Monday, July 2, 2012

Jelly Bean, or Why I Am Back to the Galaxy Nexus

This is funny. I have spent weeks trying to justify my reasons for buying Galaxy Note and flashing AOSP Android on it, terming it the best device out there. That was until Jelly Bean was released by Google and the ROM was available for Galaxy Nexus WITHIN 24 HOURS.

First, let's see what are the advantages of a Galaxy Nexus vs any other phone running AOSP Android (including Note):

1) All the hardware features work, that includes USB On The Go and MHL HDMI output.
2) Battery life. Battery life. Battery life.
3) No software incompatibilities, force closes or errors

In short, those are the advantages of running a software on a phone for which it was made. After long experience I have decided that it's not entirely feasible to advise my readers to flash custom ROMs on phones which disable a few features.

So why did I switch? To be perfectly clear, don't think for a second I was unhappy with my Note. No, what attracted me what this:

1) Google's announcement of Jelly Bean and it's features (covered in my previous post)
2) The fact that it was installable on Galaxy Nexus within 24 hours of announcement

Specifically, I was intrigued by Project Butter. Would it bring the speed and smoothness that are being claimed? It turns out - get this - Google actually UNDERSTATED their achievement regarding Project Butter. The Galaxy Nexus seems to have acquired at least an eight core processor and 3 GB of RAM. It is fast AND smooth. And no, it is not the 'perceived smoothness' that is to be found in iPhone. It is REAL. It is INCREDIBLE. It makes me want to cry. It defies explanation. How did they eke out such performance is beyond me.

I will update this post ASAP with a video. Please understand that most videos of Jelly Bean running on Galaxy Nexus on the Web don't do it justice. That is because the UI runs at 60 frames per second and the videos are mostly made at 24 FPS. Which means that it's even better than what you see in videos.

I will also cover other features that I love in Jelly Bean. For now, the summary is that the mobile landscape has changed. HTC and Samsung may be celebrating the successful launch of Galaxy S3 and One X, but a six month old phone has just stabbed them in the back. If you are looking for the best Android phone in the market, BUY THE GALAXY NEXUS. Don't look anywhere else.




1 comment:

  1. Making a lot of sense. It makes my Galaxy Note not one but two steps lagging behind.

    ReplyDelete