

Galaxy Nexus Available In US - ghempton
http://www.google.com/nexus/#utm_campaign=us&utm_source=ha-bk&utm_medium=sem&utm_term=%2Bnexus

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untog
Maybe I'm alone, but I won't be getting the Galaxy Nexus because it's too damn
big. My current phone is 4.3", and it annoys me because it's a struggle to
reach the top of the screen with my thumb (i.e. one-handed operation). I tried
a 4.5" Galaxy SII and it was just too much for me.

That said, my old Nexus One feels tiny once I've gotten used to a larger
phone. I think 4" is the sweet-spot for me- I just hope that phones don't keep
climbing ever higher and ignoring the smaller form factor.

~~~
pixie_
I liked when phones were getting smaller. I don't like this getting bigger
trend. I'd like an iPhone sized Android that doesn't suck.

~~~
dddddannyyyyy
I love that they are getting bigger. I had a big issue with the Galaxy Note vs
Galaxy Nexus. The Note's 5"+ screen sold me, but the button configuration was
last generation (android 2.x), and no ICS, and not the pure Google experience.

HP, ignoring the disaster that they are, really were headed down the right
path. A tiny phone, a large phone, and a tablet. Over the years, you could
totally see that large phone getting larger and the tiny phone getting even
smaller. Great for both me and you. Too bad they went and screwed everything
up.

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dddddannyyyyy
Google is really letting Verizon screw this up. First no Wallet, then Verizon
apps on phone, and now that the LTE model is released, we find that the GSM
model is cheaper to import than the Verizon LTE model is to buy without
contract.

The GSM model also happens to be pentaband 3g, so it works with TMobile and
AT&T in the US. I've been using mine on TMobile for 2 weeks now, bought for
about $730 from Expansys.

And yes, it is awesome. Just make sure you unlock the bootloader immediately,
so you dont have to wipe it later if you choose to unlock then.

~~~
ben1040
>we find that the GSM model is cheaper to import than the Verizon LTE model is
to buy without contract.

The Verizon LTE model is $650 off contract. Third party retailers may charge
more because they only otherwise make money if people sign contracts and
generate commissions. I read Radio Shack and Best Buy charge $750 for the
commitment free device. But if you go to a corporate Verizon shop or buy it
off the web, it's $650.

That said: I actually found that with my corporate negotiated discount with
Verizon getting me $50 off a device if you signed a contract, it is cheaper
for me to add a contract line to get the subsidized price, and then
immediately cancel it and pay the ETF rather than buy the phone outright.
Doing that also means I only pay sales tax on the subsidized price rather than
the full $650.

~~~
shoota
If you're in California you'll pay tax on the whole $650 unfortunately.

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ghc
I went to one VZW store this morning, and they were sold out 10 minutes after
opening. Headed straight for Best Buy and got the last of 5 (?!) that they had
received.

The phone is not without problems. Everyone mentioned my voice sounds a little
tinny compared to on my OG Droid, and Ubuntu won't recognize the phone so
music transfer is a problem. Still, I think I'll be keeping it, even if it is
unbelievably huge.

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dddddannyyyyy
You need MTP stuff -- mtp-tools. The newest Amarok or Rhythmbox w/ plugin
should work fine.

The Nexus unified the filesystem, and therefore cant give USB block-level
access. MTP was the only way to go unless you want to have a separate
partition, which leads to the terrible 'is the app on local or on sd?'
situation.

Here is the situation described:
[http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/11/19/galaxy.nexus.f...](http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/11/19/galaxy.nexus.follows.ios.model.of.unified.storage/)

For mac users, you want this tool: <http://www.android.com/filetransfer/>

After having the Galaxy Nexus for 2 weeks, the phone no longer feels large in
my hands, but the Nexus S it replaced looks ancient and pathetically tiny/low-
resolution.

~~~
ajross
I'm one of the bought-it-just-this-morning crowd, so I'm doing the "MTP, WTF?"
dance with everyone else. For the record, for folks who don't yet know: ICS
has dumped the idea of managing the internal storage as a FAT32 filesystem
that can be mounted on the USB host. Instead, it stores it internally in ext4
and uses the Media Transfer Protocol to export it over USB.

I found this gadget, which is a fuse wrapper around libmtp:
<http://www.adebenham.com/mtpfs/>

It's not packaged (though libmtp is on fedora 16 at least), but is trivially
buildable and installs just a single binary. Then "mtpfs /local/mount/dir"
will mount your phone's /data partition for you. Much cleaner than trying to
sync via a media player IMHO.

~~~
beav
What I have seen on reviews is that this is not an ICS issue, but rather
because the Galaxy Nexus doesn't include a SD card. Which can be a good thing.

The article you linked to explains that in the fourth paragraph. Their
reasoning is that they don't want people to need a file manager in Android. It
makes since to me.I like that they are going to a one large internal storage
location.

~~~
ajross
It's neither really. The reason is that the data filesystem used to be FAT, so
that it could easily be read by host computers using the preexisting USB
Storage standard. But FAT sucks (for reasons too numerous to list here), so
they went with ext4. But that can't be mounted on anything but a linux box, so
they had to pick a new file exchange mechanism. It could have been something
like SMB over a USB CDC network device (phones have done that in the past) but
they picked MTP instead.

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myf
according to wirefly, verizon's basic plan is $60 per month for 450min and $30
additional for the basic basic data plan (4GB personal email only no idea what
it means). That's a whopping $90 for a basic plan and I don't know if the data
plan is viable to unleash Nexus Galaxy's power. Anything above that is going
to be over $100 per phone. For comparison I just checkd out Sprint plan which
is $70 per month with 450 min unlimited data. that's at least $20 per month
and if you add the data plan you wanted it's easily going to be $40 difference
per month. The unlocked version sells for $749 and with the verizon plan it
sells for $189, which is $560 difference. With a $10GB data plan from verizon
(seems to be the best discounted value) it costs $110/month from verizon
yields a $40 difference per month. This will make up the difference ($560) in
14 mnoths. It mean this verizon offer is only cheaper if we are not forced to
sign a two year contract and you are ought to migrate to some plans much
cheaper as soon as you get the phone. Does it make sense?

~~~
batiudrami
It's sort of unreal how expensive phones are in the US. As an Australian who
is used to everything being more expensive, you're looking at $57 per month
for a fairly similar plan (500 minutes, 1.5GB data without charging for
incoming minutes) with no upfront payment.

Total cost over 24 months is $1368, compared to (300+90*24 = ) $2460 on
Verizon. Crazy.

(Note that I used AUD and USD interchangeably, they're pretty much worth the
same).

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inconditus
Slightly off topic, but its a pet peeve that gadgets don't actually show (the
limitations of) their product. See for example, their video camera:
<http://puu.sh/aKx3>. The "video" taken is obviously not by the built in vidoe
camera.

~~~
27182818284
The burgers in the fast food commercials don't represent what your order is
going to look like either

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libraryatnight
I'm pretty excited for this, I've been waiting to upgrade from my Droid
Incredible and nothing else has grabbed my attention quite like the Galaxy
Nexus.

~~~
amartya916
I tried the Galaxy Nexus today and the really poor quality back plate (to gain
battery/SIM access) threw me off. I was about to pay close to 700 dollars for
a unlocked version and the quality seemed to be fairly humdrum. I can now
categorically say that HTC phones seem to have better build quality.

Do pay attention to the finish of the backplate, in fact, try removing it in
store. I saw that the fit and finish was slightly different between phones.

~~~
dddddannyyyyy
For a plate you will remove a few times in the life of the phone, it's a
strange reason for killing the deal.

I agree, it is very cheap feeling, but it also feels thin and snug because it
is a useless piece of shell.

You know, ideally, it'd be paper thin, but just as effective as holding in the
battery/sim.

~~~
amartya916
Precisely why I don't want it to be there, I don't really need access to the
battery. For the SIM, a solution similar to the iPhone will ensure that the
phone feels a lot more solid.

I guess you've tried putting back the back cover, each time a tab snapped into
place, I winced, fearing I'll break one. I still have the first Nexus, it has
its own issues, but it feels more 'solid'.

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nestlequ1k
What an incredibly botched launch. I signed up like 3 times on the google site
to get notified and they never emailed me about it. I went into a Verizon
store last week and asked to preorder, they had no idea when it was going to
come out.

Well, I still want one but my christmas budget is spent. Maybe next year.

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martythemaniak
I wonder if Verizon has some silly exclusive. The pentaband HSPA+ version went
on sale here in Canada last week and even earlier in the UK.

I wonder when we'll see it available contract-free for ~500 from other places.

