Samsung Elite /Nexus S / Nexus 2 pics from the wild

By Jerry Hildenbrand  | Nov 11 2010 | 3:39 pm  | 69 Comments

Nexus Elite

Call it the Samsung Elite, the Nexus 2, or the Nexus S -- finally some photos have cropped up.  Engadget has a handful of shots of what they are calling the Nexus S, complete with packaging labeled "i9020."  There's a SIM card slot, if you had any doubt of a GSM device. If you don't want to get your hopes up based on a Best Buy snafu, these should certainly give you some hope.  Hit the source link to see the complete set. [Engadget]

Jerry Hildenbrand

Jerry Hildenbrand Cowboy

"Fascinated by things that go beep."

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There are 69 comments

Coolaaron88 says:

DO WANT

ben dover says:

oh my. these leaks are going crazy today! :) give me gingerbread!

Chris Parsons says:

I need that kind of sexiness in my life.

jaeisber says:

Im not sure how I feel about it. My main reason for love of the Nexus 1, aside from vanilla android, is the build quality. This looks to be a cheap plastic phone like all of the latest Android phones out there (EVO, DX, DInx, Galaxy, etc). I am not knocking the phones, they are good phones...but when I pick up an EVO and have my Nexus in the other hand, the difference in build quality is astounding.

I need a phone that feels solid in the hand, not plasticy like this looks to be. Very disappointed.

kinster02 says:

Wouldn't that be building materials and not quality...ones aluminum and the others are plastic. Anyway all these Samsung phones all look alike, black glossy rounded edge slabs of plastic.

jaeisber says:

The Nexus One is not aluminum...it is plastic, but has the soft touch finish on it. The overall build quality is solid. The newer phones I have picked up seem to have thinner, cheaper plastic and are flimsy. When I took a look at the DInc, I could bend the phone rather easily...however the Nexus is much more solid and does not bend or twist the way a DInc did.

Im just not impressed with this phone. It is a clone of another phone on the market, or in this case a set of phones. It should be distinct and set itself apart from the crowd. You look at that phone and you can easily mistake it for a Galaxy line phone. You look at the Nexus and you instantly know its the Nexus One.

uansari1 says:

Um... WRONG! The Nexus One is entirely aluminum, EXCEPT FOR the battery and antenna cover.

jaeisber says:

Ok, well the entire backside of the phone is plastic, along with all of the interior pieces. I cannot speak to the front bezel, but I am fairly certain it is plastic as well. it just has a soft touch coat on the phone.

Do you own a Nexus One?

icebike says:

Um... WRONG! The Nexus One is entirely aluminum, EXCEPT FOR the battery and antenna cover.

UM, Who is Wrong?

I suggest you head on over to iFixit and see if you can find one mention of metal. Its plastic. Get over it.

icebike says:

Thanks for finally pointing out the N1 is not aluminum.

About the only people dumb enough to put an aluminum case on a phone was Apple.

Its hard to get a radio signal into or out of an aluminum shell. That's why even the old Razr phones were painted plastic.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

Mine's Aluminum, except for the battery door, radio cover, and screen. Look at an engraved one. There's no question

jaeisber says:

There must be different bodies then. I have torn mine completely apart (dropped it in water) and initially thought it was aluminum as well. However, the body on mine is all plastic.

icebike says:

You strike me as a guy who knows his way around an Ohm meter Jerry.

How bout you bust yours out and do the simplest test.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

That's a damn good idea! Soon as it quits raining I'll wander out the the shop and we'll know for sure.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

I just got this in my inbox:

http://www.isuppli.com/teardowns-manufacturing-and-pricing/news/pages/google-nexus-one-carries-$17415-materials-cost-isuppli-teardown-reveals.aspx

BOM says machined aluminum unibody construction. So I had to get wet :p

Benchmeter says 3.07 × 10-8. It's metal, but a little high for aluminum. It's some sort of aluminum alloy

icebike says:

Not mine. (AT&T N1) Kilter kt8302 DMM.

On the 200Meg Ohm setting, or the 200 ohm setting I'm seeing infinite resistance from locations less than a millimeter apart.

Even scratching the enamel off in inconspicuous place on the inside edge of the bridge, the meter never blinks. Infinite resistance.

Something changed in production between yours an mine. My Nexus has no metal in the case at all other than the rim around the camera.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

holy balls. That's no good. When did you get yours? Wonder if anything else changed?

icebike says:

Got it direct from Google fairly soon after the AT&T model came available.

Are you measuring the paint they pushed into the engraving?

I can't post the resto of my reply because the goddamed brain dead spam filter traps it.

dacp283 says:

Actually the d1 was aluminum and had no signal issues. That was the best built phone I've ever owned and miss that quality everyday.

boldman4 says:

Got me a Fascinate 32 days ago. FML.

Jonneh says:

:( too bad it's made by Samsung and not HTC.

junglejunkie says:

I TOTALLY agree with you. I do not feel that a phone of this material/build quality deserves to wear the moniker of the Nexus name.

Before all of the Galaxy owners jump on me, I own a Nexus One and I bought my wife a Vibrant, so I know what I am talking about. The N1 just feels so solid in your hand while the Vibrant, well...dare I say feels cheap.

IMO the Nexus One is still the king of the Android smartphones.

mjneid says:

i kan haz?

Zarvi says:

Dont care abt the build quality, just happy to see another phone in the footsteps of N1. Best Buy should sell this unlocked and me ready to pre-order.

parsona says:

I thought Google insists on the trackpoint thingy on their phones? Strange its not there on their flagship

sandplasma says:

I knew I should've waited but I bought the vibrant..F!!!

sedracer says:

Too bad its a samsung device. I'm sure vanilla android will be better than touchwiz. But htc has done so much for android it seems weird google would switch the nexus branding from them.

StuRoid says:

Maybe HTC are lined up for the 3.0 flagship device :)

jaeisber says:

Im thinking that 3.0 will be tablet-centric

talbano1 says:

This should not be called a Nexus phone...

moises1204 says:

i like this Samsung/nexus2 better than nexus one because of the super amoled screen, one you get a s amoled phone you never go back, everything looks wash out on other phones, i like htc product but they need to build a better screen for their phones but that just me.

jaeisber says:

While the SAMOLED screen is better than the screen the Nexus one has, I cannot sacrifice build quality for it. I am going to wait on the supposed Verizon LTE phone that is supposed to come out later this month. While it will likely have Sense on it, I will root and get vanilla android.

icebike says:

Define build quality. You seem adamant about it so it should be easy.

jaeisber says:

The general quality of construction, design, etc. of a product

ekt8750 says:

And if you get vanilla android, you'll probably lose your LTE. So fail.

jaeisber says:

Do you lose 4G on the EVO when you run a new ROM? If the appropriate antenna is included in the ROM, there is no reason you cannot have LTE.

moosc says:

Nexus name should be a wow factor with next gen technology. Not a clone of cheap plastic phone. From a manufacturer doesn't have a good track record.

HAAS599 says:

Got a nexus S already, it's called "any Galaxy S phone already on the market". Mine even has a slide-out keyboard.

This phone will probably launch with 2.2.1, which the other Galaxy S phones will have by then. Only plus I see with this phone compared to other Galaxy S devices is getting gingerbread and the other OS updates earlier.

Glad the Nexus phone is based on the Galaxy S line. I hope it means devlopers will base their apps on this hardware which guarantees the apps will run great on my Epic.

GuyverV says:

if it is a nexus, it will launch with gingerbread

cptaszek says:

Give me some Gingerbead! I need this to be released before Christmas so I can get it for a gift.

GuyverV says:

the plastic is a turn off, i preferred the look of the first nexus. i'm hoping we can flash the rom to existing galaxy s phones and get stock 2.3.

gmonkey88 says:

Looks like PCTEST in Baltimore tested the device under GSM and HSPA+. Definitely a T-mobile phone.
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1355810

flacoff says:

+1 for general bias towards samsung

icebike says:

Interesting extra couple of contacts on the back in this photo with the back cover removed:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/nexus-s-hi-res-506...

Could that be a docking capability or an external battery pack, or is it just a "its been opened" detector?

PreJason says:

Interesting indeed... I'm willing to bet it would have some type of docking station or capability to charge wirelessly like the Palm Pre Plus does with it's Touchstone charger....

mfriedman79 says:

As a Captivate owner that looks to be what I had hoped the Captivate would have been to begin with. My biggest hope it that it supports more frequencies than just T-mobiles bands and doesn't suffer from the same laggy experience Samsung's horrible RFS file system does on all other Galaxy devices. I also hope there is some updated hardware in there spec wise to make it better than the current US based Galaxy devices. I see the Front Camera which is good. Hopefully a flash on the back is there as well.

As for those saying how unique the Nexus 1 was (I mean the DroidINc, or maybe the Desire) stop pretending it was some newly designed phone that was ultra unique. the Desire line was well in the works when it released and its just a modified shell of the same phones. Not that that's a bad thing since the phone still kicks butt.

jaeisber says:

Is it possible that the Desire got its design cue's from the Nexus One?

frozencloud says:

my only problem with this is that it's only on tmobile...and is that a rbg led notification light i see in the front? im loving how the front look...not so much of the back.

J240 says:

Looks like every other rounded phone on the market... Yawnn. Glad I didn't wait for this boring piece of plastic. (If this is really what it will look like, of course.)

Wiineedmore says:

F that can I get a trackball and specs

frozencloud says:

what is up with everyone and a trackball? when i was on a blackberry...sticky trackball is what i hated the most.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

different trackball mechanism. I treat my N1 like $hit and trackball doesn't stick or freeze like the curves and tours did.

bod1ggity says:

It looks cheap. Nexus 1 still looks better. No thanks, Ill wait for a duel core on a better carrier. FAIL.

dlongb13 says:

I don't get this dual core craze. First, the battery technology has to be there, and it might, but there are no signs of it making its way into the limelight. And second, cooling would have to be more advanced. People are getting way ahead of themselves on this dual core shit.

dlongb13 says:

As a Samsung Fascinate owner this really bothers me. Not only do we not have 2.2 yet, but if this is true, there will be a samsung phone out with 2.3. And while Samsung has promised 2.2, they have yet to deliver. I just think this fragmentation is getting a little extreme. And I am a huge Android advocate, always preach its awesomeness to people. But this is really starting to get outta control. Before it never really bother me and I take it thats because I was yet to be affected (and still am). But with this looming around I could very well be affected and well, now it bothers me.

Sure this means there could be a possible port of AOSP 2.3 but its still shaddy business to skip and entire line of phones in favor of a new release. This won't be my last android phone but could very well be my last Samsung product of any kind that I buy.

End Rant. But in the end, Android does rock and I won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

jaeisber says:

Fragmentation is not the fault of Google or the Android OS, rather the fault of the phone manufacturers. If they did not skin the OS, updates would be pushed to the phones almost immediately after release (ala Nexus One). Until google, or the manufacturers find a way run skins on top of Android (similar to any homescreen replacement) that can be updated on the fly or through the market, fragmentation will stick around.

PreJason says:

Ohhhhh Please oh Please oh Please be unlocked (wishful thinking) or arrive on AT&T... :-)

I absolutely love the Galaxy S series. Yes my Captivate is mostly made of plastic but it's sooooooo light and the screen!! Man, it's a beauty. SAMOLED is the best out there IMO....

Wait??? Is that a front facing camera too!!

frozencloud says:

exactly what im thinking....pls on at&t. now if they can verify if it have a rbg led notification light...

PreJason says:

You know something.. You're right.. I actually miss not having to turn on my screen to see if I've missed a call or message...
It's the little things right?? LOL

miniZ says:

"if nexus, will launch with 2.3"
Didn't nexus one launch with 2.1 and then get upgraded to 2.2 or was 2.0 the happs back then? I had a cliq.. We were just wanting 1.6.

All that said, I will purchase this the day it comes out. 4 inch super amoled? I could not possibly say no.

jaeisber says:

The Nexus One was launched with 2.1. 2.2, in Google's eyes, wasnt seen as a major release so there was no phone to go with it. Gingerbread is supposed to be a big release, which is probably why they are bringing out a new phone with it.

Griffspen says:

When this phone comes out, will the GPS on my Captivate start working. Cause that would be neato.

ScubaNitrox says:

I feel your pain!

ScubaNitrox says:

Surprise it is not the i90210! :)

nikhils says:

Does this not look very much like the Continuum? Why the need for glossy plastic back, we will never know. Matte is so much more awesome.

Also odd choice of name as Samsung already has an Elite line in the market.

nikhils says:

Also, I don't see an external SD card slot!

tb1 says:

Hideous. A plastic iphone 3g.

sookster54 says:

There's more pictures of this, as soon as I saw the picture of its back and saw the Google logo, I immediately closed it. The Google logo was photoshopped.

There's way too many rumors about the Nexus 2/S and none of it really makes any sense.

Smokexz says:

It's funny, everyone says the aluminum piece that HTC uses feels so great, but it's just so damn broken. Every G2 I have used had a dent in the body or a dead pixel. If you ask me, I would rather have Samsung quality than HTC quality.