Google has continued its strategic advancement into the lucrative mobile phone market. The Google Nexus S, which is Samsung built, should be available to UK an US consumers at the end of December.
The Nexus S is the first phone to feature the latest version of Google’s android operating system. That has been given the name ‘Gingerbread’
Other goodies that the Google Nexus S will be equipped with include:
NFC – or Near field communication
This short-range wireless technology is used extensivley in Japan amongst other places and NFC allows people to use their phone as a travel ticket, make small payments and scan their phone over adverts, for example, to get more information about a product.
“NFC allows the Nexus S to read smart objects” said David Burke of Google’s mobile division.
For the technology to work these objects must also have an unpowered & small NFC chip in them. This is activated when the chip is near them.
“When you put the phone on top, it energises the circuit,” explained Mr Burke. “It can echo information back to the phone and the phone can send information to the chip.
“So, you can swipe a movie poster and watch the trailer automatically,” he said.
NFC is a growing trend in mobiles and will start to become more pervasive in the New Year, said Shaun Collins, managing director of research firm CCS Insight.
“NFC is going to be the technology of 2011, in my opinion,” he told BBC News. “Most of the BlackBerries will have it and a big swathe of mid to high-level Nokias will have it.”
The next version of the iPhone is also rumoured to contain the technology.
Let battle commence…