Recently my friend bought a Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250 from US for 380$. I used the phone for a short period and could not resist writing a quick, short hands-on review of the phone. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250 is predecessor of the latest Nexus 4 which is already rocking the sales chart in unites states and other countries. My friend was in urgent need of a phone and could not get Nexus 4 as it was out of stock when he purchased the phone. Anyhow let's get back to the device.
The first thing that will catch your eyes is the 4.65 inch super AMOLED display which offers HD resolution, perfectly saturated colours and responsive touch. The device is massive in size yet easy to hold and use with single hand. The build quality is premium and I believe it can withstand normal day-to-day abuses easily. Along with that you will find a couple of sensors and a 1.3 MP front facing camera which can record 720p resolution video and is excellent for video chatting purpose.
Volume rocker is on the left side and power button is on the right side unlike some other phones which have power button on the top. Personally I feel that power button on top side is more convenient to use but that is just me and not a big deal.
On the back you will find a 5MP camera which records full HD videos @ 24fps and still images of 2592×1936 px. Image Quality is more or less same as of my HTC One V. Video quality is simply good. A dedicated camera button is sorely missed. Also on the back you will find ‘Google' written in the middle which makes this phone stand out from the crowd. The rear surface is textured and premium to touch.
The phone comes with a removable type Li-Ion 1750 mAh battery and a sim card slot. Sadly there is no expandable memory card slot and one has to live with the 16GB internal storage out of which roughly 13.5 GB is available to user. Under the hood you will find a power-hungry Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 processor and PowerVR SGX540 GPU. 1GB dedicated RAM is just OK for a phone of this segment. Hardware wise Nexus i9250 is like Samsung Galaxy S II minus the SD card support, 8 MP primary camera and FM radio.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250 comes pre-loaded with Android 4.2.1 JellyBean. Thankfully Samsung has not loaded any useless apps like it does with its other phones. The interface is familiar and easy to use. Apps loads in no time and there is no lag at all. I haven't played any CPU/GPU intensive games but am sure it will play anything you throw at it.
Speaker sound quality & loudness is just par, haven't tested the ear phones so can't comment on that. But AFAIK Samsung provides average ear phones with its devices as I have personal experience of owning a Note II, so it's nothing to write home about. Battery life is below par because of the massive super AMOLED 4.65 inch display along with power-hungry dual core processor but still it lasts for a day (as reported by my friend).
So this was a quick hands-on review of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250. Please note that I am no android or smartphone expert and this is just a general layman's review of this device so please bear with possible shortcomings in this review.
Special thanks to my friend Naman Gupta for letting me use his phone for some time without which this post would not have been possible.
Many thanks guys for reading!
Some Screenshots
NOTE: Click any picture to open a larger higher-resolution version.
Full Specifications
(Specification sheet source - GSM arena)
Review also on In Search Of My Kind Of World & The Story So Far: Samsung Galaxy Nexus I9250 - A Quick Hands-on Review
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The first thing that will catch your eyes is the 4.65 inch super AMOLED display which offers HD resolution, perfectly saturated colours and responsive touch. The device is massive in size yet easy to hold and use with single hand. The build quality is premium and I believe it can withstand normal day-to-day abuses easily. Along with that you will find a couple of sensors and a 1.3 MP front facing camera which can record 720p resolution video and is excellent for video chatting purpose.
Volume rocker is on the left side and power button is on the right side unlike some other phones which have power button on the top. Personally I feel that power button on top side is more convenient to use but that is just me and not a big deal.
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On the back you will find a 5MP camera which records full HD videos @ 24fps and still images of 2592×1936 px. Image Quality is more or less same as of my HTC One V. Video quality is simply good. A dedicated camera button is sorely missed. Also on the back you will find ‘Google' written in the middle which makes this phone stand out from the crowd. The rear surface is textured and premium to touch.
The phone comes with a removable type Li-Ion 1750 mAh battery and a sim card slot. Sadly there is no expandable memory card slot and one has to live with the 16GB internal storage out of which roughly 13.5 GB is available to user. Under the hood you will find a power-hungry Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 processor and PowerVR SGX540 GPU. 1GB dedicated RAM is just OK for a phone of this segment. Hardware wise Nexus i9250 is like Samsung Galaxy S II minus the SD card support, 8 MP primary camera and FM radio.
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The Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250 comes pre-loaded with Android 4.2.1 JellyBean. Thankfully Samsung has not loaded any useless apps like it does with its other phones. The interface is familiar and easy to use. Apps loads in no time and there is no lag at all. I haven't played any CPU/GPU intensive games but am sure it will play anything you throw at it.
Speaker sound quality & loudness is just par, haven't tested the ear phones so can't comment on that. But AFAIK Samsung provides average ear phones with its devices as I have personal experience of owning a Note II, so it's nothing to write home about. Battery life is below par because of the massive super AMOLED 4.65 inch display along with power-hungry dual core processor but still it lasts for a day (as reported by my friend).
So this was a quick hands-on review of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250. Please note that I am no android or smartphone expert and this is just a general layman's review of this device so please bear with possible shortcomings in this review.
Special thanks to my friend Naman Gupta for letting me use his phone for some time without which this post would not have been possible.
Many thanks guys for reading!
Some Screenshots
NOTE: Click any picture to open a larger higher-resolution version.
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Full Specifications
| GENERAL | 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
|---|---|---|
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 | |
| 4G Network | LTE 2300 / 2400 (market dependent) | |
| SIM | Mini-SIM | |
| Announced | 2011, October | |
| Status | Available. Released 2011, November |
| BODY | Dimensions | 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm (5.33 x 2.67 x 0.35 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 135 g (4.76 oz) |
| DISPLAY | Type | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.65 inches (~316 ppi pixel density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes | |
| Protection | Oleophobic coating |
| SOUND | Alert types | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones |
|---|---|---|
| Loudspeaker | Yes | |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes |
| DATA | GPRS | Yes |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE | Yes | |
| Speed | HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps | |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot | |
| Bluetooth | Yes, v3.0 with A2DP | |
| NFC | Yes | |
| USB | Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL) |
| CAMERA | Primary | 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection | |
| Video | Yes, 1080p@24fps, check quality | |
| Secondary | Yes, 1.3 MP, 720p@30fps |
| FEATURES | OS | Android OS v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradable to v4.2 (Jelly Bean) |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | TI OMAP 4460 | |
| CPU | Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 | |
| GPU | PowerVR SGX540 | |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer | |
| Messaging | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS | |
| Browser | HTML, Adobe Flash | |
| Radio | No | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS support | |
| Java | Yes, via Java MIDP emulator | |
| Colors | Black, White | |
| - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - MP4/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3 player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document viewer - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input |
| BATTERY | Li-Ion 1750 mAh battery | |
|---|---|---|
| Stand-by | Up to 290 h (2G) / Up to 270 h (3G) | |
| Talk time | Up to 17 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 8 h 20 min (3G) |
| MISC | SAR EU | 0.30 W/kg (head) |
|---|---|---|
| Price group |
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| TESTS | Display | Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal) |
|---|---|---|
| Loudspeaker | Voice 66dB / Noise 60dB / Ring 69dB | |
| Audio quality | Noise -90.6dB / Crosstalk -91.8dB | |
| Camera | Photo / Video | |
| Battery life | Endurance rating 31h |
(Specification sheet source - GSM arena)
Review also on In Search Of My Kind Of World & The Story So Far: Samsung Galaxy Nexus I9250 - A Quick Hands-on Review