Nexus S

Nexus S

Nexus S
Brand	Google / Samsung
Manufacturer	Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Series	Google Nexus
Carriers	US T-Mobile USA, Sprint, AT&T United Kingdom O2 UK, Orange UK, T-Mobile UK, Vodafone UK, 3 Canada Rogers, Fido, WIND Mobile, Mobilicity, Videotron, Telus, Koodo Mobile[1]
Compatible networks	GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz) AWS WCDMA/HSPA Tri-band (900, 1700, and 2100 MHz) OR UMTS WCDMA/HSPA Tri-band (850, 1900, and 2100 MHz) HSDPA 7.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s
First released	United States December 16, 2010; 10 months ago (2010-12-16) T-Mobile USA
Introductory price	US US$529.99 SIM unlocked, US$199.99 with 2 year contract[2] UK £429.99 (SIM unlocked), Free with 2 year £30/month contract.[3] Serbia 380Euro[4] Thailand THB18,900 SIM unlocked
Availability by country	UK December 22, 2010; 10 months ago (2010-12-22) (Vodafone & Unlocked) Canada April 7, 2011; 7 months ago (2011-04-07) WIND Mobile, Mobilicity, Telus, Koodo Mobile & Rogers Wireless Serbia April 4, 2011; 7 months ago (2011-04-04) Thailand April 1, 2011; 7 months ago (2011-04-01) AIS (Advanced Info Service)
Predecessor	Nexus One
Successor	Galaxy Nexus
Related	Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy Nexus
Type	Smartphone
Form factor	Slate
Dimensions	123.9 mm (4.88 in) H 63.0 mm (2.48 in) W 10.8 mm (0.43 in) D
Weight	129.0 g (4.55 oz) AMOLED-Version, 140.0 g (4.94 oz) Super-Clear-LCD-Version
Operating system	Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread "Original Nexus S" or 2.3.7 Gingerbread "Nexus S 4G". 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" update due soon
CPU	1 GHz Samsung Exynos 3110[5] (ARM Cortex A8) with PowerVR SGX 540 GPU
Memory	512 MB RAM
Storage	16 GB iNAND (partitioned 1 GB internal storage, 15 GB USB storage)
Battery	1,500 mAh internal user-replaceable rechargeable Li-ion
Data inputs	3-axis gyroscope Accelerometer Ambient light sensor Capacitive touch-sensitive buttons Digital compass Microphone Multi-touch capacitive touchscreen Proximity sensor Push buttons
Display	800×480 px (0.37 megapixels), 4.0 in (10 cm) diagonal (2.06×3.43 in), 233 ppi, WVGA Super AMOLED PenTile[6] or Super Clear LCD display (GT-i9023)
Rear camera	5 megapixel (2,560×1,920) auto focus LED flash
Front camera	VGA (640×480)
Compatible media formats	Audio AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR, AMR-NB, MP3, OGG Video H.264, H.263, MPEG-4, VP8
Connectivity	3.5 mm TRRS A-GPS Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Micro USB 2.0 NFC Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Other	Wi-Fi hotspot USB tethering Oleophobic display coating SIP VoIP
SAR	Head - 0.58 W/kg Body - 0.9 W/kg

The Nexus S is a smartphone co-developed by Google and Samsung and manufactured by Samsung Electronics. It was the first smartphone to use the Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" operating system, and the first Android device to support Near Field Communication (NFC) in both hardware and software.^[7] This was the second time that Google worked with a manufacturer to produce a phone, the first being the Google Nexus One by HTC.

History and availability

The Nexus S was demonstrated by Google CEO Eric Schmidt on November 15, 2010 at the Web 2.0 Summit.^[8] Google officially announced the phone on their blog on December 6, 2010. The phone became available for purchase on December 16th in the US and on December 22nd in the UK.

The Super AMOLED version of the phone is the GT-I9020 and it is based on the Samsung Galaxy S hardware, the principal hardware differences being the absence of support for an SD card and the addition of a near field chip. The alternate SC-LCD (Super Clear LCD) version of the phone is the GT-I9023 which is meant for the European (non-UK) market.

In May 2011 Sprint introduced its Nexus S in the US. Unlike the T-Mobile version, the Sprint Nexus runs on its WiMax 4G network.

Also in March 2011 Vodafone released a white version of the phone on its web store in the UK. ^[9]

In the United Kingdom, unlike the Nexus One, which was sold through Vodafone UK only, the Nexus S is sold through the Carphone Warehouse and is available on the Vodafone UK, O2 UK, T-Mobile UK, 3 and Orange UK networks.

In India, Samsung has officially announced sale of the unlocked version with Super LCD screen i9023, which will support all GSM-based carriers throughout the country,

In Canada the Nexus S became available at most carriers in April 2011 in two versions, one for Telus/Koodo, Bell/Solo, Rogers/Fido/Chat-r with 3G frequencies 850/1900/2100MHz, and the other for Wind/Mobilicity/Vidéotron, using 3G frequences 900/1700/2100.

In Australia the Nexus S became available in both black and white.

Hardware

Processor

The Nexus S has the Samsung Exynos 3110 processor. This processor combines a 45 nm 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 based CPU core with a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU. The CPU core, code-named "Hummingbird", was co-developed by Samsung and Intrinsity.^[10] The GPU, designed by Imagination Technologies, supports OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 and is capable of up to 20 million triangles per second.^[11][12]

Memory

The Nexus S has 512 MB of dedicated RAM (Mobile DDR)^[1] and 16 GB of NAND memory, partitioned as 1 GB internal storage and 15 GB "USB storage".^[13] The phone does not support additional storage capacity.

Screen

The Nexus S is the first device to use a 4.0-inch (100 mm) slightly curved glass touchscreen, described by Google as a "Contour Display",^[1] with a Super AMOLED WVGA PenTile matrix display manufactured by Samsung. In markets outside Australia, Canada, US, and UK, a Super LCD is supplied instead.

Software

SIM Toolkit

The Nexus S's version of Android "Gingerbread" does not include the SIM toolkit application^[14]. This currently makes the phone impossible to use for many banking applications and other applications that typically require accessing the "SIM card" or "SIM application" menu on a mobile phone.

Critical reception

The review by The Register gave the Nexus S an 85% rating and summarized it as a "cool, innovative device with an eye to snatch Apple’s smartphone crown."^[15]

An AnandTech review praised the display, NFC tag reader, and Android Gingerbread operating system, but criticized the lack of 720p video recording, HSPA+ baseband, and external storage support.^[16]

A TechRadar review praised the Nexus S for fixing the GPS problems experienced with the Samsung Galaxy S: "The good news for those looking to upgrade from the Samsung Galaxy S – the GPS issues have been resolved, in that you can actually now get a signal with no problem."^[17]

CNET's review was enthusiastic about the display, operating system, and performance, but noted wrongly that the device can only be used with T-Mobile in the U.S. and is not 4G compatible. Like AnandTech, CNET criticized the lack of 720p video recording, HDMI output and external (SD Card) memory support. CNET also criticized the "rather fragile" feel of the phone, the lack of LED notifications, and the few new features over the Nexus One.^[18]

Issues

Google was notified about a bug that caused random reboots on Nexus S phones on January 4, 2011. The company acknowledged the bug on January 11, 2011 and released a fix on February 22, 2011.^[19]

Some Nexus S users have experienced an issue causing frequent random repeat firing of the capacitive buttons (especially the Search button) when using GSM 3G service. Affected users say the intermittent issue renders the device unusable, and have complained to Samsung, Google, and carriers like Rogers, Fido and AT&T. ^[20].

Following national media coverage of the issue in Canada^[21], Google released Android 2.3.6 (build GRK39C) in early September 2011 in order to resolve the voice search bug. Unfortunately, this build introduced a new bug which prevented the phone from being able to tether. Upon the discovery of this bug, Google quickly pulled that update build and re-released Android 2.3.6 as build GRK39F a few weeks later. This final build resolved the bugs that affected the voice search and tethering functionality ^[22].

Successor

Main article: Galaxy Nexus

On October 19, 2011 (October 18, 2011 in the Americas), Google unveiled the successor to the Nexus S, the Galaxy Nexus ^[23]

See also

• List of Android devices

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Nexus S". Google Phone Gallery. http://www.google.com/phone/detail/nexus-s. Retrieved 15 December 2010. 
2. ^ http://www.bestbuy.com/site/_/1484107.p?id=1218262482328
3. ^ http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/google-nexus-s-release-date-pushed-back-to-22-december-916826
4. ^ http://www.vipmobile.rs/mobilni-uredjaji/samsung-nexus-s.1340.html
5. ^ Samsung Exynos Showcase
6. ^ Pentile vs Real-Stripe AMOLED Displays: What's Different? - Tested
7. ^ Hollister, Sean (November 15, 2010). "The Nexus S: a closer look". Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/15/the-nexus-s-a-closer-look/. Retrieved 16 November 2010. 
8. ^ Patel, Nilay (November 15, 2010). "Eric Schmidt shows off a Nexus S at the Web 2.0 summit, says Gingerbread coming in 'next few weeks'". Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/15/eric-schmidt-shows-off-a-nexus-s-at-the-web-2-0-summit/. Retrieved 16 November 2010. 
9. ^ "Google Nexus S White - Vodafone UK". http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/samsung-nexus-s?replaceSkuId=sku4250032. Retrieved March 6, 2011. 
10. ^ Samsung (27 July 2009). "SAMSUNG and Intrinsity Jointly Develop the World's Fastest ARM Cortex-A8 Processor Based Mobile Core in 45 Nanometer Low Power Process". http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/newsView.do?news_id=1030. Retrieved 1 September 2010. 
11. ^ Samsung. "SAMSUNG Exynos 3110 - ARM Cortex A8 based Mobile Application Processor". http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/productInfo.do?fmly_id=834&partnum=Exynos%203110&xFmly_id=229. Retrieved 2011-02-16. 
12. ^ Imagination Technologies Ltd.. "POWERVR Graphics". http://www.imgtec.com/powervr/powervr-graphics.asp. Retrieved 2010-09-01. 
13. ^ Brian Klug (14 December 2010). "Nexus S and Android 2.3 Review: Gingerbread for the Holidays - Page 3". AnandTech. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4059/nexus-s-and-android-23-review-gingerbread-for-the-holidays/3. Retrieved 15 December 2010. 
14. ^ "Issue 15070: missing STK toolkit (SIM toolkit) Nexus S". http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15070. 
15. ^ David Phelan (2011-01-12). "Google Nexus S Android smartphone". Reg Hardware, by The Register. http://www.reghardware.com/2011/01/12/review_smartphone_google_nexus_s/. Retrieved 2011-02-25. 
16. ^ Brian Klug (14 December 2010). "Nexus S and Android 2.3 Review: Gingerbread for the Holidays". AnandTech. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4059/nexus-s-and-android-23-review-gingerbread-for-the-holidays. Retrieved 15 December 2010. 
17. ^ " "Google Nexus S review". TechRadar. 2010-12-16. http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/google-nexus-s-913562/review?artc_pg=8". 
18. ^ Kent German (9 December 2010). "Samsung Nexus S review". CNET TV. http://reviews.cnet.com/samsung-nexus-s-review?tag=contentMain;contentBody;2r#reviewPage1. Retrieved 23 December 2010. 
19. ^ "Nexus S and Nexus One get Android Gingerbread 2.3.3, fix random reboots and write NFC". Engadget. 22 February 2011. http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/nexus-s-and-nexus-one-get-android-gingerbread-2-3-3-fixes-rando/. Retrieved 22 February 2011. 
20. ^ "Nexus S Voice Search Major Problem". Google Mobile Android Devices Support Forum. 20 April 2011. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?hl=en&tid=49e8ca84071d51a4. Retrieved 15 September 2011. 
21. ^ "Android Problems". Global News Toronto. 26 August 2011. http://www.globaltoronto.com/video/android+problems/video.html?v=2107484220&p=1&s=dd#video. Retrieved 15 September 2011. 
22. ^ http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/09/27/new-nexus-s-2-3-6-ota-update-rolling-out-grk39f-reportedly-fixes-tethering-here-is-how-to-install-it-manually/
23. ^ [1]

External links

• Google Nexus S official website
• Google Nexus S Users Group