Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Smartphone Review

Verizon announced that it will launch the Galaxy Nexus today, December 15th and the device will sold for an unexpectedly-steep $299 alongside a new two-year contract. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first device running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, making its launch a fairly significant one for the short-term future of the OS and the Galaxy Nexus features a 4.65-inch 720p HD display, 1.2GHz processor, 32 GB of storage and a 1,850 mAh battery.

Verizon Wireless, Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) and Google announced Galaxy Nexus is available starting today in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers can browse the Web, stream music and more at blazing speeds using the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. Galaxy Nexus customers can enjoy access to the 4G LTE network in 190 markets covering over 200 million people across the United States, and fly through the Web with fast download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps within the 4G LTE Mobile Broadband coverage area. Galaxy Nexus runs Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, which brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. Galaxy Nexus offers customers a redesigned user experience with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Near Field Communications (NFC) sharing with Android Beam and a full Web-browsing experience. The lock screen, home screen, phone app and everything in between have been rethought and redesigned to make Android simple, beautiful and useful. Galaxy Nexus also features an ultra-thin 9.47mm design with a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED Contour Display to watch movies, view pictures and play games that come to life in 720p (1280 x 720) resolution.

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) features:

• Redesigned user interface: software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones, and a dedicated recent apps button to make multi-tasking easy
• Face Unlock: use state-of-the-art facial recognition to unlock Galaxy Nexus
• Android Beam: quickly share Web pages, apps, contacts and YouTube videos with friends by simply tapping two compatible phones together
• Redesigned Camera: introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, and effects such as silly faces and background replacement
• People Application: browse friends, family and coworkers, see their photos in high-resolution and check their latest status updates from Google+ and other social networks
• Cloud Services: keep email, contacts, photos, music, browser bookmarks and other data synced to the cloud, available across multiple devices so customers never lose important data
• Google Music: upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud, discover and buy new music from Android Market, and stream it instantly on Galaxy Nexus and from the Web for free
• Google+: Create a Google+ account right from the phone and check status updates, manage circles, quickly share updates and photos, video chat with up to ten friends with Mobile Hangouts, and chat with groups of friends with Google+ Messenger
• Support for Google Mobile Services: Gmail, Google Maps with 3D maps and free turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth, Movie Studio, YouTube, syncing with Google Calendar, a redesigned Google+ app and access to more than 300,000 apps, millions of eBooks, thousands of movies to rent, and millions of songs available to download from Android Market

Additional features:

• Dual-core 1.2 GHz application processor and HTML5 Web browser: optimized dual-core processing with Android 4.0 combined with lightning fast 4G LTE connectivity for fast downloading of graphics, applications processing and Web browsing
• Mobile Hotspot capability: share 4G LTE or 3G connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, autofocus and LED flash with full 1080p recording
• Front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat
• • Textured soft-touch back cover: enhances the ergonomic feel and makes the phone slip-resistant
• Bluetooth 3.0 technology: support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access, human interface device (HID) and object push for vCard and vCalendar
• 1 GB RAM and 32 GB on-board memory (actual formatted capacity will be less)

Pricing and data packages:

• Galaxy Nexus is available now in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
• Customers that purchase a Galaxy Nexus by Samsung will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

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