Zit Seng's Blog

A Singaporean's technology and lifestyle blog

A Tale of Two Nexus S Phones

I was quite intrigued to learn that the Nexus S is carried by our local telcos, and sold subsidized with 2-year contract plans. The Nexus S is made by Samsung, and it is the second Google flagship phone. I decided to hop over to HardwareZone Forums to check out and hear from the experiences of our local buyers. That’s when I discovered something rather shocking about the Nexus S. I was quite surprised, because I’ve not heard anything about this discovery anywhere on the Internet, and I didn’t expect to learn such news from HardwareZone Forums.


Alright, what is this discovery? There is not just one Nexus S. It seems there is the Google Nexus S, and there is the Samsung Nexus S. Are you thinking “isn’t that the same thing?” After all, it’s well known that the Nexus S is made by Samsung.

Well, they are different. Not just a name difference. The phone is slightly different. The Google Nexus S has a Super AMOLED display screen, while the Samsung Nexus S has a Super LCD one instead. The different types of screen result in some very slight physical differences too: The Samsung Nexus S with its Super LCD screen is slightly thicker and slightly heavier. A review on HardwareZone found the Samsung Nexus S battery life much shorter. They really are different.

Just to be sure, what exactly are our telcos selling? M1’s and StarHub’s websites clearly label their phones the “Samsung Nexus S”. The listed specifications confirm it is the Samsung variant. SingTel, however, was ambiguous, just referring to the phone as the “Nexus S”.

When I happened to go past a SingTel premium reseller shop recently, I was tempted to go in to check out their Nexus S. But alas, there was no Nexus S demo set available. However, the brochures listed specifications that confirm it’s also the Samsung Nexus S.

I am quite disappointed about the confusion created by the second Nexus S. When HTC made the Nexus One, they also sold a very similar variant which they called HTC Desire. The phone looks slightly different too, but most importantly, the name made it clear that the HTC Desire is not the same phone as the Nexus One. However, the Google Nexus S and Samsung Nexus S is certain to be confused by consumers.

Interestingly, the Samsung Nexus S seems to be free from Samsung’s usual add-ons like their TouchWiz. At least, that’s how it looks like from their brochure.

So just you know, the Samsung model number for the original Google Nexus S is I9020, while that for the Samsung Nexus S is I9023. Follow the links to check out the specifications on GSMArena.

The next Samsung phone to look forward to will be the Samsung Galaxy S II. It’s said to be expected in Singapore in April 2011, and will first launch with SingTel.

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