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
- Samsung
- Nexus S
- Gingerbread
- Android 2.3
- Mobile
Speakerphone, Voice, Battery
So I mentioned earlier that the Nexus S speakerphone is a bit quiet when calling with SIP VoIP. I think that’s an understatement - it’s extremely quiet when making a SIP call. Again these tests are the same way we’ve run all our other speakerphone tests - 6” above the device with our USB datalogger.
The Nexus S is louder than the Nexus One for normal calls, however. Speakerphone at maximum volume has a bit of distortion, but one volume notch down it goes away entirely. I thought speakerphone voice quality was very good. Earphone volume is acceptable if a tad on the quiet side, but then again I think the same thing for nearly every other handset. Voice quality on the earphone is exactly what I’m used to for UMTS voice. There’s software noise cancellation for video, but I can’t locate a second microphone on the Nexus S for noise cancellation in calls. Having that second microphone was a big deal for the Nexus One, so I’m surprised it’s absent in the Nexus S - if it’s there, I at least couldn’t find it.
Battery life on the Nexus S is actually shockingly close to the Nexus One. So much so that it’s honestly scary in the case of 3G and WiFi browsing time. 3G Talk time on the Nexus S is far better than the Nexus One. We of course ran our normal suite of tests for 3G and WiFi browsing time, loading through a couple dozen pages with the screen at 50% brightness, extraneous processes killed using a task killer, and the display on. For the talk time test, we play music at both ends, allow displays to sleep, and take the total talk time. I noted that the Nexus S fell back to GSM voice three times, each time I reinitialized the call after the Nexus S reacquired UMTS. I’m going to run this test again and update if necessary - just know that’s what happened if these numbers change.
The Nexus S includes a slightly bigger battery than the Nexus One (5.55 Whr versus 5.2 Whr). I’m a bit surprised battery life didn’t improve just a bit more between the two.
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metafor - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
AMOLED's emit light from each subpixel (diode). When it's displaying black, it simply doesn't emit any light. This results in true black; which is why you see their black level at 0.This comes with some limitations, of course, compared to LCD displays. One particular drawback is lack of great bright levels as well as readability in sunlight.
They also take more power when all the individual subpixels are lit up.
Chloiber - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
Alltough I really don't like most of the smartphones from Samsung (just too much cheap plastic), I really liked the review (and the video).I'm really looking forward to Gingerbread - finally smooth Animations. You can already have those, but only with a good custom ROM. Gingerbread + custom ROM will rock the house! :-)
Guspaz - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
I really hope that the phone number (1-408-505-xxxx) on page 6 is not a real phone number...tpurves - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
Interesting to see how little difference the 21MBits/s hspa+ made in your tests.On Canadian HSPA+ 21 networks I've seen speed tests as much as 13 Megabits/sec down and 1.2-1.6 up. That's fast! and nearly twice your measured speeds. Bear in mind those speeds where achieved with a USB 3G adapter not a handset.
http://wirelessnorth.ca/2010/05/24/rogers-21-6mbs-...
spaceboy33 - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
Any idea when the mytouch 4g review will be posted? Currently trying to decide between these two phones and another review as detailed as this one would be a big help.Ullteppet - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
First off, you guys deliver the hands down most thorough articles and reviews the internet has ever seen - and we're ever grateful for your unbiased, hard effort, keep it up!I didn't fully get the video recording though. First page table says it has 720p, but the camera pages states it lacks 720p. Is the table wrong or does it only reflect the potential of the camera, since the limitation seems to be in gingerbread?
Brian Klug - Thursday, December 16, 2010 - link
Oops, you're indeed correct. The Nexus S lacks 720P video recording, at least out of the box with stock 2.3. I'm sure it'll be added in by the XDA-Devs within a few days at max.-Brian
sicofante - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
I know you're an American site and that Americans don't care that much about the biggest phone maker in the world (Nokia). However, since this is published in the worldwide web I believe your comparisons would be more useful to your worldwide audience if you included the newest phones from Nokia, such as the N8 or C7.ojisama - Tuesday, December 21, 2010 - link
I've also been refreshing the main page to see a review of N8 before Christmas, but apparently getting the review out in the time span between the release of the phone in October and Christmas was impossible. (Well, technically the article could still come out before xmas, but now it's too late to get the phone...)Well, apparently there will be an update for the phone soon, so hopefully this will be installed and tested before the article is released...
rcocchiararo - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
Swype has arrow keysSwyping forom "swype button" to "sym button" takes you to that keyboard.