At the same time, you have to wonder whether Google would really want to give Android users access to the operating system of its top competitor on one of its own devices.
While too many Android phone competing for attention isnt necessarily bad, it does create confusion among consumers looking to upgrade their device.
Keeping this in mind, we are putting together comparisons of the latest and greatest smartphones and tablets, aiming to reduce this confusion and make it easier for you to choose.
We’re hopefully going to find that out in this article, as we compare the Evo 4G LTE to another device carried by Sprint, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus runs on Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, which is the latest version of the Android platform.
The HTC Evo 4G LTE and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus both ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and support both 4G LTE and NFC.
The (seemingly for forever) coming soon Samsung Galaxy S3 is, if rumors are to be believed, is all set to become the most powerful Android device available, potentially way ahead of its competition.
This week Samsung launched their new Galaxy Player 3.6, a smaller version of the non phone Android devices they introduced to the US last fall.
The Galaxy Nexus, however, uses Super AMOLED technology — which, on its own, is actually quite impressive.
DisplaySamsung has always led the race when it comes to mobile device displays, with its AMOLED technology slowly becoming the gold standard to which all other technologies are compared.
Fact: Samsung also manufactured the much hyped Retina display of the iPad 3.
So, it goes without saying that the Korean company will leave no stone unturned to bring the best display technology available to its own devices.
It says it very clearly in Verizons Terms of Service that an unlocked device voids you warranty, so it seems more than a little odd that Verizons own insurance company would be sending out devices that effectively now have voided warranties.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus running stock Android won’t let you tweak how the notification LED works, for instance, and at this date you can’t run a full backup in stock Android.
This display is nothing short of magnificent and is a big step up from any other LCD display out there.
The only issue with the Gnex display that purists have is the use of the Pentile pixel arrangement matrix.
Although the Pentile setup helped deliver HD resolution, many claim that it makes text look fuzzy.
FlatPanelsHD It seems Samsung has gone about fixing the Pentile matrix issue for the Galaxy S3, if the latest leak is to be believed.
The Nexus phones have been a showcase for the latest version of Android, from the initial Nexus One — built by HTC — to the latest Galaxy Nexus from Samsung.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 will feature a 4.7 Super AMOLED (true) HD display with a 1280720 resolution and 316 ppi.
The One X’s 4.7 inch display has a resolution of 1280 by 720; the Galaxy Nexus’s 4.65 inch display has the same 1280 by 720 resolution.
While it seems to be very similar to the Galaxy Nexus, using a true HD RGB matrix to produce the first HD AMOLED screen for the Galaxy S3, will provide an even better visual experience.
So, when Android hacker R2DoesINC unwrapped his replacement Samsung Galaxy Nexus from Asurion, a wireless handset warranty service (after a cracked screen), his response to seeing an unlocked bootloader was one of confusion instead of excitement.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now available at we wireless locations and for $199.99 after mail in rebate with a new two year agreement.
There were some rumors that the LTE version will feature a faster 1.5 Ghz processor, which would bring the processor up to speed with its competitors.
But that report turned out to be inaccurate, with the phone featuring the original 1.2 Ghz processor and 1GB RAM.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 on the other hand, will most likely feature an Exynos 4412 quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor with a supposed clock speed of 1.5/1.8 Ghz.
Paired with 2GB RAM (rumored), this will will make the Galaxy S3 the most powerful Android phone ever to be released.
That puts it more in line with the 1.2GHz dual core chips used in the Galaxy Nexus and the Droid Razr Maxx; each of those phones also has 1GB of RAM.
Google has said that this update will be shipped to both Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S phones but Android 4.0 LTE devices will not get this update.
The update from Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) on phones to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich represents the most significant revision to Android yet.
The 4.65 inch SuperAMOLED display of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus features a curved design and its resolution is pegged at 1280 x 720 pixels while its camera department, one of the pain points of the handset, features a sub par 1.3MP webcam out front and slightly less than stellar 5MP main shooter at its back panel.
The Galaxy S3 will also feature the Ice Cream Sandwich OS, with an added layer of Samsungs TouchWiz UI.
Although there have been complaints about the TouchWiz UI slowing down the phone, the latest version is said to be much lighter.
Considering how powerful we are expecting the Galaxy S3 to be, the added layer should not be a problem at all, and will instead bring the added benefit of Samsungs hubs for music, reading, games, and apps.
The Evo 4G LTE has an 8 megapixel camera with HTC ImageSense Chip, which should annihilate the Galaxy Nexus’ 5 megapixel rear camera in terms of quality.
The phone features a modest 5.0 MP LED flash rear camera, with a 1.3 MP front facing camera.
This is certainly not a bad camera, but, even considering its a 2011 release, it does fall short of expectations, with most new Android 4.0 devices featuring at least an 8MP camera.
The others did not, but are the only devices officially updated by Google from Android 2.3 to Android 4.0.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is (again, rumored) to boast a 12MP camera with a 2MP front camera for videocalls and all those self portraits we love to take.
When the Samsung Galaxy Note “phablet” was released in late 2011, the Galaxy S2’s price was decreased to about $750, about a hundred less than its introductory price.
We cant make any assumptions on whether it will be the best shooter around, with HTCs ImageSense as a strong contender to the title, but the camera on the S3 will definitely be superior to the one on the Galaxy Nexus.
The Galaxy Nexus, however, has a rear shooter better than most 5 megapixel varieties due to its auto focus and ability to shoot videos at 1080p.
So we suggested: “Let’s ask the readers…something like: ‘Would you like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nokia Lumia 900 compared?’”.
Towards the end of the year, the co branded Samsung/Google Galaxy Nexus was launched.
There are numerous leaks on what the battery of the Galaxy S3 will be, so consolidating all the rumors, we estimate that it would most probably be in the 2000mAH 2650 mAH range.
In fact, the supervisor commented that it is standard practice for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus to be shipped unlocked.
Nevertheless, the device will still mostly run on 3G speeds with Sprints LTE network set to be functional only in 6 major centres in June.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 should (say the rumors) be released on May 22, at a press event in London, and will likely ship starting from June.
Most are expecting the Galaxy S3 to be released late in May, after several “false alarms” tipping early 2012 preview or release dates.
With the HTC One X already shipping worldwide, regardless of how good this phone may be, delaying any further the release of the S3 would be a huge setback.
ConclusionIt is obvious that the Galaxy S3 is the superior device, unless we are way off on the expected specifications of Samsungs new flagship.
But perhaps the more appropriate parallel is to Samsung’s Galaxy S line of smartphones, which over the past two years have built up a reputation as the company’s flagship products.
With a lot of users looking to renew their contracts, eager to jump on the LTE bandwagon, the Galaxy Nexus is a very impressive option.
After admitting that this is, in fact, a security issue, a brand new in boxed Galaxy Nexus is being shipped to R2DoesINC for his troubles.
Will the Galaxy S3 trump the Galaxy Nexus by a longshot or will the GNex 4G LTE holds its own against the S3 juggernaut.
That’s what may likely happen to Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S2 smartphones, as the world prepares for the launch of the Galaxy S3.
In fact, there were already numerous instances in the past that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is about to hit the shelves of the carrier but nothing substantial ever came out.
Warren Jobs is a business journalist based in Palo Alto, San Francisco. Warren has a passion for financial markets and breaking news stories and loves writing about business news, stock market, and economic opinions that matters most to its audience. Warren spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest financial markets and industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on BigBoardNews.com.
