Nexus S Review

Many moons ago I reviewed the T-Mobile G1, the launch device for Android. In a nutshell, I said it was a fun geeky gadget, a decent phone, and that Android was "poised to make significant impact in the mobile market."

Two years later it is clear that Android has been even larger than most would have expected. But while I am happy with the progress of Android as a whole, I am saddened by the actual devices on the market. Phones are no longer geeky gadgets - they are supposedly "sexy" devices with smooth curves and shiny screens.

The reason for this is clear - Apple. Where they go consumers follow, and so other manufacturers desperately try to mimic them. Efficacy aside, this strategy leads to a lack of diversity (in this case, buttons) in the market. Compound this with the predilection of manufacturers to load up bloatware on Android devices (the two-edged sword of openness, or "why I'm a GPL guy"), and you end up with many phones that are all significantly flawed in some way or another.

A "developer phone", with collaboration from Google, is supposed to address these issues. It should be cutting edge and functional in design, not an imitation. And it should be "pure Google", without uninstallable bloatware, UI tweaks, and other annoyances.

The Nexus S utterly fails on the first front, and could be better on the second. It looks beautiful - shiny, sleek, it's quite attractive for something I keep in my pockets 95% of the time. Personally I've never understood wanting excessively flashy gadgets - I have no need to impress strangers in coffee shops, and would rather not attract mugging-worthy attention in general. If the goal of manufacturers is to create things for art museums then they're on that track, but if they want to make functional phones then they need to change direction a bit.

The specific design issue with the Nexus S is that it is just entirely seamless, with no true buttons - the four standard Android keys only appear when the screen is on and offer no tactile feedback ("haptic" feedback is an irritating battery-waster). No trackball/touchpad, no camera button - just a power button on the right and a volume rocker on the left. And the whole phone is so nondescript that it's difficult to tell orientation by feel (or indeed even when looking at it, if the screen is off).

Samsung used a more plastic-feeling casing than most other manufacturers, though I will admit the phone still feels durable enough. However it is also totally glossy, even on the back - this combined with the slight curve makes one worry about it squeezing out of your hand (as well as attracting fingerprints).

Another huge step backwards - no passive notification. The Nexus S lacks an LED that blinks when you receive an alert (message, calendar, etc.) - so, if muted, there is no way to know. This decision boggles me the most as they could have included such a feature without compromising their "sexy"design.

Now, the "pure Google"failure is less severe. In fact, I suppose it's not a failure at all, as the phone is indeed only preloaded with Google software. However, just like non-Google Android phones, some of the software is uninstallable. Defining a certain set of true core apps (browser, maps, email, chat, dialer, calculator, etc.) makes sense, but certain others (Latitude, Places, Earth, Voice) aren't something every user will always want and should be removable. I'm hopeful that this situation will change, but as of release it seems that there are still apps you cannot get rid of.

Overall, this phone epitomizes my disappointment with the industry. It's really just a mildly improved Galaxy S phone - the front-facing camera and NFC are supposedly "next-gen" features. Meanwhile true next-gen features - 4G and dual-core processor - are omitted, along with the above lamented "last-gen" features of buttons and passive indication.

The screen is bright and attractive, the device is fast and slick, Android is a great OS, and there are apps for anything you may want. But the Nexus S is not a worthy successor to the G1 - while touch screen and voice input have improved, you still need tactile buttons to do anything that involves creation. Pure touch is great for consumption, pinching and flicking and selecting options - but if you want to enter any serious amount of text (I enjoy chatting on my phone), it's just lacking. One might offer the G2 as a G1 successor, but while it has a keyboard, 4G, and is named similarly, it is not the "official" developer phone and as such is more locked down.

Sadly I see this trend continuing, and the gulf between touch/non-touch growing wider as tablets are popularized. Being pure-touch allows the device to be sleek and attractive and thus sell better, and for most people who really do just consume media it will be adequate - a tablet could replace a computer for such a user. But for anyone who tries to create content rather than just consume, a real keyboard is needed - let's hope they don't go the same way as cellphones with buttons.