Nexus S

Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Google, posted a list of his favorite tips and tricks for Android 2.3 Gingerbread yesterday. These tips (along with some great app suggestions), will come in handy for new Android and Nexus S owners this holiday, as well as other device users that will be upgrading to the Gingerbread OS.

Android has had quite the year, so I'm betting there's a lot of you who could benefit from these little-known, or handy tricks in 2011. Check out a few of them below, then head over to The Official Google Blog for more!

• Voice actions — Tell your phone what to do by pressing the microphone icon next to the search box on the home screen, or long press the magnifying glass. You can tell it to send an email or text message (“send text to mom, see you for pizza at 7”), call someone ("call mom"), navigate somewhere (“navigate to pizza”), or listen to music ("listen to Mamma Mia").
• Quick replace — Tap on any previously typed word, then tap on a suggestion to automatically replace it with the suggested word.
• Look at Maps in 3D — With the latest release of Google Maps, you can now look at 3D maps. Tilt the map by sliding two fingers vertically up/down the screen, and rotate it by placing two fingers on the map and sliding in a circular motion, e.g., from 12 and six o’clock to three and nine o'clock.

See a few more after the break.

It's been a busy Monday for Google already, as the company officially announced the next version of its flagship Nexus One smartphone, called the Nexus S, which will be the first Android device to run Android 2.3 (codename: Gingerbread).

The Android-toting masses won't be able to download Gingerbread just yet — that honor will first be bestowed on the Nexus S, which will launch next week on Dec. 16 — however, the OS will come with some improved features to look forward to, including:

• Refined, faster, and easier to use user interface.
• Redesigned keyboard for faster text input and one-touch word selection along with copy/paste.
• Auto-shutdown of apps that drain power when left idle for too long.
• Access to multiple cameras on your device and easily toggle back and forth between them.
• Download manager that helps you organize and keep track of device downloads in one place.
• Supports gyroscopes and other sensors to improve 3D gaming on your device.

Get all the details on the brand-new Nexus S device after the break.

Yesterday in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed off a new Android prototype running the soon-to-be-released Android version 2.3, compatible with near-field communications chips. These chips are capable of transmitting signals short distances and are expected to change the way consumers pay for goods in stores: using their phones.

According to Schmidt, many hardware and software manufacturers are supporting the new technology, which will allow users to simply tap their phone to make a purchase. He admits that credit cards are here to stay, at least for a while, but that Google wants to make the technology available to developers to see what they can do with it.

Schmidt held up an unidentified phone as he spoke, but most believe it's the new Nexus S, which was mistakenly outed last week. He didn't say specifically when to expect the Android update or the new phone, though Android users may start to see the latest version in a few weeks.