Samsung and Google officially announced the Nexus S, the first smartphone powered by Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). It would go on sale starting December 16 at Best Buy in the US and Carphone Warehouse in the UK after December 20, sold unlocked.
Key hardware included a 4-inch Super AMOLED Contour Display with a curved glass design for a more ergonomic feel against the face, a 1GHz Samsung application processor, a 5-megapixel rear camera, a VGA front-facing camera, a gyroscope sensor, and 16GB of internal memory. Near Field Communication (NFC) was built in, allowing the phone to read information from NFC-embedded stickers and posters.
Android 2.3 Gingerbread brought NFC support, a new multi-touch keyboard, internet calling via SIP/VoIP, improved copy-paste, and a cleaner UI. The Nexus S also included portable Wi-Fi hotspot, full Google services, and access to over 100,000 apps on Android Market.
