The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G Android smartphone arrived in the US all the way back at the end of last year, and was the first handset to deliver the long-awaited Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0 Android operating system out-of-the-box. Timed perfectly for the holiday shopping season, that handset was exclusive to the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE system and became an instant bestseller for that wireless service provider in the US. The speedy and powerful dual core processor is perfect for the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network which delivers download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) in Verizon’s 4G LTE mobile broadband coverage areas, and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps.
As the first handset to receive ICS 4.0, it only made sense when, at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, California last month Google announced that Android’s Jelly Bean 4.1 OS would hit that device before any other mobile handset. As usual, Google did not give a hard launch date for that over the air transfer, but Jelly Bean 4.1 independent ROM releases have already made their way to the web, so that official OS release is probably right around the corner.
The handset delivers Near Field Communications (NFC) support out-of-the-box, and currently retails for the $0.01 on contract at select retailers. The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network delivers simultaneous data and voice access, and the handset is slim at 0.37 inches (9.47 mm). The 4.65 inch Super AMOLED screen is one of the largest found on any smartphone, and both resolution and pixel density are at the high end of the 4G smartphone spectrum. Pixel density is 316 pixels per inch and overall display resolution runs 720 x 1,280 pixels.
That display uses more than 16 million colors to create visuals, and the handset delivers up to 12.00 hours of talk time from a single charge, approximately 50% better than the 4G smartphone average. The hardware package on board includes 32 GB of built-in, user accessible storage, the most delivered by a 4G smartphone. 1.0 GB of RAM system memory is present, and a graphics dedicated PowerVR SGX540 microchip joins a dual core 1.2 GHz Cortex A9 central processor in the Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 microchip package on board.
A rear facing 5.0 megapixel camcorder is capable of recording video in stereo sound and 1,080P HD resolution, and a front facing 1.3 megapixel chat cam provides video call support. The built-in music player supports all audio file formats and joins a proprietary YouTube video player in the multimedia package of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus 4G Android smartphone.
