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Galaxy Nexus – What Can Be Improved

So I had this phone for a little over a day and let me say that it is the most amazing device I’ve seen so far. It’s super fast. I never used mobile browsers because the pages loaded like crap. Not this phone. Things pop instantly. It can handle javascript intense pages and runs the SunSpider benchmark faster than my dad’s desktop. I thought Face Unlock was going to be a complete gimmick (especially since it failed so hard during the Google demo) but it works REALLY well in all types of light and with or without glasses. The screen is amazing. Blacks are pure black. Absolutely no white light leakage. I had the device out in broad daylight and I saw the screen perfectly with no issues at all. It never froze once and it multitasks like a champ. I can switch from Angry Birds to Words with Friends, send a text, read an email and then continue playing -with no lag at all. If I tried to switch apps like that on the original Droid, I’d be here all day. Overall, it’s a sleek looking device that just works.

So anyway, being a tech dude and critical about everything, here are a list of cons. Note that these are the only flaws I can find, and everything else is pretty much perfect (for me at least). They might seem annoying, but I would recommend this over any other Android phone out there.

Keyboard Lag– When I type really quickly on the keyboard, it takes a while for the text to appear. When I say a while, I mean about .25 to .5 seconds. Very minor, butnoticeable. Not bad at all. Despite the lag, it is extremely easy to type on due to the big screen. Maybe in the 4.0.3 update, they will improve the lag issue, but it’s no big deal.

Screen Orientation lag – It literally takes about 2 seconds from the time you turn your phone until the time the screen rotates. Grr

Volume Keys Stick Out and Press Too Easily– The volume keys are on the left side of the phone and stick out too much. Maybe it’s the way I hold it, but I’m always pushing them by accident.

Status Light is barely a status light – It’s this big white circle that fades on and off about once every 8 seconds. A status light should be a quick, frequent blink. Props to Morotola for getting the blinking green status light right on the original Droid.

The Camera – Yes, the camera is grainy in low light. Yes, it doesn’t have an 8MP sensor (who cares – it’s all about the quality of the sensor). But with a flash and steady hand or in daylight, it is much better than your average phone camera.

The Battery Life – This is Verizon’s fault. 4G LTE is a battery hog. From when I unplugged it at 8am to 10AM when I walked into my office, it was at 80% battery, and this was with moderate use of 4g for about 5 minutes reading my news feed, and standard twitter checks. It’s not like i was streaming video or I had the screen on for 2 hours straight.

People say it feels like cheap plastic? I don’t have that issue.