Rishi

Google has announced its much-awaited new phone, the Galaxy Nexus, and also released a new version of its Android phone software. Codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0 will be available to existing Android users soon and is available to software developers now. The Galaxy Nexus will launch in November.

Take a look at our backstory video for more on the vision behind this product and to understand why we think “a thousand heads are better than one”:

Among the Galaxy Nexus’s new feature are face recognition, allowing users to unlock their phones simply by looking at the phone’s front camera, a redesigned interface, an improved keyboard and a new application using Near-Field Communications (NFC) that lets two Android handsets share content directly.

The phone also replaces all physical buttons with software-based, moveable equivalents. The change allows a larger, 4.65” screen, which like the previous Nexus S model is slightly curved.

Running a 1.2Ghz processor, the Galaxy Nexus will be made by Samsung and also offers a high-definition display. It had been rumoured that it would be called the Nexus Prime, but instead the Korean manufacturer and Google have explicitly linked the device to Samsung's best-selling Galaxy range.

Writing on the Google Blog, the company’s Senior Vice President of Mobile, Andy Rubin, wrote that “Ice Cream Sandwich makes Android simple and beautiful, and takes the smartphone to beyond smart”.

Ice Cream Sandwich is the first version of Android to run on both tablets and phones, and Google has even created a new, optimised font for the purpose. Google claims that widgets have been improved dramatically, and also said that it would provide the “best mobile Gmail experience to date”, including some offline search options.

Gingerbread is the fastest version of Android yet, and it delivers a number of improvements, such as user interface refinements, NFC support, a new keyboard and text selection tool, Internet (VoIP/SIP) calling, improved copy/paste functionality and gyroscope sensor support.

Here’s a glimpse of the “magic” of Google on Nexus S:



Web bookmarks now synchronise with Google Chrome, and zooming out of the calendar now allows users to move to different views, going from daily to monthly, for instance.
Although many phones, such as the newly announced Motorola Razr and the Samsung Galaxy SII offer 8 megapixel cameras, the Galaxy Nexus uses a 5mp version.

Rubin said that more than half a million Android devices are now being activated every day.

Announced in Hong Kong at an event originally planned for San Diego but postponed after the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, reactions to the new Galaxy Nexus were broadly positive. Writing on technology blog This is My Next, Vlad Savov said that the interface, set-up and synchronising were all improved. He added, however, that on the pre-production models shown in Hong Kong “Android isn’t as swift and responsive as iOS or Windows Phone”.

The Android app store will soon launch several new updates in its upcoming 1.6 version, according to an Android Developers blog post from Google's Eric Chu on Thursday.

Developers will be able to provide screenshots, icons, and descriptions to better promote and highlight their applications.

Four new app subcategories--sports, health, themes, and comics--are being added, Chu said. Developers can target any of those subcategories for both new and existing applications.

For reasons Chu did not explain, Android app developers in Italy are getting some special attention. Italian developers will be able to call up the publisher's site to upload their applications and specifically target any country where paid apps are currently available to customers.

In a video accompanying Chu's blog, the updated interface--as rumored--also reveals new buttons for Top Paid, Top Free, and Just In, as well as a search button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Google unveiled Android Market a year ago as the Android equivalent to Apple's iTunes Store. Since its debut, Google has tried to attract developers to publish their apps to the store. Initially, only free apps were available. But in January, Google opened the market to paid software in an effort to lure more developers.

Google has offered other carrot sticks to attract developers, such as its annual Android Developer Challenge, which offers prizes to programmers with the best apps.

However, a recent survey from AdMob found that less than half of Android phone owners have purchased an application, citing the lack of hot apps and limited payment options.