A stand out feature of the Google Nexus S is that it supports near field communications. NFC will become increasingly more popular in the next couple of years as all the top handset manufactures, including Nokia, RIM and Apple - pledge their support for the contactless technology. Check out the demo below.

Google has officially launched it's latest flagship device- which is not only the world's first phone running Android 2.3 OS but thanks to its Contour Display, it's the first mobile phone with a curved screen. The 4-inch touchscreen has a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, combined Flash and HTML5 technology for Internet browsing and a front and rear-facing camera.

A quick look at both last year's Google Nexus 1 and the brand new Google Nexus S - running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

Google has officially launched the latest Nexus S running on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Unlike last year's model that was available on google.com/phone - the Nexus S is exclusive to Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy in the UK.

The most exciting thing for me is that the phone is NFC-capable. Near field communications or 'contactless' technology is starting to become a reality as more handset manufactures start developing their next batch of smartphones equipped with NFC chips. Can't wait to cut down the clutter in my handbag and just use my smartphone to touch in and out of London's underground or to buy my afternoon latte and cookie.

The Google Nexus S will retail unlocked for £549.95 or free with a £35 per month contract. The Samsung phone is not only the world's first phone running Android 2.3 OS but thanks to its Contour Display, it also wins bragging rights for being the first mobile with a curved screen. It comes with 16 GB of internal memory, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor plus dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and combined Flash and HTML5 technology for Internet browsing.

The phone features a 4” display that is up to 1.5x brighter than traditional LCD displays, has improved motion gesture sensors and location tracking without requiring GPS. There's a front and back-facing camera and since it's a ‘pure Google’ smartphone - users will be the first to receive software upgrades and new applications as they become available. But are you prepared to drop that much cash on a phone?

Also, was wondering what the S stands for? Samsung, Super AMOLED, Speed... someone suggested Sexy... I can live with that!