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There’s nothing like the launch of a major, potentially big-selling product to get the competitive juices flowing.
Just hours after Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveiled its iPhone 4S, Samsung Mobile released a brief video teasing its forthcoming Android-based Nexus Prime smartphone, which the company is expected to unveil alongside Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) at CTIA Oct. 11.
In the 29-second clip, available on YouTube here, Samsung compares things that go better together, such as cookies and milk and newspapers and coffee before noting that “something big is coming” at Samsung’s Unpacked event next week in San Diego.
The “something big” reference is an allusion to the screen size of the Nexus Prime, which reportedly offers a 4.65-inch, Super AMOLED Plus display with a 1,280-by-720 resolution.
Indeed, Samsung at the end of the video showed a dark side view of the alleged Nexus Prime, which is clearly contoured like the Samsung Nexus S before it and appears to have a larger display.
The Nexus Prime almost certainly will launch exclusively on Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZW) with Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich,” the next-generation build that leverages holographic user interface functionality from the Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” branch for tablets.
For an idea of how that will look, check out this video made by someone who scored a Samsung Nexus S running ICS on eBay. Note the multitasking and notifications functionality.
GSM Arena offered several other details, including that is has a metal body and packs a 2,000-mAh battery inside a super-thin, 8.8-millimeter-thick frame. Moreover, the handset will run a 1.5GHz, dual-core Samsung Exynos processor and offer 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory. An 8MP camera with HD video recording in 1080p is also on tap.
Samsung Galaxy S II handsets have sold over 10 million units worldwide since April without the benefit of major U.S. sales.
Yet clearly Samsung feels it needs to do something big to blunt the hype from the iPhone 4S, which offers users a speedy A5 processor, an 8MP camera, iCloud and iOS 5, as well as the Siri intelligent assistant application on both GSM and CDMA networks.
While the handset still boasts the 3.5-inch screen Apple fans have become accustomed to, Samsung and Google will clearly tout the larger screen size of the Nexus Prime, the speedier processor, along with the fresh ICS build, as advantages over the iPhone 4S.
Meanwhile, Samsung sued to block the iPhone 4S launch in France and Italy, claiming the device infringes on the company’s 3G wireless technology patents.