The newest addition to Sprint’s armory of Android phones recently hit the shelves.
The Nexus S 4G from Google is the first phone from Sprint the sports the ‘pure Google’ operating system. You might be wondering why many users place value on having a ‘pure Google’ handset?
There are three reasons:
- ‘Pure Google’ means that the manufacture has not installed an overlay interface to run ‘on top’ of the Android operating system. This allows developers to create custom user interfaces unique to that product line.
The down side to this is that every time there is an Android update (which is now fairly frequent) that interface has to be re-programed to run on the new operating system. This takes time for the manufacture to update and in some cases they do not update the interface at all. - For the more sophisticated phone users, who like to custom ROM their phones so that they can install unofficial updates and apps, and customize their handset exactly to their liking, the ‘pure Google’ operating system is easier to hack. And has less complications associated with having manufacture overlays to deal with.
- Many users simply enjoy the ‘pure Google’ look and feel.
The Nexus comes fully loaded with a 1 GHz hummingbird processor, 16 GB of RAM, a 4 inch Super AMOLED display that gives improved sharpness and less glare in sunlight, a 5 mega pixel rear camera and a 1.3 mega pixel front facing VGA video calling camera, WiFi hub capabilities for up to 5 devices (extra $10 per month for this), improved GPS turn by turn system, and of course makes use of Sprint’s 4G WiMax network.
Sprint’s 4G system is quick but has not been rolled out to all the cosmopolitan areas in the US yet, so check the coverage map for detail.
Possibly the best feature of the Nexus S 4G is that it ships with Gingerbread (Android 2.3) pre-installed. The HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G is the biggest competitor to this phone, however, both the EVO and the Epic ship with Android 2.1 with no official upgrade available at this stage. There are unofficial upgrades available if you have custom ROM’ed your phone.
If you are looking for a phone with the latest Android operating system then go for the Nexus S 4G.
The HTC EVO 4G has the best rear shooting camera (8 mega pixel). It takes quick, sharp images, and has HD video capabilities. So if taking pictures with your phone is important to you, I would recommend you take a look at the EVO.
If you are like me and place emphasis on sending out lots of text messages and emails as quickly as possible with the least amount of the typos, then a physical full QWERTY keyboard is probably your best option. The Epic has a large, slide out keypad that is well spaced making full use of the size of the phone allowing you to type quickly and accurately. Hence, for the frequent messenger and emailer the Epic might be a good option for you.
