Galaxy Nexus Review Rev.B

By on December 9th, 2011 21

Once again, happy Friday ya’ll.

Last week I posted my review on the Galaxy Nexus. Within that review I also compared it to my previous Galaxy S II LTE from Rogers. If you missed that review, you can find it here. 

The Galaxy Nexus got a couple bad marks in my books at the time of testing. With recent patches and app updates, I figured it would be fair to give it a 2nd go.

Some of the issues I had were the following:

  • Low speaker volume
  • Low brightness/dull colors
  • Poor picture quality when uploading to G+
  • Lack of MicroSD and LTE
  • Signal drops
  • Music duplication bug
  • Poor battery/Battery drain.

The list seems pretty big for just one phone. I got this phone early, about two weeks before it went on sale in Canada. Since then, I have tweaked a few things. I either fixed my own issues or google updated apps to resolve issues.

Low Speaker Volume: It is true that the Galaxy Nexus speaker is extremely weak, but there are ways to help people like me who rely on a loud speaker. There is a free app on the market called ‘Volume+’ which will allow tweak the equalizer built within your phone to make the volume appear louder. This of course sacrifies a little bit of quality, as the sound often comes out more tinny if set incorrectly. It’s not a fix for the poor speaker, but at least we have an option to try and put a bandaid on it. There are other apps as well that advertise that same volume boosting options, but none that I found have really done as good of a job as Volume+.

Another alternative that I have started doing, is I edit my sound files in GarageBand or other MP3 editor and then boosting the volume to about 160%. This has made my notifications hearable in a moderately noisy environment.  If anyone knows of a better app, feel free to share within the comments.

Low Brightness/Dull Colors: I personally had a problem with the very low ‘auto-brightness’ the Galaxy Nexus has. Quite often I find the screen is too dark, when I really wanted it to be brighter. I’m too lazy to keep adjusting the brightness slider or grab and widget/tool from the marker. I believe this issue comes from the fact that my previous phone is the Galaxy S II LTE. This phone has a very high brightness and the difference was night and day. After using the Galaxy Nexus for a little while longer, it started to grow on me. I didn’t really notice the dull colors or brightness anymore. I still would like to see it a little brighter, but it’s not too terribly bad. I know others prefer the darker screen over the bright vivid screen.

Poor Picture Quality When Uploading to Google+: I can’t recall how many discussions I had about this issue. I primarily use Google+ as my social media app, so having poor picture uploads were a big issue for me. Myself, as well as all other Galaxy Nexus owners were suffering from this issue. We were only able to upload picture from our phones at about 320 x 320 pixels, 16kb size, that’s nearly thumbnail size. Thankfully Google updated Google+ for support of high resolution pictures. My pictures from Galaxy Nexus now upload to nearly 2000 x 2000 and 1.5MB. Picture quality is now and once again outstanding. Thanks Google!

Lack of MicroSD and LTE:   The lack of MicroSD is something I have had a hard time dealing with during my two weeks of play. I was forced to slim down my music collection by about 25%. MicroSD isn’t something I absolutely need, but it’s defiantly something I really enjoy having.

LTE is also something I really miss. Those who have actually used LTE will know what I’m talking about here. Going from LTE back to HSPA+ is like going from Cable Internet back to the old 56K Fax dial up modem, you really feel the difference. If you have never used LTE, you may not see it as clearly as we do. Sadly, I’m still disappointed in the Nexus for not including these features in our Canadian release.

Signal Drops: When I initially got my Galaxy Nexus, it was loaded with the baseband ‘I9250XXKK1′. I flashed the recently leaked radio ‘I9250XXKK6′ which has fixed all my signal related issues. Note that not everyone will suffer from signal drops on the stock ‘I9250XXKK1′ baseband, as it preforms differently from region to region.

Music Duplication Bug: The music duplication is something that haunted me for a while. When I would play my music through bluetooth headphones, that’s when it really effected me. When I would stop my music and continue playing a short time later, it would start in the wrong spot or even play an incorrect song. This was easily fixed by disabling the stock Google Music app and replacing it with an Android Market music player of my choice.

Poor Battery/Battery Drain: A large portion of my battery drain was caused from the music duplication bug described above. When I disabled the stock music app, I noticed a substancial battery gain during music playback. Doing a couple other minor things such as, turning off live wallpapers, turning off GPS and disabling background data access for certain apps. The stock music app was the major culprit in my battery drain.

Rooting: Since my initial review, I have rooted my Galaxy Nexus. Aside from using Adfree ad blocker and Titanium backup, I still don’t see a big deal about rooting at this point in time. Although, with many custom roms on the way, that could change very quickly.

I posted a couple days ago how to root your Galaxy Nexus. If you want to find that post, you can find it here.

Final Thoughts: Since the first review I did, many things have been fixed. I have either found a way to fix them myself, or Google has released updates to address the issues. Learning that most of my issues have been resolved, I’m starting to have a new found respect for the Galaxy Nexus. As my Galaxy S II LTE and Galaxy Nexus sit side by side on their respective chargers, I often find myself reaching for the Galaxy Nexus more often.

The Galaxy Nexus has the possibility of being my premier phone for a while. I’m pretty sure Google will also help this along by providing constant support. With the Galaxy Nexus being released internationally, we will have many custom roms to look forward to in the future as well.

 

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Categories: Android Phones, News, Reviews, Rooting

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  • Brian Crook

    My 2 day-old Galaxy Nexus from Virgin has the I9250UGKK7 radio. So far it seems rock solid on Rogers.

    • Cass Morrison

      It’s the same baseband for the bell version

    • https://plus.google.com/u/0/108837104756408823233/posts Tom Gray

      Just downloaded the UGKK7 Radio. Currently using the Stock Google XXKK6. I will flash UGKK7 tonight and see how it goes. I too use Rogers.

  • http://twitter.com/judevbrown Jude Brown

    My N1 had stellar GPS performance. My NS had decent performance with Cyanogen but the stock version (which I am currently running as I wait for ICS) is horrid. How is your experience with the GN?

    • Brian Crook

      Honestly, I haven’t used the GPS enough to be able to tell you. I’ve had the same phone lineup but I found the Nexus One was terrible at times. A lot of it was due to Cyanogenmod nightlies…they seemed to go from fantastic to crap very quickly. I don’t ever remember having a problem with the NS, so it was probably fine.

      I just fired up GPS Test and it picked up about 7 satellites fairly quickly but I am in a concrete block building. 
      Any other questions?

      • http://twitter.com/judevbrown Jude Brown

        Thanks! Never used nightlies with my N1 – probably why mine was great. My NS is bone stock. 

  • http://twitter.com/judevbrown Jude Brown

    How is the GPS Brian?

  • Terry Cameron

    As more people adopt LTE it too will become slower… just like HSPA did around my area. :/

  • Janesawj

    Sorry for the lack of linkage but since you are rooted and have a problem with the auto brightness i thought ivwould mention there is a great tweak available on xda in the gnex dev section which applies new ( brighter ) levels of auto brightness. This imo helped alot andvibhave gottenbalot better response from people about the screen whem showing off my phone

    • https://plus.google.com/u/0/108837104756408823233/posts Tom Gray

      Thank you very much. I will check that out.

  • Anonymous

    As I’m a little OCD I cant help to point out that as this is the first revision of your review it is actually “Review Rev. A”.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=120407310 Dan Cotfas

    You had to slim down your music collection?

    You were the one who posted the guide on Google Music!  Dude!  Maybe you can offload some of that collection to the cloud ;)

    • https://plus.google.com/u/0/108837104756408823233/posts Tom Gray

      I believe it was my friend Ryan Moore who posted that.

      When I’m at work streaming 8 hours of music, I fear Google musics cloud. I’m not sure if it’s going to destroy my battery or not lol

  • Ray2Jerry

    Great review! I have tried many different places here in Canada to get a carrier or retailer to sell me a Galaxy Nexus off contract but NONE will without first at least activating a 30 day plan + crazy activation fees… is there anywhere I can buy it off contract like they advertise but won’t deliver on?

    Thanks!rAy

    • https://plus.google.com/u/0/108837104756408823233/posts Tom Gray

      Yes. You need to call all your local futureshops and bestbuys. If one says no, try another. Someone is bound to say yes. Once you get the right answer, take that persons name down and head over asap to get it.

      If all say no, try again the next day. They will eventually get sick of you, or a new employee will say yes.

      I normally have to call 3-4 before someone will finally do it. This has worked for two people for the Galaxy Nexus that has asked me the same thing :) 10 no’s and 1 yes is still a yes.

      Sent from my Android

    • Ray2Jerry

      So I think I figured out a way…

      I ordered the phone with a 30 day $20 talk and text plan and the phone at full price with free shipping from the website (I figured I could do this in store but would likely have a lot of trouble getting a rep to only sign me up on the cheapest short term plan possible with no data plan lol). Apparently after 30 days I can dump the plan and keep the phone without penalty :D

      Then again it’s a major carrier we are dealing with, so it usually can never be that easy… I guess we shall see! haha. I will try to update on how it all went down…

      rAy

    • http://twitter.com/spikenet00 John Lyristis

      Goto Virgin Mobile, they will sell you the phone outright on a 30 day open contract. You take the lowest plan (20$) and cancel after 14 days. Price 649.99 + 20.00
      Good luck!

      • Ray2Jerry

        Thanks for the advice! It looks like we may have had the same idea at the same time haha.

        I’m hoping this works out, the GNex would be PERFECT on my special promo $40 unlimited everything WIND plan ;) More than makes up for paying full price for a device, especially a vanilla/developer Google one…

  • Pingback: Ryan's Review: Samsung Galaxy Nexus [video] | Android in Canada Blog

  • https://plus.google.com/u/0/108837104756408823233/posts Tom Gray

    please refrain from advertising your products here. I understand you’re trying to help and I appreciate that, but this isn’t the right place for that.

  • Fdhg

    You go to hell