Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon: Review Update

I originally reviewed the international version of the Galaxy Nexus, but I've been using the Verizon one—with LTE!—for about a week now, so our review is updated accordingly. (Check it out right here)

The quick version: The phone is definitely thicker than the Euro version but almost negligibly so. Verizon's LTE is fast fast fast. We're talking speeds of 23Mbps download and 12Mbps up. Even in an area where I only had 1-2 bars of 4G reception, I still averaged 9.94Mbps download and 5.36 upload speeds, which is impressive. As for the 4G-hammered battery life, I was still able to make it most of the way through the day. (Conversely, switching to 3G-only I was able to power through the whole day.) Oh, and I did notice some of the signal issues that've been reported. Rarely, but it happened.

Everything else is the same. Same lovely screen, same sub-par camera, same really nice experience. I will say that this version's facial unlock works much better than it did on the other version, and it recognizes me about 90 percent of the time. I don't know if this is something that came in the 4.0.2 software update or if it just didn't like my hideous Movember moustache. [Gizmodo]