What reason is there to upgrade from a Nexus?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I know it's not the fastest phone out there but besides having microSD capability and a better camera, why else would you want to upgrade? What apps am I missing that require more speed/ram/etc that you can only get from something like a GS3?

 

[Fx1]

Well the Camera is better. its also slimmer. Screen is nicer and higher resolution and DPI.

Thats generally a bigger feature improvement than what i used to get from iPhone to iPhone.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Well the Camera is better. its also slimmer. Screen is nicer and higher resolution and DPI.

Thats generally a bigger feature improvement than what i used to get from iPhone to iPhone.

For me the camera and SD card are the biggest reasons to upgrade.

Larger and higher resolution display? The Nexus display resolution is already close to retina i.e. Your eyes can't resolve the difference if it was higher. A larger screen is OK but for me it would make getting around harder since I have small hands and short thumbs.

 

[bucwylde23]

My primary reason to upgrade is battery life. Camera could be better but battery life is frustrating.

 

[bearxor]

The Nexus and GS3 are both 1280x720 pentile displays. One is 4.8" and the other is 4.65".

In my opinion, you have everything to lose by switching from a GNex at this point. Sure, it's not the fastest, but it's no slouch. It still handles everything I do just fine. I would like a better camera but that will hopefully come in the next Nexus. The one thing I WISH could be changed is the speaker. It's so soft.

But, to me, the most important thing you'll lose moving from a Nexus is timely software upgrades. That's the biggest reason to keep the GNex.

Edit: Battery life is kind of terribad... But there is an extended battery pack to squeeze a couple of extra hours which is just fine for me.

 

[ponyo]

I can't think of any reason other than boredom and wanting to try something new. There's not too many pentaband phones put there. Nexus is the ultimate prepaid and travel phone. Trend now for new phones seem to be sealed battery which makes it harder to travel with. Camera is acceptable now that I learned to just point and shoot instead of tap to focus and shoot. Only major negative I can think of is the missing sdcard slot.

 

[Bateluer]

But, to me, the most important thing you'll lose moving from a Nexus is timely software upgrades. That's the biggest reason to keep the GNex.

Rendered into a weakness on Verizon. We're ahead of most OEMs, but lag the GSM Nexii by months.

 

[bearxor]

Rendered into a weakness on Verizon. We're ahead of most OEMs, but lag the GSM Nexii by months.

Fair enough. They're douches.

You guys just got Google Wallet yanked too.

 

[dguy6789]

Google Wallet always has from day 1 to now still working on the VZW Galaxy Nexus I just checked.

I did see an article a couple days ago claiming that the VZW GN stopped working with Wallet but the journalist had no clue what he was talking about.(An older version of Google Wallet stopped being allowed to be used which someone happened to be using on a VZW Nexus but it had nothing to do with it being on a VZW Nexus specifically; the newest wallet works fine)

 

[basslover1]

For me the only reason to upgrade from the current Nexus, is to the new Nexus...

I can deal with the slightly outdated hardware, in exchange for Vanilla Android and timely updates.

 

[ilkhan]

I can't think of any reason other than boredom and wanting to try something new.

This sentence.
Battery life (MAXX), maybe. I expect the Moto Nexus will have a MAXX sized battery, however. So even that should be an issue for a few more months.

 

[Strk]

The Nexus and GS3 are both 1280x720 pentile displays. One is 4.8" and the other is 4.65".

In my opinion, you have everything to lose by switching from a GNex at this point. Sure, it's not the fastest, but it's no slouch. It still handles everything I do just fine. I would like a better camera but that will hopefully come in the next Nexus. The one thing I WISH could be changed is the speaker. It's so soft.

But, to me, the most important thing you'll lose moving from a Nexus is timely software upgrades. That's the biggest reason to keep the GNex.

Edit: Battery life is kind of terribad... But there is an extended battery pack to squeeze a couple of extra hours which is just fine for me.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...51bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5GUkVFLmFuZHJvaWQubHZoIl0.

Between that and having to cup the thing to direct the sound back at me is annoying.

 

[soulcougher73]

If you already have the Nexus why waste money for performance you may not see with a G3. Is G3 technically an upgrade? Yes. But is it noticable or worth it from a Nexus? No, unless you just have money to throw around and want something new for the sake of it being new.

 

[PowerYoga]

Nexus has a lot more JB roms out for it right now and has a very active developer community, and if you're on Verizon the Nexus is unlocked while the S3 has a locked bootloader and Verizon just pushed out an OTA that screws their customers out of rooting and unlocking for the time being.

 

[basslover1]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...51bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5GUkVFLmFuZHJvaWQubHZoIl0.

Between that and having to cup the thing to direct the sound back at me is annoying.

Currently Volume + only works for certain types of audio, IE music and video playback. Since the JB update it doesn't increase notification tones, which is really annoying because they're so damned quiet.

 

[lothar]

Google Wallet always has from day 1 to now still working on the VZW Galaxy Nexus I just checked.

I did see an article a couple days ago claiming that the VZW GN stopped working with Wallet but the journalist had no clue what he was talking about.(An older version of Google Wallet stopped being allowed to be used which someone happened to be using on a VZW Nexus but it had nothing to do with it being on a VZW Nexus specifically; the newest wallet works fine)

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that Verizon's Galaxy Nexus doesn't/didn't ship with Google Wallet and isn't present in their OTA updates either?
I thought people had to download the GoogleWallet .apk from XDA or other sites and side load it?

Saying it's been working since day one and saying it came stock with the OS are two different things?

 

[dguy6789]

It does not come with Google Wallet. It works perfectly with Google Wallet if you install it though. You just can't do it from Google Play.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I kinda hate how Google dictates certain things on the Nexus phone but doesn't see it pan out to the rest of the industry:

- Soft keys. I don't like soft keys but if they want to make soft keys the next big thing, then everyone needs to adopt.

- No onboard storage. Nexus S and GNex are offenders. The 7 too. Why? I can understand the latter being a cost thing, but the first 2?

Stop it Google. The Nexus should offer a pure Android experience and be a significant iPhone challenger. It also needs to represent the face of Android. If the SGS3 is doing that job, then maybe you need to follow in its lead.

 

[bearxor]

Google Wallet always has from day 1 to now still working on the VZW Galaxy Nexus I just checked.

I did see an article a couple days ago claiming that the VZW GN stopped working with Wallet but the journalist had no clue what he was talking about.(An older version of Google Wallet stopped being allowed to be used which someone happened to be using on a VZW Nexus but it had nothing to do with it being on a VZW Nexus specifically; the newest wallet works fine)

Ok, I'm now I'm confused. Every news article I've read and am reading now states what I had thought was right.

Google Wallet was not available in the play store for VZW Galaxy Nexus until August of this year. You could side load it if you had the APK, but you know people aren't going to do that.

Now, the current version of Google Wallet became outdated, and so when you go to upgrade it through the play store, VZW has once again blocked access to it so that it can't be updated. It can still be side loaded.

Do I have this wrong? Not saying it doesn't work, or never did, just that it is seemingly shunned by VZW.

 

[lothar]

Ok, I'm now I'm confused. Every news article I've read and am reading now states what I had thought was right.

Google Wallet was not available in the play store for VZW Galaxy Nexus until August of this year. You could side load it if you had the APK, but you know people aren't going to do that.

Now, the current version of Google Wallet became outdated, and so when you go to upgrade it through the play store, VZW has once again blocked access to it so that it can't be updated. It can still be side loaded.

Do I have this wrong? Not saying it doesn't work, or never did, just that it is seemingly shunned by VZW.

I think you could also download Google Wallet from the Play Store by enabling airplane mode, then turning on WiFi after that.
At least that's the way it worked for those tethering/hotspot apps that Verizon didn't want people to have from the Play Store.

 

[Midwayman]

The small on board storage would be enough reason for my to upgrade. Its the reason I didn't buy a nexus in the first place. If they had offered a 64gb model I might have bit.

 

[lothar]

I kinda hate how Google dictates certain things on the Nexus phone but doesn't see it pan out to the rest of the industry:

- Soft keys. I don't like soft keys but if they want to make soft keys the next big thing, then everyone needs to adopt.

- No onboard storage. Nexus S and GNex are offenders. The 7 too. Why? I can understand the latter being a cost thing, but the first 2?

Stop it Google. The Nexus should offer a pure Android experience and be a significant iPhone challenger. It also needs to represent the face of Android. If the SGS3 is doing that job, then maybe you need to follow in its lead.

I don't think it's entirely Google's fault. Not sure if this rumor has any legs, but...
Some speculate that Google were pressured into abandoning SD storage by the music/movie industry.
It's probably some kind of requirement or contract agreement they signed to get access to selling music and renting movies at the Play Store.

This is similar to the current requirement of "if you have a rooted device, you can't rent movies on Play Store".

Was the Nexus One developed before Google started renting films and selling music on Android Market/Play Store?
If so, that would explain why it had SD storage and the others did not.

Windows Phone and iOS don't have SD storage either and they both sell music at their respective stores(iTunes/Zune marketplace). In fact, they have been for a long time before Android Market started selling them.

If all the different "Nexus" devices from the different manufacturers that are to be released this year or early next year don't have SD storage either, then I would consider that rumor to be a fact?

 

[bearxor]

I think you could also download Google Wallet from the Play Store by enabling airplane mode, then turning on WiFi after that.
At least that's the way it worked for those tethering/hotspot apps that Verizon didn't want people to have from the Play Store.

Ha, that's a pretty neat trick.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I know it's not the fastest phone out there but besides having microSD capability and a better camera, why else would you want to upgrade? What apps am I missing that require more speed/ram/etc that you can only get from something like a GS3?

better battery life with 4g??

 

[fstime]

One thing I have learned from people on tech forums is that they put specs well above real world performance (mostly because they do more reading than actual comparisons and usually buy into all of it).

The GNex is one of the best Android devices to own because it comes with stock Android software, has a huge development community, and receives updates first and will continue to do so even after the next version is released.

So, if you want to sit on your phone and run benchmarks all day, by all means upgrade to a Krait chipset or Exynos. Otherwise, your not losing out on much other than possibly a better camera at this moment.

Obviously this may change in the future as technology likes to move pretty fast.