We continue on with our series highlighting the various Nexus/Pixel phones throughout the years. The next phone we are highlighting is the Nexus S. Fitting that Samsung would pick up the baton for HTC. One could say this is an indication of the future to come, with Samsung (eventually) overtaking HTC for top android manufacturer.
A little background, Samsung was up in coming in the android landscape with the Samsung Galaxy S. A phone that showcased some decent specs and a display designed to really provide that pop for viewers. But as the Galaxy series of phones were trying to feel its way through all the US carrier nonsense, it yielded to being splintered into different variants to cater to carriers. But Samsung was willing to be patient and navigate through this landscape, finding more ways to spread their Galaxy brand to more devices. And we saw that in the nexus S, that was clearly a variant of the Galaxy S phone designed to be a nexus.
It has been a year since Google launched the Nexus One. And though the nexus one did not get the sales Google had hoped, it did build up a demand for the device. Especially among the development community that started seeing manufacturers make it harder to ROM on by locking down their software.
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt would debut the Nexus S at Web 2.0 Summit in November 2010. Spec wise it had an Exynos 3110 processor clocked at 1 GHz, 512 MB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, no SD card support, Super AMOLED display. 1500 mAh battery, and running 2.3 Gingerbread on release.
Despite this phone not having micro SD card support, critics were in favor of the phone. Some calling it one of the best and most complete android phone available at the time. Like the nexus one, this was a GSM device that could run on both T-Mobile and AT&T. But a CDMA version was made available for Sprint a few months later.
The buzz for this phone would lead to Verizon finally deciding to bring a nexus to their network in the form of the Galaxy Nexus. For the era it was in, this could be the best nexus-pixel phone Google put out. As a Verizon customer tired of locked down phones, and disappointed the Nexus One was made available through Verizon, I could not wait to see finally finally get a Galaxy Nexus.
