Samsung Galaxy Nexus: High-End SpecsSamsung Galaxy Nexus: High-End Specs

Samsung is prepared to unpack its next flagship smartphone at a press conference next week. The device is widely expected to be the first Android Ice Cream Sandwich device. Details that have been leaked suggest it will be a high-end device.

The Galaxy Nexus--not the Nexus Prime, which apparently was a codename--will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This significance of this new operating system from Google is that it tangles together the forked branches of 2.3 Gingerbread and 3.x Honeycomb. Ice Cream Sandwich will be one, all-encompassing operating system that works on smartphones as well as it does on tablets.

The guts of the Galaxy Nexus are reported to include a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD display that will be made of curved glass. (Curved glass displays are somehow on deck to be the next big thing in smartphones. Go figure.) The display will offer 1280 x 720 pixels, giving it the elusive HD moniker. That means some HD content can playback in its native resolution on the device.

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The Galaxy Nexus will be driven by a Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 processor at 1.2 GHz. The processor will be accompanied by 1 GB of RAM and 32 GB of built-in storage for media, such as photos, music, and videos. All that space will be necessary, as the device will pack a 5-megapixel main camera that can capture 1080p HD video. HD video chews through storage at an alarming rate. The device will also have a 1.3-megapixel user-facing camera for video chats. No word if Google's native videochat software will be on board, but we have to assume so. (Keep in mind, Google Talk Video chats are possible with Honeycomb 3.x.)

On the connectivity side of the equation, the Galaxy Nexus will support both Long Term Evolution 4G for Verizon Wireless, and HSPA+ for global carriers (including, probably, AT&T). Some reports suggest that the Galaxy Nexus will be a Verizon exclusive. It might be, for a month or two. There's no way Samsung will want to limit the availability of such a high-end device for long. The Galaxy Nexus will also pack 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, GPS, and near-field communications.

The details indicate that it will be 9 mm thick, which puts it in contention for one of the slimmest smartphones out there. Considering that it has a 1,750 mAh battery and an LTE radio inside, its reported small footprint is somewhat hard to believe. (Most of today's LTE smartphones are a bit on the bulky side.)

While all these specs sound great, the real killer feature of the Galaxy Nexus will be the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and what it can do with all those features together--or so we hope. Almost nothing about Ice Cream Sandwich has been leaked, and we can only guess at its capabilities and features.