Samsung Google Nexus S

This is the second child to Google, the second Nexus, and this time around Google cooperated with Samsung. The first Nexus was with HTC.

What upgrade does this second Nexus giving us? Well, upgrade is the right word for it, but unfortunately is not the kind we celebrated. Why? We don’t see new impressive features in this second Nexus, only the upgraded versions of previous ones.

But that should not be the reason for us to turn our face against it. This is still a great phone. Based on Samsung Galaxy S as its prototype — even the hardware specifications are the same—, and with optimized Android 2.3 Gingerbread as its operating system, the phone feels more powerful than the Samsung Galaxy S, which makes us speculated that the S in the name— Samsung Google Nexus S— could also means Superior.

The most noticeable superior thing in this phone is its Super Amoled 4” Contour Display with curved glass screen and 480×800 pixels resolution (WVGA). With this design, viewing angles are so impressive. The contrast are remarkable, even under direct sunlight. The capacitive touchscreen is impressive, and working on it with just one hand is enjoyable. Not to mention that the phone fits nicely in the hand’s grip.

On the inside, Google uses new file system, Ext4, which boosts performances and added more excitement to the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. A powerful 1 GHz ARM Cortex A-8 (code name Hummingbird) is sure enough for applications to operate at full speed. Here is the specification list :

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
• HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
• 4.0″ WVGA (480×800) Super AMOLED Contour Display with curved glass screen
• Android OS, v2.3 Gingerbread
• 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 (Hummingbird) processor
• 16GB storage, 512 MB RAM
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
• Front-facing VGA camera
• Wi-Fi b/g/n with DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Portable Wi-Fi hotspot and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Near Field Communication chip
• Accelerometer, proximity and light sensors
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging)
• Adobe Flash support out of the box
• Latest Google Mobile apps

Main disadvantages:

• No microSD slot
• No 720p video recording
• All-plastic body, fingerprint magnet
• No DivX and XviD support (no actual video player) out of the box
• No dedicated camera key and no lens cover
• No FM radio
• No smart dialing
• Overly expensive for its feature set