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The Nexus S is coming soon to Canada (first quick hands-on)
It’s been rumoured for a few weeks now that the Google Nexus S will be hitting Canadian soil. Thankfully one of them just arrived at our doorstep and this Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) device will be launching across multiple carriers sometime in Q1 (so by the end of March). That’s all we know.
I captured an incredibly quick video but we’ll have a full review up shortly. As for highlighted specs, the Nexus S a 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, 4-inch touchscreen (resolution of 800 x 480), 512MB RAM, 16GB ROM, GPS, NFC (Near-field communications), 5 megapixel camera with Flash and HD video recording, Wifi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, 1500 mAh battery and weighs in at 129 grams.
Full review soon…
Discussion
61 comments for “The Nexus S is coming soon to Canada (first quick hands-on)”
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It’s a good device but sadly with all the new hardware coming soon this is a little late to the table, especially since it has been out in the US for a while.
It’s a good phone but not that good.
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Unfortunately, that’s the downfall of mobile technology in Canada. We’re always so damn slow.
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It’s better than all the Android phone currently available in Canada.
Granted, the Motorola Atrix is more powerful but is only on Android 2.2 and probably won’t get updated
… and will be full of Motorola/Bell crapwares.
And the Nexus S has NFC… which is going to be an important feature now that NFC is on all new high-end smartphones… including the iPhone 5.
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One of the selling features is that it will get updates before any other device out there. While the specs may not be as high-end as some of the dual core type devices it will get updates a LOT faster.
I can’t watch the video, is it specified what carrier or is it just the AWS version of the phone coming to Canada?
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Just thought you’d like to know you’re missing a number where you list the battery capacity (“XXXX mAh.
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This would have been hot awhile ago,
but now it’s all Atrix this, Atrix that!
Regardless, this may be the best phone for Wind / Mob
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Any serious tinkerer (which a lot of Android people I know are) will never buy a Motorola again, due to their locking down the secondary bootloader to only accept signed images. This means no flashing custom ROMs and that’s a huge piss-off.
HTC and Samsung at least haven’t stopped people from customizing *their own hardware*.
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Head over to xda developers to learn how to bypass the bootloader and flash custom roms for motorola products. Lots of stuff for the milestone if you like. I haven’t tried any yet but lots of people have.
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It looks like a pretty decent phone but it certainly isn’t enough of an upgrade for me to toss aside the Nexus 1.
Will wait for the next Google developer phone to hit.
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Also, there are zillions of cool phones announced all the time and yes many of them are in the US but keep in mind Telus is about to release their version of the EVO! We are WAY behind the US and getting the Nexus S this early (yes I said early) is friggin sweet!
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What are you talking about? Telus already released the Desire HD, which is on many points better than the Evo.
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This looks to be a good phone, especially with 2.3 already on it. BUT, it is too bad they decided to not wait for the dual core samsung in order to release it as from what I have been reading, google will need to put out another update in order to optimize performance for the dual core phones. Is there going to be even more fragmentation with the onset of dual core phones? Two separate lines of updates for phones? I hope not. I really enjoy the android platform, but I am getting frustrated with the fact that my phone has yet to even get an official 2.2 update (Milestone) and many update capable phones are being left behind by manufacturers and carriers just so they can push all the new product (no customer loyalty). Yes, installing custom roms is an option in order to get the updates, but this can void warranty and possibly brick your phone. I am seriously considering moving to a different platform with my next phone unless this fragmentation issue solves itself relatively soon.
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Why do people keep saying this? Android is natively multi-threaded. It could use a billion cores if it wanted to. They don’t need to add support, its already baked in. Most dual core phones have really sloppy coded skins on them that cripple the phone and make it slow. The NS is way ahead of the curve. Case in point: It has already received 3 updates.
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Well alan, check this out then… http://www.technobuffalo.com/blog/companies/google/android/android-2-4-coming-in-april-will-retain-gingerbread-name/
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That link actually talks about how a single-core phone can’t run a dual-core app, not that a dual-core phone can’t run a dual-core app.
It’s a subtle distinction, but the distinction is there. In fact, you can easily argue that if dual-core apps actually exist at 2.2 then Android is able to support dual-core phones.
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How does this video indicate in anyway that it’s a Canadian version? Or are not meaning to imply that and it is really just a US version?
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Uumm. Personally I’ve waited for this news. Better than the Galaxy S and 2.3!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sooo can’t wait to get this phone. Yes, the dual core phones are a comin’, but for my needs, the Nexus S is just fine.
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Coming soon…you are teasing me. I want it NOW.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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Depends. Behind the upcoming Androids such as the Atrix and the Galaxy S2. But still ahead of all blackberries, WP7, and except for the resolution, iPhone.
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‘Nexus S is way behind of curve’
Nexus S is running Android 2.3 and has NFC so it’s better than all Android phones available in Canada.
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Not to dismiss the Nexus S, it’s a good phone, but wake me up when you first used your NFC to actually do something useful. I am not holding my breath on this one, you will probably have changed phone 1-3 times before you use NFC
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Fool me once samsung….
Poor customer support and terrible quality control means I will never buy one of your handsets again.
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Prices plox
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I’ve had the phone since it was released in the US. As much as I loved my Nexus One, I could never go back to that.
Comparing this to the new dual-core phones is pointless. Those phones probably NEED the dual-core processors to handle all the extra crapware the manufacturers are installing on them.
The Nexus S is blazing fast and runs beautifully on the stock 2.3 OS. Highly recommended!
Let’s just hope WIND has this in their stores. They need it!
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You can always get the dual core phone rooted and remove the crap. That is what I did with my milestone with universal androot and uninstaller for root to remove system programs I never use.
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wait for the the dual core ones instead…….
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Nexus S comming soon?
I actually thought that it said Nexus S II.
4.27-inch 800 x 480 Super AMOLED Plus display
dual-core 1GHz Samsung chip
1GB of RAM
8 megapixel primary camera with 1080p video capture
2 megapixel front camera
Gingerbread with TouchWiz 4.0
8.49mm thick
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/13/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-official-tegra-2-4-3-inch-super-amoled-plu/
Now that would actually be something to be excited about.
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Nice phone I’m wondering the price point. Either the atrix, play or s will be my next phone. Pricing will be key in my decision.
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Why can’t they make a high end device like this have a QWERRTY keyboard?
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Bulky hardware
Moving parts which can break
lack of demand
And don’t forget,
Average consumer wants iphone-esque handsets. Duh.
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For me the absence of the microSD card is a show stopper.
Would have been 0.5$ more expensive?
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It’s just a Galaxy phone with a Google badge on it
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Anyone know if this suffers from the GPS issues that some of the Galaxy S’s have?
[And, yes, no microSD capability is a real drawback]
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Since 2.2 the GPS in the Galaxy S line of phones is very good.
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It definitely doesn’t have the same gps issues as the galaxy. Its wicked fast to find you. Its wicked fast at everything!
The missing SD card is not so bad once google music/movies comes out and you don’t need local storage for anything at all. You know this phone will get access to all of that first
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Hi Jim,
I have switched from the i9000m (the bell model) to the Captivate (Rogers model) just because on the captivate the GPS actually work. with the i9000 (vibrant) even with the 2.2 I never managed to get the GPS to lock my location (keeps searching for the GPS), but the Captivate’s GPS works perfectly. I think now things are explanatory why Rogers were delayed a bit before releasing the Captivate.
I hope this answers your question
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Ian, can you confirm that it captures HD video, 720p?
not 720×480 which is Standard Definition.
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EXACTLY. I guess it was a typo. The Nexus S cannot do 720p… unless the Canadian version is different than the American version, which I severely doubt.
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A 16GB $500plus smartphone is an insult.
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This is a great device. It’s not duel core but even the new devices out are not all duel core. If you look at the new HTC’s for example there all inferior to this device.
That said, would be nice to have a google experence phone with duel core. Maybe next year we will get quad core. Cross ur fingers.
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@Mathieu You keep saying that the Nexus S has Gingerbread. Who cares? Google has already stated that the Nexus S is the only device that will get 2.3 and that other devices will go straight to 2.4 (Ice Cream?). So if Google seems to think it’s not worth updating other devices to, then why would I care if my device gets it? I’ll just wait for 2.4. Besides, Froyo does everything thing I want, minus that black status bar and greenish theme (which can actually be hacked in the framework quite easily anyway).
And does anyone have any use for NFC right now? I don’t, so I will wait for the dual-cores to start showing up.
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no hurry
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I wanted to get this phone but if it is 500 then I will wait for the price to go down. $500 for a 16gb phone is way too much. I would like it to be 400 or 450 at most.
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nexus s is last years model, there’s tons of newer better phones coming out soon, I wouldn’t waste money on this phone. Wait a month or so for newer and better models going to be released soon, and samsung makes terrible devices. I paid over $600 for their samsung focus a windows phone 7 what a piece of garbage the phone dies after 4-5 hours on only standby. the browser on it is terrible. Ringer was way to low to hear incoming calls or incoming texts. I will never buy a samsung again, they use to be good but lately their turning out be a useful as holding a fisher price phone since its unusable.
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Most of the people on here who are holding out for dual core phones don’t even know anything about how these things even work.
What are you going to do in a dual core phone that you can’t get in what’s out now?? How fast do you really need your phone to go???
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It’s a great phone…. BUT I will be waiting for the next developer phone to come out, and hang onto my N1 for a while longer. With all the new tech coming out, it’s rather a waste of time to jump on something like the NS when it’s going to be obsolete by autumn
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Two things I wish this phone had:
1) Expandable memory – why did Google decide to axe SD Card suppourt?
2) Was made by HTC – Imagine this phone with a metal unibody instead of Samsung’s plastic, would make a huge difference to me!
If the Nexus S has these two things, it would pretty well be impossible for me to resist, but alas it doesn’t do too much for me except for the rapid updates(which I would love, me being stuck with a Bell HTC Legend on 2.1…I’m thinking its time to start looking into rooting, I need bluetooth headset suppourt). Here’s hoping that the next developer phone is made by HTC.
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Damn, I wanted to see the carrier name!
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Dual core may not be great for speed yet because of lack of apps/support, but have you guys considered battery life? It is said they will improve upon the current battery life of android handsets which is huge IMO. Plus the atrix packs a 1930mAH battery in it which is one of the tempting reasons for me to grab it.
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What bands are we looking at on the device? Big 3 or new entrants?
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nice phone, the screen looks amazing in the video.
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The one reason to get a Nexus phone is that it gets the newest version of Android as soon as it’s released. Neither the N1 or the NS was a phone that was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition when it was released. But they both run the latest versions of Android.
With the proposed 6 month release cycle for new versions of Android, this means that when you’re getting 2.3 on your Atrix I’ll be cozying up with Ice Cream.
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it’s tempting but i’ll wait for the dual core phones. i’m excited for what’s to be available during the summer
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As soon as I can pick one up, assuming it is compatible with Rogers, I will do so. Gingerbread + Compatibility with Cyanogen = best phone in Canada.
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don’t care much for dual core phones, I’m just waiting for LTE capable phones(along with the carriers actually deploying it, and hopefully not gouging prices for faster speeds—alas, I can dream) – And some may say why not switch to Mobi/Wind, I use the phone more frequently out of their zones than within
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Its a good phone, but yeah like everyone says its a bit outdated since we are seeing phones like motorola atrix and lg optimus 3d with dual core processor with nvidia tegra 2…. i would wait for Q2 of 2011 for better ph to come out.
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Heard that Wind is getting this in early April…
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There is a filing with the FCC regarding a “A3LGTI9020A” device. The previous file “A3LGTI9020T” turns out to be the Nexus S (T-Mobile). Given the FCC document identifies this particular device to have 850/1900 bands, it is very likely that this is a variant of Nexus S that runs on AT&T/Rogers/Bell/Telus 3G bands.
Here’s the link to the FCC documents:
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1415800
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Mobilesyrup must be the only tech site on the planet that doesn’t know that the Nexus S CAN’T take “HD quality video”
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