The name says it all. Instead of 'Nexus' being a prefix. It's a suffix. This is a Samsung Galaxy device with Google on board for the ride.
I played with it at Best Buy the other night. I'm still not fully committed.
1) Build quality. Still plasticky. It doesn't even feel as solid as my current Nexus One.
2) Camera. Only marginally better than what's on the Nexus S. Either Samsung cheaped out or Google got lazy. Couldn't they at least have something more significant with the optics?
3) Networks. Why not have LTE on the GSM version? In the US and Canada, carriers are deploying LTE on the AWS band. Google completely ignored this situation.
4) Why put the NFC chip in the battery?
5) No onboard FM radio. What is the matter with you Google? Some of us like to be able to get some local news on our commutes.
Final complaint. Size. Yeah, a bigger screen is nice. But this phone is utterly massive. Does Google do any usability tests at all, or is screen size the new megapixel race? What would have been impressive was for Google to offer a device that more screen in a smaller form factor. That would've really knocked out a lot of arguments against bigger Android devices. Instead, this thing is even bigger than the Galaxy SII. A 4.5 inch screen with a phone that was smaller than the Galaxy SII would have been far more usable.
I actually don't mind that Google dropped the MicroSD card. Honestly, given the hassle with how few apps come with App2SD, I'd rather have more onboard storage and forego the slot. It's a sad but workable reality.
Sadly, with the mess that is Android today, I don't trust any of the OEMs and carriers to actually pump out two OS updates. And I am due for a new handset. So this just might be the phone for me. Even though, it'll be such a reluctant purchase.
Google is slowly, but surely letting its brand go down the tubes by making concessions to all the Android OEMs and the carriers. Like I said, the name says it all. Google is no longer in the driver's seat.