It has arrived, the official Nexus S debut.  While not necessarily groundbreaking it does come with some nice new features, namely “Gingerbread” Android 2.3 which includes One-touch word selection and improved copy-paste as well as built-in SIP, NFC (Near Field Communications) and a front-facing camera.  Basically the phone is an updated version of the Galaxy S.  We have the basic details from the Press Release here

TechCrunch has had the Google Nexus S for a few days and wrote this, “Like all Android phones it is dead simple to set up, assuming you use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google contacts, etc. But it’s Google’s various apps, some of which are unavailable for the iPhone, that make it the best phone on the market today.” Like the Nexus One (also receiving an OTA of Gingerbread today) the Nexus S comes with a “True Google Experience.”  This means it is free of all the bloat and unnecessary crap that carriers decide to add.  Also, like the OG Nexus, it launches on T-Mobile first, (with other carriers later?)  It will also be one of the first phones to receive updates, a first for a Samsung made phone.

Unlike the original Nexus this phone was not built from the ground up, but instead built upon a well known and very well received Galaxy S line.  It will also be sold at Car Phone warehouse in the UK and Best Buy stores in the United States.  Another difference is the inability to add storage.  You get the built-in 16GB of iNAND and that is it – no expandable Micro SD slot.  I feel that this is a bad decision, but we will see.  Hopefully Samsung will have dealt with their memory issues that have plagued the Galaxy S line.

Notable Hardware

We once again see the Super-AMOLED screen, this time with a slight curvature Google says this on the Nexus S page:

Contour Screen

Nexus S is manufactured by Samsung, and it is the first smartphone to launch with a Contour Display. The curved glass screen fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and along the side of your face.

A brighter screen with higher contrast means colors are incredibly vibrant, text is crisp at any size, and luminance is up to 1.5x higher than conventional LCD displays.

Outdoor viewing

Take Nexus S outside, there’s 75% less glare than on other smartphone displays. Your videos, pictures and games look their best and the sun won’t wash them out.

Lighter and thinner profile

The Contour Display uses a thin-profile glass panel, making Nexus S uniquely slim and trim. It’s subtle but you’ll notice.

1 GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird Processor

Nothing new here, the 1 GHz Hummingbird makes it’s return.  This is not going to be a dual-core screamer, sorry.

NFC Chip

Nexus S can read information from “smart” tags, or everyday objects that have NFC chips in them. These can be anything from stickers and movie posters to t-shirts.  While this is not necessarily that useful today, it will be….soon.

Tech Specs:

Connectivity

• Quad-band GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• Tri-band HSPA: 900, 2100, 1700
• HSPA type: HSDPA (7.2Mbps) HSUPA (5.76Mbps)

• Wi-Fi 802.11 n/b/g
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Near Field Communication (NFC)
• Assisted GPS (A-GPS)
• microUSB 2.0

Display

• 4.0″ WVGA (480×800)
• Contour Display with curved glass screen
• Super AMOLED
• 235 ppi
• Capacitive touch sensor
• Anti-fingerprint display coating

Size and weight

• 63mm x 123.9mm x 10.88mm
• 129g

Hardware

• Haptic feedback vibration
• Three-axis gyroscope
• Accelerometer
• Digital compass
• Proximity sensor
• Light sensor

Processor and memory

• 1GHz Cortex A8 (Hummingbird) processor
• 16GB iNAND flash memory

Cameras and multimedia

• Back-facing: 5 megapixels (2560×1920)
• 720 x 480 video resolution
• H.264, H.263 MPEG4 video recording
• Auto focus
• Flash
• Front-facing: VGA (640×480)

• 3.5mm, 4-conductor headset jack
  (stereo audio plus microphone)
• Earpiece and microphone
• Software noise-cancellation

Battery

• Talk time up to 6.7 hours on 3G
  (14 hours on 2G)
• Standby time up to 17.8 days on 3G
  (29.7 days on 2G)
• 1500 mAH Lithum Ion

Software

• Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Android Market
• Calendar
• Gmail
• Google Earth
• Google Maps with Navigation
• Google Search
• Google Talk
• Google Voice
• Voice Actions
• YouTube

and just for fun, let me add the Gingerbread video

source: TechCrunch and Google Nexus S page