Can you use nexus s on verizon

To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Google and Verizon haven't had the closest relationship in recent years — the Verizon-specific Galaxy Nexus was held back by the carrier's long software review process , making it feel like a second-class citizen in the Nexus family. Unfortunately, that's still the case with Google's newest flagship: senior VP of Android Sundar Pichai told us that "the Nexus 5 will not be on Verizon. Verizon then quickly said it would be supported "soon," but we haven't heard anything since.

However, it sounds like the biggest US carrier and Google will have something to show us next year. Pichai also made it a point to mention that Google was "working with [Verizon] on a set of projects for Subscribe to get the best Verge-approved tech deals of the week. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Cybersecurity Mobile Policy Privacy Scooters. Otherwise there are no physical controls on the front of the phone. Yet, you'll notice a glowing indicator light when you have a call and receive messages, e-mail, or notifications. Besides it being rather soothing, we're just glad it's there since that was a big omission on the Nexus S. The virtual keyboard takes up the whole width of the display, whether you're using it in portrait or landscape mode.

The primary screen has three rows of alphabetic keys with main punctuation just above. On the bottom row there's a huge spacebar smack in the center with a voice-activation key just to the left when entering an e-mail address an " " key takes its place.

You'll need to click through to the additional keyboard for more punctuation and numbers, but the keyboard is spacious and easy to use. Unfortunately, it does not support Swype. The dial pad shows huge numbers, but tiny text. Basic features The phone book size is limited by the available memory. Each entry holds multiple fields for phone numbers, as well as e-mail and street addresses, a company name and title, an instant-messaging handle, a birthday, a nickname, a URL, and notes.

You can pair contacts with a photo and organize them into groups. Unfortunately, pairing individual contacts with one of the 25 polyphonic ringtones is another nonobvious feature. You'll have to open the person's profile "card," then tap into the Menu to set the ringtone or send all that person's calls to voice mail.

Of course, the Galaxy Nexus has all of the other essentials you'd expect from a smartphone, like text and multimedia messaging, e-mail syncing both Gmail and not , calendar syncing both Google and not , a calculator, an alarm clock, and a news and weather widget. Also onboard are Bluetooth 2. However, it does let you transfer images and connect as a media device. The speaker-independent voice commands let you do just about anything using only your voice.

They work fine as long as you speak clearly and use the phone in a place without a lot of background noise. Google features and apps Google fans have plenty of Google apps and services to use and explore.

Maps also gets a little more 3D treatment with ICS. Zoom in far enough with two fingers and you'll see the buildings start to get some 3D shape. Glide two fingers up and down the screen to tilt the screen for a better view. On the first try it located us about a block away from CNET's offices, which is normal. On the second try, however, it pinpointed our location precisely.

The Galaxy Nexus has a gyroscope and a compass and a big leg up over the iPhone: it supports real-time turn-by-turn voice directions out of the box. The built-in barometer could be partially to thank for that, as its purpose on the Galaxy Nexus is to assist with GPS locking. With a pure Google experience, you have the freedom to use whichever apps you want through the Android Market. Verizon adds a few apps of its own, including a backup assistant and MyVerizon.

While you can disable these to make the icons disappear, you won't actually be able to uninstall the apps. Yes, that's a lot, but we say "just" because the Galaxy Nexus does not have an external memory card slot. Camera, video, and music The main camera has a 5-megapixel resolution, but you also can shoot in 3 megapixels, 1. There's also a front-facing 1. The shooters come with a fair, but not overwhelming set of editing options you can use while taking the photo more options are available in the photo gallery.

You'll find a digital zoom, face detection, location tagging, four white-balance choices, seven exposure settings, and four "scene" modes action, night, sunset, and party. The flash on the rear side is powerful to a fault. In dim environments it can wash out the lighter colors. You can set the flash to auto, keep it always on, or turn it off completely. ICS brings a host of camera improvements, which we'll discuss in more detail below. We'll say here, though, that the lack of shutter lag is remarkable.

In fact, when took the first photo, we didn't realize that the shutter had closed. Believe us when we say it's really that quick. Nice work, Google. More interesting and useful in our eyes is the full suite of built-in editing tools in the photo gallery: cropping, red-eye reduction, face glow, straightening, rotating, flipping, and sharpening.

There are also effects you can add like warmth, saturation, and sepia tones. In total, there are 16 color and style effects, and another four options for adjusting lighting. Google could have easily stopped short and continued to let the manufacturers add their own filters, but onboard editing makes the Android OS that much stronger on its own. The camcorder shoots clips in three resolutions: p HD, p HD, and p. You can adjust the white balance, you can use the flash as a recording light, and ICS added zooming while recording and several time-lapse intervals, from 1.

Exactly how much you can record will depend on the available memory. If you really want to get creative, the camcorder has several effects that will add some zaniness to your videos.

Some of the options are nothing but fun--the sunset, disco, and space effects will add a background to your clips--but others are weird and pretty freaky.

For example, a "big nose" effect will give your subject an enormous honker, "big mouth" will do the same for the smackers, and "big eyes" will give your friend vaguely disturbing bug eyes straight out of a Lady Gaga video. Here's one great hidden feature: you can tap the screen while recording a video to capture a still shot. Photo quality was mostly satisfying, but color accuracy was uneven.

In some shots the brighter hues were faded, while in other pictures, we had too much saturation. There was also some questionable focusing from time to time. Videos were a mixed bag. HD clips were crisp and bright, though quick motions were blurry. Lower-res clips are usable in a pinch, but nothing appropriate for your wedding. The Galaxy Nexus also has an integrated Movie Studio app for creating your own video projects.

Features aren't extensive, but it's easy to use, and loading music on the phone is a seamless process, either wirelessly or using a USB cable.

We'll explore Google Music in a future post. We love the new video rental store that operates through the Android Market. In any case, an easy way to get videos is something Android has badly needed for a long time. Google Books also gives you access to plenty of titles.

Browser The basic shell of the Web browser is the same, though ICS adds "Request desktop site," which opens the full version of a Web site and syncs with your bookmarks. You also can save Web pages offline, view your browsing history, share a page, and find text on a page, and use up to 16 tabs. And in true Android fashion, you can change the browser's settings down to the smallest detail. All of this adds up to make a useful and powerful mobile browser that's very much like one you'd use on a computer.

Another new feature is an "incognito" mode that allows you to browse pages without them appearing on your history or search bar and without leaving traces like cookies. Third-party apps have done this before, but now Google has baked it right into the browser. Even with all the new features, the browser user experience doesn't feel too different.

The interface isn't cluttered or difficult to learn. Both mobile and full versions of Web pages look great. There's pinch-to-zoom multitouch, you can change the text size, and you can change how far you'd like to zoom when you double-tap.

More a full-on revamp than update, an OS bump this deep and broad brings with it a truckload of new goodies that as we've said before make Android 2. However, Google has somehow missed the cherry on top.

But more on that later. Ice Cream Sandwich is so packed with such a laundry list of detailed changes that it's easy to drown in the minutiae. As a result, we're going to keep this review focused on the bigger-picture features that are new to ICS, including that crowd-pleasing favorite, Face Unlock. Later, we'll expand the review after some more time getting to know the OS more fully. As for the rest of the additions and enhancements--of which there are many--we think the pictures in the screenshots gallery will be worth several thousand words.

New look and feel: Say goodbye to the Android you thought you knew. Google has all but transformed the visuals, leaving almost no screen as it was before. Instead, it blends many Android Honeycomb tablet sensibilities--the navigation buttons, tabs for recent apps, darker colors, and a more assertive look--with reworked Android flair. Google's goal is to unify the smartphone and tablet designs, so that Android looks like Android at any screen size. From a features standpoint, it seems to work.

From a design position, much of the new look is simple, elegant, grown-up, and, dare we say, sexy. Just look to the new menu button and menu lists, the redesigned notifications pull-down, the highly organized settings menu, and the photo-editing Gallery app for examples. Yet, there's also a side of Ice Cream Sandwich that suffers from conflicting design ideologies, like a Honeycomb Mini that's also trying to make sense as a smartphone OS. Interface and home screens: Right off the bat, the default home screen is just gorgeous.

It's the first place you'll encounter a new typography called Roboto --it looks crisp and clean as promised, but unless you're looking for changes, most users won't notice a huge difference. From the top to the bottom of the main home screen, other ICS changes include a transparent search bar, a stylized clock, and a round icon denoting a folder that's been filled with Google services.

You can create and name your own home screen folders by dragging app icons on top of one another. The implementation is easy to use and looks terrific. Then hit Read beneath Network identification. The text fields below should be populated by information from the donor phone. Now go to the next tab, Data. Select COM11 and hit Read. Switch to COM4 and hit Write. We do the same with Mobile IP. Then hit Write current profile settings.

Again, if you encounter errors, or no information shows up under AAA Shared secret and HA Shared Secret , you will have to try a different donor phone. Finally, we need to copy over a file containing a secret key used to establish a 3G connection. Go to the EFS tab towards the top.

Right-click on this file and hit Save…. Save this file somewhere on your hard drive. Then hit Add Item to upload the The programming is now done. The Nexus S 4G will now reboot. We will now modify some Android system files to Verizon settings. I have built a 1-click Android application that automates this step; you can find it here.

It requires root as it will need to modify system files. Install the application and click the button in the middle. When the process finishes, you will be prompted to reboot. If the 1-click app does not work for you, or if you want more control over what it does, follow the steps below.

You do not need to do any of the following if you already used the app above. This is required to enable calls on Verizon.