The Nexus S, spiritual successor to the Nexus One, is finally here. The Nexus One was supposed revolutionize in the way people buy mobile phones stateside, effectively decoupling phone upgrade schedules from the slow march of two-year contracts - thus allowing Android to evolve rapidly. Though the success of Google selling unlocked hardware directly to consumers turned out to be less than a smash hit, the Nexus One became the best place to get the unadulterated, pure Google version of Android, and moreover the place updates always appeared first. Though the Nexus One has aged gracefully and kept feeling relatively fresh with speedy platform updates, it’s hardware is definitely starting to look dated.

The Nexus S includes a host of definite improvements over the Nexus One, the question is whether it’s better than competition that already is moving incredibly fast. The Nexus S also launches Android 2.3 “Gingerbread,” which includes changes such as a revamped UI with GPU accelerated animations, better stock keyboard, better power management controls, and a bunch more. We’ve been playing with the Nexus S since Friday - read on for our full review of both the Nexus S and Android 2.3.