Google continues to aggressively develop and improve its mobile operating system and free on-phone navigation offerings. The latest combination is Google's new Nexus S smartphone with the Android "Gingerbread" (version 2.3) operating system. The Nexus S and other phones running the latest operating system offer a suite of navigation and location services.
The phone's free Google Maps 5.0 includes turn-by-turn navigation which accepts keyboard or voice input for addresses and searches. The latest addition - 3D map imagery (available in a limited number of cities) - lets you pan, zoom, rotate, and tilt the map with two fingers. Google Navigation also shows live traffic conditions (delays highlighted in yellow or red) with alternate routing available. While navigating, you may turn on layers such as satellite view (see photo), and places of interest such as restaurants.
With the introduction of the Nexus S made by Samsung, the quick and powerful Gingerbread operating system, which will become available on a number of additional phones, and yet another set of upgrades to location services, it's obvious that Google is very serious about GPS navigation. Watch for the search giant to continue to offer these services as free sweeteners to enhance its core location-based advertising business.
Google Nexus S Tech Specifications:
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 (480x800)
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 (2560x1920)
720 x 480 video resolution
H.264, H.263 MPEG4 video recording
Auto focus
Flash
Front-facing: VGA (640x480)
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
