Google has announced the very first phone to wield the much awaited Android v2.3 Gingerbread update; the Google Nexus S. The Nexus S is designed and manufactured by mobile giant Samsung in conjunction with Google and uses the popular and frankly awesome Galaxy S as its basic hardware template.
Hardware first: The Google Nexus S sports a 4 inch, AMOLED display with an impressive resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The physical dimensions are 123.9 x 63 x 10.88mm and weight is around 129g. It’s a GSM device (meaning it will work just about everywhere; not purely in the USA) and has a pretty standard battery life of arout 6.7 hours talk-time and 18 days on standby. The 1GHz Hummingbird Processor is definitely appreciated, but becoming pretty standard for today’s high-end phones.
The camera is good, but nothing special. Weighing in with 5MP snaps and 720 x 480 video recording at 30 frames per second it’s definitely good quality, but not unique or exciting. There’s an LED flash, of course, but even that’s becoming a familiar sight in today’s market.
As far as form factor goes the Nexus S is a little different from the competition in that it has a curved display. The idea behind this is that it will make the phone more comfortable to hold against the head. We’re not 100% sure of this, but what we are sure of is that it looks pretty damn sweet. Samsung has never really been famous for their aesthetic design, but we think they’ve hit the nail on the head with this unique approach. Expect to see more phones following this trend in the future.
All of this sounds great on paper, but other than the external appearance none of it really serves to differentiate the Nexus S from the competition, so why get this phone?
The Google Nexus S is not only the first phone out to ship with Android 2.3 but is also a pure Android phone, uncorrupted by third party user interfaces (UIs). That means the user experience is much smoother, as the operating system hasn’t been cluttered up with third party apps that have been retro-integrated into the UI. It also means that Google updates will generally be more readily available to Nexus S owners than owners of, say, an HTC or Samsung Android device.
What we know about Gingerbread (Android v2.3) so far isn’t game changing like the Froyo (2.2) update was, but it’s still impressive and worth giving Google an acknowledging nod.
Gingerbread offers faster graphics rendering, more aggressive power management and supports a greater number of video codecs for an easier film watching experience. It also offers speed improvements on top of the already lightning-fast Froyo update.
With Gingerbread Google has also focused on bettering their keyboard input software, which has traditionally been inferior to that of the iPhone in speed and accuracy. It’s still a little behind the iPhone 4, apparently, in the quick-typing department. But it's a noticeable improvement on earlier versions and shouldn’t leave the average texter wanting.
With Gingerbread comes a possible huge change for mobile users, or possibly a huge flop for Google. The Nexus S comes pre-loading with something Google is calling NFC, or Near Field Communication. The main idea behind this is that your phone quite literally becomes a digital wallet. Google hopes to implement this service so widely that it will one day replace credit cards.
The way NFC will work is that if you are purchasing a product from an NFC enabled store, all you will have to do is tap your phone against a screen and your money will be transferred automatically. Right now it sounds a little unsafe and lacking in security. We'll definitely be keeping our ears open on this one so keep an eye on our site for updates.
Another, less worrying function of NFC is media updates. Say you pass by an NFC enabled billboard that intrigues you. Just tap your phone up against the digital poster and you may be given session times, a trailer to watch or even a list of cast. Hopefully this service won't be too long-range, as we don't want to have our phones bombarded with ads constantly while we walk down the street.
Just one more perk that we left out of the hardware section is the front-facing camera. The reason for our omission is the implication this has for the Android OS, so we figured we'd throw it in at the end. With Google supporting a video-chat camera on their flagship phone we don’t think a dedicated Google video chat app will be far off. So don't be surprised if Google goes toe-to-toe with the iPhone’s much loved FaceTime service in the near future. This would be big news in the smartphone market, as one of the iPhone's most powerful drawing powers right now is video calling.
All up the Google Nexus S definitely has us intrigued, but with no Australian release date as yet (16th December in the US and 20th in the UK) we’re going to have to be content with looking on from afar for a little while longer.
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