The Nexus S is official and appears on Google's website. Google has finally officially announced the successor to the Nexus One. The Nexus S launches in the U.S. online and at Best Buy on December 16th. You can pick one up for $199 on a two-year T-Mobile contract or $529 unlocked.

The Nexus S will of course run Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a handset made by Samsung. JK Shin, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics, said, “Samsung and Google have worked together closely to deliver the best Android smart phone experience for consumers. It has been our ambition in working with Google to continue to push the Android platform forward and create a smart phone that has both superior functionality and a stunning user-experience. It is extremely satisfying to see this partnership again bear tremendous fruit.”

“Samsung was thrilled to work with Google to create the first device featuring the much anticipated Android 2.3 OS. Nexus S is powerful proof of Samsung and Google’s commitment to bringing technology firsts to market and launching products that utilize the open and innovative Android operating system,” said Omar Khan, chief strategy officer of Samsung Telecommunications America. “Nexus S integrates Samsung’s best-in-class hardware and technology with the exciting new features and upgrades of Android 2.3 Gingerbread to give consumers a breakthrough smartphone experience.”

“Google is excited to co-develop Nexus S with Samsung, ensuring solid integration of hardware and software to deliver the lead device for the latest version of Android, Gingerbread,” said Andy Rubin, Vice President of Engineering at Google.

Some notable features of the Nexus S are Android 2.3, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 16GB of internal memory, a 4-inch WVGA touchscreen with anti-fingerprint coating, a 5-megapixel camera, a front-facing VGA camera, Wi-Fi b/g/n, and Bluetooth 2.1.