing off their hacks. Additionally his post adds no content -- a simple click on the downvote button provides all the information and feedback required.
I only kept my post brief to be polite. While I agree that Hacker News is the place to show off hacks hijacking threads is not the way to do it. If parent poster has a hack that is worth showing on HN he should submit it as a news item and if there is intrinsic merit the post will attract an audience. Posting self promotional information on threads that are tangentially related is in poor taste in my opinion. Its a slippery slope - if every iphone post here attracted comments by all of us who were building an iphone app then HN would be the worse for it.
If he was pushing a random android app on an article that was about a random android phone then you would have a good point. In this case it is more than just tangentially related, the vast majority (read: pretty much all) android phones don't have barometers, this is pretty much the only phone that can even run it. And it also answers the question of "what would I ever do with a barometer on my phone?".
The thing with subjectivity is that it is subjective.
I think the post was relevant. I don't mind self-promotion if the thing being promoted has hack value.
[Edit] Re dsman's comment: "... if every iphone post here attracted comments by all of us who were building an iphone app then HN would be the worse for it"
It depends, IMO, on the nature of the app. Trying to crowdsource weather prediction is a sufficiently interesting hack that I think HN would very much not be the worse for knowing about this. I would only find it objectionable if cryptoz starts promoting in every Galaxy Nexus thread.
[Edit] Re dsman's comment: "... if every iphone post here attracted comments by all of us who were building an iphone app then HN would be the worse for it"
It depends, IMO, on the nature of the app. Trying to crowdsource weather prediction is a sufficiently interesting hack that I think HN would very much not be the worse for knowing about this. I would only find it objectionable if cryptoz starts promoting in every Galaxy Nexus thread.
Is it just me, or is anyone else incredibly impressed with The Verge? Their reviews are incredibly detailed, and yet they still manage to make extremely interesting, short, and informative video reviews for many products. Add to that the fact that the site, at least to me, is absolutely gorgeous, and I think I've found my new favorite gadget site.
I'm really digging it as well. The layout is pretty great. Whatever the CMS is, they're getting a ton of flexibility out of it. It feels like a more integrated media experience -- typography, video, photography, infographics, user comments, all pretty nicely wound.
I like the content and I like all of their aesthetic decisions but I’m always a bit overwhelmed by their layout. There’s just too much screaming for attention for my taste.
The site is obviously great despite that (and certainly also impressive).
The site is obviously great despite that (and certainly also impressive).
Their CMS is actually built entirely in-house. They even have version numbers posted somewhere.
I must dissent on gorgeous: to me, it's a triumph of style over practicality.
It looks like a magazine page (perhaps one you'd see advertising architecture, or furniture) made flesh in the browser: the pictures are too big, the headlines are too big, the text column wanders from the left side of the page to the right, and it does all of this with highly excessive CPU consumption.
On Firefox it's particularly painful - on an i7 920, merely selecting text takes over a second - while even on Chrome, the fans start up and blare as a core hits 100% for several seconds as the page loads.
It's not down to custom fonts either, as I have those disabled in Firefox.
It all adds up to make me want to avoid the site in future, knowing I'll be assured of a laggy unpleasant experience.
It looks like a magazine page (perhaps one you'd see advertising architecture, or furniture) made flesh in the browser: the pictures are too big, the headlines are too big, the text column wanders from the left side of the page to the right, and it does all of this with highly excessive CPU consumption.
On Firefox it's particularly painful - on an i7 920, merely selecting text takes over a second - while even on Chrome, the fans start up and blare as a core hits 100% for several seconds as the page loads.
It's not down to custom fonts either, as I have those disabled in Firefox.
It all adds up to make me want to avoid the site in future, knowing I'll be assured of a laggy unpleasant experience.
Curious, I've got none of those problems visiting the site when running Firefox on a windows 7 PC.
I wonder if it's some kind of plugin issue, Firebug is a monster consumer of resources for example.
I wonder if it's some kind of plugin issue, Firebug is a monster consumer of resources for example.
100% concur here. I have an i7 w/ 8GB RAM and the site is very jerky FF7. Everytime i switch to it's tab FF hangs for at least a few seconds. The design is also very bus, way too much going on.
That said, if the content is good enough, i can deal with that. Maybe I'll just block JS for this site since i suspect that's the primary issue here.
That said, if the content is good enough, i can deal with that. Maybe I'll just block JS for this site since i suspect that's the primary issue here.
It does look and emulate a magazine page somewhat, but updated for the internet.
There are no speed issues on my laptop browser or ipad...
There are no speed issues on my laptop browser or ipad...
That's funny, I have no performance issues browsing with an iPad, an iPad 1 at that too.
Agree, although I have to add it has some terrible performance issues. The site, especially the front page, is hardly usable on slower PCs (netbooks, for example). I guess all these custom fonts are at fault here.
When the top 8 people at Engadget leave to start their own site, you can bet it'll be beautiful.
according to wikipedia:
On April 3, 2011, The New York Times posted an article on their website announcing that "eight of the more prominent editorial and technology staff members at Engadget have left or are leaving AOL and are about to build a new gadget site". The group included former Engadget editor in chief Joshua Topolsky, managing editor Nilay Patel, editors Paul Miller, Joanna Stern, Chris Ziegler, and Ross Miller, product manager Justin Glow, and developer Dan Chilton.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Verge_(website)
according to wikipedia:
On April 3, 2011, The New York Times posted an article on their website announcing that "eight of the more prominent editorial and technology staff members at Engadget have left or are leaving AOL and are about to build a new gadget site". The group included former Engadget editor in chief Joshua Topolsky, managing editor Nilay Patel, editors Paul Miller, Joanna Stern, Chris Ziegler, and Ross Miller, product manager Justin Glow, and developer Dan Chilton.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Verge_(website)
I love the fact that the reviews seem to be fanboy (girl) and drama-free, and that the devices are evaluated fairly on their merits, regardless of their sources. The reviews are detailed enough to be useful, while more-detailed reviews like the multi-pagers at Ars and Anandtech can be overkill, for me.
Mine used to be Engadget, but the comment quality is simply awful on the website with flame wars springing up every which way.
I think some of the top-level editors of Engadget left to start The Verge. Because of this, the actual product reviews on Engadget, which I initially liked, have decreased in robustness as well.
I think some of the top-level editors of Engadget left to start The Verge. Because of this, the actual product reviews on Engadget, which I initially liked, have decreased in robustness as well.
Thanks for the kind words about The Verge, everyone! Just a heads up, but we (Vox Media, home of The Verge and SB Nation) are hiring: http://sbnation.theresumator.com/apply
I can't believe how much everything is still framed around the iphone. I think its crazy to call this phone just 'competetive' with the iphone 4S; especially the screen-- it is clearly a significant step up IMO. ICS is surely at a point where it can, currently, safely be considered to be ahead of iOS- especially in its unadulterated 'nexus' form. And whilst pentile isn't perfect, its 720p FFS. If that wasn't enough OLED gives it vastly better blacks, contrast, and potentially power consumption too, not to mention the fact that it's bigger. Unless you happen to have an irrational love for iOS the iphones camera is the single area where the 4S beats out the nexus (perhaps some app availability, but that works both ways). Oh the curse of being one of the 100 phones vs 1.
That's debatable. I'm an Android fanboy, but the retina display is a year old and is still debatably the best screen out there. 720p is awesome, but pixel density is still not as high as the retina display, and the sub-pixel density is definitely not.
Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to figuring out a way to convince myself it's worth paying full price for this phone, and I love a huge screen (Droid X owner). But AMOLED is a mixed bag. I find it to be a bit over-saturated, and the power savings is only for blacks, and overall, I think AMOLED has been shown to consume more power, not less. But the pentile subpixel arrangement is the biggest thing I'm worried about, being one of those people who wants to vomit when looking at a screen like the EVO 4G's.
I'm not saying the retina display is unequivocally better, mind you, I just disagree with you that the NG's screen is "clearly a significant step up."
Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to figuring out a way to convince myself it's worth paying full price for this phone, and I love a huge screen (Droid X owner). But AMOLED is a mixed bag. I find it to be a bit over-saturated, and the power savings is only for blacks, and overall, I think AMOLED has been shown to consume more power, not less. But the pentile subpixel arrangement is the biggest thing I'm worried about, being one of those people who wants to vomit when looking at a screen like the EVO 4G's.
I'm not saying the retina display is unequivocally better, mind you, I just disagree with you that the NG's screen is "clearly a significant step up."
You have somewhat proved my point in that some how 'pixel density' is often used as the go-to stat.
It makes no sense to hold this in higher standing than the actual pixel count-- nobody is asking for smaller screens with the same resolution. Simply holding your phone further away would have the same effect as a smaller, more pixel-dense screen. Increased pixel density naturally comes with increased resolution, it is great but not the end in of itself.
The subpixel count is about the same as the iP4 and the pixel count is quite a bit higher. Pentile isn't ideal, but I'd take a 1280x720 pentile display over a 960x480 RGB. every, single. time. Higher resolution has tangible benefits (like better viewing of desktop websites). I'd have to be being actively picky to have any issue with the screen on my SGS, and it should be much less noticeable on the G Nexus.
It makes no sense to hold this in higher standing than the actual pixel count-- nobody is asking for smaller screens with the same resolution. Simply holding your phone further away would have the same effect as a smaller, more pixel-dense screen. Increased pixel density naturally comes with increased resolution, it is great but not the end in of itself.
The subpixel count is about the same as the iP4 and the pixel count is quite a bit higher. Pentile isn't ideal, but I'd take a 1280x720 pentile display over a 960x480 RGB. every, single. time. Higher resolution has tangible benefits (like better viewing of desktop websites). I'd have to be being actively picky to have any issue with the screen on my SGS, and it should be much less noticeable on the G Nexus.
The subpixel count is about the same as the iP4
Exactly the same, 1280x720x2 = 960x640x3.
Exactly the same, 1280x720x2 = 960x640x3.
Which means that sppi is lower, since the NP has a much bigger screen.
I don’t know. The screens seem a wash to me and whether one is better than the other depends more on taste than specs.
I personally don’t like how those OLED screens look (I like their contrast and blacks, don’t like their colors) and I also dislike PenTile immensely. The screen being larger is actually a negative point for me. I guess it would still be alright for me but only just.
On the whole I get better contrast and blacks and higher resolution with the Nexus but also lower pixel density, worse colors and larger size. Whether one or the other is better for you personally can’t be determined from that.
For me those screens seem about equal with different upsides and downsides. If you like larger screens you might clearly prefer the Nexus.
A clear verdict about the screen doesn’t seem possible, neither one is clearly inferior.
I personally don’t like how those OLED screens look (I like their contrast and blacks, don’t like their colors) and I also dislike PenTile immensely. The screen being larger is actually a negative point for me. I guess it would still be alright for me but only just.
On the whole I get better contrast and blacks and higher resolution with the Nexus but also lower pixel density, worse colors and larger size. Whether one or the other is better for you personally can’t be determined from that.
For me those screens seem about equal with different upsides and downsides. If you like larger screens you might clearly prefer the Nexus.
A clear verdict about the screen doesn’t seem possible, neither one is clearly inferior.
No offense, but did you read the review? Every single review, including this one, has called the complaints about saturation and Pentile effectively silly at this pixel density. Even the pixel density is barely different than the iPhone, a tiny percent. The size, I'm totally there with you though.
I have looked at screens with a similar pixel density and didn’t like it. I haven’t seen this phone yet but I plan to.
What other 720p 4.5" Pentile displays have you seen?
I have seen and used this phone live. PenTile is still noticeable, especially on clear, uniform color areas and I still wonder how they even thought about releasing it in the first place.
For me, PenTile is a deal breaker.
Also, remember that real pixel density is slightly lower, because each pixel has two subpixels instead of the three in RGB displays: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5000/galaxy-nexus-pentile-disc... (though I don't care as much about this).
For me, PenTile is a deal breaker.
Also, remember that real pixel density is slightly lower, because each pixel has two subpixels instead of the three in RGB displays: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5000/galaxy-nexus-pentile-disc... (though I don't care as much about this).
single area where the 4S beats out the nexus
The review doesn't mention it but the GN has a rather weak GPU. Quite a lot slower than the iPhone 4S and actually slower than some of Samsung's other recent Android phones. If you plan to play any 3D games, especially at 720P, the GN is probably not the best choice. We'll have to wait and see what the benchmarks and real world performance are like though.
The review doesn't mention it but the GN has a rather weak GPU. Quite a lot slower than the iPhone 4S and actually slower than some of Samsung's other recent Android phones. If you plan to play any 3D games, especially at 720P, the GN is probably not the best choice. We'll have to wait and see what the benchmarks and real world performance are like though.
Noted (can't edit anymore). Thats a shame, especially given the high res display.
Having said that, there is really not widespread use of the GPUs out there today. I hope that will change, but 3d gaming on phones (especially that pushes the GPUs to the limit) is very much niche right now.
Having said that, there is really not widespread use of the GPUs out there today. I hope that will change, but 3d gaming on phones (especially that pushes the GPUs to the limit) is very much niche right now.
Odd, given that a GPU-accelerated UI is one of the headline features of ICS. Perhaps they chose a GPU that's better for UI than gaming (but is there such a thing?).
This and the 4S are different enough that a comparison is hard (as someone that's contemplating either an ICS phone or a 4S soon, I'll vouch for that) - I think "competitive" is a good way to put it.
Siri and the tight integration with Apple TV (specifically, the ability to mirror) are way ahead of their Android equivalents. The countless docks and accessories for the iPhone also give you a lot of options.
The camera looks to be a worthwhile advantage for the 4S - the motion-stabilized video in particular really stand out and make video actually worth watching/sharing.
People dismiss this as pedantic, but iOS's app advantage is still worth noting. GarageBand and iMovie are easily the most sophisticated mobile apps I've seen yet - Android equivalents (there really isn't one for GarageBand) aren't in the ballpark. If you're bored, $.99 will get you a great game optimized for the newest hardware like Scribblenauts or Shadowgun - Android looks to be at least a year behind. There always seems to be an Instagram/Orchestra/Oink with no Android equivalent.
But how do you weigh that against a larger screen that looks far better for reading and video? Similarly, this makes Android's already far superior Maps more useful. And I could see ICS's live voice transcription being just as much of an advantage as Siri. These are arguably more common use-cases than the Apple advantages I just listed.
All this to say that I wish it were an easy choice which were superior.
Siri and the tight integration with Apple TV (specifically, the ability to mirror) are way ahead of their Android equivalents. The countless docks and accessories for the iPhone also give you a lot of options.
The camera looks to be a worthwhile advantage for the 4S - the motion-stabilized video in particular really stand out and make video actually worth watching/sharing.
People dismiss this as pedantic, but iOS's app advantage is still worth noting. GarageBand and iMovie are easily the most sophisticated mobile apps I've seen yet - Android equivalents (there really isn't one for GarageBand) aren't in the ballpark. If you're bored, $.99 will get you a great game optimized for the newest hardware like Scribblenauts or Shadowgun - Android looks to be at least a year behind. There always seems to be an Instagram/Orchestra/Oink with no Android equivalent.
But how do you weigh that against a larger screen that looks far better for reading and video? Similarly, this makes Android's already far superior Maps more useful. And I could see ICS's live voice transcription being just as much of an advantage as Siri. These are arguably more common use-cases than the Apple advantages I just listed.
All this to say that I wish it were an easy choice which were superior.
I think it's just very practical (regardless of the light it casts, and FWIW, the Nexus got a perfect score).
Comparing form factors with the iPhone works because the iPhones have always been around the same size. Comparing displays to the retina display works because it's the most common smartphone display.
If they said "it's good" or "it's as good as the ObscurePhone X4", it would be harder for me (and probably others) to rate the Nexus.
Comparing form factors with the iPhone works because the iPhones have always been around the same size. Comparing displays to the retina display works because it's the most common smartphone display.
If they said "it's good" or "it's as good as the ObscurePhone X4", it would be harder for me (and probably others) to rate the Nexus.
(I realized that the perfect score was software, not display, right when noprocrast locked me out, I stand by the rest re: framing everything by the current iPhone.)
Pentile is great engineering. Given the choice I'd have a pentile display with the same number of sub-pixels over the alternative any day. If it was the same number of pixels, I'd maybe swing the other way but generally pentile has been a victim of the fanboy wars because (so far at least) Apple hasn't used it.
Though I believe it was rumoured (and frankly would have made engineering sense) for them to use it when they quadrupled the resolution in the iPhone 4 but Samsung couldn't guarantee enough production to fulfil Apple's expected demand. I can easily imagine another world where Apple makes some slick videos explaining the benefits of Pentile and anyone who doesn't have it is mocked, similar to how the iPhone's Retina Display, which they admit in the very name goes beyond the point of visibility in normal use is considered the minimum benchmark for a good screen.
Though I believe it was rumoured (and frankly would have made engineering sense) for them to use it when they quadrupled the resolution in the iPhone 4 but Samsung couldn't guarantee enough production to fulfil Apple's expected demand. I can easily imagine another world where Apple makes some slick videos explaining the benefits of Pentile and anyone who doesn't have it is mocked, similar to how the iPhone's Retina Display, which they admit in the very name goes beyond the point of visibility in normal use is considered the minimum benchmark for a good screen.
Pentile may be great engineering but the colors it shows are not true, and it has significant banding across solid colors. As an interface designer, it makes my eyes bleed and my graphics look sub-standard.
Are you talking AMOLED or pentile? AMOLED has a distinctive color-cast at low brightness and a color gamut that exceeds the standard which can make it look cartoony, but so do other screens e.g. the iPhones 3 and 4 which have too small a range and can look washed out as a result. The banding sounds like an AMOLED problem too (unless you mean the "stippling" type effect you can see if the pixels are big enough).
But neither of your complaints appears to be related to pentile vs RGB stripe. If you're talking about low pixel density then it's the same Mac OS vs Windows text rendering debate. There's not enough pixels so which kind of ugly do you prefer (or are you used to)? Some people like the hand wrangled pixels, other just let it fall where it lands. Things designed for one system will look worse on the other and especially bad to people who prefer the other look.
But neither of your complaints appears to be related to pentile vs RGB stripe. If you're talking about low pixel density then it's the same Mac OS vs Windows text rendering debate. There's not enough pixels so which kind of ugly do you prefer (or are you used to)? Some people like the hand wrangled pixels, other just let it fall where it lands. Things designed for one system will look worse on the other and especially bad to people who prefer the other look.
Are you talking about from personal experience with the phone, or are you just comparing the screen size and ignoring all the reviews? I think having an irrational love for any device is plain stupid, and you seem to be exhibiting it for this phone.
Quite impressive. 10 for performance and software (iPhone 4S received 8 and 9). The device seems to be very good, but ICS is the star here. I am eagerly waiting to receive the update at my Nexus S.
Talking purely about looks: The look is a massive improvement over Honeycomb with its terrible 1980s future look (and quite obviously so much better than anything Android offered before).
I still prefer iOS on tablets (I like the changes Apple made for the iPad and I also think that for some strange reason iOS visually works better on tablets than phones) but on smartphones there are now two OS – WP7, too – that look better than iOS†.
That’s looks. I’m definitely looking forward to trying ICS out and it looks like Google put a lot of work into fixing many (all?) of the little and big annoyances that previously made me want to throw Android devices at the wall when I used them for longer than ten minutes.
It’s nice that Android is shaping up as a real alternative for me. (What’s a bit annoying is that if you want a phone without all the crap you have about as much choice as when you buy an iPhone. I’m not sure whether Google wants to or can change that with ICS.)
—
† Android still gets details wrong. I can live with that. More or less, I guess.
I still prefer iOS on tablets (I like the changes Apple made for the iPad and I also think that for some strange reason iOS visually works better on tablets than phones) but on smartphones there are now two OS – WP7, too – that look better than iOS†.
That’s looks. I’m definitely looking forward to trying ICS out and it looks like Google put a lot of work into fixing many (all?) of the little and big annoyances that previously made me want to throw Android devices at the wall when I used them for longer than ten minutes.
It’s nice that Android is shaping up as a real alternative for me. (What’s a bit annoying is that if you want a phone without all the crap you have about as much choice as when you buy an iPhone. I’m not sure whether Google wants to or can change that with ICS.)
—
† Android still gets details wrong. I can live with that. More or less, I guess.
Completely agree that it's a massive improvement over Tron-inspired Honeycomb.
Also agree that the UX looks massively improved as well. It always felt like features and ugly shininess took precedence over UX before, but it seems like Duarte is having a good influence here.
On crapware, one of the announced features for ICS is that you can disable (meaning stop from running and hide from app drawers and home screens) any app from system settings.
The sort of obvious thing (to me) for them to do going forward is to platformize Android better, so that manufacturers/vendors can differentiate by adding UI components, etc. in a modular way that's easy to turn off, and easy to update around. I.e. there should be a big VANILLA ANDROID button in the settings, and they should push updates more aggressively.
But ICS definitely looks like a step in the right direction.
Also agree that the UX looks massively improved as well. It always felt like features and ugly shininess took precedence over UX before, but it seems like Duarte is having a good influence here.
On crapware, one of the announced features for ICS is that you can disable (meaning stop from running and hide from app drawers and home screens) any app from system settings.
The sort of obvious thing (to me) for them to do going forward is to platformize Android better, so that manufacturers/vendors can differentiate by adding UI components, etc. in a modular way that's easy to turn off, and easy to update around. I.e. there should be a big VANILLA ANDROID button in the settings, and they should push updates more aggressively.
But ICS definitely looks like a step in the right direction.
Am I the only one who thinks that a 10/10 is... let's say, hard to believe ? What does that mean? In terms of software, it doesn't have bugs, it's completeley optimized and you have days of battery life and tons of available memory ? Is the integration of all functionalities perfect ? You don't need task managers to kill faulty apps ?
Anyhow, we are in a free world where everyone can make reviews and I'm glad we are in that world.
Anyhow, we are in a free world where everyone can make reviews and I'm glad we are in that world.
You're not the only one hung up on it, no. But I don't see anything strange about a 10/10 score. It doesn't imply perfection, only relative excellence.
This is how it's always been with game reviews, for instance. A video game released in 1996 gets a 10/10 because it's better than other games yet seen. The same game released today would get panned. It doesn't imply any claim to absolute perfection.
This is how it's always been with game reviews, for instance. A video game released in 1996 gets a 10/10 because it's better than other games yet seen. The same game released today would get panned. It doesn't imply any claim to absolute perfection.
[deleted]
I'm rating this as a 10 in software in the current crop of phones, particularly against other Android offerings. Who knows what this will look like when Windows Phone 8 and iOS 6 are out. -by Joshua Topolsky 6:17 PM
I think it makes sense.
I think it makes sense.
Perhaps some more/better features, better e-mail and Calendar apps, better Maps/Navigation...etc. iOS still feels like a MVP when compared to Android. It may work excellent with the features it does have, but that doesn't mean it isn't more limited.
Grade inflation is rampant in reviews. The dynamic range is really effectively about 6.5/7 to 10. So a 10 actually means something more like 3 stars out of 3.
It might not necessarily be inflation.
Those who write extended reviews are likely to have fairly good intuition about which phones are good enough to write about. Nobody is going to spend days writing a review for a phone that someone would only get because it's "free" with a contract.
Those who write extended reviews are likely to have fairly good intuition about which phones are good enough to write about. Nobody is going to spend days writing a review for a phone that someone would only get because it's "free" with a contract.
Think of it as a 9.7, rounded up.
What's the current rumor for ICS release to other phone/tablet models? Such as the Nexus S?
It looks like many (most / all?) Honeycomb tablets will be upgrading to ICS. I don't find this terribly surprising given (a) the general opinion about Honeycomb (b) that (naturally) Honeycomb is closer to ICS than Gingerbread is.
Tablets I've heard about:
- ASUS Transformer (and Transformer Prime if necessary) update "soon" after the Transformer Prime launch (possibly before the end of the year) [1] I believe the Slider is also being upgraded, but I'm not sure whether or not it is on the same schedule.
- Acer Iconia tablets update January 2012
- Motorola XOOM confirmed (no ETA except for a retracted 6 weeks after source release). Surprisingly (for a launch device), it sounds like the XOOM won't be the first Android tablet to ICS.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab - all Honeycomb models are getting ICS (no ETA)
- Lenovo's working on a Tegra 3 ICS tablet (rumored to be out late this year), but I haven't seen anything about their existing Honeycomb tablets
[1] That probably sounds incredible if you haven't seen ASUS's stunning update history so far (beating the XOOM to worldwide rollouts of new Honeycomb versions and several feature/bugfix upgrades, to boot). I'm one happy ASUS customer.
Tablets I've heard about:
- ASUS Transformer (and Transformer Prime if necessary) update "soon" after the Transformer Prime launch (possibly before the end of the year) [1] I believe the Slider is also being upgraded, but I'm not sure whether or not it is on the same schedule.
- Acer Iconia tablets update January 2012
- Motorola XOOM confirmed (no ETA except for a retracted 6 weeks after source release). Surprisingly (for a launch device), it sounds like the XOOM won't be the first Android tablet to ICS.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab - all Honeycomb models are getting ICS (no ETA)
- Lenovo's working on a Tegra 3 ICS tablet (rumored to be out late this year), but I haven't seen anything about their existing Honeycomb tablets
[1] That probably sounds incredible if you haven't seen ASUS's stunning update history so far (beating the XOOM to worldwide rollouts of new Honeycomb versions and several feature/bugfix upgrades, to boot). I'm one happy ASUS customer.
For phones, most of the current "flagship" models (e.g. SGS2, Galaxy Note, Motorola/Droid RAZR, HTC Sensation, Amaze, etc.) have been promised ICS upgrades. The best manufacturer so far is Sony Ericsson, who has promised that their entire 2011 Xperia lineup will get ICS. If only they had some higher-end phones...
nexus s - mid december
a few other devices have announce 1Q11 or 2Q11 (mostly the latter)
a few other devices have announce 1Q11 or 2Q11 (mostly the latter)
In the video the phone looked like there is still some lag compared to an iPhone.
Where? Given the nature of past Android I'm inclined to believe it's possible, but I didn't see even a flinch in that video...
The browser looked worse. I suspect that really slow dragging is still an issue in some places. It still is head and shoulders better than old versions and I confused the lack of bouncy scrolling with lag in menus.
I obviously don't have an actual ICS device to test but - a) The emulator that came with v4.0 platform is more usable due to reasons I am not fully sure of. Previously where I would be spooked out by the thought of launching the browser and loading actual sites - it was much more pleasant this time around. Emulator boot up time for ICS AVD was also much faster. b) The browser has made some forward progress as far as HTML5 is concerned - 2.3 got 177 score on html5test.com - ICS one gets 230. Not sure why the <video> tag support and WebM support are still missing - may be just an emulator thing.
[Edit] Boot time improvement are due to SSD - The AVD manager chose my home directory on SSD to create the AVD file - my older ones were on standard HDD. But still the in-emulator navigation is somewhat better. May be improved drawing performance.
[Edit] Boot time improvement are due to SSD - The AVD manager chose my home directory on SSD to create the AVD file - my older ones were on standard HDD. But still the in-emulator navigation is somewhat better. May be improved drawing performance.
Complains about the camera's sensor, blames the lens.
Wait, what?
And what is objectively wrong with it? The big red text complains about "color reproduction" - does this guy know anything about photography? Neither camera is color-calibrated, that's what Lightroom is for.
Wait, what?
And what is objectively wrong with it? The big red text complains about "color reproduction" - does this guy know anything about photography? Neither camera is color-calibrated, that's what Lightroom is for.
You can't get RAW files out of that sensor (well, maybe someone will hack something together, but definitely not out of the box). Also, to rely on Lightroom, iPhoto, or any post-processor to get your photos to look good is a stupid strategy. People who take pictures with phone cameras by and large aren't at all interested in tweaking them later.
The onus is even stronger than on DSLRs to get the defaults and automatic settings right, since you're dealing with a demographic that is even less inclined to tweak, but will judge the results nonetheless.
I think the criticism is completely fair.
The onus is even stronger than on DSLRs to get the defaults and automatic settings right, since you're dealing with a demographic that is even less inclined to tweak, but will judge the results nonetheless.
I think the criticism is completely fair.
I think he means white balance. And since both cameras don’t output raw files Lightroom won’t help you (much) with that. Besides: Consumer cameras should generally have a good automatic white balance since the vast majority of people will never bother to manually tweak.
That whole sensor/lens mixup is probably an honest mistake. He was talking about software vs hardware and not really going so much into detail as that making a distinction between sensor and lens would matter. He was talking about the whole sensor and lens package as a whole.
That whole sensor/lens mixup is probably an honest mistake. He was talking about software vs hardware and not really going so much into detail as that making a distinction between sensor and lens would matter. He was talking about the whole sensor and lens package as a whole.
RAW is good, but you can still get some benefit in crappy cellphone JPGs.
I've had to make batches of personnel photos taken with an iPhone look presentable for a web page on several occasions. A few seconds to set the white balance and normalize the orientation and scale makes a significant difference. It doesn't make it into a great photo, but nothing short of going back with an SLR is going to do that.
Also part of why I think claims about the awesomeness of the iPhone camera should be taken with a pound of salt. It's a fairly nice cell camera, but it's still a cell camera.
I've had to make batches of personnel photos taken with an iPhone look presentable for a web page on several occasions. A few seconds to set the white balance and normalize the orientation and scale makes a significant difference. It doesn't make it into a great photo, but nothing short of going back with an SLR is going to do that.
Also part of why I think claims about the awesomeness of the iPhone camera should be taken with a pound of salt. It's a fairly nice cell camera, but it's still a cell camera.
Sure, there is some room to play but with JPG it’s possible that some photos are not recoverable. If you get the raw output auto white balance is basically completely irrelevant (beyond convenience). No matter how badly the white balance screwed up, it’s always possible to recover (since it’s all software and you are working with the original input data).
But I don’t think it’s necessary to go that far. Even a budget DSLR that is perfectly capable of shooting raw should have great auto white balance: Most people don’t want to endlessly tweak photos. Better auto white balance means better photos, even if theoretically everything could be fixed in post.
Oh, and just because smartphone cameras are nowhere near as good as DSLRs doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful to compare them with each other, doesn’t mean one can’t be much better than another one.
But I don’t think it’s necessary to go that far. Even a budget DSLR that is perfectly capable of shooting raw should have great auto white balance: Most people don’t want to endlessly tweak photos. Better auto white balance means better photos, even if theoretically everything could be fixed in post.
Oh, and just because smartphone cameras are nowhere near as good as DSLRs doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful to compare them with each other, doesn’t mean one can’t be much better than another one.
"it’s always possible to recover"
Only if the initial exposure was good.
Only if the initial exposure was good.
See, I wanted to mention that but completely forgot about it while writing. (Still, you might have been a little more charitable with me. I think the context made it pretty clear what I was talking about.)
I was only talking about color, not exposure. (Of course there is only so much white balance can do – but if you get the raw data you can do just as much with the color as the camera, heck, you can even throw more processing power at the problem than the camera ever could.)
I was only talking about color, not exposure. (Of course there is only so much white balance can do – but if you get the raw data you can do just as much with the color as the camera, heck, you can even throw more processing power at the problem than the camera ever could.)
Disappointed by the camera though - 5 MPs is fine if the sensors are up to scratch, but the 4S's camera is just so outstanding (and 8 MPs) that a so-so camera might actually swing it for me.
I don't think most people will make their decision between an iPhone 4S and a Galaxy Nexus because of a slightly better camera. Sure, it might be even a lot better, but at the end of the day, they are both far from point and shoot quality.
I think most people would rather choose between them because of each one's software or even hardware. Company allegiances/principles/beliefs will go a long way in making the decision, too, for some people.
I think most people would rather choose between them because of each one's software or even hardware. Company allegiances/principles/beliefs will go a long way in making the decision, too, for some people.
I agree. Personally, I don't expect great photos from my phone, but I am really excited about how fast the camera is. (This was one of the things that made me really envious of the iPhone 4S.) Because if I want to take really nice photos, I'll bring my DSLR. But the phone camera is for situations when you want to capture a moment, and speed is more important in that situation than quality, at least for me.
True, but personally, I have no allegiance to either Android nor iOS, although I've used the 4S a lot and really like it. Ultimately both offer a fast OS which does everything you'd expect, and both have drawbacks and advantages, but if your in neither ecosystem then things like the camera do actually become more important than you'd think (especially to the non-tech savvy demograph). [EDIT - I guess, in my original post, "so so camera" is a pretty unfair assessment...]
I'd like to try out the nexus and see if the form factor and ICS UI works with me, although it certainly looks lovely!
I'd like to try out the nexus and see if the form factor and ICS UI works with me, although it certainly looks lovely!
Untrue. That is the one point that is currently making me swing towards the iPhone.. My current point&shoot produces worse pictures than either (in fairness, it's 3 1/2 years old). Two years of better pictures is an issue to me..
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While I find Topolsky's ultimate conclusion of a 10/10 a bit hard to believe given the plastic case a mediocre camera sensor, I was impressed with the review. It was very detailed without being excessively long and it was presented in an easy-to-follow manner. Look forward to seeing more from The Verge.
The overall score is 8.6/10, not 10/10. They gave it 10/10 on software and performance, which has nothing to do with the plastic case and the camera sensor. FYI the for the camera it got a 7/10.
Yes, I've been fairly impressed with the Verge so far, it's quickly becoming my go-to gadget site.
My biggest disappointment is that the comments suck already. A good comments section on a popular site requires a lot of work from the moderators, but it is possible. But crappy comments are like weeds -- once you let one or two through, they multiply quickly until they take over the site, which has already happened.
My biggest disappointment is that the comments suck already. A good comments section on a popular site requires a lot of work from the moderators, but it is possible. But crappy comments are like weeds -- once you let one or two through, they multiply quickly until they take over the site, which has already happened.
I'm very curious to see hands on reviews of ICS on the tablet form factor. When are the first tablets supposed to ship with or receive the ICS update??
No proper announcements yet; but Asus seems to be saying early December for the Transformer.
The TouchPad and Nook will be running ICS very soon.
Yay, a notification LED!
This tiny feature alone makes it a serious contender for me.
However, I'll definitely wait for the first real-world reviews to learn whether ICS finally does away with the infuriating stalls and input lags that have plagued all of my previous android devices (up to the SGS).
This tiny feature alone makes it a serious contender for me.
However, I'll definitely wait for the first real-world reviews to learn whether ICS finally does away with the infuriating stalls and input lags that have plagued all of my previous android devices (up to the SGS).
> However, I'll definitely wait for the first real-world reviews to learn whether ICS finally does away with the infuriating stalls and input lags that have plagued all of my previous android devices ...
I'm really hoping the new hardware acceleration stuff will help a lot. I think I read somewhere they also tweaked MotionEvent handling to decrease input latency (though I can't find the link for the life of me).
From the review:
"As far as phone performance is concerned, however, the Galaxy Nexus feels blazingly, stupidly fast to me. Touch response is excellent on the phone — everything reacts quickly to your movements. Homescreen scrolling was snappy, moving into and out of apps was instantaneous, swiping through long lists was stutter free, and web browsing (even on heavy pages like ours) was super speedy."
and...
"I want to note that moving around all of these screens is buttery smooth. There's no lag, no stutter. Animations are fluid, and everything feels cohesive and solid."
I'm really hoping the new hardware acceleration stuff will help a lot. I think I read somewhere they also tweaked MotionEvent handling to decrease input latency (though I can't find the link for the life of me).
From the review:
"As far as phone performance is concerned, however, the Galaxy Nexus feels blazingly, stupidly fast to me. Touch response is excellent on the phone — everything reacts quickly to your movements. Homescreen scrolling was snappy, moving into and out of apps was instantaneous, swiping through long lists was stutter free, and web browsing (even on heavy pages like ours) was super speedy."
and...
"I want to note that moving around all of these screens is buttery smooth. There's no lag, no stutter. Animations are fluid, and everything feels cohesive and solid."
No USB Mass Storage support on the Galaxy Nexus. Well, for us Linux (and Mac) users that's some bad news.
Really ? That's your dealbreaker ? MTP has been supported for long time on Linux… Just tried it on gnome and kde, no problem.
BTW, MTP has great advantages from an engineering PoV: you don't have to use a crappy FAT filesystem on your eMMC. You don't have to give full control over an essential piece of storage to another OS, so you can continue accessing data/apps installed on the storage.
BTW, MTP has great advantages from an engineering PoV: you don't have to use a crappy FAT filesystem on your eMMC. You don't have to give full control over an essential piece of storage to another OS, so you can continue accessing data/apps installed on the storage.
I don't know which device you tried with Linux but Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not working on my Linux even though every library and package related to MTP are installed.
There's Android File Transfer for Mac users, which supports MTP. Not sure there's anything at all for Linux users.
This issue has turned the phone from must-have to never-want for me - it's unbelievably handy to essentially have a 32GB USB hard disk in my pocket wherever I go. Are there any actual advantages to MTP or PTP for end users?
This issue has turned the phone from must-have to never-want for me - it's unbelievably handy to essentially have a 32GB USB hard disk in my pocket wherever I go. Are there any actual advantages to MTP or PTP for end users?
Apps like SSHDroid and SMBDroid can make your phone act as a file server on WiFi.
MTP allows the storage to be accessed by the phone and computer at the same time.
MTP allows the storage to be accessed by the phone and computer at the same time.
Does anyone know how this compares to the Motorola Razr? Is there a good site comparing different Android hardware?
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I might missed an announcement here - but will Verizon load their bloatware onto ICS, or has Google managed to get them to ship a clean Android installation on these phones?
Generally these Google flagship devices have little to no bloatware (depending on what you consider bloatware), and one of the more interesting parts of the ICS announcement was that you can easily disable apps (which stops from running and removes them from home/app screens but not from the device) pretty easily from system settings.
Nice. As far as I know, this is the first time that Verizon has one of the flagship devices - so didn't know if they were to give this phone the same bloatware treatment as my Droid X.
Well, the original Droid was kind of an almost-flagship. It was marketed in conjunction with Google, and it had an unlocked bootloader, unlike subsequent Verizon Motorola Droids. It also wasn't skinned with MotoBlur.
I've owned both the original Droid and the Droid X, and the original one definitely had less crapware, and the vanilla OS was nice, as was the much easier modding.
I've actually really liked Motorola hardware, and I like the more angular, more dinstinctive industrial design of the Motorola devices better than Samsung devices, but I have to admit that I'm drooling over this phone. ICS looks amazing, and seems to address almost every complaint I've had about Android so far.
I've owned both the original Droid and the Droid X, and the original one definitely had less crapware, and the vanilla OS was nice, as was the much easier modding.
I've actually really liked Motorola hardware, and I like the more angular, more dinstinctive industrial design of the Motorola devices better than Samsung devices, but I have to admit that I'm drooling over this phone. ICS looks amazing, and seems to address almost every complaint I've had about Android so far.
And with access to the source, why couldn't the carriers/handset makers just hack the OS to disable the app disabling of their particular bloatware? Unless there's a license agreement that might prevent this...
No Bloatware except Google (many apps), Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter apps.
From the screenshots I've seen, there is one Verizon app on this phone.
However, ICS now has a feature to DISABLE system apps. More about it here: http://www.theverge.com/2011/10/20/2502299/bloatware-kill-sw...
Arrington's view of the original Droid is what tipped me fully into buying the phone. I think Josh's review of this may have cemented me for the Galaxy Nexus.
As an aside, damn that's a good looking website!
Anyone from EU here with an information which online shop already has them in stock? Amazon.de says 1 to 3 weeks, meh.
They arrive in-stock on the 23rd to the majority of online retailers I believe. I bought mine from http://www.unlocked-mobiles.com/sim-free-mobile-phones/samsu... and I have been told that I will receive it on the 24th.
Thanks!
Great. Another blindingly fast phone that sucks batteries dry. I love the zippiness, really, but I need a phone that runs longer than 4 hours, K? I actually use my phone TO MAKE PHONE CALLS.
And if you bought ANY dock (desktop, car) for your other 200 nexus models, get ready to buy a new one for the latest one.
This is the third Nexus; there are only two (not 200) other Nexus models. The form factors are quite different between the devices, so I wouldn't expect dock compatibility in any case.
I know but i still have a point.
They decided Not to implement USB host. Create a custom dumb one write port. Its so dumb it doesn't last one single generation (all docks had production ceased ... except nexus one's that are back)
They decided Not to implement USB host. Create a custom dumb one write port. Its so dumb it doesn't last one single generation (all docks had production ceased ... except nexus one's that are back)
</shamelessplug>
Edit: Most of our users are on the Xoom (and some other tablets). I have not been able to test on the Galaxy Nexus yet. If you have bug reports, please send them to [email protected]