A Review of the Samsung Nexus S 4G

For a few years now, I lived without a contract, dealing with resulting limitations of poor phone selection. When I decided to commit to a contract, I wanted an Android smartphone that could do everything I needed it to do and this alone was a hard task. There were so many Android smartphones to choose from and every one is different, loaded with features you didn't know you needed.I had looked at the top 3 mobile carriers and a chance visit to a electronic store rewarded me with the perfect phone. Priced online at Sprint.com at $549.99 without a two-year contract, the Samsung Nexus S 4G is a good combination of entertainment and functionality from the beginner to the expert.

The first impression of the Samsung Nexus S 4G is the way it settled into the palm of my hand. With a curved glass, 4" Contour Display, it has a thin profile that produces 75% less glare than other smartphones and luminance at 1.5x higher than conventional LCD displays. The Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) makes the Nexus S 4G display vibrant and perfect for gaming, watching movies or apps like YouTube for Android. The Nexus S 4G is pre-installed with the latest and fastest version of the Android operating system, 2.3 Gingerbread. 16GB of internal storage coupled with a 1GHz Hummingbird processor allows for true multitasking with "virtually" no lag time. The interface was smooth and easy to manage. A slight flick of the thumb moved the touchscreen menu in a virtual circular motion.

I was impressed with the many other useful features such as WiFi, GPS and hotspot capabilities for my laptop at an additional charge. Not only do I have access to my Gmail account but it was simple to setup the numerous other email addresses I currently maintain. Hailed as a must-have for the "Android Purist", Nexus S 4G is equipped with Google mobile apps such as Google Maps, Google Voice and Google Earth. Google Docs has a useful mobile app and with the improved virtual keyboard, typing up a quick document was never easier. I enjoy searching through over 250,000 apps on the Android Market, always finding a new productivity app or game to try. There are five screens to organize the apps I use the most with quick flipping between them.

Even with all the positives, the Samsung Nexus S 4G has a couple of negatives. The lightweight feel of the smartphone and thin display also betrays its fragility. I recommend a screen protector and a protective case as necessary accessories. The 16GB internal storage and I doubt I will use all this space any time soon but an option for memory expansion would be a nice feature for the future.

Google for Android, Google.com
Samsung Nexus S Features, Google.com
Samsung Nexus S 4G (Sprint), CNET.com