Nexus S and Android 2.3 Review: Gingerbread for the Holidays
by Brian Klug on December 14, 2010 4:08 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Gingerbread
- Android 2.3
- Samsung
- Nexus S
Contour Display
I’ve already touched on a lot of what there is to be said about the Nexus S display. It’s an unbroken piece of gently curved glass, and underneath is the same 4” Super AMOLED display we saw on the Galaxy S line of phones. Pentile is still here, love it or hate it - best I can tell it literally is the same thing as in Galaxy S devices. Brightness is a little better on the Nexus S, but you still get perfect blacks that look awesome on the new black-heavy Gingerbread UI.
The Nexus S display is indeed excellent. We’ve got full viewing angles galleries and uniformity shots. Notably, there were no color or luminance uniformity issues we could pick out on our Nexus S - it appears flawless. Again the banding in our RGB gradient image is due to the gallery application color depth, which remains unchanged sadly.
The Nexus S also gets an oleophobic coating, something the iPhone 3GS got a lot of press with. I found that after a few months and wipings, the 3GS lost its amazing ability to repel oils. So far the Nexus S has withstood copious amounts of finger and face grease, coming clean with a quick brush on the shirt or lens cloth.
The curved surface is more of an aesthetic extra than an ergonomic feature, but it still is impressive that this is possible. The nice thing about having the front face in compression (from the concave shape) is that scratches probably don’t affect the glass’ structural integrity nearly as much as they would in tension. Glass is just stronger in compression rather than tension - the reason is primarily because cracks don’t propagate as well on surfaces in compression as they do in tension. Viewing angles on the Nexus S are very good, again the curvature is small enough that it doesn’t adversely impact vertical viewing angles.
Capacitive touch was always a major problem for me on the Nexus One. Anand noted it in his Nexus One review, and I experienced it firsthand with mine. I exchanged it and got one some months later with much better response and far fewer false touches, but compared to other flagship devices something always just felt wrong. Luckily the Nexus S has no such issues - touch is flawless, multitouch is excellent as well.
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tipoo - Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - link
HTC then Samsung, I wonder who will be next to make a Nexus phone...Motorola, maybe? I think they went with Samsung this round because they have the most capable processor right now. ReplyblueF - Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - link
Well the benchmarks show that the current iteration of the snapdragon are on par if not better than hummingbird. I think they chose Samsung for a few reasons, with the most important being they are the OEM of the best amoled screens available. Honestly I would have preferred another HTC nexus due to the superior phone shell. The galaxy phones and their stupid right side lock button is close to a deal breaker for me. Also the head phone jack on the bottom is beyond stupid. Replyvol7ron - Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - link
This was me during this article:"Nexus S... yes, yes.. good stuff. Whoah! Look at that myTouch!"
Can't wait to see that myTouch review, thanks for putting those figures up there. Reply
deputc26 - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
Hmmm where'd the page load times for popular websites vs. other leading phones go?That and battery life are the most relevant benchmarks as to whether or not I buy a phone. Reply
geekfool - Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - link
> Also the head phone jack on the bottom is beyond stupid.Isn't having the headphone jack at the bottom a good thing? Don't you usually have your phone in your pocket upside down anyway? I mean, take a phone in your hand now move your hand to your pocket... the bottom of the phone is at the heal of your palm meaning that when you let it slide into your pocket it's "upside down". It bugs me that when I have headphones plugged (at the top of my phone), I have to rotate it around in my hand before putting it in my pocket. This would be way more convenient. Reply
Zingam - Thursday, December 16, 2010 - link
I agree I have a nokia and the phone jack is on the top side. I have wished many times that it is on the bottom ReplyVoldenuit - Friday, December 17, 2010 - link
>Don't you usually have your phone in your pocket upside down anyway?Not if it's in the shirt pocket. Or jacket inner pocket. Or on a belt holster.
I'm a lot more likely to use a headphone with the phone in these places rather than in my pants pockets, where walking, sitting or standing up is more liable to crush/damage the headphone jack. Reply
tipoo - Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - link
Yeah, the 1 definitely was constructed better. ReplyOscarGoldman - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
"the head phone jack on the bottom is beyond stupid. "Nope, not when the thing lacks an audio line out (which IS stupid). With the jack on the bottom, they can at least make a dock to drop the phone into in your car. That's a lot better than having to plug in a wire that's dangling across your dashboard, every time you want to listen to music.
Reviews need to call these phone manufacturers out for failing to provide an audio line out on the bottom of every phone. Even with the headphone jack on the bottom, you still have to screw around with two volume controls; the one on the phone, and the car radio. And you're running everything through the crappy headphone amp on the phone. Reply
tiredad - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
I'm a little confused by so many reviews being against the jack placement; usually giving the lame reason that it's not what everybody else does. You think Apple thinks that way?I look at my phone to select a track etc. and then i put it in my pocket upside down so the placement is perfect. Not that this is much of a serious matter.
BTW since this is my first post i have to thank this site for providing the most consistent, unbiased and professional reviews i've found to date. When i read a review i want the facts and opinions separated and i don't want any pro one company or another and that's what you give... so cheers guys. Reply