Gnex instead of S3?

[meishkov]

Gonna upgrade and was leaning towards galaxy s3 but the unlocked bootloader thing is just a killer and I think I gotta go galaxy nexus. My work is paying for it so I don't care about the price, but is the 2 GB of RAM worth the sacrifice of flashing kernels and ROMs? Plus multiple people reporting about the glass cracking and gaps in parts of the case holding the phone together. Not sure if I'm gonna get insurance or not but haven't had it on my OG that I got in November '09. I know the s3 has a bigger screen, better reception, and better camera...
But don't you galaxy nexus owners think that it'll be able to keep pace go head to head and/or outperform the galaxy s3 until they're both EOL'd??

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[JJDH]

I gave the nexus to the wife and got the s3. I don't regret it. I noticed cracks in my case after I DROPPED the phone that look just like the ones online. The glass is better than the nexus. My .02

sIII

[meishkov]

I gave the nexus to the wife and got the s3. I don't regret it. I noticed cracks in my case after I DROPPED the phone that look just like the ones online. The glass is better than the nexus. My .02

sIII

What about performance wise and reception? Did u flash any ROMs with it?

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[JJDH]

S3 performance for me is smoother. I have not rooted.

sIII

[meishkov]

S3 performance for me is smoother. I have not rooted.

sIII

Yea I think I might have to go s3, too many peeps having reception issues with the gnex, plus I always like having the most latest phone if I'm gonna waste an upgrade and give up my grandfathered unlimited, but missing out on aokp and other ROMs and kernels is gonna be tough to take. That was my life with the OG ;(

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[Crankintopwater69]

Gonna upgrade and was leaning towards galaxy s3 but the unlocked bootloader thing is just a killer and I think I gotta go galaxy nexus. My work is paying for it so I don't care about the price, but is the 2 GB of RAM worth the sacrifice of flashing kernels and ROMs? Plus multiple people reporting about the glass cracking and gaps in parts of the case holding the phone together. Not sure if I'm gonna get insurance or not but haven't had it on my OG that I got in November '09. I know the s3 has a bigger screen, better reception, and better camera...
But don't you galaxy nexus owners think that it'll be able to keep pace go head to head and/or outperform the galaxy s3 until they're both EOL'd??

Sent from my OG using DroidForums

Yes,the Nexus is and will surpass the S3 in the dev community until they're both EOL.You like to flash/ROMs,S3 cracking and gaps in parts of the case,S3-bigger screen(true),better recept(dont know about that one,ever since ICS,I get just as good recept as S3),cam-S3 8meg-Nexus 5meg.The 5meg takes just as good pics as S3's 8meg,IMO.Welcome to the Nexus fam.

[tgyberg]

I hang out on xda a lot and there have been a ton of these threads. Lots of people have dropped the S3 and picked up the GNex. With JB running the nod goes to the GNex! You could always buy one used and see how the reception is. Oh and rom and kernel heaven ftw!

[Crankintopwater69]

Yea I think I might have to go s3, too many peeps having reception issues with the gnex, plus I always like having the most latest phone if I'm gonna waste an upgrade and give up my grandfathered unlimited, but missing out on aokp and other ROMs and kernels is gonna be tough to take. That was my life with the OG ;(

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As far as reception,before ICS,yes I agree with you,I was one of them,but after ICS,totally diff story.

[dezymond]

It depends on where you live really, I never had a reception issue with my Nexus. Maybe the radios they use in the SG3 are better, but Samsung is notorious for using weak radios.

If you're in for rooting and ROMing, the Gnex has no comparison, in my honest opinion. The support for the device is almost as strong as it was to the OG Droid. We get the latest updates first, and it's just a real treat when devs put their own little touches to it. Yeah other devices have dev support and great ROMs as well, but if you're a "flash-o-holic" or want to become one, the Nexus is the way to go. Other phones are just getting ICS and we got some real quality JB ROMs available right now.

So if you like to tinker around and really get into customizing, the Nexus is for you.

[cupfulloflol]

Yea I think I might have to go s3, too many peeps having reception issues with the gnex, plus I always like having the most latest phone if I'm gonna waste an upgrade and give up my grandfathered unlimited, but missing out on aokp and other ROMs and kernels is gonna be tough to take. That was my life with the OG ;(

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AOKP (I am not sure about a JB version, but I know ICS exists), CM9 and CM10, and some other ROMs exist for the d2VZW (VZW SGS3). Some problems may exist on them, and they may not be official just yet. But they exist. This phone isn't as locked down as people seem to think it is. For the most part similar things are achievable between the two. SGS3 may be a bit more of a hacky method, but for the most part it works. The dev comunity is still rather young, it will pick up eventually I would imagine.

The glass cracking does happen to some folks, but it doesn't seem to be a large percentage of folks. The reception problem seems to be a bit more common, but even then I don't think I would say that it is an epidemic. Quite a few folks are on their original GN, while others have been through a few to get one that functions properly. All devices are going to have issues, some worse than others, I doubt the SGS3 is perfect either.

About whether you should pick one over the other, that is personal preference. They are fairly similar devices, with some slight differences here and there. I would almost say it is a toss up between them for the most part. The screen sizes are so close the difference is almost a wash. I wouldn't necessarily go crazy about the larger screen on the SGS3 as it is only .15". It doesn't dwarf the 4.65" display of the GN.

Probably the biggest difference would probably be the camera. The GN camera apparently leaves some folks wanting more. I am not a photographer, I don't take many pictures, the ones I have taken have been decent enough in my experience. I have heard the SGS3 is a bit better at stuff camera wise.

About the internals, for the most part I doubt you would notice a difference there. I mean I guess if you are into higher end games, or manage to find apps that can make use of the extra RAM, perhaps. Most apps/games don't use the full 1GB on the GN yet.

I personally wouldn't want to get rid of my GN for the SGS3 for a couple reasons:
- The development scene on the GN is crazy. There are probably 20 Jelly Bean ROMs right now, some of which update daily. Not to mention kernels, themes, and various other things popping up. There is always something new to flash or play with if you are interested. While the SGS3 has potential, it isn't thriving just yet from what I have seen.
- After having a device with customizable on screen navigation keys, I don't know if I can go to a device with hardware navigation buttons again. It seems like wasted space on an already large device.