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Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

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51–60 of 68 posts

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#51

I tried a Nexus S demo phone the other day, and was disappointed (comparing it with an iPhone 4). The Nexus (and most all Android) phones are jerky compared with iOS. It's also not as responsive. An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion. Android doesn't seem to respond as fast to swipes as well. I've had the G1, Nexus One, Evo 4g... and they've all bee…

I believe 3.0 will be the big UI overhaul. In looking at the change list in 2.3 it seems to me they really focused on cleaning up core issues with the OS. You'll see most of these listed under categories like "for game developers" but I expect they are also in the process of rewriting the UI to use all the new low-level functionality as well.

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#52
post #34
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easiest way is to buy the device at Best Buy and then go to a physical T-Mobile store and setup an account. Go prepaid or request the deprecated "Even More Plus" plan - they still can set one up if you ask. Saves you about $10/month.

So prepaid works? They allow it? Also are there any issues with keeping my AT&T phone number with the prepaid plan?

You shouldn't have any problem with porting (unless you're under contract) or using a prepaid plan. "Even More Plus" plans are still available though no longer advertised and may save you $10/mo.

Also consider the T-Mobile reseller Simple Mobile. $60/mo gets you "unlimited" service.

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#53

I was hesitant at first to get the Nexus S. It wasn't much better on paper than the Vibrant Galaxy S I owned. So far I've been very happy. The experience of a clean 2.3 install is amazing. The carriers are shooting themselves in the foot by installing bloatware and the handset manufactures are shooting themselves in the foot by modifying the skin. I could have waited for 2.3 from Samsung but I lost faith in them. Too…

[deleted]

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#54

I tried a Nexus S demo phone the other day, and was disappointed (comparing it with an iPhone 4). The Nexus (and most all Android) phones are jerky compared with iOS. It's also not as responsive. An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion. Android doesn't seem to respond as fast to swipes as well. I've had the G1, Nexus One, Evo 4g... and they've all bee…

I think most people attribute the jerkiness to the lack of GPU/hardware acceleration in the Android UI. Really hope that's implemented in 3.0

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#55
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me guess, running Motorola's stock ROM? I'm so sorry for you. Funny, my mom uses her Droid all the time for gaming, emails, news, and doesn't even manage to have the problems you're having. "Wrong apps launch when I press their buttons". What? Come on, I've never heard of that and have no idea how that would even be possible unless you're using LP/ADW.Launcher's custom shortcut functionality... EDIT: I think I kn…

Most frequently, I will hit the messaging app and it will go into Twitter, rather than the SMS app. I am not sure that is the same thing.

I had something similar happen to me on my Incredible once or twice. I can't remember if I hit Twitter and it went to GMail or vice versa.

It's odd that Twitter was involved for both of us. I wonder if they're doing something weird ... though I don't know any android.permission.CONQUER_OTHER_APPS permission in the API.

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#56

So to buy this would I order one from best buy and then buy the tmobile prepaid? The tmobile website seems to imply I need to activate a phone first?

If you want pre-paid, just call and they'll mail a sim out to you. I did that and ported my ATT number over with no problems. They can't do pre-paid in store, I don't think.

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#57

I tried a Nexus S demo phone the other day, and was disappointed (comparing it with an iPhone 4). The Nexus (and most all Android) phones are jerky compared with iOS. It's also not as responsive. An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion. Android doesn't seem to respond as fast to swipes as well. I've had the G1, Nexus One, Evo 4g... and they've all bee…

>An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion.

I just sat here trying to reproduce that on any normal web page and couldn't, on my Nexus One. No matter where I go I get perfectly smooth zooming synchronous while I'm pinching, no kind of lag or delay whatsoever. The only place I got anything remotely like lag was by turning Flash on and going to a flash heavy web site. I can't imagine that the Nexus S is worse than the Nexus One.

Are you sure you were really using a Nexus S?

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#58
post #13

Blah. I have a droid and I want to microwave it on a dail basis. Weird crashes, wrong apps launch when i press their apps, etc.

I just recommended a Droid 2/X/whatever the latest version is to a client because they advertise support for Exchange. Supposedly it works great, etc. etc. Anecdotes seemed to indicate it worked fine on Froyo so I had her get something with that. Then she emails me saying she can't get it to work, and apparently the Moto ROM has some issue that can make it difficult to get Exchange support working. Makes me seriously…

All (recent?) Android OSs have Exchange support. Don't think this has a single thing to do with specific models or manufacturers.

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#59
post #57

I tried a Nexus S demo phone the other day, and was disappointed (comparing it with an iPhone 4). The Nexus (and most all Android) phones are jerky compared with iOS. It's also not as responsive. An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion. Android doesn't seem to respond as fast to swipes as well. I've had the G1, Nexus One, Evo 4g... and they've all bee…

>An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion. I just sat here trying to reproduce that on any normal web page and couldn't, on my Nexus One. No matter where I go I get perfectly smooth zooming synchronous while I'm pinching, no kind of lag or delay whatsoever. The only place I got anything remotely like lag was by turning Flash on and going to a flash hea…

Try loading up a dozen home screen widgets and running some memory/CPU intensive things in the background. It really depends on exactly what you're running. On my HTC Eris, which is of course a much slower phone, the phone is basically unusable if Google Navigation is running. Every screen tap takes at least twice as long to register so I have to mentally shift into a lower gear to accommodate it.

Re: Fred Wilson's Nexus S Review

#60
post #57

I tried a Nexus S demo phone the other day, and was disappointed (comparing it with an iPhone 4). The Nexus (and most all Android) phones are jerky compared with iOS. It's also not as responsive. An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion. Android doesn't seem to respond as fast to swipes as well. I've had the G1, Nexus One, Evo 4g... and they've all bee…

>An example, when I zoom in to a webpage it takes a second to respond and then it zooms with a jerky motion. I just sat here trying to reproduce that on any normal web page and couldn't, on my Nexus One. No matter where I go I get perfectly smooth zooming synchronous while I'm pinching, no kind of lag or delay whatsoever. The only place I got anything remotely like lag was by turning Flash on and going to a flash hea…

Yeah, it was a Nexus S for sure. It was cnn.com I was browsing so maybe it was slow loading.

I also noticed on the Galaxy Tab that the response to swiping is noticeable slower than the iPad. It's very frustrating if you're used to iOS.

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