Galaxy Nexus Launch Cancelled

Samsung has packed away its Samsung Mobile Unpacked event with Google next week, where the companies were expected to introduce the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first smartphone based on Google’s Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” (ICS)operating system.

Samsung and Google were scheduled to show off the phone, which Verizon Wireless was to offer exclusively in lieu of a Samsung Galaxy S II model, on 11 October at the CTIA show in San Diego. The Android OEM even teased the phone in a short video.

Postponed

Instead, Samsung told eWEEK on 7 October:

“Samsung and Google have decided to postpone the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the CTIA in San Diego, previously scheduled for 11 October. Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product. We would ask for the understanding of our clients and media for any inconvenience caused. We will announce a new date and venue in due course.”

A source familiar with the companies plans told eWEEK the launch is being postponed due to the passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on 5 October.

The delay is a disappointment for Android phone fans and mobile sector watchers expecting to finally get a glimpse of ICS, the follow-up to the Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” build, in action. ICS marries user interface traits of the Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” tablet OS branch to the current Android 2.x smartphone tree.

The industry was also seeking an answer to the iPhone 4S, which Apple introduced on 4 October. The handset, sporting a speedier, dual-core A5 processor, 8 megapixel camera, iOS 5, iCloud and Siri virtual assistant, went on pre-order today in several countries, starting at $199.99 (£128) in the US.

Specifications

Still, at least Samsung acknowledged that the phone is coming soon. Moreover, Boy Genius Report tracked down specifications and a video demonstration of the device, which is contoured and resembles the Galaxy S.

The specs include:

9mm thin4.65-inch 1280 x 720-pixel Super AMOLED HD with curved glassTI OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1.2GHz1GB of RAM32GB of built-in storage5-megapixel camera on the back, 1.3-megapixel in the front1080p HD video capture supportLTE/HSPA depending on carrierNFC1,750 mAh battery

The video shows Honeycomb effects, such as moveable holographic images, running on a phone with a big screen.

The launch of the Galaxy Nexus comes as the Gingerbread build has just hit about 40 percent market saturation on Android phones, taking awhile to replace Android 2.2 “Froyo” on handsets all over the world.