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Why I love the Nexus S (vs. iPhone 4)

Google’s Nexus S (mfg. by Samsung) will officially come out for Sprint on May 8, and I was lucky to get mine a couple days early- all I can say so far, after coming from an iPhone, is that I love this device. We decided that our shop had to diversify a bit, and because NFC was right up my electrical-engineering-alley, I hopped on the line with Sprint. My predispositions about Android were bad, we always made fun of our friends with Android-based phones because they were buggy and sluggish compared to the iPhone. However, these got broken with the Nexus S; I think the mixture of Google’s oversight, the 1GHz “Hummingbird” processor, and the latest release of Android (2.3) coined “Gingerbread” makes this snappy, and lets the features of Android shine.

*Photographed with the case on, available from Sprint stores.

From iPhone to Nexus S

I don’t think its fair to group the Nexus S into the same category as all Android devices, because it is right on par with the iPhone 4′s touch sensitivity and reactiveness, which I don’t think can be said about any other little green robot devices right now. There is one thing that sums up my thoughts about these two devices after making the switch: All the standards and design rules on the iPhone make it very clean and organized, but also make it stale and less efficient for many tasks.

First of all, on the Nexus S you have 4 hardware “action” buttons instead of one, and I think this feature is really under-rated for how powerful it is. Putting all the inner-workings of Android and iOS aside, here are what these buttons open up:

  • With the back button you have the control to “go back” to what you were doing last, which in most cases removes the need for a top or bottom bar in the browser and apps.
  • You can click the options button for more choices of what to do next, or application-specific settings.
  • The search button provides access to in-app searches (useful in contacts, Gmail, etc.)
  • The home button acts essentially the same as the home button on the iPhone.

Not only do these features let you do things quicker on the Nexus S, but it also increases the screen real-estate in a many cases. The screen is already larger than the iPhones (4″ vs. 3.5″), but the first thing I noticed when reading some CNN Mobile was that the story covered my whole screen (no bottom bar), which made it a much cleaner and immersive experience.

I Don’t Launch an App for Weather

Another major feature I was a bit unsure about was this whole modular home screen thing; Windows has a pretty lack-luster integration of “widgets”, and I think thats why I was scared. However, after having this feature, it makes you realize how far behind Apple’s grid system is. Things that are important to me from my mobile: Twitter, Facebook, Weather, Calendar, and all my other apps. With the Android widgets I have the ability to make those my priorities, and instead of having to launch an app to browse tweets, or to see if I have meetings today, it is just a swipe away. You just can’t make certain things a “priority” in a square grid model- if Facebook is all I care about, then it can take up half my screen right when I turn on the phone, which is a powerful time saver.

NFC and Hotspots.. Baby

The entire controversy of “will NFC be big” has been put to rest in my book, NFC will change the mobile environment. I say this because we currently look at QR codes and SMS (text messaging) as a viable and useful way to trade information, and they are horribly time consuming and painful. If you haven’t experienced it yet, wait until you do the same thing by just passing your phone near another NFC device; its like “damn, that was easy”. I mean, imagine if every time you had to use your credit card you couldn’t swipe it, and you had to type in each number- thats the difference of NFC versus the current methods.

The Nexus S has a special “Tags” app which can read NFC tags that can contain text, web links, contact info, and much more. The Tags app also stores the tag information and allows you to bookmark your favorite tags. The last feature of the Tags app is pretty revolutionary, it allows you to turn your phone into an NFC tag, and transmit your choice of information. Say goodbye to apps like Bump, with the Nexus S you can share everything a normal NFC tag can share, and even switch between an “active” tag, and ones you have created in the past. Last neat note, the biggest NFC tag manufacturer, NXP Semiconductors, has an app that allows you to read, write, and lock NFC tags, which makes this a “lab tool” for mobile dev’s like ourselves. Read what we have to say about NFC and mobile marketing.

NFC is by far the coolest wireless feature on the Nexus S, but the other one to make mention of is the WiFi hotspots and tethering. I am actually typing this article from my phones wireless network, and it is using Sprint’s 3G network for all the data transfer (4G where available). I called Sprint and had them turn on the $30/mo feature, which they said I can cancel tomorrow and only pay for the day I used it ($1)- but so far, even at 3G speeds, it rocks. And yes, up to 4 of your friends can use the WiFi network too (Apple is reluctant to allow this). There is always the option to do USB tethering which may save some battery power.

Apps: Better or Worse

I don’t think it is a secret that the iPhone paired with iOS makes the worlds most stable mobile device, but again, you run into the whole grid-based app layout, and top and bottom bar navigation. iPhone apps always “feel” like iPhone apps, however Android app’s seem to take on their own personality, which I have found to be great in most cases. The app’s have been pleasantly stable, nicely designed, and it is refreshing to have the entire screen to work with. This said, the worst thing about Android is the “App Market”- it looks like a third grader’s concept with an even worse implementation. This is where the Apple devices will beat the Nexus S and any Android devices, because they have a larger and more respected app community. However, both platforms have good apps, and both have crappy ones too, and in general all the major players like Facebook, Twitter, etc. have teams devoted to both.

The Final Words

I expect that I will run into some issues with the Nexus S, probably related to Android and particular bugs within third party apps, but as of right now, and as the title says, I love this phone. Here are just a few other side notes that I didn’t detail:

  • The iPhone 4′s camera is a little better, but as a photographer, I want to get my photos right in the camera, so setting things like white balance, exposure, and having the option for black and white is great.
  • The web browser on the Nexus S still needs some work. The JavaScript handling falls short compared to the iPhone’s, which is becoming a huge component to the mobile web.
  • The power management widget is another example of how with one swipe and one tap I can turn off WiFi or Bluetooth, whereas the Apple method is pretty arduous.

I am extremely happy that my Apple iOS shell was broken, it is kind of like seeing a forest through the trees- there are a lot of ways to make things happen on mobile, and Apple doesn’t have all the best ones right now. Will the iPhone 5 have better notifications, include NFC, and let me browse Twitter from my home screen? I hope so, because I love Apple, and want all the mobile companies to make things more usable and intuitive for everyone.

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