Samsung Galaxy Nexus to tip up on 17 November

KOREAN PHONE MAKER Samsung has confirmed that it will launch the Galaxy Nexus smartphone on 17 November in the UK.

This will be the first handset to ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out-of-the-box and Samsung hopes that it will fly off the shelves like the Samsung Galaxy S II.

Key specifications of the Galaxy Nexus include a 4.65in Super AMOLED HD touchscreen with 1280x720 resolution, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. Users will be offered a choice of 16GB or 32GB of internal storage.

The 135g handset will also include a front facing 1.3M camera and a rear facing 5MP camera with LED Flash, zero shutter lag and full HD recording capabilities.

Near Field Communication (NFC), HSPA+ and LTE connectivity are all provided, with users able to share content using the NFC-enabled Android Beam app. The Galaxy Nexus also features face recognition technology that lets users lock and unlock their device without using a PIN code.

The Korean firm has not officially set the price of the device, but Amazon is offering the 16GB SIM-free device for £550, making it £50 more expensive than the 16GB iPhone 4S.

O2 and Phones4U have confirmed that they will offer subsidised handsets, but pricing has yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, Samsung is also going to launch the Galaxy Note hybrid smartphone tablet device in the UK on 2 November. However, it remains to be seen whether users actually want such a device.

The Galaxy Note has a 5.3in WXGA Super AMOLED screen with 1280x800 resolution and will be powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core processor. Samsung touts the S-Pen stylus, which allows users to interact with documents and images and jot down memos. However, having such a feature isn't such a major draw, as HTC found out when it released its 7in Flyer tablet.

Oddly the Galaxy Note will also come preloaded with Android Gingerbread 2.3, but it is coming out before the Galaxy Nexus and Samsung does plan on rolling out the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update shortly after release.

Carphone Warehouse, O2 and Phones4U have confirmed that they will stock the device, but there is no word on pricing at present. µ