The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G Android smartphone arrived nearly a year ago in the United States. That handset was memorable for several reasons, first and foremost because it delivered the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0 Android operating system to a US handset for the first time. Secondly, it was one of the first phones to deliver a full 32 GB of built-in, user accessible data storage, and also delivered an ultra-skinny profile, large high-resolution screen and powerful dual core processor.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G has now matured into the Jelly Bean 4.1 OS, but still has a feature set which makes it one of the best performing and highest rated smartphones in the entire mobile marketplace. Verizon is teaming up with online retailer Amazon to offer the Galaxy Nexus 4G for $0.01 on contract during their annual Amazon Cyber Monday Deals Week event. As one of the first smartphones to offer Near Field Communications (NFC) wireless connectivity out-of-the-box, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus 4G offers support for data share apps like Android Beam and retail payment processing applications such as Google Wallet.
The new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system delivers an updated Google Now application that offers an improved contextual search engine and a virtual personal assistant much like Apple’s Siri. The new OS is also much smoother and faster than ICS, camera operability has been improved, and the Android home screens are clutter free. That operating system also delivers “voice to text” functionality, which allows you to speak where you used to type.
The Galaxy Nexus 4G 4.65 inch Super AMOLED display is one of the largest found on any smartphone, and the 32 GB of built-in data storage are the most offered by a mobile handset. Resolution is also extremely high at 720 x 1,280 pixels, with more than 16 million individual colors delivered at a rate of 316 pixels every inch. That display has standard proximity and light sensors built in, and this helps improve battery performance. As many as 12.0 hours of talk time can be achieved from a single battery charge.
On the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE system in the United States, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G delivers simultaneous voice and data access. This allows you to surf the web or check your e-mail without interrupting a voice call, and the handset is super slim at 0.37 inches (9.42 mm). The CPU is a 1.2 GHz dual core chip, and a separate GPU handles all graphics processing. The handset contains a full 1.0 GB of RAM system memory as part of the Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 microchip package. The 5.0 megapixel camcorder on the back of the handset captures video at 1,080P HD resolution.
