Well, the day has finally arrived, for UK citizens, at least. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is available for purchase unlocked and sin contract in the British Isles, all you need is a spare £549.99. There’s still no word out of Verizon, supposedly the exclusive US launch partner for the Galaxy Nexus, but if you’re desperate for a little more confirmation, mozy on over to the official Google Nexus YouTube channel. Demonstration videos for the new Ice Cream Sandwich features are all done with a Verizon-branded LTE version of the Nexus. At least Google can get their hands on one, right?

The Getting Started video is of particular interest. As the hand model swivels the phone around you get a quick look at the same Verizon 4G LTE logo that VZW handsets have been sporting for months. At this point there isn’t much the instructional videos can tell us that we don’t already know, but if you’re in the mood to drool you can watch a dozen or so sedate introductory videos walking new owners through the hardware and software. Do you see what you’ve reduced us to, Verizon? Shame. Us Yanks will just have to console ourselves with FCC filings in the meantime.

Things aren’t all sunshine and roses across the pond, however. Apparently there have been a series of launch day blunders for exclusive retail launch partner Phones 4U. Confusion about the phone’s price and unlocked status abounds, with apparently clueless retail employees running around. The very first customer to buy the Galaxy Nexus at one Phones 4U location was actually given a pre-production model, and had to return it for one with the final Ice Cream Sandwich software installed.

Check out our hands-on looks at the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich below:

Galaxy Nexus Hands-on

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Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on

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[via Slashgear]

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