The Nexus S phone, the latest generation of Google Inc.'s Nexus series made by Samsung Electronics Co., will soon be released in 24 countries via Vodafone Group Plc, the mobile carrier said Wednesday.
Google and Samsung unveiled the latest smartphone in the Nexus series in December. The Nexus S phone was the first Android phone to be powered by "Gingerbread," the latest version of Google's mobile platform.
The British mobile operator said in a statement that the Nexus S will be introduced in Australia, but did not disclose the names of other countries, pricing details or launch dates.
The phone features a four-inch touchscreen and runs on a 1-gigahertz processor. It supports mobile payment technology called near field communication (NFC).
The earlier model in the Nexus series, the Nexus One, was manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corp. The smartphone was directly sold to customers by Google in the United States without going through mobile carriers.
In South Korea, SK Telecom Co., the country's largest mobile carrier, plans to roll out the Google phone sometime in the first quarter, its spokesman said by phone.
KT Corp., the No. 2 wireless carrier that distributes the Nexus One and Apple Inc.'s iPhone in South Korea, said it is undecided about the Nexus S release. (Yonhap)