Nexus S gets 4.0; Galaxy lands on Verizon; Widgets monitor data use

Much of the past few weeks focused on the new Galaxy Nexus, which is no surprise: The hardware pushes some new limits with a screen that rivals a high-definition television. Hardware is only half the story, on the whole, as Android 4.0 addresses many of the user interface issues found in prior Android versions. This week, Google announced that last year’s Nexus S handset will start to get the new software; the GSM models first over the coming month. Sprint Nexus S is a CDMA model and won’t see Android 4.0 in this round of announced updates, however it’s likely to follow before long.

Those who can’t wait for Android 4.0 on a CDMA smartphone can now buy one as Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus with LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) support launched this week. The handset costs $299 with a two-year contract or $649 without. Various reviews have by and large mirrored my own experience with the unlocked GSM Galaxy Nexus I’ve been using for a few weeks, though there are some slight differences.

The LTE radio

Due to the LTE radio, it appears that most testers are getting less battery life on Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus than I am, although the battery for the CDMA version has a little more capacity. Some reviewers have as well noted that signal strength for voice calls isn’t optimal; again, something I haven’t seen on my GSM Galaxy Nexus, though I’ve mainly been using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls over Wi-Fi or a mobile broadband network.

Overall, but, the review community has usually found the Galaxy Nexus as the Android phone to buy now, with a few folks suggesting Motorola’s RAZR as a slightly better alternative, though it doesn’t but have Android 4.0.

With fast LTE or HSPA+ speeds, it’s easy to hit a bandwidth cap on any smartphone these days. Android 4.0 has some native features that help set bandwidth limits, nevertheless most handsets don’t but have this version of software. This week, Onavo added some excellent widgets to its free bandwidth monitoring application for Android phones to help. The three new widgets show real-time and historical mobile broadband use, plus you can view data usage at the individual application level.