NexusTwo
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Was the Nexus S nearly the Nexus Two?
Close your eyes: imagine an alternate universe where almost nothing you know holds true. A place where your entire system of beliefs has been torn asunder, flipped on its end for seemingly no reason whatsoever. How would you manage? How would you know right from wrong, up from down? Okay, now open your eyes, and feast them on this image -- proof that we came indescribably close to making that frightening, foreign world a reality. Seems the Nexus S that we all know today was at one time known as the Nexus Two -- internally, anyway -- because Google's official YouTube page for the phone makes numerous calls to a domain by the name of "nexustwophone.appspot.com" (and yes, appspot.com is a Google-owned domain). Why the name change happened is anyone's guess; could've been Sammy's desire to tie it in with the Galaxy S line, could've been Google's long-term goal to avoid the Nexus Six Bladerunner reference, could have been Rubin's last-minute whim. Whatever the case, thank goodness we all came out of this brush with destiny alive and relatively unhurt. Note: We're aware of the discussion that Samsung allegedly "didn't want to be number two," hence the "S" -- but whether the story is true, it's interesting to see just how close the Nexus Two name seems to have come to retail.
Nexus S poses for Mr. Blurrycam, flaunting those signature curves
That fine bastion of cellular modding prowess known as XDA-developers received some particularly savory snaps this fine Thanksgiving morn -- spy shots of Samsung's elusive Nexus S running an operating system that looks uncannily like Gingerbread, which it calls "Android version 2.3," and sporting a new back cover that would look perfectly normal on the original Samsung Galaxy S, if not for the extra curves. XDA's source also claims it has a 720p video camera, though other specs are still a little shaky. To be clear, this is most definitely the phone that Eric Schmidt showed us at the Web 2.0 Summit, though the rear cover looks much further along -- assuming Samsung hasn't scrapped it for a dual-core version, we wouldn't be surprised if we saw it again in person quite soon. Hit up our source link for some shots of a green-and-black operating system running on that AMOLED screen. [Thanks, Sid]
The Nexus S: a closer look
Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed the world the Nexus S from a distance just a little while ago, but we knew you'd want more, and so we managed to convince the man to show us the device in person just a few minutes ago. What should you know about the heir apparent to the Nexus One? Well, it's exceptionally thin -- we weren't able to compare, but we'd say it's at least comparable with an iPhone 4 if not slimmer still -- and it's thinner in the middle than at either end, giving it a mildly concave profile. There's a glossy plastic bezel up front housing an AMOLED screen, a pair of discrete volume buttons on the left side, and a black plastic back (textured similarly to the BlackBerry Bold, though patchier) which seemed too roughly manufactured to be anything but a prototype. We saw the handset for all of three seconds and weren't able to snap a single picture nor touch it for ourselves, but as Schmidt walked away he left us with one last lingering look at Gingerbread -- the screen shutting off. When he pressed the power button, the image winked out like an old CRT TV, an animation which you'll see a carbon copy of right after the break. %Gallery-107479%
Is this the Nexus S?
Woah, what do we have here? A new "In Store" web-based flier from Best Buy Mobile has this little nugget on its front page: a previously unseen Galaxy S, running stock Android (possibly 2.3, based on the green icons and black notifications bar) and harboring what looks to be a front facing camera. Sounds like a Nexus S to us! Paired with this morning's little Nexus S slip-of-the-tongue from Best Buy, we're starting to get our hopes up. Don't let us down, Google / T-Mobile / Samsung / Best Buy / planet earth! [Thanks, Ryan C.]
Nexus S for T-Mobile gets brief Best Buy Mobile nod: there and gone again
Well, this was rather unexpected. Earlier today, Best Buy Mobile published a humble (if not incomplete) ad for the "Nexus S for T-Mobile," touting both its "pure Google" experience (i.e. vanilla Android) and holiday availability exclusively from Best Buy. It's gone now, saved only by the grace of Google cache. To be honest, all we can do is speculate beyond that. An anonymous tipster to RadioAndroid pegged the Nexus S name late last month and claimed it would feature Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, and a Hummingbird processor. TechCrunch later described a Samsung-borne "Nexus Two" that has since been delayed due to some serious hardware issue. Is this a placeholder from the online devs? Does / did the S stand for Samsung, or something else entirely? And most importantly, is this presumed follow-up to Nexus One actually coming out, or did you just get your hopes up for nothing?
Nexus Two does (or doesn't) exist, is (or isn't) being released this year
After going most of the year with very little noise on the Nexus One's successor -- a phone Google has never committed to making, by the way -- we've gotten a handful of conflicting rumors about this thing in the past few days. Let's take a swipe at the buzz that's circulating this week: British publication City A.M. says the Nexus Two is a Carphone Warehouse exclusive, will be released in time for the holidays, and probably won't be made by Samsung. Android and Me is convinced that the Nexus Two will in fact be a Samsung product, will be announced at its November 8th press conference, will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread (assuming 3.0 is Honeycomb), and will be available on multiple carriers. Meanwhile, a quote from Google CEO Eric Schmidt from back in July may suggest there will be no Nexus One successor at all: "The idea a year and a half ago was to do the Nexus One to try to move the phone platform hardware business forward. It clearly did. It was so successful, we didn't have to do a second one." Of course, he goes on to say that the Nexus One's sudden sunset was a shining example of Google's "nimbleness" -- and since the quote is from nearly four months ago, there's little reason to doubt that the company could've easily done a 180 since then, particularly since we're sure they'd like to have a clean, skin-free, and possibly carrier-free device to showcase Gingerbread. At any rate, time's running out to get a product advertised and available in time to catch holiday buyers... so this'll all have to shake out pretty quickly. Update: Gizmodo says "a friend of [theirs] got to play with it," and they describe it as basically a Samsung Galaxy S with a front-facing camera and a stock build of Gingerbread that's still "really buggy." Is that really what you want to bring to the table as your Gingerbread flagship, Google?
Carphone Warehouse getting Nexus Two in time for holidays?
This is kinda out of the blue, but British publication City A.M. is claiming that Google has inked a deal with wireless retail giant Carphone Warehouse to exclusively sell a Nexus Two -- the mythical successor to the Nexus One -- in time for Christmas this year. Little else is offered, though the story claims that it'll run Gingerbread and probably won't be manufactured by Samsung. Of course, Google has already gone on the record basically declaring the Nexus One's sales model a failure, though it specifically cited customers' inability to get hands-on time with the phone before buying it as a big problem -- and signing up with a behemoth like Carphone Warehouse would certainly solve it. It's unclear whether regions outside the retailer's sphere of influence would also be on board, though it's important to note that Carphone Warehouse is in bed with Best Buy Mobile in the States... so if you believe the rumor, feel free to start lining up in front of your local big box right now. [Thanks, Alex]
Motorola Shadow is Nexus Two with sliding QWERTY keyboard?
Fan-made render? Very possible, but we're intrigued by the notion. The gang at Mobile01 have laid out two more photos of what is being called the Motorola Shadow (not to be confused with the T-Mobile Shadow), which in a nutshell looks like Droid / Milestone with a white keyboard and wrist strap. Even more interesting is the assertion that this could be Google's next flagship device, here lovingly dubbed the Nexus Two. Now while there is no way to corroborate at this point, we could totally buy this as feasible. After all, what better way to complement the Nexus One slate than with one with physical QWERTY? And who better than the company whose Android 2.0 device increased the platform's mindshare at supersonic speeds, with a CEO willing to signify support even at the launch event for a competitor's product? Color us curious -- wrist strap-laden render after the break [Thanks, Serge]
