Samsung has launched its best bet, to compete with Apple’s iPhone 4S. Samsung Galaxy Nexus is in fact a ‘Watch out Apple’ handset, which comes in with Google’s flagship Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4G. Galaxy Nexus was previously referred to the Nexus Prime. Google and Samsung have finally revealed a masterpiece, they had promised. It was unwrapped in Hong Kong yesterday.
With Galaxy Nexus, Samsung keeps its display as expected to a huge 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED (1,280 x 720) display, but it packs in more than just that. It boasts 1 GB of RAM, a built-in NFC chip, a 4G radio for either the HSPA+ or LTE network and a barometer. The handset even has a modest 5-megapixel rear camera, with a decent front camera of 1.3-megapixel.
These features might make Galaxy Nexus look great, but its combination with the ICS specials, makes it look insane. The ICS features listed by ZDNet are:
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Face Unlock: No need to swipe your screen to unlock it. Simply face your phone and it should be able to recognize your face to grant you access.
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Android Beam: Share your contacts/maps/apps with other NFC-enabled devices.
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Voice Typing: Dictate your emails/texts to your Galaxy Nexus and hopefully it will get it more right than Siri.
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Integration with Google+: The Galaxy Nexus will search for your Google+ contacts’ photos and updates, plus bring Messenger and Hangout functions to your “Google Phone.”
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Data Usage: Monitor your data usage as this feature is baked right into the OS.
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Single Motion Panorama Photos & Live Effects: Taking a page from a popular feature on point-and-shooters and even interchangeable lens camera features, the Galaxy Nexus’ camera will be able to capture panoramic shots and apply effects while you shoot.
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Google Wallet: With this handset, you’ll likely be able to give Google Wallet a try soon but this feature was not a part of the phone announcement.
To visualize the insanity, Google has released a trailer, which offers a first look at both ICS and Galaxy Nexus. The trailer can be viewed as below:
{iframe width=”560″ height=”315″}http://www.youtube.com/embed/-F_ke3rxopc{/iframe}
The announcement regarding the date of release was not mentioned at the media event. But November is closing in, and it was said earlier that the handset would be coming to the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia in the next month.
For android lovers, this is a gold pot, which is all gold and is free of patent claims. Apple, with its patent claims had killed Samsung’s tablet sales in a number of countries, but that wouldn’t continue with Galaxy Nexus. Samsung’s mobile chief Shin Jong-Kyan, said that this new handset runs on the Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” operating system and has been designed to bypass Apple’s patents and further legal disputes. A day before the the Nexus launch, speaking to the Korean Yonhap News Agency, Jong-Kyan said: “Now we will avoid everything we can and take patents very seriously”, adding that while patents can be difficult to identify, Samsung had “tried to ensure no known patent by Apple” is included in the new smartphone.
PCWorld even has come up with a comparison for Google’s Android 4.0 ICS with Apple’s iOS 5, which can be read here.