It didn't take long to zero in on the Nexus S.  

I had a Nexus One and liked it. Gave it to a friend and she really likes it.  

Got it at Best Buy on Broadway near Houston. 

It seemed a bit pricey, just under $600 with tax, but I went for it anyway. Unlocked GSM phone that runs Android. It's my European phone. As soon as I get to Amsterdam I'll buy a prepaid SIM for it at the airport. And when I get back, if all goes well, I'll probably replace my Droid with it? We'll see. Too soon to tell. 

Now, do I like it? 

Wellllll... it's not even close to as nice as the iPhone 4. The software (Android) is catching up, but the iPhone 4 has this stunning display. It makes the Nexus's screen look pretty bad.  

And the Nexus has a light, cheap plastic feel to it. For a $600 piece of hardware that has to compete with the iPhone, it should have some heft, some gravitas. It has none. Seriously. It feels a bit like a McDonald's happy meal toy, compared to the iPhone 4 which has a unique feel to it, not like anything else, and seriously interesting. You just like to hold it. It sounds so flakey, but it's true.  

The main reason I will have this with me is for the camera, but I'm not sure I'll use it. It's not as good as the iPhone and that was barely good enough. I'm bringing my Canon SureShot with me. Not bringing the Canon SLR my dad left me. Too much iron to carry to Europe and back. I'm not a big iron camera guy I guess, after all. 

The map app is great. Really amazing thing is the 3D view you get because it has a hardware compass built in. Hard to describe in words, but it solves the problem as you're walking in a city of which way am I pointing now. You get a very tight readout. 

I installed the Amazon App Store on it. Installed Kindle, loaded a few books onto it. 

There is no Netflix app for Android. Huge missing piece.  

Now I'm trying to figure out how to load music and podcasts on here. 

How do you play videos on Android??