Samsung Galaxy Nexus

In the last few years Android has gone from strength to strength, adding features and new tricks that keep it a favourite among geeky gadgeteers who love to tinker with their tech.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be the first phone running Android version 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, the very latest edition of Google's robot-riddled operating system. Due out in November, this massive mobile is the follow-up to the brilliant Google Nexus S. Can it keep Android on the cutting edge?

We're still waiting to get hands-on time with the Galaxy Nexus. In the meantime, this preview will round up everything you need to know in terms of the phone's specs, and tell you what we'd expect to see from such a high-profile phone.

Design

In terms of its actual shape, Samsung hasn't strayed far from what it knows with the Galaxy Nexus. Rounded edges and a gently curved frame are the order of the day, and there's a grey-ish patterned coating across the back.

The camera bulges out of the frame slightly, in a way we're not too keen on. But it's a minor quibble, and one we'll forget if the camera itself proves to be a good one.

There are no buttons on the Galaxy Nexus, not even touch-sensitive ones. Now everything happens on-screen, but more on that later.

With a 4.65-inch display, the Galaxy Nexus is a really big mobile. It's nearly as big as the HTC Sensation XL, and that phone feels huge. We wouldn't be surprised if those with shorter fingers find it hard to stretch their digits across this vast touchscreen.

The Galaxy Nexus has a curved chassis that's just 7mm thick at its thinnest point.

Despite being so massive you could land a Boeing 747 on it, the Galaxy Nexus is reasonably thin, at just under 9mm thick. We suspect you'll have no trouble fitting it inside your jeans pocket or handbag.

It's light too. The Galaxy Nexus weighs just 135g, which is 5g lighter than the smaller iPhone 4S. That means the size of the screen is the only issue in terms of portability, and as we mentioned already, we suspect most pockets are up to the challenge of housing this beast.

Ice Cream Sandwich

The most exciting thing about the Galaxy Nexus is that it's going to be the first phone to run Ice Cream Sandwich, the very latest edition of Google's Android operating system, following on from Gingerbread.

Ice Cream Sandwich is designed to be the operating system that unifies the smart phone and tablet versions of Android, tying the whole lot together in a whirl of Tron-style glowing blue boxes. With Ice Cream Sandwich you get on-screen buttons, 'back', 'home' and a multi-tasking button borrowed from Honeycomb.

When you tap that button all the apps you have running will appear, stacked on top of each other in little boxes. Scroll through this tower of apps and tap on the one you want to switch to.

The unlock screen in Ice Cream Sandwich can be opened by the camera recognising your face. Cool!

It looks like a neat method of handling multi-tasking, and with any luck it'll make Android a bit easier to use. This rather geeky OS can sometimes feel a bit baffling if you're not used to its quirky behaviour.

Other treats include the ability to unlock your phone by letting your mobile recognise your face, and responding to incoming calls with pre-programmed texts, such as, "Not now, I'm in a meeting." Clever stuff.

The fact that the Galaxy Nexus is running raw Ice Cream Sandwich with no Samsung apps or skin is also appealing -- this is Android for purists, and means the Galaxy Nexus will likely get updates faster than other phones.

Screen

One part of hardware the Galaxy Nexus does boast that outdoes its rivals is its display. This is a 720x1,280 pixel screen, making the Galaxy Nexus a proper HD phone. With a 100,000:1 contrast ratio, we're really eager to get a look at this panel, and see how it handles our movies and hundreds of photos of cats.

We can't wait to see how the hi-def screen handles movies and photos. 

The Galaxy Nexus will come in 16 and 32GB flavours -- which size you opt for will depend on whether you're planning on filling the phone with apps and video. It also comes with NFC tech, for making mobile payments (though Google hasn't brought this to the UK yet) or trading info with other NFC-enabled phones.

Camera

The Galaxy Nexus has a 5-megapixel camera, which is troubling because that's a much lower resolution than the snappers you'd find on rival phones. The iPhone 4S has an 8-megapixel model nestled inside its smooth glass frame, as does the upcoming Motorola Razr. Even the Samsung Galaxy S2, which has been out for ages, has an 8-megapixel camera.

Decent photography is not all about the megapixels -- this much we know. But a low resolution camera isn't a particularly good omen, especially from a phone that's going to be the Google flagship. Fingers crossed the Galaxy Nexus can muster up some decent snaps when we give it the full review treatment.

Outlook

In some respects, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus looks like a blisteringly cool phone -- the screen is of a much higher resolution than we're used to, and it's going to be the first mobile to run Ice Cream Sandwich gives it definite kudos. But there are some things we're concerned about, like the disappointing camera resolution, and the design, which doesn't look too striking.

Other phones will be snarfing the Ice Cream Sandwich, though currently it's anyone's guess as to when that'll be. As such, the Galaxy Nexus needs to prove itself a great piece of kit in its own right if it's to ensure long-term success. Stay tuned for the full review.