So many great things about this phone... But.... So many bad...

[blackterry]

I really love the phone but there are lots of issues and I totally don't want to take it back but I'm going to have to.. I'm holding out until next week to see if things get resolved but I doubt it will..

1. How the heck do you switch back and forth between calls when using call waiting... It was no problem with my droid X you just hit the switch call button.. Doesn't exist with this phone at this point in time.

2. I bought this phone primarily because I was sick of the crappy camera on the X... This camera isn't a whole lot better..

3. The notification light is almost useless... To me the notification light is huge since I'm in silent mode a lot.. It works semi ok at best..

4. You cannot set the ringer volume and the notification volume to different levels... Huge for me also..

5. The battery life is bad bad... You can't say one good thing about the battery but to be honest I was kind of expecting it.. When the nerd at the store told me how great the battery life was I just said I'll beleive it when I see it.. NOT ..

6. There is a bug in the image gallary I have to open and close it a few times to get my pics to scroll..

7. The phone coverage is a little spotty.. It has less power than the X for sure..

8. The phone is made cheaply.. I'm affraid to drop it !! The camera already has something rattling inside it... My X took about a thousand hard hits...

I'm sad about this because I love lots of the features that this phone has but These items are fatal flaw in my opinion... To me this phone is a tool not a toy.. It's very powerful yet very flawed..

 

[iKN0WaGH0ST]

Some points I agree with, but when you said the primary reason for getting this phone was for a better camera, it really bugged me.

Firstly, there were plenty of reviews which said that the camera wasn't the best. I agree with this, but it isn't a bad camera.
Secondly, who gets a new phone for the camera..? Its a phone. If you are that concerned with picture quality, there are amazing digital cameras for <$100.

You think that its bad battery life because you are coming from a 3g to a lte phone.of course the battery life isnt going to be as good. But with that said you can always fix that issue. I get 24 hours on a charge with moderate usage.

 

[kiwiguy]

1. How the heck do you switch back and forth between calls when using call waiting... It was no problem with my droid X you just hit the switch call button.. Doesn't exist with this phone at this point in time.

There is a Simulator on Verizon's web site that walks you through a lot of "How To's" on the Nexus including how to switch between calls:

Galaxy Nexus by Samsung

 

[blackterry]

Some points I agree with, but when you said the primary reason for getting this phone was for a better camera, it really bugged me.

Firstly, there were plenty of reviews which said that the camera wasn't the best. I agree with this, but it isn't a bad camera.
Secondly, who gets a new phone for the camera..? Its a phone. If you are that concerned with picture quality, there are amazing digital cameras for <$100.

You think that its bad battery life because you are coming from a 3g to a lte phone.of course the battery life isnt going to be as good. But with that said you can always fix that issue. I get 24 hours on a charge with moderate usage.

Sorry I forgot to mention that I dropped my X in a glass of wine..... So that also influenced my decision to get a new phone... I was excited to get a new camera but then let down..

 

[blackterry]

There is a Simulator on Verizon's web site that walks you through a lot of "How To's" on the Nexus including how to switch between calls:

Galaxy Nexus by Samsung

There isn;t a simulator for this phone yet ... Galaxy tab but not Nexus phone....

 

[blackterry]

Some points I agree with, but when you said the primary reason for getting this phone was for a better camera, it really bugged me.

Firstly, there were plenty of reviews which said that the camera wasn't the best. I agree with this, but it isn't a bad camera.
Secondly, who gets a new phone for the camera..? Its a phone. If you are that concerned with picture quality, there are amazing digital cameras for <$100.

You think that its bad battery life because you are coming from a 3g to a lte phone.of course the battery life isnt going to be as good. But with that said you can always fix that issue. I get 24 hours on a charge with moderate usage.

So how do I get that much time on battery ??

 

[iKN0WaGH0ST]

So how do I get that much time on battery ??

First you need to root it. Then you may want to get custom ROM loaded up on it and a custom kernel. Then get setCPU and set up profiles so that the CPU is running at minimal speeds when the screen is off. Undervolt your cpu to save juice. Don't keep wifi/GPS/bluetooth on when not needed. Use auto brightness. Etc etc.

 

[timrock]

you can always get a new phone. but before you do, make sure you do some research.

 

[blackterry]

First you need to root it. Then you may want to get custom ROM loaded up on it and a custom kernel. Then get setCPU and set up profiles so that the CPU is running at minimal speeds when the screen is off. Undervolt your cpu to save juice. Don't keep wifi/GPS/bluetooth on when not needed. Use auto brightness. Etc etc.

It's that easy.... I'll get right on that .. :blink:

 

[iKN0WaGH0ST]

I rest my case.

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

1. How the heck do you switch back and forth between calls when using call waiting... It was no problem with my droid X you just hit the switch call button.. Doesn't exist with this phone at this point in time.


A: From the Galaxy Nexus 4G manual about in-call functions:

2. I bought this phone primarily because I was sick of the crappy camera on the X... This camera isn't a whole lot better..


A: Try some of the alternative camera apps in the market. A lot of people are using Camera FX.

3. The notification light is almost useless... To me the notification light is huge since I'm in silent mode a lot.. It works semi ok at best..

A: Try Light Flow from the market

4. You cannot set the ringer volume and the notification volume to different levels... Huge for me also..

A: Quick Settings from the Market lets you do this.

5. The battery life is bad bad... You can't say one good thing about the battery but to be honest I was kind of expecting it.. When the nerd at the store told me how great the battery life was I just said I'll beleive it when I see it.. NOT ..

A: I can easily get 24 hours on a battery with my normal usage. There is one but that is afflicting a number of Gnex phones. The phone doesn’t go into a deep sleep when the screen is turned off via the power button like it does when the screen is timed out by the display sleep time. You can verify if yours is doing this by going into settings/battery and first noting the battery up time and them press on the “Android OS” and noting the “Keep Awake” time. The turn the screen off with the power button and wait 20, 30, 60 minutes (whatever length of time you can) and then note the two times again. Obviously if your “Keep Awake” time has increased by any appreciable amount, you have the bug. The current solution for non-rooted folks that do not want to run a custom rom is to set the display sleep time to something low like 30 seconds and then always let the screen time out when you are through using it. If you are rooted there are several roms that specifically address this issue and cure it.

Here’s a battery write up I did for the Bionic, but a lot of the stuff in the article will work on the GNex too. Here’s that writeup: If you are having short battery life here’s a list of things that can help. Just read through the list and select the items that fit with the way you want to use your phone. Not all items will work for everyone and this list was written for the Droid Bionic but should work for your phone too:


- Don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign.

- Weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can. If you can’t do without it, lengthen it’s refresh time.

- Don't use antivirus

- Set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off". This will cause the wifi to reconnect every time you open the phone. From any Home Screen select Menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/ and then use the Menu button to see some new options - select Advanced. Then select Wifi Sleep Policy and set it to Never. Home key to return to Home Screen.

- If you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. Wifi consumes less battery power than 3G.

- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.

- When you get a 1) new battery, 2) do a factory reset, or 3) an OS upgrade - run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will calibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.

- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.

- Set screen brightness to "Automatic"

- Under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"

- Turn on Bluetooth only when you are going to use it.

- Consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.

-Turn off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps

- Set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you’ve finished using the phone.

- Turn off in-pocket detection. In-Pocket Detection has been the source of many issues already.

- Keyboard: turn off vibrate on key press and sounds for any keyboards you use

- Use a red or black screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Bionic screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed.

- Camera app: I like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.

- In stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.

- Charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone. Put the phone on charger when you go to bed every night.

- Consider install the Home Replacement app Zeam. It is basic app that uses very few resources and will help with battery power.

-[FONT=&amp] Emails: I don't know what email app you use, but try this. It saves battery power and in some cases emails arrive quicker. This scheme will have you using only the Gmail app on the phone for all email accounts whether they are pop3 accounts or Gmail.[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]- If you are using Live Wall Papers, stop![/FONT]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a link to some very good videos about saving battery power on the Bionic (there are 4 parts and the other parts will show up as available videos when part 1 finishes):

Battery Saving Video

Part 1: [video=youtube;cvWg7SbUgsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI[/video]



If battery life is still bad: Consider doing a factory reset: (NOTE!!! On the GNex this function wipes everything off the sdcard. You will have to reload all your media and other personal files you placed on the sdcard so be sure to make a good sdcard image on your computer first) These have gotten pretty painless lately by following these simple steps: 1. Make sure Backup and Restore are checked in the Privacy setting. 2. When going through the setup after the reset, turn on wifi as soon as you can (assuming it is available). 3. After you have entered your Gmail account info, you will be presented with a screen that has two check boxes. Basically they are "Do you want Google to backup and restore this phone”. Make sure you check both of those. Your apps will then automatically reinstall (paid and free). Set the phone aside for a minute or two and let the apps download and install. 3. If rooted, use an app such as titanium backup to restore data only to select apps such as Tapatalk and you will not have to re-enter all your login information. I do this for 3-4 apps (Tapatalk, SPB Shell, etc.).

I've been flashing new roms/updates about once per day lately and I can be up and running with all my apps and settings back in place in less than 20 minutes. It's pretty painless now.



6. There is a bug in the image gallary I have to open and close it a few times to get my pics to scroll..

A: This is not something I’ve experienced, but you can use QuickPic from the market as an alternative gallery.

7. The phone coverage is a little spotty.. It has less power than the X for sure..

A: The new radio in 4.03 does help with this issue. Verizon is reporting that the current radio is pulling a strong enough signal, but the on-phone indication is not accurate. I have found that while I show less bars in terms of signal strength as compared to either my Droid 1 or my Bionic, I do still get just as good performance.

8. The phone is made cheaply.. I'm affraid to drop it !! The camera already has something rattling inside it... My X took about a thousand hard hits...

A: Rattle behind front facing camera (not volume rocker) - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com You will find that there are a number of folks with this issue. It seems quite a few are having their phones replaced under warranty.

Good luck.

 

[blackterry]

1. How the heck do you switch back and forth between calls when using call waiting... It was no problem with my droid X you just hit the switch call button.. Doesn't exist with this phone at this point in time.


A: From the Galaxy Nexus 4G manual about in-call functions:

2. I bought this phone primarily because I was sick of the crappy camera on the X... This camera isn't a whole lot better..


A: Try some of the alternative camera apps in the market. A lot of people are using Camera FX.

3. The notification light is almost useless... To me the notification light is huge since I'm in silent mode a lot.. It works semi ok at best..

A: Try Light Flow from the market

4. You cannot set the ringer volume and the notification volume to different levels... Huge for me also..

A: Quick Settings from the Market lets you do this.

5. The battery life is bad bad... You can't say one good thing about the battery but to be honest I was kind of expecting it.. When the nerd at the store told me how great the battery life was I just said I'll beleive it when I see it.. NOT ..

A: I can easily get 24 hours on a battery with my normal usage. There is one but that is afflicting a number of Gnex phones. The phone doesn’t go into a deep sleep when the screen is turned off via the power button like it does when the screen is timed out by the display sleep time. You can verify if yours is doing this by going into settings/battery and first noting the battery up time and them press on the “Android OS” and noting the “Keep Awake” time. The turn the screen off with the power button and wait 20, 30, 60 minutes (whatever length of time you can) and then note the two times again. Obviously if your “Keep Awake” time has increased by any appreciable amount, you have the bug. The current solution for non-rooted folks that do not want to run a custom rom is to set the display sleep time to something low like 30 seconds and then always let the screen time out when you are through using it. If you are rooted there are several roms that specifically address this issue and cure it.

Here’s a battery write up I did for the Bionic, but a lot of the stuff in the article will work on the GNex too. Here’s that writeup: If you are having short battery life here’s a list of things that can help. Just read through the list and select the items that fit with the way you want to use your phone. Not all items will work for everyone and this list was written for the Droid Bionic but should work for your phone too:


- Don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign.

- Weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can. If you can’t do without it, lengthen it’s refresh time.

- Don't use antivirus

- Set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off". This will cause the wifi to reconnect every time you open the phone. From any Home Screen select Menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/ and then use the Menu button to see some new options - select Advanced. Then select Wifi Sleep Policy and set it to Never. Home key to return to Home Screen.

- If you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. Wifi consumes less battery power than 3G.

- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.

- When you get a 1) new battery, 2) do a factory reset, or 3) an OS upgrade - run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will calibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.

- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.

- Set screen brightness to "Automatic"

- Under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"

- Turn on Bluetooth only when you are going to use it.

- Consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.

-Turn off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps

- Set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you’ve finished using the phone.

- Turn off in-pocket detection. In-Pocket Detection has been the source of many issues already.

- Keyboard: turn off vibrate on key press and sounds for any keyboards you use

- Use a red or black screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Bionic screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed.

- Camera app: I like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.

- In stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.

- Charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone. Put the phone on charger when you go to bed every night.

- Consider install the Home Replacement app Zeam. It is basic app that uses very few resources and will help with battery power.

- Emails: I don't know what email app you use, but try this. It saves battery power and in some cases emails arrive quicker. This scheme will have you using only the Gmail app on the phone for all email accounts whether they are pop3 accounts or Gmail.

- If you are using Live Wall Papers, stop!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a link to some very good videos about saving battery power on the Bionic (there are 4 parts and the other parts will show up as available videos when part 1 finishes):

Battery Saving Video

Part 1: [video=youtube;cvWg7SbUgsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI[/video]



If battery life is still bad: Consider doing a factory reset: (NOTE!!! On the GNex this function wipes everything off the sdcard. You will have to reload all your media and other personal files you placed on the sdcard so be sure to make a good sdcard image on your computer first) These have gotten pretty painless lately by following these simple steps: 1. Make sure Backup and Restore are checked in the Privacy setting. 2. When going through the setup after the reset, turn on wifi as soon as you can (assuming it is available). 3. After you have entered your Gmail account info, you will be presented with a screen that has two check boxes. Basically they are "Do you want Google to backup and restore this phone”. Make sure you check both of those. Your apps will then automatically reinstall (paid and free). Set the phone aside for a minute or two and let the apps download and install. 3. If rooted, use an app such as titanium backup to restore data only to select apps such as Tapatalk and you will not have to re-enter all your login information. I do this for 3-4 apps (Tapatalk, SPB Shell, etc.).

I've been flashing new roms/updates about once per day lately and I can be up and running with all my apps and settings back in place in less than 20 minutes. It's pretty painless now.



6. There is a bug in the image gallary I have to open and close it a few times to get my pics to scroll..

A: This is not something I’ve experienced, but you can use QuickPic from the market as an alternative gallery.

7. The phone coverage is a little spotty.. It has less power than the X for sure..

A: The new radio in 4.03 does help with this issue. Verizon is reporting that the current radio is pulling a strong enough signal, but the on-phone indication is not accurate. I have found that while I show less bars in terms of signal strength as compared to either my Droid 1 or my Bionic, I do still get just as good performance.

8. The phone is made cheaply.. I'm affraid to drop it !! The camera already has something rattling inside it... My X took about a thousand hard hits...

A: Rattle behind front facing camera (not volume rocker) - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com You will find that there are a number of folks with this issue. It seems quite a few are having their phones replaced under warranty.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the useful info I installed light flow and then removed it right away since my phone isn't rooted it's useless and I get nervous when app start talking about my passwords...

I put in quick setup and love that, I installed Camera FX and I'll have to try that out for awhile..

We'll see what happens.. I assume if I root the phone I void the warranty right ?? That really blows ...

 

[captdroid]

Thanks for all the useful info I installed light flow and then removed it right away since my phone isn't rooted it's useless and I get nervous when app start talking about my passwords...

I put in quick setup and love that, I installed Camera FX and I'll have to try that out for awhile..

We'll see what happens.. I assume if I root the phone I void the warranty right ?? That really blows ...

Lightflow will work fine even though you are not rooted... I am stock rooted but my g/f GN is not rooted (yet ) and I installed and configured lightflow on hers no problem.

 

[blackterry]

Also thanks for explaining the call waiting features it's really simple... It's just that I've always been used to it being right there in the middle of the screen as soon as a second call comes in.. With this phone the icons do not appear until after you answer the second call and it's small and at the bottom.

 

[Liderc]

Lightflow is harmless, the dev is very well known and it's being used by the masses. It doesn't need to be rooted to work.