Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Today we take a look at Google’s vision for the future of the Android Platform, the Samsung-built, Nexus S 4G.
The Nexus S 4G is a Google phone through and through. Following Google’s first hardware venture into the handset market, the Nexus One, this phone is how Google envisions the Gingerbread (Android 2.3) platform. Manufactured by Samsung, the Nexus S originally debuted as a GSM unlocked phone and on T-Mobile in the US earlier this year. Now, for the debut on CDMA networks, Samsung and Sprint have teamed together to add a 4G, WiMAX modem.
Because it is a Google tuned experience, the Nexus S 4G software is extremely polished, and provides a great user experience. Being the first phone to ship with Gingerbread, and still being one of the few phones shipping with it at this point in the game, it provides the absolute best small form-factor experience that Android is capable of.
Hit this link to keep reading our review of the Samsung Nexus S…
Some of the major improvements in Gingerbread are in the user experience category. The most notable changes between operating systems include visual nuances like a 3D cube-like effect on the scrolling applications list, and a lock screen animation that emulates a CRT style display. Due in part to GPU acceleration for some portion of the interface, and a more efficient garbage collector in the background, Gingerbread on the Nexus S feels closer to the fluidity of iOS and is definitely the smoothest Android experience I have had to date.
Gingerbread also adds an exciting new feature in the inclusion of support for NFC. NFC, or Near Field Communication, is an exciting technology which brings new opportunity to commerce and other fields. Currently, the implementation of this technology which is being pushed in the Nexus S aims to replace credit/debit cards. Using the existing infrastructure for contactless payments (such as MasterCard PayPass and Visa PayWave) services like the newly announced Google Wallet will be able to allow a user to use their phone as a payment device at Point of Sale terminals. This is very much a rapidly growing field, with the Nexus S being one of few phones with NFC built in, and it will be interesting to see how Google and other companies expand on the idea of contactless information sharing applications.
Another new feature in Gingerbread is the ability to make video calls over Google Talk. While I wouldn’t call Google Talk the biggest video chat protocol in use, it certainly is nice to have an option directly integrated into the operating system.
One thing lacking in the default Gingerbread application suite however is the default Camera application. With features such as touch to focus being expected on smartphones, it is a peculiarity to not find this feature by default in Gingerbread. Also, there is a somewhat limited control over camera effects such as white balance and shutter speed that some power users crave. This is one area where skins such which as HTC Sense and Samsung TouchWiz work to improve the user experience.
I see you have the EVO 4G
I see you have the EVO 4G tested with 2.1 and 2.2. Three weeks ago Sprint/HTC released the Gingerbread update OTA. Any way to add that to the mix? From the few things I’ve read going from 2.2 to 2.3 is actually hurting the phone’s performance.
Ironically, I have been
Ironically, I have been unable to update my personal HTC EVO 4G to the 2.3 software at all for some damn reason. :/
We are always looking into
We are always looking into testing phones with the newest updates available. We are looking to do a lot with the benchmarking suite here very soon. Stay tuned!
Wow…I’m surprised at the
Wow…I’m surprised at the low Quadrant scores. On my Thunderbolt, running the stock HTC Sense ROM (Froyo, 2.2.1), I was able to get Quadrant scores in the 1750-1850 range, and that’s with a single core, 1 GHz Snapdragon. Now that I’ve rooted and updated to Cyanogenmod 7, running Gingerbread (Android 2.3.4), my Quadrant scores are up in the 2500-2700 range. The only thing in your comparison that runs that fast is the Xoom tab with 1.5 GHz processor. My battery life has also almost doubled!
Everyone states the Emperor’s
Everyone states the Emperor’s new cloths are excellent and if you ever ever before actually cant see them that your dull witted. With that in mind a game’s message boards tell you just how much they really like the especially things that drives them to invest more time on the message boards than in online game.
To raid you’ll need to grind,
To raid you’ll need to grind, to fulfill standards which are set by the raiding neighborhood if not by the game. They are well-known with those that do it for the cause that they identify with the raiding community and essentially grind to brag. That’s all and its a mind dulling decline devolving MMO gaming all for the fantasy of a camaraderie that ordinarily is only actual to get a minority who would be buddies anyway for other causes and just take place to raid collectively oftentimes.