Google and Samsung Electronics have unveiled the Nexus Galaxy smartphone running Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of the Android operating system, which uses facial recognition to unlock the phone. The two companies unveiled the device at an event on Wednesday in Hong Kong, which streamed live on Google's Android YouTube channel. The new system builds on features from Honeycomb, the tablet version of its operating system. It brings features to smartphones, such as the user interface and ability to multitask.
Andy Rubin, senior VP of products at Google. introduced the next-generation Nexus phone, Galaxy, supported by Android 4.0 where cloud services become the big draw for the product and the company. Aside from a new operating system, users will find inside the device faster streaming and sleeker design.
The phone's specs include 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, and 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display running at 1280×720 on 1GB of RAM. The speed allows consumers to watch videos without motion blur. There's a 5MP camera that can take photos with zero shutter lag, videos in time-lapse photography, and it offers geo tags to help users organize photos in a newly designed format. The camera takes photos in panoramic shots, too.
Starting in November, the phone will make its way into the U.S., Japan, and other countries. The phone, supported by Google's new operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, not only highlights videos, graphics and pictures, but also simple typographic layouts eliminating big boxes and blocks of text.
Google even created the Roboto font for the phone. Galaxy Nexus doesn't have any physical buttons, but rather virtual buttons that hide when not needed. Button presses have been replaced with taps and gestures similar to an Apple iPhone.
Google's latest Android OS supports a new music player that skips tracks on command. All applications have been updated, from YouTube to GMail, which now supports chips with names and pictures, as well as offline searches of mail. A new action bar at the bottom of GMail enables users to compose a message, search, and access labels.