The forgotten smartphone: Google Nexus S

After the Nexus One, produced by HTC, the Nexus S was the second device to be given the name “Nexus”. This Nexus was not produced by HTC, but by Samsung. Ultimately, Samsung would release two Nexus devices. In addition to the Nexus S, Samsung released the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Samsung released the Nexus S in December 2010 and had a super-fast processor on board, which came from the Samsung factory itself. We discuss the Google Nexus S in this edition of ‘The forgotten smartphone’.

Google Nexus S

Nexus devices were actually intended as smartphones for developers. Of course you could also purchase a Nexus device as a normal consumer, but you only had access to the basic functions of Android. We’ve covered the Nexus 4 before.

That was also the reason why manufacturers developed a shell over Android, so that you as a consumer could have functions that were not in the standard version of Android. In addition, the standard version was visually not really top and manufacturers gave their developed shell a better-looking appearance. Fortunately, Google has developed Android over the years, so that the standard version of Android nowadays looks pretty good and is almost bursting at the seams with many functions. But this was in 2010 when the Nexus S was released, so not yet.

Now you may think that a Nexus device from a few years ago was not a good device. However, this is not the case. The Nexus S had a fast processor and 512MB RAM. There was no shortage of storage memory at the time, the Nexus S had 16GB of memory. As with all other Nexus devices, the memory could not be expanded. The Google Nexus One was an exception to this, by the way. The device had a 4.0 inch Super AMOLED screen. Incidentally, in the Netherlands the device was delivered with a Super LCD display.

As with other Nexus devices, the camera was not very special and had 5 megapixels with LED flash and autofocus. The last two Nexus devices are equipped with a good camera. The camera only had a VGA resolution. The 1500 mAh battery was average, in most cases you made it to the end of the day on a full battery. Something you rarely see these days is that the battery was interchangeable on the Nexus S.

stock android

All Nexus devices run on stock Android, or a bare, standard version of Android without a manufacturer’s shell around it. Although the standard version Android in 2010 did not have the extensive functions as we are used to now, there were of course also advantages.

Thus, the standard version of Android was, and still is, lightweight compared to the versions of manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung and LG. In addition, Nexus devices are the first to receive an update to a new version of Android. The Google Nexus S ran on Android Gingerbread 2.3 when the device was released and was updated to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

The Nexus S came on the market in the Netherlands for about 450-500 euros.

Google Nexus S summarized in 5 points

• Second Nexus device from Google and first Nexus device from Samsung
• Fast hardware
• Super AMOLED screen
• Standard Android version
• Lower quality camera

Also read: Looking back: the Nexus devices over the years