What do you get with the device? Well it’s pretty standard and would be comparable to most devices. You get a stereo in-ear canal headphones which are fantastic. You’ll find the standard micro usb cable and power plug. The phone itself is gorgeous. It’s a very big device with a 4.65 inch screen but it just works. The device is super thin and the curve and round corners make it a real head turner. On a side note if you’re looking to protect the device please don’t buy a Casemate barely there case. I did and I now have scratches on the back of the device where sediment got between the case and the phone.

Time to take a look at the hardware of the device thanks to GSM Arena.

You’ll note the Galaxy Nexus is running a 1.2 Ghz dual core chipset and a PowerVR SGX540 graphics processing unit (GPU). This is not as superior as the chipset and GPU onboard the Galaxy S2. For those of you hungry for power and high specs the S2 is the way forward. In my opinion this is not what makes the device, it’s the overall experience. The Galaxy Nexus boasts an impressive display, a Super Amoled HD display with a resolution of 720 x 1280 and 316 ppi. The S2 sports a Super AMOLED Plus display, with a 480 x 800 resolution and a ppi of 217. So where the Nexus is beating in power, it makes up for it with the display. And to be perfectly honest you won’t notice the difference in performance anyway. I would know, I’ve used both devices.

For all you camera junkies out there, you might be disappointed with the 5MP camera on the Galaxy Nexus. It still sports 2592x1936 pixels and is capable of 1080p video capture. The S2 is superior in this regard. I’m trying not to make this a comparison to the S2, but you must be aware of these differences.

The inclusion of an NFC chip makes this a very future proof device. Ok, little old NZ doesn’t have NFC payment functionality as yet, but it’s definitely coming. We have some of our banks testing the functionality. Android Beam works from the NFC chip and it’s brilliant. Say I’m using an app that you quite like. We both have a Galaxy Nexus. I load up the app that you like and hold the back of my phone to the back of yours. All of a sudden you’re on the Android market page for that application. Download and install, DONE. There are many uses for this Android beam. Believe me, it’s very handy indeed.

One of the biggest omissions is the lack of a micro sd card slot for the Galaxy Nexus. Unfortunately the 32GB model has not surfaced, so the most you’ll get is 16GB. Is this a big problem? Well not for me to be honest. I keep most of my data in the cloud so 16GB suits me down to the ground. Each to their own though, you might need more storage. If this is the case, the Galaxy Nexus is not for you.

In true AMNZ fashion, let us take a look at a benchmark for the Galaxy Nexus. I’ll use Antutu for this as it’s my favourite benchmarking tool.

Antutu – 6138.

So what sets this device above the competition. I mentioned earlier that it’s the user experience. This comes down to the stock Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It really is a wonderful user interface and is easily the most polished UI out there. It’s far more intuitive than the UI’s from manufacturers including TouchWiz (Samsung) and Sense (HTC). Put it this way; you’ve no doubt played with a Honeycomb tablet. It’s like having the polish of Honeycomb on your smartphone. I wrote an article on the differences of Ice Cream Sandwich and Honeycomb. You can find that here.

On this UI, everything works straight out the box. I remember when I first bought the Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.1. I had custom firmware running on it within the hour. At the time the Galaxy S was not a phone that I could recommend straight out of the box. It required changes. The Galaxy Nexus doesn’t need the firmware changed when you boot it up for the first time. I have changed it, but that’s only because I can and I like additional tweaks from custom firmware. You DON’T have to do this. And to be honest that’s very refreshing!

This device takes multitasking to the next level. You can easily open a list of applications that are open including thumbnails. Finished with an app, simply swipe it to the right. You’ll get used to the swipe option as you swipe your notifications away.

Exchange email works which is a god send from some of the older version of Android. The apps have all been updated to give you the best experience ie. Gmail. But that’s no longer here nor there as you’ll all have the update by now.

The web browser works well and is extremely quick in comparison to previous Android versions. I am currently trying the Chrome beta as my browser but the stock browser is more than acceptable for everyday use. I benchmarked this with Browsermark and the result was an impressive 100,598. When I do a comparison on the site it lists the Galaxy S2 stock browser with a score of 35,139. As I said, the ICS browser is quick!

For those of you that live in the custom world this a great device for modding. There’s a very active community over at XDA Developers that have come up with some great custom ROMs. You’ll find all sorts of functionality and tweak additions that will keep your geek side happy. In saying that, this is optional. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this works straight out of the box!

Where can you get this device? Well, none of the carriers currently have it, but watch this space they might be stocking it sooner than you think. In the meantime you can get it from parallel importers for as low as $835 listed here.

In conclusion this device offers a wonderful experience. The specs were somewhat disappointing in comparison to the S2. It should have launched with the best specs on the market. Regardless of this fact, I would still recommend the device as the top device available in the Android world. For starters, you’ll receive the latest Android updates before anyone else. That’s the beauty of a Nexus device. It’s a real head turner and although it may burn a hole in your wallet, you’ll be proud to take it out of your pocket.

Happy to field any questions you may have. Use the comments section below.