It's all a matter of luck, bro. Many people who have bought an AP unit has had no problems whatsoever. However, there are some who have experienced faulty units before as well. To be clear, I myself rather not buy an AP unit.

But do ask the seller about his one-to-one exchange policy. If he says if there is any problem within 7 days, and a one-to-one exchange is allowed within that period, then it is pretty fair for an AP unit. But then, ask him further, if the 2nd unit is also found to be faulty, then what would be his policy. Then consider what he tells you. If you find it acceptable, go ahead and buy it and have fun. Oh, and do get the name of the guy who attends to you, for future reference.

However, do be meticulous with your checking of the unit. When at the shop, check as many things on the phone as you can, at the bare minimum, check for any scratches, dents, cracks and chips. Check for any colour peeling or dis-colouration of every physical part of the phone that you can see, including the logos. Also check the battery cover for any breakage in the clips. Another phone shop seller once told me that he got in a unit from his supplier where one or more of the battery cover clip(s) was/were broken.

Do switch the phone on and inspect with your naked eye for any abnormality in the display. Also see whether the display responds ok with your touches. Then slip in your SIM card and make a few calls. Check for any abnormality in the sound coming out from the earpiece. I have had an earpiece problem before. Not common, but it happened to me. Then ask whomever you are calling whether you sound clear to them or not. Then ask that person to call you back to check again.

After all that, when you get home, do play the heck out of your phone. Go google for apps which let your check for any defects in the display, like dead pixels, etc. Plug in a set of earphones (your fav or the in-box ones) and test. Play some songs through the earphones as well as through the speaker. Listen for any crackling sounds or other abnormality. Make calls, send SMSes, emails, etc. Plug it into your computer to see whether everything is working as it should be. Use the phone fully and even stress the phone if you can (but I don't mean physically!!!).

If everything works out ok, great! If not, go back immediately to the seller. Be firm (but not rude) with the seller when conveying to him your problem(s). If he had promised a one-to-one exchange earlier and you are within the time given, insist on that. I have to add that many sellers would rather not have to do a one-to-one exchange if they can help it. It means that they would have one less phone to sell. But insist on it if he has given you his word. And if he tells you that there is currently no stock to exchange for you at the moment, insist that a new unit should be given to you no longer than in 2 weeks time. Otherwise, ask for your hard earned money back and get the phone from somewhere else.

Honestly, I have not dealt with this directd ever before. From the forums, some say he is ok but could be perceived as a little stuck up. Ignore all this when your are dealing with him. Just be professional and expect professionalism from him as well. Keep it strictly business.

All the best.

Google Now gets you just the right information at just the right time.

It tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team's score while they’re playing. And the best part? All of this happens automatically. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them.

The 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display (1280 x 720 pixels) is simply beyond par. Gorgeous doesn't even begin to describe this screen -- try amazing, jaw-dropping, mind-boggling. As we mentioned in our first impressions, fonts are crisp, colors are vibrant, blacks are deep and viewing angles are exceptional.
By Myriam Joire at Engadget

Iit's only the GPU that isn't as fast (the CPU is as fast as anything on the market right now, and faster than the iPhone). This will be the third fastest GPU on the market, behind the PowerVR SGX543 of the iPhone, and the Mali-400 of the Samsung Galaxy S2. For most tasks, of course, there will be tons of horsepower available for things like hardware acceleration of the OS, basic processing tasks, etc. These are not generally a challenge to most GPUs. The real question is, how will it handle games or apps like Google Earth or other 3D-intensive apps?

Think about this: when game developers release a game for the PC, do they optimize it so that it will only run on the brand new, top-of-the-line, $600 graphics card? Of course not. They wouldn't sell many copies, would they? Expect the same here. The PowerVR SGX540 of the Nexus is a potent GPU, one of the fastest on the market. Not being the fastest shouldn't be a concern. From Android Forums

Only had a brief listen on mine using some Yuin PK2s that I have.

I've come from an Xperia Arc, and before that I did have a SGS2 for a while.

I've not had enough time to make a definitive view but at this stage, the Nexus sounds more open than the Arc (which had a warm veil to the sound imo) and seems to be able to drive the Yuin's much better than the SGS2 - my ears will give up before I reach max volume this time around.

To my ears, at this stage, it offers a pretty well balanced sound - plenty of detail resolved without sounding overly harsh on the tracks I have tried. The mids certainly sound better than the previous 2 phones mentioned from my recollection.

Not had a play with any equaliser settings yet as I prefer listening without tweaking these in any way if possible.

Reckon it has potential - and its certainly good enough for the amount of listening I do. From WhiteHartMart @ XDA Developers

I have compared the Nexus to the GS2.

1. Don't worry it blows the GS2 out the water. Highs are high, lows are low.
Tested with .flac on same settings via power amp.

2. Its the best sound quality I have ever heard from .flac on a mobile phone. I never owned a Nexus1.

3. Speaker is very low. Not as loud as cm7 on GS2 but hey the quality is OK.

4. Gone are the days of the Bluetooth audio crackle via A2DP. It has very good quality via A2DP even compared to GS2 CM7.

If you are interested I tested the phones with some Astro A40's. Not the best for an audiophile but suitable for the test I guess. From NatTheCat @ XDA Developers

The headphone jack out of the Galaxy Nexus is good. Audio is clear, very little hiss using UE-11s.

I find the volume increments are too large but I listen at low volumes using low impedance IEMs. Others shouldn't find that to be a problem. From doubleperfect @ XDA Developers

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding running apps, multitasking, background tasks and such.

When you launch an Android app, the task is active/running. You use the app, play with the app, etc.

When you exit back to the home screen (or go to a different app), the app is stopped. This means that the app is frozen and will not run/take up battery/etc. It also means the Android OS can freely kill that task if the Android OS needs more memory for other things (i.e. you opened up a really heavy game, you haven't gone back to that app in a while, etc).

So how does multitasking work? How does your app check for email in the background? This is done by something called services. Services run in the background, you don't really see it anywhere on your screen. Even when you quit your app, it still has a service running in the background. It checks your mail even if you're not in the app, it checks for new messages when you're not in the app. If you're busy downloading something using your browser, and you go to a different app, your download still continues, because the browser is running it's own download service in the background.

An example to this would be WhatsApp. If you don't open the app, how does it check for new messages for you? It runs the WhatsApp background service to check for messages for you. You don't have to open the app to keep checking for new messages, it already runs by itself in the background. The Android OS takes care of what services to run, kill, etc automatically for you. That's why if you use a manual task killer (you shouldn't, btw), after a few minutes you'll notice the WhatsApp service running again.

This, of course, does not apply to ALL apps. It depends on whether the app developer has made such a feature available or not. Let's take Draw Something as another example. It doesn't have a background service, therefore it doesn't notify you if you have new drawings to guess.

tl;dr, to answer your question, you don't have to open viber/yahoo/gmail/gtalk to get notifications. The notification part of these apps are running in the background and are checking for new messages for you.

Also, regarding the ICS tasks button, all the tasks listed there are "frozen" apps... the apps themselves aren't running and aren't taking any CPU resources.

For better understanding, you can also read up on the Android Activity Lifecycle, but it's more technical and more for programmers: Android Activity Lifecycle

“All the design projects I’m working on take cues from nature,” says TaeJoong Kim.  “Nature is authentic and infinite.” “Before, we tried to take inspiration from polished sports cars and other graceful designs,” adds GiYoung Lee, “but then we realized that nature was the source of all inspiration.”

The magnolia petal’s elegant curve was the perfect fit for the GALAXY Nexus body’s ergonomics By using curved glass, the designers were able to achieve a greater visceral impact.

Rubin is explaining what makes a “Nexus” phone, as opposed to any old Android phone. Basically, Google gets deeply involved in the design, working with the hardware maker and the chipmakers.
Rubin notes there are over a million lines of code in Android.

“You don’t want to build it generically and then throw it over the fence.”
“I look it as a reference design,” Rubin said of the lead device. By Andy Rubin, Creator of Android interview at AsiaD

“So much work goes into producing the UI and the changes that you make, and then typically what happens is that the OEM’s put their skins on it and put their own touch. Does it bother you that so much work goes into it and in the end, a lot of consumers don’t interact with the UI as you intended it?”

Well, it would bother me more if we didn’t have programs like the Nexus program. The idea behind the Nexus device is to do exactly that – to give consumers an option to use the baseline work that we do if they choose…the philosophy of Android, the idea that partners can customize Android if they want to, is really important to making Android successful.
By Matias Duarte, User Experience Designer of Android

There are Android phones (Nexus). And there are Sense phones (HTC). And there are Philblur Motorola phones. And there are TouchWiz phones. And so on and so forth.

They may all use Android, but only one of those group should be considered as being Android. By Phil Nickinson, Editor of Android Central

With the Nexus line, Google has its flagships, its models of how its operating system should work. The broader world of Android is more like MS-DOS—the original "weak OS." Every version of the software is retailored and rebranded by its manufacturer. Even some software has to be rewritten to conform to different machines and their varied specs. But what you get is accelerated development of hardware and broad interoperability between machines, which benefits both users and developers.

Why does this distinction matter?

If you're an Android user, you may simply have to accept that you didn't buy an Android device running Google software; you bought a device from Samsung, Motorola or Amazon running Samsung, Motorola or Amazon software. Unless you have a Nexus, Google's more or less invisible on your device. Finally, you're never going to be able to just pull a brand-new software update out of the cloud and stick it on your machine. Not unless you're up for a little hacking. From Arstechnica

There is on one specific reason why I want the Galaxy Nexus so bad. It's everything brought together in a single device, all of the gripes and disappointment in other, non-Nexus handsets that I've had over the past two years and the thought of using Android specifically how Google envisions it. Not everyone will agree, not will everyone understand. But we all have our reasons for the preferences we have, and a run-of-the-mill Android phone just doesn't cut it for me anymore. From PhoneDog

But that is the philosophy of Android, a philosophy that had eluded me until now. To Google, Android is an operating system. To companies like HTC, Samsung, and Motorola, Android is the building-blocks with which they will build their own unique devices.

Google makes Android phones. Apple makes iOS phones. HTC makes Sense phones. Samsung makes TouchWiz phones. Motorola makes MotoBlur phones.

I suddenly get Android. From TechnoBuffalo

For those of you who don't know, Nexus is essentially Google's iPhone. They have full control over the hardware and software, come out with a new Nexus every year or so, and update all recent-ish Nexus phones with the latest version of Android as soon as possible. By LifeHacker

I've absolutely loved using my pre-release Galaxy Nexus phone running the new version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. It is truly beautiful hardware with incredible software. By Larry Page, CEO of Google

2011 Engadget Smartphone of the Year Award
The Galaxy Nexus has a gorgeous 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display, excellent battery life and it's a top performer through and through. Oh, and it ships with Ice Cream Sandwich. We'll take two.

Most Popular Android Phone on LifeHacker: Samsung Galaxy Nexus
The "Google Phone" itself, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, took the top spot with just over 39% of the vote.

In this post, I’ll be talking about the rooting process of an Android device as far as my best knowledge allows me to. Regarding ‘root’ itself, please consult the many definitions around the internet. In short, it is a special permission granted to a user to perform low level operations on a system (like backing up your Angry Birds game data, or changing the boot animation). 'Rooting' is the process of obtaining the means to grant this permission.

Think of it like the Matrix: Jailbreaking is comparable to what Morpheus could do. He could bend the rules of the system to overcome certain restrictions, but was still bound to its rules. Rooting is what Neo could do. Not only could he bend the rules, he could completely break them.

    Install correct adb/fastboot drivers automatically on Windows xp/vista/7 32bit+64bit
    Backup/Restore a single package or all apps, user data and Internal Storage
    Backup your /data/media (virtual SD Card) to your PC for a Full Safe backup of data
    Perform a FULL NANDROID Backup of your system (Boot, Cache, Data, Recovery and System) via adb and save in Custom Recovery format on your PC which can be Restored via CWM Recovery
    Pull /data and /system folders, compress to a .tar file and save to your PC
    Backup/Restore your /efs partition to your PC
    Dump selected Phone Partitions, compress to a .zip file with md5 and save to your PC
    Install BusyBox on your phone
    Extras, Tips and Tricks section available to all ToolKit Donators
    Mods section to automatically perform certain tasks on your phone
    1-Click For All to Unlock, Root, Rename the Restore File and CWM
    Unlock/Re-Lock your Bootloader
    Download Google Stock Image files directly via the ToolKit
    Flash Google Stock Image to phone
    Root any public build of ICS automatically (ANY Stock build upto and including maguro/toro/toroplus 4.0.4)
    Root Stock Jelly Bean (4.1) on all models
    Rename the Recovery Restore File present on some Stock Roms
    Flash Stock Recovery, CWM Touch Recovery or TWRP Touch Recovery
    Boot into CWM Touch Recovery or TWRP Touch Recovery without Flashing it
    Boot or Flash .img Files directly from your PC
    Install a single apk or multiple apk's to your phone
    Push Files from your PC to your phone
    Pull Files from your phone to your PC
    Dump selected LogCat buffers to your PC
    Dump BugReport to your PC
    Set Files Permissions on your phone
    Pull and Trim your Radio Image from your phone and save to your PC (thanks to josteink for Radio Trimmer)
    Rip cache.img to zip file in CWM format (by Adam Lange)
    Open new Command Prompt for manual input
    Reboot Phone to Fastboot Mode or Android in fastboot mode
    Reboot Phone to Fastboot Mode, Recovery, Android or Download Mode in adb mode
    Turn Initial Start Screen On/Off for next use