Verizon Wireless today begins selling the Samsung-made, Google-backed Galaxy Nexus. Selling for $300, with a two-year contract, it’s the first to run Android 4.0, known as “Ice Cream Sandwich,” on Verizon’s 4G network. Notably, it features a redesigned user interface, a 1.2GHz processor, an HTML5 Web browser, a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display, mobile hotspot capabilities and screen-unlocking face recognition software. Also notable, while Google+, Google Music and a number of other Google services are on board, Google Wallet is not (CP: Verizon keeps Google Market app off Galaxy Nexus, says report).
Also today, T-Mobile announced that the Nokia Lumia 710 will be available on its network Jan. 11 for $50, after a $50 mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract. The 710 is intended for first-time smartphone owners and has been likened, by the head of Nokia France (Unfiltered: Nokia confirms Windows 8 tablet for sprint, developers rejoice) to a BMW 3 Series, suggesting it will have a higher-racing sibling even beyond the Lumia 800, which has been properly drooled over in the blogosphere.
With the Lumia representing Nokia’s make-or-break it play to win back market share, as well as Microsoft’s big re-launch of Windows Phone, one hopes that rumors of AT&T and Verizon testing the 4G-capable Lumia 800 pan out — and before Jan. 11. For anyone really curious about what Microsoft and Nokia can achieve together, it won’t be much fun to see them leave the starting line in not their fastest model.