Back in May i was faced with replacing my IPhone4 with another mobile device. The reason i needed to change was that i was changing jobs and the phone was a company phone. Being in Canada, i was going to get screwed by the astronomical prices we have here no matter what, so it wasn’t really a matter of finding a good deal, there is no such thing as a good deal on mobile service for Canadian residents. For those unaware, Canada has probably the highest costs for mobile service of any developed nation.

I decided to take the time and look around the options and figure out what i wanted. I had already had an IPhone 4 for almost a year, and wasn’t overly impressed. I am not a windows guy so a windows phone wasn’t very interesting. I decided Android was the platform for me. Now the problem, which model. I finally settled on the Nexus S. I like the fact that the nexus series phones, as they aren’t locked to a specific version.

I’ve had my Nexus S for a little over 4 months now, and feel comfortable to give it a decent review now.

I am running Android 2.3.6 on my nexus S. It is snappy and responsive ( even while running Launcher Pro with a bunch of widgets enabled. ) The first thing that i noticed enough to compare was that you could have widgets that actually do stuff as opposed to on the IPhone widgets aren’t supported ( i am not talking about rooting the phone, i am talking “stock” setup. You can root either device and do more, but even rooted i give this win to Android as you have more control than a rooted IPhone because of the OS). Customization options on the android are pretty slick.

First thing to notice on android, is its intuitive, and easy to use.  Navigation is easy and simple, they even have a “intro” widget that will guide you through the basics, such as finding applications, adding shortcuts to the main screen.

There is a fundamental different thought that should be noted, on an IPhone, your apps are listed on the screen where as Android has a drawer, and you have the option of adding shortcuts to the screen.

The Android market has a good selection of  apps to suite most of your requirements.  A lot of companies are starting to see the light and offer both Android and IPhone apps.  There are however someone people going for biggest bang for their buck and will only provide an IPhone app.  Typically these are more related to specific services, and not tasks.  An example of this is instagram,  they only offer an IPhone app, but there are other alternatives ( such as Retro Camera ) that will accomplish most of the same things.

As for the hardware, the camera on the Nexus S, is very comparable to the one from the IPhone 4, the screen isn’t as pixel perfect ( but uses less battery as well.

I have to say one thing that i really appreciate about the Nexus S, the SD partition mounts like a normal removable media device.  You don’t need to be tied to ITunes, or anything else.  Which makes it simple for adding/removing music pictures, videos, ring tones, etc.

Overall, for people fitting my profile( slightly more geeky, wanting an easy to customize platform without voiding warranty by rooting ) i definitely suggest the Android.