Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

I was hesitant at first to get the Nexus S. It wasn't much better on paper than the Vibrant Galaxy S I owned. So far I've been very happy. The experience of a clean 2.3 install is amazing. The carriers are shooting themselves in the foot by installing bloatware and the handset manufactures are shooting themselves in the foot by modifying the skin.<p>I could have waited for 2.3 from Samsung but I lost faith in them. Too many promises broken over time. TouchWiz is junkie and to much to support. Samsung doesn't care about keeping the experience up to date, they'd rather I just buy a new phone. So I'm voting with my dollars and getting a phone from someone who will update it. (I do see the irony in that Samsung actually manufactured the Nexus S)<p>But I also am apprehensive about the Nexus S. There is no Best Buy in my town that sells T-Mobile service. I had to argue with the cell phone sales rep who told me the only way to get one was to order online. Turns out they were in a closet behind another box. How is a non-technical person going to behold the beauty of such a phone when it's not even out on the show floor.

"...I love my Nexus One and was hesitant to replace it but the Nexus S looks like the exact same phone, just better..."<p>Same phone? Really?<p>I was really looking forward to the S to replace my N1 but no matter how I slice it I keep coming up disappointed on the hardware. No SD slot, no trackball/touch-pad, no notification light, all items I use regularly. I really want to continue the pure Google experience and immediate updates but as of today I prefer the Desire Z specs over this phone by a significant margin. I am feeling really torn so I'm going to keep the N1 for awhile I guess.

To anyone looking to get a Nexus S in the UK:<p>The link from <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/nexus/" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.co.uk/nexus/</a> takes you to: <a href="http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/NEXUS_S_FROM_GOOGLE" rel="nofollow">http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/NEXUS...</a><p>Here, the Pay As You Go model is £549.95 and the Pay Monthly model is free from £30/month with the usual low low usage caps (and in some cases apparently no internet allowance included at all?).<p>However the sim-free model is a slightly more reasonable £430, on the same website. The page is harder to find. I have absolutely no idea why anyone would order the PAYG "model" (as in it's exactly the same phone) instead of this + a free sim card from any provider.<p><a href="http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/choose-tariff/NEXUS-S-FROM-GOOGLE/HANDSET/" rel="nofollow">http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/choose-tariff/NEXUS...</a><p>By the way, I've been using the giffgaff sim-only network for a month and recommend you take a look. Unmetered internet usage is the big one.

I tried a Nexus S demo phone the other day, and was disappointed (comparing it with an iPhone 4). The Nexus (and most all Android) phones are jerky compared with iOS. It's also not as responsive. An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion. Android doesn't seem to respond as fast to swipes as well. I've had the G1, Nexus One, Evo 4g... and they've all been horrible to me. The biggest advantage Android has over the iPhone is price and a wide selection of handsets. I'm hoping Android 3.0 will bring a big design overhaul.

I'm not sure the perceived "improvements" (especially regarding to the speed) is due to hardware or software upgrades, as NS is still the only official 2.3 game in town.<p>Hardware wise, Nexus S doesn't have a spec that can totally blow you away. But when N1 came, it was clear that N1 was the king, and it was so for quite a while.

The difference between the Nexus One and Nexus S is that when the Nexus One came out not only was it the best spec'ed Android phone you could get, but it would be the best spec'ed for some time.<p>While I think you can argue that the Nexus S is the best spec'ed Android phone today (and I think there's an argument to be made against it, with phones like the Epic 4G that includes 4G support, while the S doesn't have HSPA+, a really odd omission), it seems pretty clear that this will be pretty short lived... we've already seen leaks of phones like the Optimus 2X that will be out shortly

Seems like much of this review is describing how, "once you get over problems X, Y and Z", it's very close to being like an iPhone.

The lack of HD video recording absolutely blows me away. How could they _remove_ features from the Nexus S line? Make the damn thing a half millimeter thicker if you have to and it will still be thinner that the old version plus a Flip video.

Is he saying a feature of the camera is tha t you can attach a shot of the photographer into each photo eg using both cameras at once?<p>If so that's awesome.

So to buy this would I order one from best buy and then buy the tmobile prepaid? The tmobile website seems to imply I need to activate a phone first?

I've been using the nexus s for a few days and I enjoy it. The biggest problem I have is the lack of notifications. No blinking leds or anything.

Blah. I have a droid and I want to microwave it on a dail basis. Weird crashes, wrong apps launch when i press their apps, etc.

I liked the last paragraph. iTunes really is a terrible part of the iOS experience.

I hope the Nexus S will be available in Germany and other countries. :)