As the Galaxy Nexus approached launch on Verizon here in the U.S., you couldn’t pull up an Android site without seeing some sort of rumor, tip or leak that had to do with it. This phone was hypebeasted as if it was the second coming of some religious tech figure. Over the last couple of months, things have been unbelievably wild (both positively and negatively) around these parts, and the majority of the thanks can be attributed to it. As a “Nexus” on Verizon, the release of this phone marked an industry first on a number of levels including the combination of Ice Cream Sandwich, 4G LTE, NFC, an unlockable bootloader, and the support of the entire developer community. It has been dubbed as one of the first truly finished Android products to date. With so much to live up to, we will do our best to let you know whether or not it has.

Still rocking your Asus Eee Pad Transformer?  Then go ahead and pull this latest update straight from Asus bringing you to the newest firmware available, build 8.6.5.21.  It might not be Ice Cream Sandwich, but at least you can rest assured knowing that Asus is continuing their work on this dual-core workhorse.  The update includes a few bug fixes and other minor tweaks to keep your Transformer working tip top. 

Starting this Thursday, Android gaming fanatics will be able to score all of Gameloft’s Android applications for just 99 cents a title.  Woot!  The deal ends next year on the 5th of January, so don’t miss out.  Down below is a short list of a few games that will be available:

• Asphalt 6: Adrenaline
• Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus
• N.O.V.A. 2 HD, Order & Chaos Online
• The Adventures of Tintin – The Game

If you don’t want to take the chance on missing out on any of the deals, then you can follow Gameloft on Twitter.

Back in August we ran a simple poll asking which device manufacturer our readers favored.  Motorola had a strong following just a few months ago, but now that the Galaxy Nexus is out, we have a feeling everyone’s opinion of Samsung might have possibly turned around.  So down below, give us your take on which manufacturer is your favorite.  Motorola for their history of high quality and tough builds, Samsung for their screens and lighter hardware, or even HTC for making music lovers their main priority with the acquisition of Beats Audio.

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Giving the gift of Android is a magical thing.  And from the looks of the newest report from Flurry Analytics, there was plenty of magic happening last Sunday.  According to Flurry, activations for Android and iOS devices jumped 353% on Sunday and reached an amazing number of 6.8 million in a single day.  With a huge boost in activations, it doesn’t take an Android engineer to figure that app downloads will also go through the roof. A record 242 million apps were downloaded through the iOS and Android markets on Christmas Day.  Now, let us hope that all of those new lovely Android owners find their way here to DL.

Via: BGR, Flurry

One of the coolest features introduced with Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus, was the camera’s ability to record time lapse video. If you have the time and occasion where you may not need to move your phone for an extended period of time, you can create some pretty amazing clips. The problem there being, an extended period of time where you are not needing to use your phone much. One of our readers just so happened to have that time this past holiday weekend on his 400 mile drive home. With car mount in check and charging cable attached, his Galaxy Nexus turned his journey into 6 minutes of time lapse fun.  

With the holidays quickly coming to an end and with many of you picking up new devices as presents, there are probably plenty of big beautiful home screens out there that are in dire need of makeovers. And also, since the Galaxy Nexus hit and this on-screen button thing is throwing some of us for a loop, we need inspiration from the greatest Android community on the planet. And to get that, it’s time for one of our now-famous “Show Off Your Home Screens!” posts. It has been a while since we put together one of these, so let’s see what kinds of masterpieces you have created over the last couple of months.