Google announces Nexus S by Samsung

Samsung and Google today announced the new Nexus S mobile phone. It is the first phone running version 2.3 of the Android operating system. Version 2.3 alson known as Gingerbread was officially announced today.

The Nexus S has a large 4 inch display with a 400 x 800 pixel resolution running on a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU made by Samsung. In fact, most hardware is made by Samsung and the phone is based on the Galaxy S

A new feature made possible with Android 2.3 is support for Near Field Communication (NFC). Nexus S has the requred hardware built in and NFC lets you read data from NFC tags. NFS is a wireless technology that can be embedded in all kinds of objects like stickers, t-shirts and posters. Both Bluetooth and NFC are short-range communication technologies but NFC has a maximum range of 20 cm and a slower data transfer.

According to Google, Gingerbread is the fastest version of Android. Where the main improvements in version 2.3 is:

• A refined user interface across the system making it easier to learn, faster to use and more power efficient.
• The Android soft keyboard is redesigned and one-touch word selectiong and copy/past has been improved.
• Improved power management
• Better control over applications. A shortcut to the Manage Applications control now appears in the Options Menu in the Home screen and Launcher, making it much easier to check and manage application activity.
• Several new standard applications
• Support for multiple cameras

Nexus S Technical specifications

• Size 124 x 63 x 11 mm
• Weight: 129 gram
• Talk time: 6.7 hours on 3G and 14 hours on 2G
• Standby time: 17.8 days on 3G and 29.7 days on 2G
• Battery: 1500 mAh
• Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 3G HSPA 900/1700/2100, HSDPA 7.2Mbps and HSUPA 5.76Mbps
• Display: 4 inch, 480x800 pixel resolution, Super AMOLED, Capacitive touch sensor and anti-fingerprint display coating
• Camera: 5 megapixel with auto focus and LED flash. 720p HD video recording in H.264 and H.263 MPEG4 format.
• Bluetooth 2.1
• WLAN: 802.11 n/b/g
• A-GPS
• Near Field Communication (NFC) 
• OS: Android 2.3 Gingerbread
• Sensors: Gyroscope, Accelerometer, digital compass, proximity and light sensors

Nexus S will be available unlocked in the US after December 16th from all Best Buy stores and in Carphone Warehous and Best Buy retailers in the UK after December 20th. Just in time for Christmas eve.

Google / Samsung Nexus S 360 view