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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. "
For a brand new smart phone, its not that unreasonable. If don't like that price, wait a year or 2 and it will be 99. Then wait another and it might be free.
Don't like waiting? Then pony up the cost of admission for being first in line and deal with it. Stop acting like a baby.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
at 2:55 PST, when I go to
www.verizonwireless.com/galaxynexus
which is at the end of their press release, it simply redirects to a mostly-empty page.
Also, if you simply look for the Nexus in the phones, it's not there either...
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
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.
Same as an iPhone 4S with an equal amount of storage. I wouldn't be surprised if they use the Apple devices as a price benchmark.
I wonder if there will be a 16gb model that could go for $200 to match the 16gb iPhone option. That seems to be the upper boundary on my comfort zone for fancy new widgets.
So if I don't want the extra $60/mo phone bill, where do I get a nano-tablet that runs Android (and Market apps) without a 3G chip? Apple has one called iPod touch but that runs iOS, and Archos has the Archos 43 Internet Tablet but that's stuck on FroYo (Android 2.2) and doesn't have the Market.
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
Buy a no-contract cell phone or a used one on ebay, and just don't sign up for any carrier. The reason no one sells it is the market for such a device is tiny and shrinking.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
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."
Stop acting like a baby.
Yeah! This is 'Merica dammit! You'll consume the garbage you're fed or go without. Because in 'Merica, you only get two choices. If you don't like either, you're an unpatriotic sissy. Maybe even a commie and a socialist! Most definitely a "baby".
Suck it up, nancy boy!
No sig for you!!
The pros and cons, at least as far as i've heard.
Pros:
It's got ICS, ahead of everything else.
It's a Nexus device, which means it won't have any carrier skins or pre-installed crap (including CarrierIQ) and it will be updated in a timely manner with each new release of Android that it's capable of running.
It's got a high end chip with a dual core, putting it in a small class of mobile phones.
It's got a very large screen.
Cons:
It's got a very large screen. I'm not sure if the phone will actually fit in my pocket.
It's got ICS, which is great overall but i'm unsure about the lack of a global Menu button.
It's made out of plastic rather than a nice metal case like my Nexus One has. Some people have reported it feels kind of flimsy because of that.
It has no expandable memory, you're stuck with the 16/32 GB you start with.
It doesn't have Google Wallet (in the US.) I'm not sure if i want to use Google Wallet to pay for my groceries or whatever, but i'm not sure that i _won't_ want to do that in the future either.
Unknowns:
It is (so far) exclusive to Verizon in the US. I'm currently on T-Mobile and don't want to switch... unless the T-Mobile/AT&T deal goes through that is...
I'm not sure if it's possible to get an unlocked version, unless you're willing to import it from Europe. Which might let me use it on T-Mobile depending on the frequencies but certainly doesn't help with the price.
It only has a 5 MP camera. I don't actually care about the MP per se (it's already greater than the resolution of an HD screen after all) but they don't really give you any other specs to go by so i don't know how else to judge it.
Of course the biggest pro in my personal book is that my Nexus One is getting a little long in the tooth (in particular it has no space left for new apps) and i'm not sure how long i'm willing to wait for the next Nexus device. It's either that or get another high end phone that i can root and install Cyanogen on.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
$299 is the new $199 :(
I tried "find a dealer", but all the dealers were in Hong Kong. Then I realized I was on Samsung's Hong Kong site. I clicked over to Samsung's United States site, searched for the same product name (galaxy s wi-fi 5.0), and got a bunch of 7", 9", and 10" Galaxy Tab models. Did Apple's patent lawyers strike again?
You could buy it off of Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-5-0-Android-Player/dp/B005P1VNDW/ref=pd_cp_e_1
"To prevent this day from getting any worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD THING" 1GJU8xLuDKDxEs4KLf8fAGyptoDsqvEsBT
It's not pure profit. England has the third highest population density for major counties in the world. The US has lower density overall, and a lot more rural areas. People expect coverage in those areas because Americans travel more than people in most other countries (vehicle miles traveled per capita is nearly twice that of the UK). We also have four major cell phone networks with different technologies and frequencies. So it is a lot more expensive to run a cell phone company in America than in England, although none of the extra expense actually helps consumers.
While I agree with everything you said, it still doesn't negate the GP's contention that we pay way too much for phones (handsets) in the US.
He just gave you an example of the EXACT same phone costing less in the UK. The Galaky S2 on T-Mobile costs around $179 up front and $79/mo. On top of that we pay for our calls (in minutes) for both outbound and inbound.
The price per month and amount of minutes takes into account the cost of networking a large country vs a small one. That might explain his $39/mo cost vs the US $79/mo cost. I say, MIGHT.
So why is the phone cost him ONLY $15 dollars up front and costs you and I $179, over 10 times as much?
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Megapixels don't matter, it's about the lens, the aperture, the--wait! Doesn't the iPhone have an 8MP camera?
Oh, this thing completely sucks, then. :^D
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.
It's Linux without the so-called GNU operating system,
True they do tend to have built in infrastructure lockins. But this is falling by the wayside with penta-band handsets.
A GSM Google Nexus purchased from Canada or the UK will work anywhere in Europe North America on a couple different carriers.
We are still stuck with two large CDMA carriers, and we will probably be stuck with them till LTE is nearly everywhere. Without those, it would be much easier for people to switch carriers at will, and prices would come down.
The sooner we abolish CDMA the better. Our use of CDMA was a historical accident, (the result of being one of the first deployments of cellular technology. As with all first deployments, you end up being stuck with things you'd rather not have. Europe, where cellular technology lagged the US by at least 8 years, is now years ahead, having never dug themselves into the CDMA hole in the first place.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
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.
Blame Verizon and your crappy telco rackets.
Verizon, being a CDMA carrier requires a special version for them where as Australia, Europe and Canada use GSM, some variant of the four bands the phoneis capable of using (830/900/1900/2100) so the same version can be shipped to all both continents and the mooseheads
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
They still do that. You save $20/mo on individual plans and $40/mo on family plans if you bring your own phone.
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. ~ Douglas Adams
Cough - My understanding of Australia is that on the east and south east coasts, the density is relatively high, moderate density on parts of the west coast and the gold coast, and not much in the middle. I suspect that around Ayer's Rock there is coverage, but the vast outback, not so much.
Not excusing the US cost bases, but the suburban and rural majority of the US does have enough population to matter, and it costs a lot to cover that even half assed.
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress
It's not just Verizon. We didn't get the Galaxy S II on ANY of our carriers until Months after Europe had them. That's even on our GSM carriers (AT&T and T-Mobile). Each carrier had to have the phone slightly modified (rounder corners, slightly wider, etc) so they would have a 'special' version of the phone. All our carriers suck, regardless of the frequencies they use or wireless protocol.
That is because people here are barely aware of bargaining ever having been an option.
I don't know about the GNex, but sideloading hacks were confirmed to get Google Wallet working for the non-Sprint Nexus S.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Blame Verizon, not Samsung. Verizon is almost as bad as AT&T about holding back updates.
To see that the blame lies squarely with the carrier, look at the AT&T Captivate vs. the Samsung GT-I9000 (International Galaxy S) - These phones were so close that I9000 kernels could be successfully run on the Captivate without any modifications (not even recompiling the source with a different defconfig!) All you had to do was change one keylayout file for full functionality.
Yet despite this - the Captivate got Froyo after the I9000 got Gingerbread!
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?