The grey market is alive with Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, but if you’re keen on picking up one of the best Android phones available via a plan, Vodafone now says it’ll be the first telco to deliver. It’s accepting preorders on its website as I write this.
When it comes to the various flavours of Nexus, Vodafone’s had the jump on other providers in the past, and as it stands, it looks like the situation won’t be any different with the Galaxy. Telstra’s already said its first 4G phone will be hitting next year in the form of the HTC Raider/Holiday, while Optus (at this stage) won’t be doing anything 4G-related until April next year, despite internally confirming that they’ll sell the Galaxy Nexus from around December 20th.
We may hear differently shortly — Samsung is holding a Galaxy event this coming Wednesday — but for now, excluding the grey market, Vodafone is first off the line. They’re promising pre-Christmas delivery if you get in before December 16, which should please gift hunters. It also means Australia’s first 4G phone could be with us before the end of the year.
What’s that about 4G? Google has a Nexus info page up for Australian users that mentions the 4G / LTE capabilities of the device. Does this confirm 4G, or are we just seeing the international version with the “au” domain slapped on the end? The Australian info site also mentions Google Beam (NFC; Near Field Communications) which we missed out on with the local version of the Galaxy S II. But again, this could just be a carry-over from the global version. Fingers crossed that’s not the case.
I’m hopeful because Google’s US and Australian Nexus pages have different designs, so it seems lazy to not go to the trouble of removing these particular slides if they weren’t applicable to Australia.
The thing is, while Telstra has 4G, Vodafone doesn’t. This fuels speculation that we may see two models of the Nexus Galaxy — one with 4G and one without. Vodafone has said it’ll have LTE by year’s end, but it’s getting awful close to December 31.
Plenty of information to digest right now, but if you’re just interested in Vodafone’s plan pricing for the Galaxy Nexus, hit up the table below: