Back in the day when Google announced Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich late last year, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus was also unveiled as the handset that will showcase the latest iteration of the Google mobile operating system. Because of this, a lot of our smartphone-crazed brethren considered the Samsung Galaxy Nexus as the best Android smartphone during its heydays.
In US shores, it was Verizon who picked up on the popularity of the handset and had it added on to its lineup of Android-powered devices. In fact, there were rumors in the past that the wireless provider snubbed the Samsung Galaxy S II, the only carrier in our side of the world to do so, just so it could get the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. This was great for Verizon subscribers because they were given access to a handset that ran the stock version of the Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and gave them a pure Vanilla-flavored Android experience.
And since the handset was a Nexus device, it was expected that the Verizon version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will also get updates ahead of everybody else. Sad to say, this is not always the case because of its carrier-branding. Because of this, the handset still needs carrier approval before it can take advantage of the updates that Google releases. Verizon has to first sign off on any update before they get rolled out to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and this is always the case as to why the Verizon version of the handset is a bit late in getting the said updates.
And when Google unveiled Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the latest iteration of the Android mobile operating system, this left Verizon owners asking as to when their handsets will get treated to Jelly Bean for that matter. Given the fact that the international version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus already managed to get upgraded to Jelly Bean, users of the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus are becoming more frustrated with the lack of information when it came to the Jelly Bean update for their handsets.
The update will eventually land on the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus, that’s for sure but if it took Verizon 5 months or so in getting the handset upgraded from Android 4.0.2 to Android 4.0.4 (4.0.3 was skipped), I wouldn’t want to think of the waiting game Verizon subscribers have to play in waiting for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
As for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the handset packs a Texas Instruments OMAP4460 chipset in its internals and this brings a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz and a full gigabyte of RAM to the handset. The storage space of the handset comes up to 32GB but this is not expandable, unfortunately. Its display measures 4.65 inches diagonally and is of the SuperAMOLED variety with a 1280 x 720 resolution while its camera department, the said Achilles heel of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, only brings to the handset a mediocre 5MP shooter at its back panel and a 1.3MP video call camera out front. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G is available starting at one penny!
