As I said when I reviewed the GSM version of the Galaxy Nexus this is one of the best smartphones ever made. The addition of Verizon's killer 4G service makes it almost undeniably awesome, though those improved data speeds obviously come with a price. Namely, battery life. There are also other knocks, like the fact that the camera produces uneven results, and the size of the phone won't be to everyone's liking.
Still, the combination of solid hardware, the fantastic new Ice Cream Sandwich software, and the speed and stability of Verizon's 4G service is intoxicating. For those of you who've been waiting for a true, pure Google phone on Big Red, this will be a dream come true. For users who have been thinking about the other LTE offerings on the network, such as the Droid RAZR or Bionic, there really is no comparison. You get the same fantastic network without any of the software tradeoffs.
At the end of the day, when you're spending $300 on a phone (and far more in monthly fees over two years), you need to love the device you get, and it needs to get the job done for you. The Galaxy Nexus exceeded (and continues to exceed) my expectations as a smartphone. It's an extremely capable and surprisingly fun piece of gadgetry to have in your pocket, and as a first-rung Google phone, it will likely reap the benefits of the company's innovations long before other handsets do. Ultimately, you have to make the decision of what you want out of a phone, and there are excellent choices on the market right now. Personally? Verizon just got themselves a new customer.