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Verizon's Galaxy Nexus To Launch Tomorrow
zacharye writes "Verizon Wireless on Wednesday finally announced the upcoming launch of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The world's first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone with 4G LTE support will become available beginning tomorrow for $299.99 with a new two-year service agreement. "
Buying it separately (if you can afford it) is a pretty good Idea, as long as you are on a GSM network. Canadian/Euro unlocked models will work on AT&T and T-Mobile.
The advantage is you can have the full Nexus experience including carrier un-detectable tethering, and Google Wallet with NFC support.
Google Wallet, which was the principal reason this phone was designed and built by Samsung for Google was banned by VZW in a stunning stab in the back to Google.
Further, this banning may be in direct violation of their 700mhz spectrum licensing conditions, one of which was free use of any application on 700mhz bands. Verizon uses 700mhz spectrum for LTE.
It remains to be seen if anyone will call Verizon to task for this, of if they have lined enough pockets in Washington to escape this requirement.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
No, you really are being screwed for mobile phone prices in the US. I got a Galaxy S2 on an 18 month contract for 10GBP up front, and 25GBP per month. That's about $710 for phone plus 18 months service (3GB data, 200 outbound minutes, unlimited inbound minutes, unlimited texts per month)
This "deal" is $299, plus $69.99 a month for 2 years, a total of $1978.76. For that you get 450 minutes per month, 2GB data, no texts.
The Galaxy S2 isn't quite the newest hottest phone, but the difference in SIM-free prices is only 100GBP / $154. So that's $1000 of pure profit for Verizon per customer over 2 years
carrier un-detectable tethering
If your user agent is that of a desktop browser, you will be detected. And even if you use HTTPS for everything, a carrier's tether detector can still see your DNS requests. If you connect to popular PC operating systems' update servers, you will be detected. If you view a lot of popular web sites that have a mobile version without getting redirected to the mobile version, you will be detected. If you visit popular Flash sites (e.g. Newgrounds, Kongregate, Weebl's Stuff, FarmVille) without having bought a phone that supports Flash from the carrier, you will be detected.
http://www.samsung.com/hk_en/consumer/mobile/mp3-players/mid/YP-G70CW/XSH/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail
In the United States, only T-Mobile itemizes the cost of the device and the service on the bill, and once your 2-year contract expires, the line item for the phone loan drops off the bill. The January 2012 issue of Consumer Reports applauded T-Mobile for its transparency in this respect (p. 36). The other GSM carrier (AT&T) charges the same per month whether you take the subsidized phone or bring your own phone that was bought separately, and an AT&T representative appeared genuinely surprised that T-Mobile would even offer a discount for bringing one's own phone. But I have trouble wholeheartedly recommending T-Mobile for three reasons: its coverage isn't as wide, its 3G data uses a band that most phones bought separately don't support, and AT&T still hasn't fully abandoned plans to acquire T-Mobile USA.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/14/financial/f150316S91.DTL
"[...] the Galaxy Nexus can record high-definition videos in 1080p — the best resolution you can get on a consumer camera. I had some fun taking sunset videos with a time-lapse feature, and there are some goofy filming effects to play around with, too."
"Generally, though, the Galaxy Nexus is a well-rounded smartphone that serves up a noticeably freshened-up version of Android with sleek hardware. Delicious, indeed."
I've had one for a couple of weeks. UK GSM model (the "real" one : yakju/maguro).
Very happy. Replaced my N1 which finally gave up its power button after 18 months.
Pentaband radio works great on T-Mobile & AT&T.
Camera's better than the N1 - the speed it takes shots makes me happier than any extra MP, I think the pictures look great.
I'm not fussed about the expandability, although I only have 16GB (13.33GB formatted, it would appear). I've spent the last year and a half dealing with a 512MB application partition, so I don't really see the problem. USB mount handling is a bit surprising, especially as I'm on a Mac. I haven't bothered to install "Android Mount" or whatever Google are offering for download yet. Just using DropBox, and iPhoto picks up the device when in "Camera Mode".
It's real thin and it doesn't feel as good as the N1 or an iPhone, but this thing is going in a case. It fits in my pocket with my other phone, a Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro.
I had the SE X10 Mini Pro and the N1 for the last year, and in the last month upgraded both of them. I still find myself using the Sony more because of the real keyboard.
The only complaints I have about the Galaxy Nexus so far is that the screen is so big, I don't find it comfortable to use the on-screen keyboard in landscape. I have to stretch to reach the middle if I am typing with two thumbs. Speakerphone's not the best. Headphone jack is on the bottom, which totally tripped me out when I got it out of the box, but actually turns out not to matter at all (and is kind of neater in a cheapo dashboard gripper). I am very impressed with the battery life so far, but nothing comes close to the Mini Pro (normally 3-4 days). I am a fairly heavy user of my devices.
The wierdest thing is that the lump on the bottom, it just feels like it should be at the top and I still take it out of my pocket upside down every time. I'll get over that.
"There is nothing nice about Steve Jobs and nothing evil about Bill Gates." - Chuck Peddle
Well, let me correct that...this IS /.
I've been hearing for a while now about the upcoming release of the first phone running ICS, *in the US*.
Europe, Canada, and Australia have already had it.