Intro

I am no stranger to the world of Android. The Galaxy Nexus is marked as my fourth Android device -- one being a tablet. I first ventured into the smartphone market back in March of 2010. I had never been that interested in technology; that changed with Motorola Droid. A year later I had then upgraded to the HTC Thunderbolt -- I mostly settled with it as my Droid had taken a major beating. And now, December 2011, I picked up the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon the second sales went live. All I can say is that I’ve never been so thrilled with a purchase. I was afraid that this phone and Android 4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich – were all hype. Well, I’m proud to say I was wrong.

Software

Google has really done a great job with this update. Everything has been totally revamped. All of Google’s core applications have been tweaked one way or another. Apps like the ‘People’ app, offer up a ‘hub’ for connecting with all your contacts and plugs in all their social information and network contacts you’ve had with them – much like WP7. Other core apps such as Gmail and Calendar have gotten revamped as well. Making them much easier to navigate through. The big tweak in ICS that I love is the lock screen. You can access your notifications on the lock screen, unlock to the camera app and control your music. The OS feels very modern and offers tons of neat features that work very well. It could be a little more user friendly, but it’s defiently a major improvement over previous versions of Android.

Hardware

There’s nothing mind blowing about the hardware, but it sure is gorgeous. It’s slim, sleek and curved. It feels very light and durable in the hand, regardless of the fact it’s made of plastic. The hyper skin in the back gives the phone a very nice grip and the curve of the display makes the device more bearable in the hands. Passed the aesthetics, you get some pretty decent spec’s for Google’s flagship device. The phone sports a 4.65” Super AMOLED HD display, a 1.2GHz OMAP processor, 1.3MP/5MP cameras, 1GB RAM, 32GB memory, and an 1850mAh battery – all on Verizon’s 4GLTE network. Going back to the display, it’s a very beautiful display. There is some bandings down the device at its lowest brightness and offers a purple-ish tint, but passed that, it’s absolutely jaw-dropping.

Wrap Up

The Galaxy Nexus is easily one of the greatest pieces of technology I’ve ever owned. It’s fast, sleek, and durable and the software is a major improvement and I truly enjoy using. I could not find myself giving up this phone, and I personally think that if you’re on Verizon, you’re crazy if you pass this phone up. It exceeds my expectations and I couldn’t be more content with this device. Well worth the wait.