Day by Day, Back in The Bay: Nexus S: The Next Generation Pure Google Phone. What does this really mean?

As most of you (tech/gadget fanatics) know. Actually, scratch that. As many of you know (due to Google's savage AdWords campaign) there is a new Android phone on the market, which can be safely called Pure Google in a phone v2. This phone, the Nexus S, has been massively hyped in tech forums, discussion boards, blogs, and actively through WOM.

Why is the is an important step? Well, who's heard of the Nexus One? Right, aside from the people that talk to me all the time about my fascination with mobile phones, there are a few of you "normal" people that have heard of the Nexus One. Google was a little to arrogant in their first round of Nexus Ones, trying ambitiously to shape human purchasing habits and get around those pesky service providers (a.k.a. buy directly from their site). On top of that, Google wanted to brand this line of phone as "superphone," a step above what we call smartphones today. Tisk. So why did this hurt them? People aren't ready to start buying phones they've never held before. Apple does a tremendous job of letting users play with their phones and their amazing UI before they even think about buying a phone or an iPod or anything else for that matter, that's why Apple sells tremendous amounts of hardware and Google sells service. They are very different companies at the end of the day, regardless of how many people try to say that they are competing within the same industry. Yes, tech is an industry, but each is a giant within its own sector.

But enough of that niche stuff. There have been progressive movements by Google in producing products that people can use everyday. Take the Cr-48 as an example of a new product that Google is currently testing before spreading it in the market. They are doing something unique and trying to force all their products to connect to their services via the cloud, etc. The Nexus One, the phone I carry with me everyday, forces me to use almost all Google services before I can fully experience it. Luckily, I am a diehard Google guy. I use Google apps for all my work and Google everything else for personal use, so it was fairly easy to integrate. To get the rest of the general audience that is already so familiar with Yahoo, AOL, etc. it's going to be extremely hard to start this Google-centric movement. One step a time, right?

Now back to the Nexus S. Why is this important for Google specifically? The Nexus S is supposed to pay the way for the next generation of smartphones in many ways. First of all, although this phone doesn't beat the iPhone in terms of retina display quality, it comes with all the bells in whistles we'll soon be seeing standard in many phones. Here is a short little list:

Gingerbread - Android 2.3.1. This is setting the standard for features and functionality.
1 GHz Hummingbird process for incredible processing speed and multitasking capabilities. It's a snappy processor and gets what you want done...now.
4-inch 800x480 CURVE Super AMOLED screen resolution. This contour display is the first in the industry and ergonomically cradles your head for calls.
Increased 16GB internal storage and removable microSD storage. With the introduction of Froyo in Android 2.2, users are already having the capability of pushing applications to the SD card to save space.
Dual facing cameras.
It has all the standard bells and whistles when it comes to WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, and digital compass. But wait, what's that? An NFC chip? NFC, in my opinion, is the next wave of mobile technology to be widely adopted by the masses. Big dogs like Apple, Google, Microsoft have been doing their due diligence in this technology, but this is the first time we've seen in in a widely offered phone. Near Field Communication gives us the ability to use our phones as a means of payment and making interactions with things out in the open. Imagine using your phone as a credit card so you never need to bring your credit card again? Smart.

Ok, more on why this is an important launch for Google. The build up and active marketing for this product was astounding - all the way up to and through their official release in all Best Buy stores on December 16th at 8am. You couldn't go to a single website without seeing a prominent banner ad. Chances are if you are going to the pages I'm visiting, you're seeing it a lot more often than you want to. Many of their D2C marketing campaigns were excellent - namely running the Twitter focused contests and awarding the most clever of users a Nexus S after going through some grueling mind challenges (my favorite was puzzle #2).

And some marketing campaigns weren't as good.

Bottom line, Google's doing some big things on the sales and marketing department, and I wouldn't be too far off to say that 2010 Q4 will be a solid testing model for launch of future products. Good luck Nexus S (named so after Samsung didn't want to be #2) and good luck Google on Q1 next year. It's about time financial focus wasn't put solely on AdWords ;).

AND, if you wanted to check out some reviews for yourself to see if the Nexus S is a good fit for you (trust me it is), then check it out here. And if you like iPhones, here's a cool video for you guys too. Much love.

TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/06/google-nexus-s-review/

Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/10/nexus-s-review/

Slashgear: http://www.slashgear.com/nexus-s-review-14119387/

Cnet: http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-nexus-s-unlocked/4505-6452_7-34431171.html

Android Community: http://androidcommunity.com/nexus-s-review-20101216/

Pocket Lint: http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/5199/google-nexus-s-samsung-review

Android and Me: http://androidandme.com/2010/12/news/nexus-s-review-and-unboxing-roundup/

Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/fred-wilson-nexus-s-review-2010-12

Phone Arena: http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Google-Nexus-S-Review_id2619

Happy holidays and let me know if you get one!

George

Bonus video here.