Google - Nexus S Mobile Phone - Black (Sprint)

I actually wrote the review that said "hands down the best phone out" and I wanted to give a follow up after 3 weeks of using this phone to maybe help someone out who’s on the fence about this purchase. The phone itself is STILL the best I've ever used. I was bugged by the battery life at first but now it is amazing. I get over a day of use with one charge and I just keep all my background data and synching on and I even have gmail pushing email to me all the time. Screen is set to dim but not quite the dimmest setting. It takes 4 or 5 cycles of charging it all the way and then running it down to nothing before you start to see that this battery is really the best out there. I even use a little turn by turn GPS each day and I can still get through a full day without having to carry a charger or whatever. The key is if you are not in a definite 4G area then turn it off. Your phone searches for a 4G signal constantly until you tell it not to and 4G isn’t around in a lot of places. Now for a the CONS: I have nothing bad to say about the phone itself. I have a few things to say to those considering Sprint service. Sprint 4G is NOTHING like they advertise. I am in a 4G metropolitan area and the speeds are horrendous. I connect to 4G and the fastest download speed I have gotten after about 20 tests over a few weeks was 4.5MB down/2-2.5 MB up. 3G is even worse. 3G is around 1MB down/.5 MB up. Is this geeky information important? If you use Netflix/watch Youtube/Movies like I do then it’s relevant. If you want to sit and watch the word “buffering” come across this phone all then time then go for it, but it’s advertised as blazing fast 4G and it’s not at all. I don’t know if this is a phone shortcoming or the fault of the Sprint network, but I promise you that you will not get 4G speeds even in promised 4G metro areas. But you will definitely get charged 4G prices by Sprint. I spoke with Sprint and they checked their coverage maps and basically told me "yep you have 4G where your address is. Just update your phone and stop bothering us". I can connect my phone to 4G but it is actually slower than 3G with Verizon and 3G with AT&T. I have a friend with the Verizon HTC Thunderbolt and when he is on 4G in my house he routinely gets download speeds of 15-20MB and upload around 5MB on just the 4G connection! His 4G is even faster than most people's DSL or cable service. I grabbed another friends 3G iphone 4 (on verizon) and the down/up speeds are ALWAYS faster than my 4G Nexus even when I'm connected to Sprint's 4G network. Bottom line is this: Sprint's 4G coverage is still spotty and you don't get what you pay for. I love the Nexus S but I think I will either unlock it and take it to Verizon or just buy the 3G version and pay less money. You get absolutely NO BENEFIT right now from owning the 4G Nexus S over the 3G model that came out a few months back. If you want a great phone with incredible battery life then get a Nexus S but if you want the fastest connection then it's Verizon 4G by a mile. Sprints 4G technology is a dead-end road anyways. I started googling around to find out why my connection was so dang slow and everywhere I looked the experts said Wimax 4G technology (like Sprints) will die and LTE 4G (like Verizons) will be the standard. Kind of like a while ago when you had the Laserdisc and DVD battle. Wimax isn't necessarily worse, but it's more expensive to roll out and the rest of the world uses LTE already. They gave some big long explanation but I didn't care about that, I was just trying to figure out if my phone was the problem or if Sprint was the problem. I'm not saying Verizon is the best either because they are crazy expensive and their phones are kind of ugly but they definitely have the 4G market cornered for a while. Just know that if you sign with Sprint you'll be getting 3G or slower speeds no matter where you are. It's a step up from when I was on T-Mobile's network but leaps and bounds suckier than what Verizon is doing as far as coverage/speeds. I figured I would mention the speeds because people that pay hundreds for a phone will care about the speeds. If you are just an older person who needs a phone that works always and you just email and lightly browse then this phone will be perfect. I never dropped a call or dropped a wifi signal with Sprint. Hope that helps.

What a joy and pleasure this phone is. Coming from a froyo T-Mobile phone to a 4G Gingerbread device on Sprint was like going from a Suzuki car to a Ferrari. I can finally see Android ironing out all the kinks and delivering a seamless experience like the iOS system that Apple is famous for. I won't bore everyone by hashing out what's in the phone because if you are thinking of buying this then you probably already know the specs beforehand. A couple of things I love are: Pages load really fast with no lag ever. Swype doesn't come preloaded with the phone. This allows me to go to Swype.com and download the new beta version all the time. Maybe not a big deal to some people but Swype is so fast and error-free for me now it's crazy. On the old Androids I had Swype that was preloaded and unable to be updated unless you rooted your phone. A couple things to keep in mind: This phone does NOT have an SD slot. So for you people who aren't embracing cloud storage then you might want to consider a different phone. The memory card on this phone is internal and it's 16GB. that's enough space for me, but I use Amazon's Cloud service to access all my music. If you like storing large files on your phone (photos and music) then get a different phone. I HATE that the internal phone memory itself is only 1 GB. When I download an app I always have to check and see if it has the capability to be moved to the internal SD card and unfortunately a lot of apps still don't offer this feature. Also, the RAM is only 512MB. Some might cringe at that, but I have found it to be faster than anything I have owned or used with the snapdragon or tegra 2 processors in them. I think because of the lack of bloatware 512 MB of RAM is more than enough, I do lots of multi-tasking and have had no issues. Also, the signal is always weak as far as the bars of service and the wifi icons on my phone show, but I have never dropped my wifi connection or phone calls yet. It's just annoying to see that the icons show you have a weak signal, even though it doesn't have any negative effect on the phone at all. You'll love the phone and it's definitely the best purchase I've made in a while

I just bought this phone from Best Buy a few days back. I previously had an Evo 4G with Cyanogenmod 7 installed. The EVO was great with Cyanogenmod 7 installed, but it just didn't run as well as the Nexus S 4G does. I am extremely impressed with the feel and snappiness of the Nexus S, far better than anything I've seen or used. Also the curved display really does make the screen look better and even makes typing feel better. The speed is on par with an Epic 4G I have (can't test the Evo anymore), and it even beat the Epic 4G on 3G every single time I tested it (sorry no 4G in my area to try)! I also tested the broadband connection via wifi and received the same results as on my PC. I would have waited for the Evo 3D, but I don’t like having to root my phone to uninstall the stuff HTC and Sprint puts on it. Also, the lack of Facebook integration out of the box is a great thing in my opinion (finally a nice phone without Facebook baked in), but yes you can download the Facebook app (don't worry). If you like the Sprint apps such as the Nascar app, they do show up in Market once you set up the phone and you can download them for free too. This is the way all phones should be out of the box! Sprint integration with Google Voice works very well! You can use your PC at home to call or text and the recipient sees your cell phone’s number; how neat is that. Voicemails, texts and calls also instantly show up on both my PC and phone. I can even set voicemail greetings and call screening on a per user basis. All of your call data can easily be accessed from any PC with a browser and you can even manage your contacts by logging into the Google Voice site. This phone makes good use of the "cloud" for phone settings. All I did was give it my email and password and Android installed all of my apps and even kept my previous Cyanogenmod desktop that my Evo had! The thing just works out of the box, and it works very well and fast. The Gallery will also sync any pictures you have in Picasso and it works flawlessly. Google’s also working on similar integration for Music and you can download an updated Music app if you’d like for free. The overall feel of this phone is as good as or better than any iDevice too, and it should be clear if you read this review and compare on your own which has more features.

Let me start off by saying I was very skeptical of the Nexus S.. The pure android look did not impress me at first, coming from an HTC EVO However, within 10 minutes after owning the phone I headed over to xda-developers and found a "One-Click" method to root the Nexus.. After rooting it, I can honestly say this phone is the best Sprint has to offer. Here are some of the reasons why: Speed: Phone comes with 1ghz Cortex A8 hummingbird processor Display: Super Amoled screen (after rooting, use Voodoo color controls and you will really get the most out of this amazing feature) Memory: 16gb of iNAND FLASH Memory Lightweight: I had an EVO for nearly a year and aesthetically, the Nexus S is a lot more appealing Software: The phone came pre loaded with Android 2.3.4 with an optional update to Android 2.3.5 which fixes a lot of the signal issues people were having (also, the Nexus will always have the latest versions of Android) So, if your looking for an easily customizable, rootable, and extremely fast phone, the Nexus is it.. I cannot stress it enough. Best Buy handled my sale with knowledge and care, I highly recommend going through Best Buy then Sprint (better staff/support, plus you don't have to wait for annoying mail in rebates)

I really like this phone and my gripes may be common across all smart phones. This is my first touch screen phone and I really like it. It is easier to manage than my old blackberry and the screen resolution is wonderful. I also love how it comes with just the OS and no junk-ware from the carrier pre-installed on it. The integration with Google Voice is brilliant and the selection of apps on the app store is really nice. The rear camera takes nice photos and the front camera works just fine for Skype when I'm on a wi-fi or 4g network. 3g Skype seems to lag a little. The first one I got had a defective screen coating (the coating was actually peeling off) and Best Buy traded out the phone without any hassle whatsoever. This is a HUGE advantage to buying local. Now for the gripe. When I have my wi-fi on at home then leave the house the phone looses data connection for sometimes up to 2 minutes until it can connect with the 3g network in my neighborhood. For most people this won't be a problem but since I stream Pandora everyday on my way to work it annoyed the heck out of me. The work around I have to use is to manually turn off wi-fi before I leave the house and the phone has no problem connecting to the 3g network. They really could have done a little better of a job setting up the phone to switch between networks. Other than that minor gripe I am really pleased with the phone and would buy it again if given the chance. Also I highly recommend a case and a screen protector if you get this phone or any smart phone for that matter. These things just feel fragile to me compared to some of the older phones.

This phone has always had my head turning. I've been with Verizon ever since I was legally able to sign a contract and when this phone made it to Sprint I decided it was worth giving a try. The GOOD about this phone is that it: 1) Comes pure Android. You do not have to worry about dealing with manufacturer "skins" on top of the operating system like HTC's Sense, Motorola's Blur or Samsung's Touchwiz. The result is a much faster and cleaner user experience and this is one of the biggest reasons I wanted it. 2) The contour display is truly attractive. It gives the phone a certain beauty that I haven't seen yet from a phone. A very vibrant display is given from Samsung (as usual). I appreciate this new approach and the stunning visual colors. 3) The high end plastic is a good and bad thing. It makes the device feel really cheap (like it's not going to make it through the 2-year contract), but also makes it seem like it weighs nothing. Samsung is a reliable brand however, so I'm going to go ahead make this a plus. Inside the box you also get a pair of Samsung headphones, not a bad addition. What's NOT SO GOOD about the phone is that it: 1) Has no SD Card, so you can't switch or upgrade the memory. C'mon Google and Samsung, this isn't Apple. No need to give the "magical" aspect here. 16GB is however generous. 2) Until recently this phone was only on T.Mobile. Same thing with the Nexus One (T.Mobile only). Going to Sprint is a great step in the right direction. In order to be as successful as you're capable of Google, you're going to need to have the next release available on every carrier. Unfortunately the device alone combined with Sprints network wasn't enough for me to keep it. Back to Verizon with me. I await your arrival on the biggest and most reliable U.S. carrier. P.S. - This is probably something extremely minor, however I'll mention it anyway. I also didn't like the arrangement of the commands on screen. I like the pattern that Motorola, LG, and [other] Samsung devices are following. Another minor thing was the placement of the headphone jack. Why the bottom of the device? Current: Back Arrow / Options / Search / Home (what you see in pic) Desired: Options / Home / Back Arrow / Search = NORMAL (lol) That's my opinion anyway.

Loved this phone, but really missed some sprint and HTC features of my old phone. Awesome screen and speed! You won't be disappointed unless you miss those OEM features. ONE GREAT BIG GOOD thing was that google locked out Sprint from controlling the hotspot feature and you can use it without paying a premium fee. One thing that really sucks though is the virtual shutter button for the camera/video. It's right next to the back/return virtual button and I lost shots by accidently hitting the back/return button with my larger fingers, and that closed the camera. Since I was within 30 days and the EVO 3D came out I got it instead for only the difference in price. Love this phone too, but the colors of the screen aren't as good as the Nexus S. And if you want to use the hotspot feature you have to pay $30/month extra on top of their $10/month "premium" data charge that I NEVER had to pay until I upgraded my phone. You'd think that the "premium" data would include hotspot capability. Just another way for sprint to rip you off! When the option for rooting he EVO 3D comes along this will allow the hotspot feature to be used without Sprint intervention.

I was a loyal palm user and prior to this phone had a pre. I loved that little phone, but there were problems with palm and I somewhat reluctantly had to say goodbye. I was hesitant about Android, and about the touch screen keyboard as I prefer the slide out qwerty. The first day I had this phone I hated it! But it only took one night before I fell in love with it. The screen is large and beautiful; the phone is not too heavy and is sleek. The android platform is great! Battery life is not so good, but neither was the pre. Anyways, I just have micro usb cables all over my house, car, and job. The call quality is wonderful, I have no trouble with wifi, nice camera. Let's see...what else do I like about this phone? I guess everything. The only complaint is that there is no visual indicator if you have a text, voicemail, or email when the phone is sleeping. The pre had a little light that would blink. I guess it's not a big deal. There is an audio indicator but I usually don't hear it. I am used to the touch screen keyboard now...I am sure those are all the same though. One hint...do not use google voice! It is a mess and does not even work as good as it sounds. I made a mess out of my voicemail and sprint had to fix it from their end.