This morning, the Nexus S went official at Google. This Samsung phone is essentially a Galaxy S Vibrant (1Ghz Hummingbird, 512MB RAM, front-facing camera) with a flash and a new design, but the beauty is in the details, and that’s where it gets juicy.

The phone comes with an untouched (read: without Samsung crap) version of Android 2.3, and will be available unlocked, initially only on the AWS band, though there will likely be a Rogers/Bell/Telus compatible version in the future.

What this means for Canadians is two-fold: first, the unlocked version will work on Mobilicity and WIND Mobile out of the box. It will not, however, work on Rogers, Bell or Telus except for the slower EDGE data speeds.

Initially it will only be available in the US and the UK. In the US it will be available December 16th for $529US. It is uncertain whether importing to Canada will be initially allowed, but it shouldn’t be difficult to head down to Best Buy in the States and pick one up yourself (depending on stock availability).

Keep in mind that Nexus One owners will likely be getting an OTA update to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) in the coming weeks, as well. So, Mobilicity and Videotron owners, expect a notification to upgrade soon, provided that you haven’t altered your software version at all.

The Nexus S seems like a decent upgrade in terms of hardware from the Nexus One. The curved glass Super AMOLED display will be easier to type on than the N1′s dreadful screen, and we all know how vivid the colours are on Galaxy S series.

As for Mobilicity and Videotron, they will likely get the device, locked, in the new year. The Nexus One is currently selling for $549 at Mobilicity and $479 at Videotron, so expect the same kinds of prices when it is released.

In terms of hackability, it is unknown at this time if it will have the same issues as the Galaxy S series, which has proven unreliable in terms of GPS, and was extremely laggy due to a poor implementation of the RFS file system.

Based on the newly-released Gingerbread SDK, and the well-known high performance of the Hummingbird processor, the Nexus S should fly. Combine that with 16GB of internal storage and there will be no problems with internal app storage, either, a common problem amongst Nexus One owners, who had to resort to exporting many of their apps to the SD card, encumbering the performance of the device in the process.

I have high hopes for the Nexus S, though if the build quality is as shoddy as the Galaxy S Vibrant, I will hold off on the purchase until all the manufacturing quirks have been sorted out.

Get all the info at the Google’s Nexus portal.