Samsung Galaxy S III is missing one crucial thing

For the past few days I have been testing one of the best smartphones I have used. Samsung has built a masterpiece in the Galaxy S III, a beautiful phone that is a great performer. With everything Samsung has squeezed inside the skinny Galaxy S III, there's one thing missing that would stop me from buying one.

I am not going to write a full review of the Galaxy S III, colleague Matt Miller has already written one you should check out. Like Matt, I am duly impressed with the S III in every way. The big 4.8-inch screen is gorgeous, the fast processor and decent camera make the S III a great smartphone.

Throw in the LTE speeds (I am testing the Verizon version) and you have a real screamer when it comes to going online, getting things done, and getting back off. It is a tremendous smartphone, and probably the best one of the summer. So will I buy one?

That's the question I am being asked on a regular basis. Sadly, Samsung left one thing off the Galaxy S III that guarantees I won't buy one. That's the little word Nexus that should be on this phone but is missing.

That won't matter to lots of prospective buyers, but that's a big deal to me. The Nexus brand would ensure that the latest version of Android, aka Jelly Bean, would hit the phone soon. Heck, it might already have Jelly Bean if it was a Nexus phone.

Sadly it's not a Nexus phone, and even though it is one of the best smartphones currently available, the OS is already out-dated. Ice Cream Sandwich is good, but it's no longer the most current. That may not matter to many, but the thought of buying one of the top phones on the market without the latest version of the OS stops me cold.

I'm not going to get into the whole OS update thing, that's been done ad nauseum. No, suffice it to say I would not buy any Android phone without Nexus on the device, and I don't think I am the only one. 

I am no longer willing to play the waiting game for a phone update to get the latest version of Android. I have no desire to root the phone and install a custom ROM just to get the latest and greatest. Heck, this is the Verizon Galaxy S III so that's not even an option. 

To get my money an Android phone has got to have the Nexus brand on it. The problem with that is in my experience, the Galaxy S III is better than the Galaxy Nexus. Guess I have longer to wait to get the best Android phone.