Totally Stoked December 18, 2011

Reviewer:  Andrew Mcauliffe  (Mobile, AL United States) -

I am not going to say very much about the Galaxy Nexus itself, actually.
There is no dearth of reviews for this phone on the Web.

In short (based on my previous three hours with it), this phone is very very nice.

In my opinion, Ice Cream Sandwich is beautiful. They've really done a good job here. It will take me a couple of days to re-train myself in regards to a handful of operations, though I am familiar with many of the UI tweaks from using my Motorola Xoom running Honeycomb.

My main reason for writing is to chime in that I too was able to get my local Best Buy to price-match Amazon Wireless' price ($200 for upgrade). This seems to be the way to go at the moment. This morning, Amazon Wireless said the GN ships in 8 to 9 days. Now it says 1 to 2 months! Holy cow!

worthless as a phone March 6, 2012

Reviewer:  Phlynx 

returned this today, very bad signal 4g kept dropping and 3g wouldnt pick up. battery life was terrible unplug from the charger and 6 hrs later its dead without using it, if you do use it lasts about 2.5 hrs. very quiet phone, had to hold it a foot from my face to hear netflix, and that was turned all the way up. don't waste your money

Best phone on the market January 28, 2012

Reviewer:  Steve 

First of all this is DEVELOPERS phone. Meaning if you want it to work flawlessly, ya gotta do some tweaking. You want better battery life? Root the phone, try a custom ROM & Kernels. Or if you dont want to do that...Shut off GPS/Bluetooth when not in use. Dont let Google+ auto upload your pics (BIG battery drainer). Turn off sync, unless you find it necessary. Make sure you have "back up my data" option unchecked (another big drainer.) Try NOVA launcher, much better than stock.

I get 24+ hours out of my normal battery with moderate use. I have NO signal issues at all. If you have bad battery life or poor signal, learn how to use the phone correctly. If you do know how and still have problems, bring it back for a new one. Simple.

An android 'enthusiast' reviews the Verizon Galaxy Nexus November 7, 2012

Reviewer:  manbearpig "Half man, half bear and half pig."  (Boston, MA) -

DISCLAIMER: I'm not an android fanboy. I'm an android enthusiast. I love most everything Google does. I can go on and on and on about what I like and what I don't like about android but since this is supposed to be a review of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone on Verizon... I'll stick to the relevant points only and try to keep this review as objective as possible.

I have been using my Verizon Galaxy Nexus since last 8 months. In that period, my phone was upgraded from 4.0 (ice cream sandwich) to 4.1 (jelly bean). I used to like my phone when it had ICS, I like it slightly more now since it got upgraded to jelly bean. This is my first 'nexus' phone. I used EVO 3D before this, and EVO 4G before that. So this is also my first Samsung phone.

As far as the hardware fit and finish is concerned, I have no complaints from this phone. Both my previous HTC phones would show light bleed from the edges of the screen... not an issue here. Also, the battery cover mechanism of Galaxy Nexus is much better than both my previous phones. I love that I can take the battery out (if need be) easily but as soon as I snap the battery cover back in place, this phone feels as compact and as sturdy as something that doesn't have removable battery (say iPhone). This phone has been dropped on more than one occasion (I have a one year old) but it seems to handle those well.

I like the screen size (4.65 inches) and the pixel density (316 ppi). I do not like that the screen is non-LCD because under 'automatic brightness' settings, whites do not appear as whites! This was never the case with my previous HTC phones. I also do not like the on-screen navigation buttons because they reduce the effective screen size. Now I agree that the on-screen navigation buttons disappear when I'm watching videos on youtube, thereby giving me the full enjoyment of my 4.65 inch screen... but they do not disappear when I'm watching videos on vimeo. More importantly, they do not disappear when I'm playing games. While playing games, it is very easy to accidentally hit the on-screen home button than a physical home button, thereby ending my game without saving it. I understand that Google wanted to go the route of having the navigational buttons on-screen because it wanted to provide a uniform user experience to the end user across all the devices from different manufacturers. But what it ended up doing was that I have to carry a larger phone and I get to enjoy a smaller (effective) screen. The Samsung Galaxy S3 for example is slightly smaller than the Galaxy Nexus but provides a larger screen (4.8 inches)!

Listening to music on this phone when not using headphones (using the phone's in-built speaker) is not loud enough. I'm again comparing this with my previous HTC phones, both of which were amply loud. Once you place the phone inside a cup though, the volume magnifies as the cup acts as an amplifier by distributing the sound waves in one single direction (found this on lifehacker dot com).

Camera on this phone is acceptable. Outdoor photos are nice. Indoor photos are acceptable. It does record videos at 1080p but can not keep up with moving subjects very well... I notice a lot of screen skipping when watching 1080p videos of my 1 year old.

Battery life seems to be okay as long as you don't encounter any "Mobile Network Signal" red bands. I don't know what else to call it, but you can find this in the battery settings, click on the chart and it will show you all the various programs that used your battery. I have noticed that every once in a while, my phone will lose almost 50%-70% of its battery life in less than an hour when it was simply sitting on my desk. And when I dig into the battery settings, I always find this "Mobile Network Signal" showing as red for the time interval when my battery life was dropping like a rock. I have googled this but have not found a reason or resolution. On the bright side though, this happens less frequently now than it used to happen back in March 2012.

I love the new 4.2 jelly bean feature 'Google Now'. Google Now shows me situational cards in the notification area... for example, when I'm getting ready for work in the morning... it will appear in my notification area and inform me about the estimated time it will take me to reach work based on current traffic conditions. Similarly, it will pop-up in the evening informing me about current traffic conditions on my way to home. And what I like here is that I never entered information about what time I leave for work or come home or where my work address is? Google Now observed my behavior for a few days and started appearing in my notifications area on its own. Google Now also scans through my emails (100s of emails I might add) and picks the ones that contain any shipping tracking numbers or flight confirmations or hotel reservations and then capture that information into a Google Now card and display it in my notification area and allow me to take action (track an order for example). This is much easier then having to open gmail, searching for that order shipping notification email, then clicking on the tracking number. I can disable Google Now very easily if I don't want it. But I like it so far... this is what the future should be like. You can also ask Google Now questions about the distance from moon and weight of earth and meaning of life and stuff (aka Siri) but I never cared to do that. Because I already know all those things.

So to summarize, I like my Verizon Galaxy Nexus but I'm not in love with it. Most of my complaints about this phone are related to Android and/or Verizon. I'm done with Nexus devices though... although I think that this was a very noble idea by Google, implementing it in the real world was not completely in their hands and it shows. My next phone will be the new LG Optimus G on Sprint. Am I done with Samsung? Not at all. I love my Samsung TV and I will be buying the next version of Samsung note tablet. Am I done with Verizon? Probably yes.

Terrible when purchased; update makes the phone worthwhile September 7, 2012

Reviewer:  zlionsfan  (Indiana, USA) -

I originally had an HTC Incredible through Verizon, but once it started experiencing the nightly restart cycle, I knew it was time to get a new phone - from reading many posts about the problem, I figured neither Verizon nor HTC would be of any help.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire I jumped. The Nexus could be a nice phone. It has a bigger screen, theoretically has faster speeds with Verizon's 4G network, and should be able to take advantage of having a better OS (given that no one seems interested in updating two-year-old phones).

But ... there are problems all over the place. Some of them are minor, like the changes to the OS itself. Google seems to think that, just like with desktop apps, fewer explicit decisions are better. They'll just try to predict what you want to do and present you with only those controls, and you can guess where everything else is. Guess, because they won't say. Can't figure out how to connect to a wifi network? Touch the Wifi section of settings - not the right side, but the left side. Where do you find this out? Online, from all the other people who couldn't figure out this counterintuitive system.

It gets worse. The ringer is significantly quieter than the Incredible's, even on the highest setting. I will miss calls if I am not right next to my phone. Of course I might miss the calls anyway, depending on whether or not I can get a signal when I am sitting on my sectional at home in a spot where I have never had signal problems ... nor should I, because my house is in the middle of a gigantic swath of supposed 4G coverage. However, signal problems persist. I've had a number of calls drop without warning when I am not moving at all. Never had this problem with the Incredible or with other carriers.

Naturally, the battery drains like a flushed toilet, even though I have an extended battery and have wifi and GPS turned off (which makes it even more of a pain, now that I no longer have unlimited data.) And I don't mean oh look, the battery indicator shows that there's 20% left when there's actually 40% left. I mean oh look, my phone is dead again because I didn't charge it last night before I went to bed.

Looking up these problems online, I find the same old story: Verizon says it's Samsung's problem, Samsung says it's Verizon's problem, and no one seems willing to reach out and say "Here, let me fix this for you." I am beginning to believe that the entire wireless market in the US is just one giant scam. That may not be the case, but I certainly can't find a reason to continue to work with Verizon after this experience, and I would not recommend this phone, at all, to any other Verizon customers.

UPDATE: It's now October, and Verizon finally admitted there was a problem with some of these phones and pushed an update out for them. I no longer have signal problems when sitting in my house, my extended battery lasts more than half a day, and I haven't had a call drop since the update.

The OS changes are still disappointing - "home" is now the entire five-section screen instead of only the middle section, so touching home when on one of the outer sections no longer returns you to the middle, for example - but that's to be expected from Google. The phone itself is now what I expected when I bought it, and I would recommend it to other Verizon customers.

Perfect Vanilla-OS experience on Americans Best 4G network September 3, 2012

Reviewer:  PSP Fan 

When companies advertise their phones with the "latest and greatest android OS" you have to take that with a grain of salt. HTC, Sony, Samsung all use skins on top of the existing Android OS platform to "personalize" the phone for said-company. Often times the additional layer of software features will slow down your phone or cause it to hiccup. So keep that in mind when looking at phone specs.
The Nexus series are google-branded phones which are vanilla. Meaning that there is no layering of additional software on top of the Android OS. What does this mean?-Pure, unrivaled speed of your device. You can push it to its full performance. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon is the very definition of a well-balanced price point phone with specs that are above average even by today's standards.
The phone's battery life is solid. The standard OEM lasts about 8 hours of HEAVY usage. The extended life battery will last about 10 hours of HEAVY usage. If you are like most people, you have a car charger for your phone. So you never really have to worry about running it completely dry. The ICS (android 4.0.0 OS) is extremely user friendly. It's easy to personalize your home screens, make phone calls, send text messages and surf the web. Verizon's 4G LTE network is, without a doubt, the BEST 4g network in the U.S. At times I get over 21mbs download and 18mbs+ on upload. It's insane.
Even with the new 2012 phones coming out the Galaxy Nexus 4G is a solid investment. It has a huge screen, 32GB of memory, vanilla operating system and the google branding. Get this phone. You'll be happy that you did.

BEWARE! - This phone has issues. July 11, 2012

Reviewer:  Plan C. 

I really, REALLY wanted to like this phone. After 1 month of trouble with one way call audio ("can you hear me? can you hear me?"), dropped calls, and extremely flaky 4G signal (friends with other Verizon phones have none of these issues while standing next to me), I have to rate this as one star and warn people against picking this up for $.01 thinking it is a good deal. I have audio problems or dropped calls on nearly every call lasting more than 5 minutes, and it has caused me a fair amount of embarrassment with family and work associates. If the thing would simply work as a phone without these issues, it would be a 5 star rating, but as it stands now, it is only useful as a small tablet. I spent several hundred dollars on antennas and amplifiers thinking it was a signal problem (new to Verizon) before I found literally hundreds of threads with a substantial amount of people also with the same issue. So after 1 month wasting a ton of time and money, I give up. To be clear, I do not think this is an issue with Verizon as much as a problem with the phone, but I could be wrong about that.

It remains to be seen what I can do about this, but I do not recommend this phone at all, due to the serious call issues and data signal drops. Before anyone flames me, do a Google search for "galaxy nexus one way audio" or "galaxy nexus dropped calls", this is not an isolated issue and NO it is not fixed in Android 4.0.4 OTA. I will update this review if anything changes.

Screen scratched in a day. July 2, 2012

Reviewer:  Albert 

Screen scratched in a day. Other than that, one of the better phones for Android but nothing spectacular, there will be better by Q4.

nice phone February 6, 2012

Reviewer:  Emily Phipps 

I love this phone. It is everything that I had hopped and expected form it. It is my first android phone and my first Verizon phone sense the LG Dear. I have played around with a lot of phones in the Verizon store but it is just not the same as having one of your own to use.

Positives: This phone had a great screen Ice Cream Sandwich is a joy to use. The phone is very responsive. It seems like it has a good camera but I haven't used it much. Lots of great apps.

Negatives: Battery life is shorter than it should be. I was prepared for this and can live with it but I think they should have given it a bigger battery. The speaker on the phone could also be better. The volume is to low. It works alright if you are listening to music but if you want to watch a movie it really hard to hear. This is partly the volume but it is also caused by the speaker being located on the back on the phone so you need a hard surface behind it to reflect the sound around to the front if want to both hear and watch your movie at the same time.

Other Comments: No LTE in Montana but I don't mind 3G speeds too much.

Near to Perfect Smart Phone, overall better than any nearest Rival February 4, 2012

Reviewer:  Manish Garg 

I have just completed one month of owning of Samsung Galaxy Nexus and I have no doubt declaring I am very happy with this. This is the best smart phone on the market for the time being until iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S3 releases. I had iPhone 4 for 2 months and I like many other people who could not be satisfied with beauty and fruit brand alone threw that 'dumb beauty' . For me that was more of a 'show off' rather than of practical use.

Apple itself in a recent patent suit directed against google termed this as the "most creditable competitor to iPhone'. Apple co founder which is not a apple employee anymore and hence free to speak truth freely declared iPhone easy to use but 'Android more feature rich'. He dismissed Siri totally saying he could not understand how come internet could be needed to make a call through Siri. Do I need to say more now? If yes then here is the detail review:

Like ->
(1) Bigger HD contour display-> Though you can distinguish between pixels while looking closely unlike iPhone's Retina display, Nexus's display is gorgeous. Colors are very vibrant and rich. Black is real black (because of Super AMOLED display technology) which creates the whole difference.
The Screen is large and with medium hands I can reach to the whole screen stretching the thumb or fingers. Sometimes I tend to use the other hand (luckily I have two hands and both are fully functional so can't complaint).

Because of bigger screen this phone is more useful or convenient for what Apple invented iPhone for ie Browsing web, playing games, watching videos. And because of this I tend to depend lesser on PC/laptop/tablet. With bigger screen, power and customization of Android OS this phone is closer to our old friend PC/laptop.

**I run the same HD video both on nexus and iPhone 4S and nexus one was better to watch.**

(2) Soul-> The soul of this device is ICS OS which is now equal to iOS in terms of user friendlessness but is better because it is much more customizable and hence you feel completely in control and power. This is different feeling than using dumb iOS. After using ICS I really struggled to use the iOS or same iOS based apps. ICS is lightning fast and smooth.
Face unlock, NFC, android beam and google wallet (not available on Verizon version) are very cool. Face unlock works perfectly.
Built-in Data usage monitor is very helpful for not letting you go above your data limit.
-> Mine is international unlocked version which within a week got automatically updated to 4.0.2 from 4.0.1.
This has Best notification, better customization for web browsing.

Ohhhhhhhh... did I tell you android has taken two steps which is miles ahead of time and going to change the things completely? (i) No Physical button-> The buttons are in fact part of OS itself and function well. Hence the buttons can now be context specific and smarter. They change their position depending on how you are holding the phone or what you are doing. While watching video they disappear completely giving you the whole screen for watching, and yes they will reappear on appropriate place when you need them. (ii) Same OS for all devices: Unlike Apple now same application can run on any device running on ICS. For apple the applications need to be written separately both for iPhone and iPad. That's why Apple has lesser applications on iPads. With new approach of ICS now people will just write once and run it anywhere hence number of apps is going to get multiplied faster on ICS.

(3) Eco System (Apps)-> Android eco system (or app market) is there on par with Apple eco system. In the same period I have installed much more applications ($150-$200 of worth in Apple world AND YES ALL FREE!!!!!!!) than I did on iPhone 4 (because most applications are free compared to Apple). I am more functional on Android than I was on iPhone 4. There is nothing which I want and its not there. And yes now google going to start monitoring of applications so less argument against Android apps.
(4) Form factor-> I like its form factor more than of iPhone's. Countered makes it more convenient to use and keep in the pocket. Now to me iPhone is just any another device and I look on iPhone with pity.
(5) Battery-> I need to charge it once a day with low to moderate usage which is what other iPhone 4S customers are also doing. And if you are going to use it like laptop you will need to charge it more (is not this same with your laptop?). Better part is unlike iPhone you can carry batteries and change it easily. No complaint here.
(6) Reception-> Decent.
(7) Call quality-> Nice.
(8) Volume/Speaker-> Low, could be helped with volume control plus application.
(9) More social-> Very well integrated with google.
(10). Build-> Except the battery cover everything else is of high quality. I don't care about plastic versus metal debate. iPhone even with metal and corning glass are equivalently fragile and people have been reporting iPhone being broken having dropped just from 12 feet or so. And with gorilla glass on both ends iPhone 4 is more fragile. Remember gorilla glass is just scratch resistant not damage resistant.
(11) Typing-> is a breeze and it seems to read you mind and hence make typing a different experience than on iPhone. And big screen helps every here again.

Unfortunately this phone decided to do have some deliberate suicidal traits perhaps to avoid wiping away other Samsung devices. So here are the things which could have been improved upon:
(1) Speaker-> Could have been better (Minor+ issue)
(2) Reception-> Though not much complaint, Could have been just a 'little' better (Very Minor issue).
(3) Camera-> Could have been better definitely.
(4) External Storage-> Either they should have allowed adding external storage or given the device with more alternated with respect to storage capacities. (Minor issue)
(5) Display-> Should not be able to distinguish pixels (Minor issue but this should be ultimate goal for the display)

Conclusion-> This is the best smart phone on the market for the time being if you can live with some minor issue with volume. And all issues reported so far with this device seem to be software issues and should get corrected with updates or third part applications.

Not perfect, but pretty darn close, and superior to everything else December 29, 2011

Reviewer:  P. Card "SBP"  (Los Angeles) -

I've read about how the Droid Razr has better this and better that, but there is no phone, short of the Galaxy Note (not available in the US), with a better screen than this one. Go download some 4MP+ abstract images and view them on this phone and you will be floored. The camera is outstanding. The camera software built-in needs an upgrade. The camera itself has far more capabilities than the software allow... a simple update will remedy this, or there are alternative camera apps available on the market now. Sound too quiet? I agree, so I got Volume+ from the market and now that argument is moot. The feel of this phone in your hand is unmatched. It's so slim (and I am sporting the extended battery) and sleek, with a nice texture on the back.

One thing to keep in mind is that this is a Nexus phone, so it's not expected to be perfect in every way on day one. The whole point of Nexus is to be a proving ground for new major versions of Android. Part of that process is identifying and ironing out bugs, shortfalls, and the like. As far as the hardware goes, I have had some issues with signal strength, but I do not believe those issues are entirely hardware related... if at all. People would be surprised how important the software is that drives the radios in phones. I have had Samsung phones in the past and have not had problems with signal strength, and I am confident those issues will fade away with a few key OS updates from Google. Why would Samsung suddenly drop the ball on the built-in radios on this phone?

Droid Razr, HTC Rezound, both great phones, but both hindered terribly by their manufacturer's OS overlays and locked nature. Not to mention Verizon... those phones are loaded with 'crapware', apps that Verizon forces that cannot be removed without rooting, if you can even root them, which is unlikely. Why do you think Verizon hasn't advertised the Galaxy Nexus more? Because they don't have as much control over it, they were only able to force Google into allowing two of their proprietary apps, one of which is actually useful. In addition, there is no Carrier IQ built into the Nexus, which allows Verizon to secretly track all detail surrounding the phone's usage. Not that they're fully abusing that capability... anymore at least... but you can't remove it.

Sure, those sweet phones will get Ice Cream Sandwich eventually, but this OS is so awesome and advanced that eventually is like telling an early adopter the prize gadget they've anticipated for momnths just sold out and will be back in stock in a few months.

I write few reviews, but after reading some on this phone I felt I needed to speak my mind. I love this phone, and feel it was worth the almost three month wait since I became aware of its coming. Android 4.0 is simply amazing. If ever there was an 'iPhone killer', this is without question it.

Greatest Android Phone Available December 28, 2011

Reviewer:  Corey Salyards  (North Carolina) -

I have owned this phone for over two weeks and I can say unequivocally that it is the best smart phone I have ever held. So much has been said about it so I will give a brief run down.

Pros: Screen, LTE, Ice Cream Sandwich, Build quality, Power, Speed, Performance, Battery on 3G and Wifi

Cons: Battery life on LTE, it doesn't print money?

Overall: If you are a Verizon customer or thinking of becoming a Verizon customer this is the phone you want by your side. It is incredible.

Serious Flaws April 16, 2013

Reviewer:  spinh3ad 

I've had this phone for over a year now. I don't write reviews unless the item leaves a strong impression on me (positive or negative), and with this phone, it's definitely negative. It does have positives, but here is what I've found to be wrong with it:

1. Horrible battery life. I had to buy a 3200mAh battery just to get through a single day of moderate use: texting, web browsing, email, no media at all. Absolutely atrocious battery life.

2. Random restarts. The phone will randomly just restart itself. No clue what triggers it, happens once every 1-2 months.

3. RF reception is bad. My friend is sitting next to me with his verizon droid bionic, he has connectivity, I do not. Happens often.

4. Bluetooth noise. I have tried 3 different bluetooth headsets, all have an annoying background whine, as well as white noise, while in a call with this phone. Documented firmware issue, has been around for over a year, nothing has been done to fix it.

5. GPS won't lock. I enable GPS, turn on google maps, and it often takes 20 minutes for the GPS to actually lock and accurately reflect my location. I am driving through suburbia, I put the phone right under my windshield, zero obstructions... no lock.

6. Lag. The web browser lags, apps lag, even the damn home screen lags. Every time they release an update it gets better... for a day or two. Then it's back to lag city.

7. Various other bugs that may be Android related, rather than specific to this phone: text messages sometimes get "stuck" until you send another one (especially MMS ones containing pictures), apps crash, impossible to get rid of google's apps that you never use, and then those apps bug you to update them, etc, etc.

Smooth Running Phone April 3, 2013

Reviewer:  B. Lehman 

This phone is by far the best Android phone that I have ever used. It runs so smooth, especially now since the latest 4.2 Jellybean update. The only downside that I have seen on this phone was the battery life, but that was in comparison to the Motorola Razr Maxx.

VZW is now 4 updates behind February 15, 2013

Reviewer:  M. Couchman 

VZW also known as big red or Verizon Wireless should never be allowed to carry another Nexus phone again. The phone I have is now 4 major Android updates behind. The phone is buggy and only gets buggier with time. Nexus is supposed to mean something, it is supposed to mean updates both minor and major as soon as they are available instead VZW just sits on them blaming everyone but themselves. There is little to no hardware support for this phone their techs cannot or will not help on the phone. VZW screwed the users who hoped for the PURE Google Experience, which never happened.

Very short battery life and other problems January 20, 2013

Reviewer:  orange toronto 

I am an electronics engineer with 20+ years of working engineer. I got this phone immediately after it appears on the market.

1- That battery life on this phone is 4 hours at the best. This is a serious problem if you are traveling.
2- It overheats and you actually feel the phone getting hot.
3- I changed the phone twice with the same problems.
4- The software is fine, but that's vanilla Android.

This phone uses Samsung CPU and I think that is the source of high battery consumption.

Great phone, awful battery life October 30, 2012

Reviewer:  Mitch 

Very slick phone, the Jelly Bean update made everything even smoother and Google Now was very neat.

Unfortunately, the battery doesn't cut it. I found myself REQUIRED to charge it at my desk at work, leaving 4G LTE/wifi/GPS off, not syncing anything and leaving the screen at the minimum setting (or, blank-in-sunlight, as I like to call it). I even tried custom ROMs/kernels.

Needless to say, the battery makes this otherwise wonderful phone a dumb phone. You just can't use it that much and have to disable a lot of the features.
I ended up selling it after 6 months for something with a smaller screen and greater battery life. I regret purchasing this over the Razr MAX, which at the time didn't have an ICS update yet.

Enjoyable October 30, 2012

Reviewer:  Neil R. Vig "king_vig"  (St. Cloud, MNUSA) -

So far I am enjoying this phone. I upgraded from a Droid Eris so it is a vast improvement. My Nexus is updated with Jelly Bean so it looks sleek. It does get a little warm at times, but not a concern yet (had phone for 3 weeks now). Battery could be a little better, but if you charge it overnight all should be good. Audio wise - when playing music it could be louder, when watching videos audio is ok.

Nexus October 22, 2012

Reviewer:  Chris 

I have to say,I really like this phone,I am no expert,I like the screen size like how quick i can access internet,messages,text etc,no complaints here performs as promised..........now the suprise for some (I am an average user,dont play games on this dont feel the need to load it up with apps,turned the wifi off)and I average a couple of days before it needs charging,I note this as there have been alot of complaints about battery life,I have the standard battery in place and was alittle cautious about this phone,(bought my wife a Razr Maxx due to extended battery life) running flat quickly,BUT read a great review and video review from another user and followed his advice to conserve energy and it works.
The screen is great,its large and crystal clear,takes really good pictures front and back,obviously the rear is better,but front works well for skype.
Keyboard is responsive and accurate texting is quick,my wife downloaded an app (and I have downloaded 3 total) for ringtones and that works without issue.
I bought a case from a vendor on Amazon,didnt want to pay Verizon $25+ for the protector shell and holster from them when I could buy it on Amazon for $7.50,I also bought a very inexpensive protector case aswell with a 'guy'type blue skulls design and much to my suprise that case fits in the same holster as the protector shell does too,albeit snug but it works.
Dont have any technical info to add I just like the phone and it serves my purposes,however,I did pay attention to ALL reviews and did add a LONG warranty just in case!

Best smartphone I've ever owned October 16, 2012

Reviewer:  Chris Barker  (San Lorenzo, CA USA) -

Although this phone is large, it fits well in my hands. People with smaller hands might not like it so much, but I love the size. The screen is big and beautiful, and movies look superb. The camera is good; the everything else (and there is a lot of that) just works, and works well. Only one nit to pick: Verizon should STOP BLOCKING GOOGLE WALLET.