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5 Things I’d Change About the Galaxy Nexus

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Back in December, Google, Samsung and Verizon teamed up to a release one of the most anticipated smartphones of all-time in the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. We reviewed the phone and I, along with the rest of my cohorts here at GBM, came to the conclusion that the Galaxy Nexus is up there with the best Android smartphones of all time.

No small feat considering the shear enormity of the Android lineup.

(Read: Galaxy Nexus Review.)

That being said, there are some things that I would have changed about the Galaxy Nexus if I had the ability to.

Here are those things.

5 Things I'd Change About the Galaxy NexusThe Battery

The battery on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus would be the absolute first thing I would change. I’m not quite sure if Samsung realized that it was developing a 4G LTE smartphone when it decided to throw in the1835 mAh battery that comes stock with the Galaxy Nexus.

I’ve already written in detail about how my battery life is terrible and the sad thing is, it’s terrible even with the extended battery that I bought for an extra $50.

First of all, I shouldn’t have to buy an extended battery just to get stable and non-frustrating battery life from my smartphone. It should work well from the start. And secondly, if I am forced to buy the extended battery, it should be bigger than 2100 mAh.

(Read: Verizon Galaxy Nexus Poor Battery Life Is Unacceptable.)

This is my biggest gripe with the Galaxy Nexus and quite frankly, it has been one of the reasons I’ve gone back to my iPhone 3GS as my main device.

So, if had the ability to travel back in time, I’d tell Samsung to toss in the same battery that’s in the Droid RAZR MAXX, You know, the 3,330 mAh one that was able to fit inside of a phone with a 8.9mm thin design.

The Size

A lot of you like the fact that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus sports a 4.65-inch display. Sometimes I do too especially when I am watching sports highlights, but more often then not, the footprint is just way too big for me.

I’ve often said that my ideal screen size for a phone is 4-inches and that’s what I would have changed the Galaxy Nexus to had I had the opportunity. Small enough so it doesn’t feel like I am holding a brick and large enough so basketball players don’t look like ants on the screen.

The Build Quality

This is tough because I don’t exactly hate the Galaxy Nexus design. But, I think it could have been better. And how could Samsung have gone about doing that?

By making it less plastiky. Honestly, it just feels cheap and a $300 phone should not feel cheap.

It also doesn’t have that sturdy, build-quality that’s found on Motorola devices, which is something that I absolutely love.

Translation: It could have been built better.

5 Things I'd Change About the Galaxy Nexus

A larger battery would have been nice.

The Camera

The rear camera on the Galaxy Nexus leaves a lot of be desired. It doesn’t come anywhere close to the camera found on the iPhone 4S, a phone that the Galaxy Nexus is supposedly competing with.

Sure, it has a lot of nice options once I take the picture but those don’t matter when the pictures don’t look good to begin with.

The Speakers

And lastly, the speakers. The main speaker on the Galaxy Nexus is absurdly quiet. This is not good for a phone that boasts a massive footprint and 4G LTE speeds. Why? Because the whole point of both of those is to be able to stream glorious content in a speedy manner.

How am I supposed to enjoy said content when I can barely hear it?

Now, I realize that there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to smartphones. However, I think all of these are certainly doable and I think that Samsung may just answer a few of them with the release of the Samsung Galaxy S III.

At least I hope it does.

(Read: Why the iPhone 3GS Is Still My Favorite Phone.)

Anyway,  now that I’ve thrown myself to the wolves, I have to ask all of you.

What would you change about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus? Anything? Nothing?

I’d love to hear from you.

15 Comments

15 Comments

  1. Ralph Bretz

    02/17/2012 at 4:30 pm

    I agree with everything you listed. I’ve had the Galaxy Nexus since launch day on VZW. Screen size I can deal with, especially since I watch alot of Netflix at work but everything else is dead on.

  2. xintong12

    02/17/2012 at 5:23 pm

     https://lnk.co/IHOTL

  3. Kevin Turabian

    02/17/2012 at 6:50 pm

    I’m using the GSM version so even with the smaller battery my battery life is excellent.  I easily get a day with over two hours of screen on time and that includes phone calls, lots of texts and a few games.  I also find the phone to be the perfect size, I can use swype comfortably with one hand despite an average hand size and almost every custom rom and kernel have addressed the speakers volume and made it significantly louder.  The slight curvature of the screen also helps make it feel invisible in my pocket despite its size.

  4. Btc5472

    02/17/2012 at 7:25 pm

    I have the galaxy nexus and.i dont agree with the build qualiity. I think its great. It wont shatter when u drop it. I really wish it had gorilla glass but it has the next best thing. And i think the camera is amazing. Its better then allot other cameras. Maybe not as.good as the iphone 4s but still amazing. I took a picture of my wall in my room with my nexus, then took my friends 4s and took the same picture, and we both agreed that my picture was better. Im not sure why. I was surprised. But i guess the nexus just has better indoor pictures. And the size of the phone is great. If u dont like it, then u should get the iphone and deal with not having a big screen at all. I think the limit to screen size should be 4.5 inches but the on screen buttons arent really part of the screen most of the time. And google is has an update coming that will fix the speaker volume. The galaxy nexus is the fastest phone in the world due to android 4.0. The phone is definately worth it.

  5. james

    02/17/2012 at 8:49 pm

    I have the gsm version and the battery life is excellent, I generally have over 30% left at the end after 17+ hours of use per day. And on tmobile I get download speeds of 4-8 mbps. I love the size. Your other points are mostly true though.

  6. Stocklone

    02/17/2012 at 10:21 pm

    I never understood the feel cheap complaints.  How much it feels like the phone costs is the last thing on my list.  If a company wants to bring the cost of the phone down or lighten the weight with plastic, go for it. I’m going to put a case on it no matter what it’s made out of.

    The only thing I would change is what the exact same thing I would change on the Nexus S: microSD support.

  7. Whip

    02/18/2012 at 7:14 am

    Its not a $300 phone… its a $600+ phone. Only thing i would change is having Swype keyboard. Every other samsung has it.
    Battery isnt too bad but not great.
    I love the size of the screen. Its half the reason i got the phone in the first place.

  8. Enoel69

    02/18/2012 at 6:12 pm

    1) The rear can sucks despite the quick shutter. 2) Battery not powerful enuf…if Motorola can put a 3300mAh battery in the thin Razr Maxx sure Sammy and HTC can do same. 3) The device is too tall…smth less than 130mm would have been perfect. In my view the space at the top n bottom from where the lovely 4.65″ screen ends could’ve been chopped in half..

  9. Brien Gerber

    02/19/2012 at 12:52 pm

    I know that the phone shouldn’t have these problems but the speaker volume is easily fixed with Volume+ and I can make it through a whole day with the extended battery no problem. Just depends how much surfing on 4G you do. Use wifi if its around you if not 4G and I can make it a whole day 

    • Kevin

      02/20/2012 at 8:48 am

       I think his point is that for $300 we shouldn’t have to adjust to the phone’s limitations.  The phone should have been produced for how people use it….which doesn’t include installing third-party apps for basic functionality, or planning your life around wifi hotspots just to get decent battery life.

  10. sdsdsdsd45

    02/19/2012 at 5:35 pm

     https://lnk.co/IHOTL

  11. Jbasnight1979

    02/21/2012 at 5:02 am

    Yes the battery life is terribile. Yet i switched from sprints htc evo to verizions nexus and with me not being to happy with the battery life. All n All this phone is bad to the bone and i love it.

  12. jeremy

    05/14/2012 at 1:09 pm

    I still don’t know how I feel about this phone the battery life is crappy, the weird shape of the phone does not feel comfortable in my hands. I feel like I have the tranny of phones. Looks real pretty but ones you take off acouole layers its Samsung making a crappy phone. The only thing keeping me from exchanging this is the LTE.

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