We've managed to get hands on with Google's latest flagship phone the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, with a screen that could rival the HTC Titan and Android 4.0 on board it's time to put it to the test

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first smartphone to be running Google's latest and most advanced OS, Android Ice Cream Sandwich or Android 4.0. It's been built by Samsung with a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM and the first true 1280x720p screen.

 
Its certainly got the hardware credentials, has the first Android OS that has been designed for both tablets and smartphones, and takes design cues from both Android Honeycomb and the latest mobile OS Gingerbread.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: Screen

At 1280 x 720p resolution the 4.65-inch screen is Super AMOLED and also features the tiniest of curves. While you probably won't notice the curve, the screen itself is hard to miss, boasting incredibly bright, crisp images while the responsiveness with video is also superb. One thing to note is that while the screen isn't a Super AMOLED Plus (screen used on the Samsung Galaxy S2) it still performs well, although it would have been nice to see the Plus at the end.
 
 

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: Build

Following the tradition of other high-end Samsung products the shell is entirely plastic, this isn't a bad thing though as it feels sturdy but also premium with the ridged back panel giving you fantastic grip, something that's essential when handling a phone of this size.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: Camera

Despite having only a 5MP (compared to say, the Apple iPhone 4S 8MP), the Galaxy Nexus proves that pixels isn't everything with incredibly sharp images and a shutter time that needs to be seen. It's actually quicker than many digital cameras. You also have a whole host of editing features which can be applied after the image is taken and then a simple sidebar which shows you the ways you can share it.

Video-recording is 1080p and is also incredibly crisp. One of the key features about video-recording however is the ability to take an image while you're recording, just tap the screen and the phone will take a full 5MP snap in the background.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: Features

Running Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the Nexus is the first handset to showcase Google's hybrid OS which will run on tablets as well as phones. While initially it feels like you're using a scaled down version of Honeycomb it soon becomes clear that a lot has changed under the hood. The aggregation of contacts is universal across the whole phone and makes it incredibly simple to interact with them whether it's through the camera, GMail or even just sending a text.

The one feature everyone will want to try however is Face Unlock. By using the front-facing camera the Galaxy Nexus can recognise the owner and then unlock the phone. It's an incredibly neat feature, however as pointed out to us by Google, is also a very low security feature, so can be still be bypassed, that said, it's an impressive showcase of the technology that's inside the Nexus.

A general theme running through the device is making the screen feel like it's alive. Widgets are all live, while the notifications drop down menu is also live, showing tweets, texts, missed-calls and music. If you have a voicemail just pull down the notifications bar and listen to it straight from there. In essence, everything feels polished.
 
 

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: First impressions

While the handsets we saw are still running developer versions of Ice Cream Sandwich the whole experience is very fluid. Even in its current form It feels like a version of Android that is already very polished. The next stage will be not only seeing the finished product when it comes out in early November but also seeing how other manufacturers will use Ice Cream Sandwich in terms of skinning, in particular HTC's Sense UI and Samsung's TouchWiz.

What do you think of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the best Android phone so far? Share your comments below...