Nexus

PhanDroid reports this evening that the delayed Nexus Prime will launch November 3rd, after a prior announcement. The Nexus Prime’s announcement tomorrow was delayed by Samsung due to the passing of Apple’s Steve Jobs —  as a sign of respect for the innovator.

The Nexus Prime will be the platform the next version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, will be launched on. We’ve seen a few leaks of ICS revealing a sleeker design. An announcement  of both will be shortly before the launch November 3rd says PhanDroid. Carrier wise, the Nexus Prime will reportedly land on Verizon Wireless. A November 3rd release date makes sense, because of Verizon’s Thursday release schedule.

If PocketNow’s mock-up above is accurate, I think it’s pretty safe to say the iPhone 4S is going to get a run for its money. Here are some rumored specs.

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The image above is from a series of mock ups courtesy of designer Federico Ciccarese 

Coming from a potentially reliable, yet somewhat odd source, details regarding the yet to be announced next-gen Nexus have popped up on Twitter, in poem form.

Twitter user @tfleming223 sent out pieces of a poem he alleged hint at specs and release dates for the forthcoming Ice Cream Sandwich powered Google phone.

The poem (below) hints at a November 3rd launch date on Verizon, Ice Cream Sandwich rather than “ filling your belly with candies, jellies”, and the expected worldphone capabilities with a “GSM or wimax radios inside”. The date would line up with an October/November release of Ice Cream Sandwich, which was was recently confirmed by Eric Schmidt.

The poem even takes a stab at Apple’s upcoming iPhone‘s apparent lack of LTE:
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An anonymous 4chan user has posted their apparent, and detailed, account with the Samsung Nexus Prime. AndroidandMe has condensed the 4chan post down (seen after the break) to just the interesting key points.

The user says that Verizon apparently passed on the Galaxy S II to sign with Samsung to exclusively offering this next phone, which we expect to be called the Prime. Rumored specs for the device: Samsung’s Exynos dual core CPU clocked at 1.5GHz, 1gb RAM, Super AMOLED Plus 4.65 inch 1280×720 HD display, 16gb internal memory (with sd card slot) is 8.8mm thick, metal body and a 2000mAh battery (the same as the new one that’s being released for the Galaxy S II).

The user also says that the device did feature Ice Cream Sandwich, which he calls nice, but that it is version 2.4.1 and not 4.0. Perhaps they’re holding out on Jellybean?

Check out the other juicy details after the break:

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A new report by Foss Patents’ Florian Mueller this afternoon implies that Motorola will be given the lead to innovate with new versions of Android and be able to issue the lead device, before any Android OEMs get the chance. The report comes after an internal document (seen above) was published to the public by the judge of the current Oracle vs Google proceedings.  This Verizon/Motorola lead device is the XOOM tablet.  The next one will be Samsung.  Anything beyond that is speculation.

Hasn’t Google been developing a lead Android device for the last two years — aka Nexus and Nexus S?

With Gingerbread, Google released the updated OS on the Nexus S before it was given to any other OEM. They picked a specific OEM, in this case Samsung, to begin working on a device they pictured to be ideal for this version of Android to run on. Same with the original Nexus, which Google picked HTC.

All of this worry comes after Motorola was acquired by Google. Many analysts, speculators, and journalists assume that Google will turn to Motorola as being the one stop for releasing their new versions of Android. Compare this to what Apple does: one device that rules them all.

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This feels more like the Google Phone that was promised a year and a half ago – which was supposed to hit all carriers.  The carriers would then have to fight on prices and quality of service.

As of today, the Samsung Nexus S is now at Best Buy free with a two year plan on 3 of the 4 big US Networks. Get your Sprint, T-Mobile or AT&T Nexus S here.

Now, it almost feels like a new superphone running Ice Cream Sandwich is in the works.
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Sprint announced on their blog that they will be unveiling an update to their Nexus S 4G. The update will include tweaks to increase data speed, Wi-Fi connectivity, speakerphone audio quality, and adds TTY support for the deaf and hard of hearing. The update will be dubbed Android 2.3.5 and will be available Monday, July 25th.

Engadget has exclusively received the update to test data speeds. As you can see in the screenshot above, speeds were improved — even enough Engadget says the speed change is noticeable.

As rumored, Samsung just broke the news: The Google phone is finally coming to AT&T.  The Nexus S will be sold through Best Buy and Best buy Mobile (right next to the  Sprint and T-Mobile version) for $99 with a two year plan.  Interestingly, no mention of of ‘4G’, real or fake.

Now Verizon is the only major carrier not to carry the Nexus S.

Full release follows:
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Before it got pulled, TechHog showed off a picture of what they said was a Nexus 3 device that was to be made by HTC.  HTC obviously was the maker of the original Nexus One and has a pretty strong relationship with Google, even if it pays Microsoft patent fees for every Android device it ships.

Interestingly, the device above doesn’t have any permanent front facing buttons, much like the Honeycomb tablets that are being produced right now.

It stands to reason that software-only buttons will make their way down to phones in the next version of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich, which will combine the Honeycomb tablet versions of the Tablet OS and the Gingerbread phone versions.  Ice Cream sandwich is due later this year and Andy Rubin claimed that a Ice Cream Sandwich reference device was in the works before Christmas.

Is this it?

Techhog says the images were pulled at the request of an outside petitioner, though it isn’t clear who it is.  Google and HTC are obvious suspects.
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