

Engadget's review on Nexus S - seahsq
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/10/nexus-s-review/

======
seahsq
"To have this many options and discrepancies over something as simple as copy
and paste should be embarrassing to Google. What it mostly is, however, is a
pain to the end user.

And that's kind of the crux of our problem with Android in its current state.
We don't question the power of the OS, but the fit, finish, and ease of use
simply is still not there."

I think Joshua Topolsky nailed it right at the heart of the problem for
Android, at least from a typical smartphone user's point of view.

~~~
jsz0
One of the things that bugs me about the Android UI, which doesn't seem to
have been addressed in 2.3, is the lack of any decent UI management for multi-
tasking. There's the alt-tab switcher if you hold down your home button which
isn't a very obvious solution and it just takes too long. On my phone I have
to hold down my home button for several seconds. This is probably a good
example of what Topolsky is talking about.

~~~
sandipc
2 seconds is too long?

~~~
danudey
Yes, when someone just wants to switch to another app to get something done, 2
seconds is quite a long time. Compared to the double-click-home in iOS, which
is quite snappy, the two-second delay on Android takes the flow out of using
the OS.

------
slashclee
“It seems like every couple of weeks we're saying something along the lines of
"x is the best Android smartphone on the market right now." We'd like to tell
you differently when it comes to the Nexus S, but the truth is, it really is
the best Android device available right now.”

THAT is the most annoying thing about Android by far. It's impossible to feel
good about buying an Android phone when a newer sexier one always comes out a
couple weeks later.

~~~
gloob
Well, unless your mood is not dependent on having the newest sexiest thing all
the time.

~~~
narrator
That's why I'm sticking with the IPhone! I always want to be assured that I
won't be out-sexied by any other smart phone user, as long as I upgrade once a
year.

People will also know that my choice of IPhone as my primary communications
device signals that I have the largest number of sex partners, on average, of
any smartphone user.

<http://mashable.com/2010/08/10/iphone-sex-okcupid/>

------
Banekin
I don't understand why people expected so much from Gingerbread in the first
place. So they expect Google to only release updates with massive feature
additions? Personally I would rather have small incremental updates than
nothing at all.

~~~
jsz0
Competition. Apple stepped it up in iOS4 and has continued adding user facing
features in each point release since -- HDR, Game Center, AirPlay, AirPrint,
etc. Then you have WM7 with, at minimum, a very attractive GUI. RIM has some
eye-candy stuff on the way with the PlayBook GUI. I think the big
disappointment is that Google hasn't been able to spruce up the Android UI.
We're starting to drift into this uncomfortable Windows Mobile 6.x territory
where the UI is clunky, somewhat difficult to use, and just not all that nice
looking. In my opinion at least...

------
abhimishra
Is this thing actually fully-unlocked if you get it with a T-Mobile contract?

The FAQ that Best Buy put out was pretty ambiguous. I called Best Buy's
dedicated Nexus S helpline to clarify that, and they were basically useless.

~~~
gte910h
Phones in the US have a 30 mandatory day return window by law. Easiest thing
to do is just buy one and return it after testing it out on another GSM
network's sim.

~~~
kylec
Some states may have a 30-day window, but I don't think the US does as a
whole. I only had 14 days to return my Nexus One.

~~~
gte910h
Hmmm....Looking further, it looks like you're right...the T-Mobile rep was
wrong apparently (and it said so on the receipt).

------
cletus
I've said for a long time that it's wrong to compare the iPhone and Android.
iPhone is a phone and a brand. Android is an idea, arguably a philosophy. It
is _not_ a brand.

Let me put it another way: when people buy an iPhone, they're buying an
iPhone. When people are buying an Android phone, they're buying a phone (or,
in some cases, they're _not_ buying an iPhone).

I've now had the opportunity to use a HTC Desire, an iPhone 4 and a DroidX (in
that order).

Inconsistency of UI/UX (as well as hardware) is a huge problem for Android.
Even Microsoft abandoned the handset manufacturer and carrier customization
model with Windows Phone 7.

You are seeing what carriers are doing: the Samsung Fascinate from Verizon is
just the most recent example.

You also see people _still_ releasing 1.5/1.6 devices when there really is no
technical reason to do so (carriers/manufacturers like product
differentiation, no matter how illogical or how much it hurts the UX long
term).

That being said, from Google's perspective, Android is a huge success. Google
is successfully commoditizing the mobile OS, lowering costs and driving
adoption of smart phones, which drives mobile Internet usage.

The carriers and manufacturers are simply being complicity in their own
execution in this race to the bottom. It reminds me of net books actually
(almost no profit, commodity hardware, very cheap).

One error made with Android (IMHO) is the proliferation of buttons. It's
confusing, inconsistent and (with the possible exception of the back button)
unnecessary (beyond the one home button).

Well see just how much pent up demand there is for the iPhone when it spreads
to other carriers. My guess is a lot.

