Samsung Unleashes Galaxy Nexus: Should iPhone 4S be Afraid?

Apple recently deployed the iPhone 4S and iOS 5, but Samsung and Google have fired back with the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

No longer deemed the Nexus Prime, the Galaxy Nexus was announced recently in Hong Kong. The new phone along with ICS provide a tasty combination that will be hard to beat. Especially since Apple has shot all the arrows out if its quiver with its recently releases, and the Nexus is due to launch this November.

The Nexus features a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED curved-glass screen with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution. The 4S's screen is a full inch smaller with a 960 x 640, 3.5-inch Retina Display. iPhone 4S users have also been complaining about washed-out colors with some screens showing a yellowish tint. So a clear screen with good contrast would give the Nexus a huge leg up.

The Nexus will also have a faster processing speed with its dual-core TI OMAP 4460 chip. It clocks in at 1.2 GHz which is slightly faster than the 4S's dual-core A5 chip. Though Apple hasn't officially announced the chips speed, PC Magazine has bench marked it at 1 GHz.

Along with a faster processor the Nexus will also have a faster wireless connection. The new phone is supposed to be 4G LTE enabled, which is the fastest connection available. However, not all regions will support LTE, so the Nexus will also have HSPA+. That is a little faster than the iPhone's HSPA on AT&T's network. However, the iPhone 4S is a bit slower on Sprint and Verizon's network.

The Nexus also has a lot of impressive connectivity features like Near-Field Communication, Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 2.0. The Nexus also takes advantage of the new ICS feature Android Beam that allows users to share photos, articles, games and other data by just holding their phones back to back. Though Apple has their new iCloud that helps sync all Apple devices wirelessly, the iPhone 4S just can't beat that kind of data sharing between users.

Apple's new mobile iOS 5 is an impressive upgrade to its mobile OS. It features a better camera interface than before, iMessage, reminders, and a pretty impressive Safari Update. It also offers a degree of app integration that Android 4.0 will have a hard time beating.

iOS 5 also has increased Twitter integration, but ICS will have better social integration overall. The new Android OS has people card that ties friend's phone numbers to social networking profiles.

Android 4.0 also has a novel Face Unlock security setting that uses face recognition software to unlock the phone instead of a code. It's also works pretty fast. But it is hard to beat Apple novel new feature: Siri, Voice Assistant.

Siri is a voice control app that lets users interact with most of their phone using just their voice. Sure ICS will feature better voice control than previous Android operation systems, but Apple put a lot of resources into Siri. It almost feels alive with lots of personality, is super accurate and very polished. Unless Google gives their voice control some real attention it won't hold a candle to Siri.

The Galaxy Nexus has some great features and specs that should give Apple plenty to worry about. For any real tech head they should really consider buying the Nexus over the iPhone 4S. It features all around better specs than the iPhone, and is only missing a few megapixel's on the rear camera- the iPhone 4S has an 8-megapixel camera compared to the Nexus's 5 megapixels. Also the 4S is available with 16, 32 and 64GB hard drives versus the 16 and 32GB of internal memory in the Galaxy.

However, those who aren't technology-savvy may want to pick up an iPhone 4S, since it has a lot of good apps and features preloaded onto it. The Nexus may have those features available, but you will have to know what you are doing and what you want to find them on the Android Market.