WHDI Reviews – Wireless HDTV News

Verizon Galaxy Nexus 4G LTE Official

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is Google’s latest flagship phone and is available exclusively from Verizon in the US. Since those who want an unlocked version of it will have to pay for an international purchase and shipping, Verizon is going to enjoy a good deal of monopoly for the time being.

Also known as the Verizon Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Nexus 4G LTE, this I the first phone to be running Android’s latest 4.0 version — Ice Cream Sandwich. Yummy! Better yet, it is also connected to the fastest network available in the US — Verizon’s 4G LTE service. So it is a double win for the carrier and Google.

Coming to the hardware, the first thing you will notice is that this is a really large phone. The Verizon version is slightly thicker compared to the international version, owning most likely to a larger battery. It has a brilliant 4.65inch 720p (1280×720) Super AMOLED display that you will absolutely love and it is protected by a sheet of slightly curved fortified glass. It has connecting dots for a drop-in dock, headphone port and also microUSB. There’s a 5MP camera with LED flash at back and a 2MP camera up front.

Once you turn on the phone, the difference between the Android 4.0 ICS environment and the preceding Gingerbread one is quite stark. But not it is alienating and is in line with what is happening outside the Android realms. So modern users will feel right at home. And there’s also a handy manual to get started with.

There are two Verizon apps on this version of the super phone and they are actually quite helpful for Verizon customers. The over all UI of ICS is aesthetically pleasing and in line with the current OS design cues that are minimal and flat in nature.

Powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP 4 dual core processor, you are in for a battery draining but really smooth software experience. And if you think that processing muscle is good for gaming, you are quite right. However, the high-resolution display is the one thing that slows the device down as compared to others running the same combination.

Given the larger screen, you would have a lot of fun playing most games. Genres like FPS, RPG’s etc. also open up really well on the added screen space here.

The camera hardware on the Galaxy Nexus is not half bad but then it is greatly augmented by the ICS software, which gives it the power to shoot really good photos both close up and wide. The combination of both allows you to have very quick repetitive shots. Not has quick as continuous shooting modes on even the most DSLRs perhaps but fast enough to leave other smartphones behind. As is the bane of every phone camera that has a small sensor, low light results are grainy at best.

Over all, this phone is something you can definitely look forward to for its great software/hardware combination. And if you are in the US, you can just stroll over to the nearest Verizon store to get one as long as you don’t mind a Verizon contract.