Well, I think everyone here knows I'm on board to get it the moment it's released here in the US. I'm very jealous of the UK empeggers right now, who can just go out and buy one as of yesterday.

I've been very displeased with Samsung and Verizon in their handling of the release of this phone. I had assumed the lack of an announcement regarding the release date was a marketing thing, and they were putting a campaign together, but it sounds like the phone just got a somewhat surprise release in the UK. The November 17th UK release date was rumored for a long time, but never confirmed. Then it just seemed to show up in the stores.

The initial rumors were for the 10th here in the US, but clearly that didn't happen. Now it's very unclear, and some rumors put it for black Friday, which I would HATE. I despise the idea of going anywhere on the day after Thanksgiving, especially to any retail store.

My assumption now is that Verizon is also trying to figure out how to handle the steady stream of Android phones. If they'd released the RAZR and the Galaxy Nexus on the same day, all their shoppers would have asked why the phone with the older version of Android was better, and they'd have a tough time answering. I think now they're just trying to put as much time as they can (just a couple weeks) between the two handsets.

Tom, unfortunately I just don't think there's much you can do to crossover between the platforms. If you're very ingrained in the world of Apple, I don't think an Android phone is going to work well for you. If you're totally into Google, I think the same is true. If you use one or the other lightly, I think you're fine. My wife loves GMail and her iPhone equally, for example, but she doesn't have a Mac and she doesn't use Google Music, so she's just the right fit for crossing over between the two companies.

As for stuff that's lifted from other companies, yes, there are some elements from other platforms in ICS. Just like iOS5 lifted several Android features But yes, they improved on them. For example, iOS improved on the Android notification shade, and I think Google is trying to come back by matching or improving on those improvements.

Google is definitely afraid of Siri, though. They're going to have to top Apple on that feature, and I'm not sure they have a plan for it. In that feature war, Apple had extremely basic voice control, then Android had FAR better voice control, and now Apple has blown them away.


As for my expectations of the phone:

- I'm somewhat hesitant about the display, but I've been rocking a pentile display on the Nexus One and I don't have a problem with it. The display on the Galaxy Nexus will be far better in contrast and resolution, so I don't think I'm going to have much of a problem.

- I can't wait for the speed. My phone is a cow right now, and loading an image in the gallery takes like 30 seconds. I'm getting a lot of crashing apps too.

- I can't wait for more storage space. It's ridiculous how little room for apps they put into the Nexus One. That was poor planning on Google's part.

- I suspect I'll like the form factor of the phone, but the plastic feel and lightness of it will probably bother me. I'll probably get over it, though.


The biggest problem I'm going to have to get over with ICS is the lack of consistent placement of the menu and search buttons. this concerns me greatly. As for the menu button, I happen to be a big fan of it. I use it all the time, and I think it's a great way to tuck away additional options that you don't want cluttering up the screen. This is a fundamental UI choice that is very polarizing, I could offer many arguments for it, and those who don't like it could offer many against it, but I like it and I think Android users are used to it. The problem I have is that they didn't get rid of it, they made it something that will be shifting position based on the app. I don't like how it works on Honeycomb and I don't think I'll like it on ICS either. The annoying part to me is that I think the menu button is FAR more useful and important than a button that does nothing more than switch between apps. I do use this button on Honeycomb, but not nearly as often as I use the menu button in the apps that have it.

The other big concern I have is losing the search button. Not so much because I use it to search within apps, which I do, but because I use it ALL THE TIME to do voice search. In Android, if you hold down the search button for a couple seconds, it brings up the voice input mode. Nine times out of ten, I then say "note to self: ______" My phone then automatically sends an email to my inbox so I have a reminder to do something. They've removed this button entirely, and now search only exists on the home screen as one long bar. I do not like this, as one of the first things I did on my previous Android phones was to remove the search bar from the home screens to make more room for icons.


Anyway, obviously I'm looking forward to this phone. Now I just need a release date!