Samsung Nexus S deals & review

The Nexus S is the second Google phone following on from the Nexus One released earlier in 2010. While the Nexus One was produced by HTC, and also released as the HTC Desire, the Nexus S has been manufactured in conjunction with Samsung. This second Google phone has been christened as the Nexus S rather than the Nexus Two in reference to Samsung´s current flagship handset the Samsung Galaxy S.

Physically the Nexus S has much in common with the Galaxy S with a very similar appearance, and underneath its outer casing the new Google phone also shares a lot of the Galaxy S´s award winning hardware features.

The Nexus S features a very spacious 4" Super AMOLED screen which comes with over 16 million colours and a very high resolution of 480 x 800 pixels providing one of the best visual experiences you can get on a mobile phone. The screen is capacitive so it allows for multitouch gestures as well as providing a greater level of responsiveness. It features an oleophobic surface which protects against those inevitable fingerprint smudges and is also the first phone to feature Samsung´s new Contour Display. Contour Display means that the Nexus S features a slightly curved screen which is unnoticeable with general usage but allows the phone to be held to the face much more comfortably.

The Nexus S features an accelerometer and proximity sensor, which are now standard features on most touchscreen handsets, but is also one of the first smartphones to feature a gyro sensor. This sensor can detect when the phone is being tilted in any direction and greatly extends many of the software features that were made possible with the introduction of accelerometers. This sensor will open up a whole new world of mobile apps and games that have so far not been possible.

The Nexus S is the first phone to be released with Google Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) which introduces a lot of tweaks and new features. Many of the operating system´s key functions have had a significant boost in speed and efficiency and Gingerbread also sees the introduction of Near Field Communications (NFC). As the Nexus S is Google´s baby it comes with just about every Google service that is currently available on mobile phones. This includes Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Talk and integration for YouTube and Picasa (which are both owned by Google). A lot of work has been done to the latest version of Google Maps which in many areas allows you to explore the map in 3D.

Along with these Google services the Nexus S features excellent social networking integration for services such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as featuring threaded SMS, instant messaging and Email. The Nexus S features Flash Player 10.1 so that you are afforded virtually unrestricted web browsing. The Nexus S comes with 3G, Wi-Fi and a number of other connectivity options.

As mentioned, the Nexus S is pretty much the Samsung Galaxy S with an improved operating system and many other tweaks. The only let down here is that the Nexus S´s camera seems to have been demoted from that of the Galaxy S as it now only supports WVGA video recording.