The Nexus S is one hell of a phone. It is several steps ahead of the extremely successful Galaxy line of phones by the same manufacturer. Also, it is far from cheap. However, we think it is definitely worth the cash, perhaps even because of one thing we have not mentioned until now: timely updates, directly from Google. Forget waiting half a year to receive an old version of Android, forget strange update software that doesn’t do what you want it to do: when Android moves ahead, the Nexus S moves ahead. And let’s face it: most manufacturers that have tampered with Android – Samsung’s TouchWiz, HTC’s Sense, etc. – have merely screwed it up. Phones get slower than they are, have less memory than they have, and do things they shouldn’t e doing, all because hardware experts can wait to mess up what the software specialists have done. Of course, we’re exaggerating a bit – but not much. The promise of up-to-date-ness and of the unspoilt, flexible, customizable Android experience is what makes the Samsung Google Nexus S an essential phone.