When Google announced Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich late last year, Samsung also released the Samsung Galaxy Nexus to coincide with the unveiling of what back then was the latest version of the Android mobile operating system. Since then, a lot of our smartphone-crazed brethren has considered the Google flagship device as the best Android-powered smartphone because it was the only handset at that time running Ice Cream Sandwich for its operating system.
As early as February though, Apple has already targeted the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in a series of lawsuits claiming that the pure Google device infringed some of its patents, particularly that which pertains to the operation of Apple’s Siri. Apple got away with having the handset banned in US shores when a US Court ruled in favor of Apple and an injunction and consequently a temporary ban was placed on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
However, Google recently told ABC News that it will resume shipment of the handset by next week. As of the moment, the listing for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus at the Google Play Store says “Coming Soon” and “Soon with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean”. However, this status of the handset isn’t expected to last that long because Google confirmed that it is already working on a fix that will take care of the infringing code on the firmware of the handset.
With this announcement coming from Google itself, this only means that the fix for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus the company is working on is nearly finished and the update will be pushed anytime soon to ALL versions of the handset regardless of carrier-branding. However, the changes Google will institute to get this issue fixed are still unclear as of the moment. Google further told ABC News that once it begins shipment of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus next week, the handset will already be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and this latest iteration of the Google mobile operating system will address the issues being disputed.
Should this pan out, those purchasing the new stocks of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be luckier than most because they wouldn’t have to wait for the Google Nexus 7 tablet just to have a feel for what Android 4.1 Jelly Bean brings to the table.
As for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, it still is a very capable device despite the fact that it is no longer a spring chicken. It packs a Texas Instruments OMAP4460 chipset under the hood to power its operations while its snappy performance is courtesy of its dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor and full gigabyte of RAM. Storage space onboard the device is pegged at 32GB although there is no option to have this further expanded. The Contour Display of the handset is a 4.65-inch SuperAMOLED panel with a 1280 x 720 resolution while its camera department, the pain point of the handset according to critics, is a bit mediocre though with only a 5MP shooter at its back panel and a 1.3MP video call and self-portrait camera out front.
