Google has taken the wraps off Gingerbread — its code name for the next-generation Android 2.3 smartphone platform. Moreover, Google said the new mobile OS will take its inaugural bows on Samsung’s forthcoming Nexus S smartphone, scheduled for a U.S. release later this month.

With the launch of Gingerbread, it appears that Android-powered devices are the only serious competition for Apple’s iPhone until Windows Phone 7 ramps up with CDMA carriers and gets some much-needed updates, noted Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC.

“One of the key focus areas for Gingerbread appears to be the VoIP video telephony and conferencing, which continues to whittle away on the telco services that these phones consume — relegating the carriers into passive data plumbers,” Hilwa said. “Surprisingly, carriers are marching headlong into this because they have to mount competition to the iPhone.”

Contour Display

The Nexus S sports a four-inch color display made of curved glass that rests comfortably in the palm of the hand or against the user’s face. And the new device is equipped with two image sensors: A rear-facing five-megapixel camera/HD camcorder with flash and a front-facing camera capable of capturing VGA-quality images and videos.

Under the hood, the new handset integrates a one-gigahertz Hummingbird processor paired with 16GB of internal memory and a dedicated graphics processing unit to enhance the gaming experience, as well as 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and A-GPS radios. The Nexus S can also function as a Wi-Fi hot spot for up to six other portable devices.

Near-field communication (NFC) hardware enables users to read information by holding their phones in the immediate vicinity of smart posters or tags. Other hardware features include a microUSB 2.0 port, a three-axis gyroscope, an accelerometer, and haptic feedback, together with built-in proximity and light sensors.

Slated to become available in the U.S. after Dec. 16, Nexus S is designed to deliver up to 6.7 hours of 3G talk time and up to 17.8 days of 3G standby time. Even better, the new smartphone will ship unlocked, which means it will work with any GSM carrier right out of the box.

‘An End-User Delight’

Gingerbread’s new user interface is designed to handle multitasking, with menus opening faster than on earlier models and with tabs more responsive. And the new Gingerbread OS enables web pages to load quicker with virtually no lag time, the designers said.

What’s more, the new Android platform incorporates a “voice actions” capability that gives users the ability to speak a variety of device commands, such as send text, navigate to, listen to, or call home, while pressing and holding the device’s search button. Designers have also added multi-touch support to the on-screen keyboard that will enable users of next-generation devices running Gingerbread to type faster and more accurately.

“With Gingerbread we focused on what is really essential for the smartphone experience to make the experience clear, pure and polished,” members of the design team at Google said. “Eventually all of the manufacturers making Android-based products will be able to take advantage of this.” The goal is to create an end product that both Google and each OEM are “invested in and really is an end-user delight.”

Still, Android is not without its challenges, Hilwa noted. For example, the number of Android devices is absolutely bewildering and spans a wide price range, he said.

“You have to wonder if there is too much choice for this to be a unified platform for application developers,” Hilwa explained. Moreover, Google’s “lightweight application review process” has also raised issues of security and trust, he added.

Source: NewsFactor