Samsung Galaxy Nexus gets Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich update

Since the Samsung Galaxy Nexus was released last year to coincide with the release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the handset easily shot up to the top of the smartphone leaderboards due to the fact that it is the first handset to run the latest version of the Android operating system. Not only that, our smartphone-crazed brethren saw the handset as the best Android-powered handset there is.

After quite some time though, the novelty of the Google flagship device began to wear off because the Samsung Galaxy Nexus got stuck with Android 4.0.2 with nary an update for the past couple of months.
Everything changed though when Google recently confirmed the availability of the Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

In fact, the rollout of the update for the handset has already rolled out via OTA so a notification is bound to pop up on your handset in the coming days. Should you run out of patience in waiting for the said notification, you always have the option of manually checking for the update as well. Once you successfully update your Samsung Galaxy Nexus to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, the stability of the smartphone will get enhanced.

The phone number recognition of the handset will also be improved and the screen rotation when hanging from portrait to landscape and vice versa will become smoother. In addition to that, the camera performance of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will also be significantly improved.

The only caveat here is that the Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich update will only be rolled out to the GSM version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. If you happen to have the Verizon variant of the handset, this update will sad to say not land on your handset but Android 4.0.5 ICS has already been confirmed to the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus so you are not out of luck after all.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus features a frame that measures 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm and it tips the scales at 135 grams. Despite its black-slab design aesthetics, the chassis of the handset has a curved design that gives it a sexy and sleek look. Factored in into the equation is the solid build quality of the handset, a feature that is expected from a Google flagship handset.

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is multitasking machine with a Texas Instruments OMAP4460 SoC at the heart of its operations. Computing power is delivered by its dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and 1GB of RAM while its storage space comes up to 32GB. The display of the handset is a stunning SuperAMOLED multitouch capacitive display measuring 4.65 inches diagonally and has a resolution pegged at 1280 x 720 pixels. The only less than perfect feature of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is its below par camera department with only a 5MP shooter at its back panel and a 1.3MP front-facer. Both shooters are capable of video recording though so this at least makes up for the below par sensor resolution of the shooters.

Despite the snags, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is still one of the better-performing handsets in the Android ecosystem today and the jump to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, at least for the GSM version of the handset, will tend make the device even more attractive and capable for that matter.