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Rumors again peg Samsung, LG, Sony, and HTC for Nexus phones this fall

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Rumors dating back to prior to the launch of the Nexus 7 suggested that Google would release not one, but several Nexus smartphones this fall with later leaks pointing to Samsung, Sony, and LG as well as HTC. Up to this point the most sure bet appears to be a Nexus device based on the LG Optimus G, while a new report claims that Google is loosening the reigns on its Nexus program and allowing any manufacturer to produce a Google-branded device provided they follow a few guidelines.

Long story short, a new report out of the often hit-or-miss Digitimes has it from inside sources that we can definitely expect Nexus devices from HTC, Sony, and Samsung on top of LG. There is also a good chance we will eventually see a Nexus device from Motorola. Word is that Google has begun providing its employees with new Nexus handsets for testing, but there is no indication of whether it is a single device or if Googlers have been given a choice of several. With a launch possibly slated for November, the rumors will likely come swift and plentiful over the coming weeks.

[via AndroidandMe]

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129 Comments

  1. I’m begging for 1080p, please. I know it doesn’t make a noticeable difference, but I just want to make my e-peen huge pixel wise.

    1. lol! Then don’t stop there… start begging for a 4k display on your phone! ;-)

      1. I’d take it!

        1. and the 2 second battery life it would take to power the screen? lol.

      2. Pfffft! Baraka and Samsara are both scanned in at 8K. I want to watch them on my phone at their native resolutions please. :P

      3. lol the smallest 4k screen is 20 inches by Panasonic 20 inch phone lol I dont think so.

        1. My comment and its context went right over your head, I see…

    2. I’m starting to think 1st 1080p phones will arrive in 2013, ill settle for a Optimus g 13mp 720p quad s4 only nexus flavored though.

      1. Note3 will be 1080p or I’ll eat my underwear.

    3. 1080p (400+ dpi) DOES make a noticable difference, if:
      1) HDMI output (upscaled 720p is ass). YES.
      2) You have awesome eyesight and can see pixels at 12″ @ 300dpi. MAYBE.
      3) You have average 20/20 eyesight and hold your phone closer than 12 inches (6 to 8) to your face. YES.

    4. Sounds like utter waste of processing point and battery life. 1280×720 @ 330 ppi is all I care about if it’s pentile (~4.5″).

  2. I’m begging for Galaxy Nexus Note II (w/1080p screen).

    1. Don’t we already know the specs for GN 2? It won’t have 1080p screen.

      1. *Nexus*

  3. I can’t wait!! I’m getting the Samsung or HTC depending on which one looks better and comes to Sprint!!

    1. no offense but I doubt you’ll have many choices being on a CDMA carrier

      1. How do you figure? Sprint has gotten the last 2 Nexus devices!

        1. Yeah that’s not the point… I’m saying you’re hoping for something that you might not get. If there are 5 Nexus devices and you want one of those 2 AND you’re on a CDMA carrier you might end up disappointed. I also have a bad feeling about any carriers getting Nexus phones. If they do it might be well beyond the original time frame for release.

          1. That doesn’t sound like a smart assumption. Verizon got the Galaxy Nexus 1st here in the States. And if Google really did shun the cdma carrier’s and customers out of Nexus devices they would lose a lot of potential business/customers. Most likely they will make the new Nexus device’s with radios that work on all carrier’s like the iPhone.

          2. I’m just saying we saw what happened with Verizon’s GN and it wasn’t good. A botched launch and slow support. Do you imagine any carrier picking up 2 of the Nexus devices? I don’t, and with possibly 5 Nexus devices coming out I’m just letting you know you shouldn’t get very attached to any of the manufacturers.

            The possibilities of carriers ruining a launch or even postponing a device or picking up one that you won’t be interested in is just too high.

          3. I hear you! But that happens with every device that gets announced. Verizon did f*** up on the Galaxy Nexus, and Sprint was late to the party but they alright. Let’s just say I have my fingers crossed that some things go right for a change. ^_^

  4. I’ll buy which ever one has a micro SD card slot.

    1. preach it brother!

    2. I’m guessing that based on all previous Nexus phones (Nexus One excluded) having no SD card slot is one of the “guidelines” that Google is enforcing on Nexus class phones =(. I hope not though. We’ll know when 3-4 OEMs produce Nexus phones and none of them have SD card slots while their skinned equivalent/variant does have them.

      1. The phandroids want SD. The people who don’t care about SD also don’t care about pure android. Not exactly a recipe for success.

        1. Don’t put words in our mouths. I don’t care about SD cards but will only go with vanilla android devices from here on out. I understand the reasons for moving away from them. SD cards are a stop gap….give us bigger internal storage.

          1. +1 to this. I’ve been rooted and rom’ed for a while now. I got the nexus on day one. I’ve been android from the beginning.
            But I could care less about an external SD slot. I want 32+ GB of internal storage and I’m happy.
            Transfer rates are slower anyway.

          2. Nope, I prefer smaller internal storage (8-16GB) and SD slots.
            I can easily carry hundreds of GBs in my wallet with whatever I want on them.
            With 1080p recording and increasing bit rates, people need A LOT of space for their videos.
            Cameras are at the point where few people need a dedicated point and shoot with the SD cards.

            Removable battery is also a MUST for me.

          3. Google has stated several valid reasons for the move away from SD cards:
            – Encourage standard of a single internal storage drive for everything (ever have a phone that ran out of space for apps even though it had more internal because the manufacturer partitioned it stupidly?)
            – MTP is way more stable than UMC for mounting storage (ever have a unclean ejection corrupt your sd card?)
            – Blah blah commonly stated speed issue of sd cards blah blah
            – With MTP you use all capabilities and disadvantages of the device filesystem. If the fs is in ext4 you can copy files over 4GB to the device, that you couldn’t in MSC mode because usually it will come formatted in FAT32, that is the most compatible fs for all operating systems.

    3. hopefully none

      1. Lets see how that works out for you when you break your phone and all your stuff is stuck on there. I used to use a Nexus One, a couple years ago it broke and i was quickly able to pop the SD into a new Nexus with all my settings, pictures, songs etc. right there! No downloads, wait times, or forgetting to upload. No wondering if some crooked employee at some cloud storage site is looking at my gf’s nudie pics.

        1. And if you already bought a nice 64 gig SD card, why would you let it go to waste?

          1. That would be a good reason to keep it. But you do know that apps actually perform slower if they’re on the SD card right? The app has to read from the SD card, so if your SD card is slow, the app will lag, and possibly crash if it can’t get the data in time. Of course if you have a good SD card, then you have nothing to worry about.

          2. You have an iPhone don’t you?

          3. Genious. Apps are stored on the SD card. So the app has to load the downloaded data from the SD card. If your SD card is slow, then the apps will transfer over slow. Thus taking longer to get the app up and started.

            But yes. My Epic 4G Touch is an iPhone. I’m so sorry I don’t know how apps on the SD card work.

    4. You do realize that apps work slower when they’re on the SD card right? And some apps actually have a higher chance of crashing if they’re on the SD card. A lot of people don’t know this. Though having one for extra storage is always nice.

      1. that’s not how it works :/ it keeps the core of the app on the phone while storing the content packages on the sd card. it simply preloads it from there. i miss being able to put apps to sd card. i used up all my 16 gb from my s3 all while i still have 15 gb free on my sd card.

        1. That’s what I just said, just worded differently. The apps would load slower if your SD card was slow. It’s not the fact that having external battery would suck, it’s if you have a slow SD card, then you will have a bad experience with apps on your SD card. Of course having the extra storage is good. I have a Nexus 7 with like 1GB left. I would love that extra storage. But a lot of people complain about apps crashing, and most of these apps they complain on are on their SD card. I read this from an actual developer.

          1. Class 10 micro SD. Is there a problem now? No there isn’t…

          2. Oh my gosh. I stated that if you have a slow SD card the apps would work slow. If you have a V12 Class 10 300 Horse Power SD card then there is no problem. You have an advantage. LoL!!

      2. imho one would assume the extra storage will be used to capture 1080p videos, and hosting a library of flac,where there are low data caps and or bad reception
        cloud storage is by no means a replacement for cheap sd storage

        i use it for flac (64gb is not enough for that lol),video capture,titanium backups (huge games i downloaded while at home using wifi) when i don’t use something i move it to the sd

      3. How many times do we have to go through this? I don’t want to put apps on the micro SD card. I want to put my music, pictures, and backups there. Is it so hard to understand that not everyone wants to put apps on the SD card?

        1. Did you just completely skip over my last sentence? Extra storage is nice. All my extra large videos go on my SD card. I don’t put apps on my SD card. They crash.

    5. it wont be htc

    6. and a removable battery

      1. With the efficiency of today’s phones and the size of the batteries that are in them, you shouldn’t be killing your battery. I’ve had my Evo 4G LTE since May and can honestly say I have yet to kill the battery.

        1. I have the Evo 4G LTE and the battery is amazing.

        2. Usually people want to be able to remove their battery for software reasons: Bootloop, systemui freeze, etc. etc.

          It’s not always to pop in a fresh battery.

    7. Nexus phones don’t have them, nor is it a necessity.

  5. Wolfson audio (So supercurio can work his magic), bright display, 4.7″, on-screen keys, S4 Pro, 2GB64GB, and radiosGPS that, ya know…actually work.

    That is all.

    1. if it has on-screen keys, a bigger screen (>4.7″) would be better IMO

    2. You sir read my mind. 4.7-5″ would be ideal.
      Add a decent sized battery and you would have something special :D

    3. Unfortunately that last part eliminated Samsung.

    4. I like most of what you say… and the camera needs to improve greatly from the Gnex. Otherwise, I’d prefer the screen in the 4.3″ range for a smaller/thinner device. No interest in a phablet. I’d still probably get it if its ~4.65″ which is likely. Battery life needs to be on par with the iPhone 5 too.

  6. I just need at least one to come to Verizon and it better have onscreen nav keys

  7. I hope things don’t go like last year with vzw and Samsung galaxy nexus. That was horrible. And please make a phone that lasts longer then 4 hrs. Cuz my galaxy nexus lasts 4 hrs with 1hr of screen on. I lost 5 percent writing this lol

    1. It’s always going to be that way when it has to do with verizon.

      1. My GS3 on Verizon gets almost 2 days!

        1. I know my sister has one and she gets like 5 hrs of screen on and I’m like what the heck and I’m using the extended oem battery from Samsung. And I’m getting crap screen on time sometimes only 40 min and it dies

          1. You guys need to recalibrate your battery, and or switch to franco kernel.
            To calibrate, let then phone run down to 0 and let it shut off. Wait ten mins with the phone off, then power it back on, let it die and shut off again. Then repeat until the phone no longer powers on. Then charge and you will find your battery life is massively increased. You can do this every so often to re-calibrate.

            This is the recommended way to re-calibrate the battery. I did this by accident, and was surprised when all of a sudden I as getting amazing battery life, before this it was s#@#.

          2. Thanks for the heads up. Will try this today when my G-Nexus dies.

          3. You should be getting a lot better battery life than that. If you’re rooted, get Better Battery Stats from the Play Store… it helps you track down what is using up your battery. If you don’t use Google Talk, make sure it is disconnected (it’s connects to your Google account by default, and uses a ton of battery while connected).

          4. Thanks it was on and just turned it off.I’m running cygenmod nightlies. I just came from jelly belly but same thing with battery life. I’ll try to go the wipe battery status thing but tried it before with no luck. I have 3 batteries do I have to calibrate every battery?

          5. Thanks for the tip, just signed off. Hopefully now my battery will last longer…..I’ve been using AOKP for the past 2 weeks on my vzw G-Nexus and battery has been the worst that I have seen…

        2. I wasn’t referring to battery life. I was referring to Verizon’s need to mess with and control everything.

    2. Wow… sorry for you, that sucks. :
      My Galaxy Nexus battery level is at 33% after 1d 8h.
      I’m not on Verizon though.

  8. Please let there be a nexus note 2!

    1. Who the ef downvoted this? C’mon people! lol

      I don’t see it happening though cause the Note software isn’t Google software, meaning the stuff for the s-pen.

      1. It could still work. Linux has contained support for wacom and active digitizers in general long before Android even existed. You just lose Samsungs apps, but their are apps in the appstore that take advantage of active digitizers.

        1. Ooooo good points! I’ll take my Nexus Note plz!

  9. Why no Motorola? Come on, Google has made it clear they’re not going to be biased, but now they’re actually giving Motorola LESS attention than everyone else.

    Motorola + Nexus would be truly epic.

    1. After the motofail, I don’t think a lot of people care.

    2. Because a takeover of a company does not instantly translate to the results you want. It takes time and expecting any Motorola Nexus this year just because Google took it over recently is like expecting to lose 100 pounds tomorrow because you did one push up today.

      1. That’s the thing. I’m not expecting a Moto Nexus phone because Google took them over, I’m expecting one because the other two major Android OEM’s (HTC and Sammy) have each got at least one crack at it.

        Motorola makes epic hardware, combined with Google’s incredible software, it would be legendary, like the original Moto Droid.

  10. I enjoy reading stories about Nexus phones, but I’d really enjoy someone from Google leaking some data about a 10″ Nexus tablet.

  11. Hmmm HTC or lg… Idk if I could decide!

    1. seems like a simple answer since lg is horrible in regards to both hardware and software.

    2. That isn’t even a question IMHO. LG ruined me with the G2x. I will never own a product of theirs again. And HTC had already won me with my first smartphone, the G1. So, as I said, not even a question. (Though I LOVE my GSIII. :D )

  12. Google is opening up the Nexus program so they can get pure Google software on pure Motorola hardware without giving an “unfair advantage”

    1. Now that’s a good thought!!

    2. Best idea.

  13. My Nexus 7 died today :(

    1. Wha!!?? How??

      1. Well, I was using it and the screen just went black and had “staticky” flickering across it. Kinda like an old school tv on a channel with no reception, but the static was colored & there was a higher level of black. It would not allow me to power down. While on the phone with Google, it finally powered down and upon powering back up to my homescreen it did the same thing. I’ve had it sitting in a charger all day hoping that it would be ok again after fully charging (just to avoid waiting for a replacement to be shipped), but I just checked it after 3 hours of charging and it says the battery is only at 12%.

        1. Wow that’s crazy! I hope the replacement is better because I love these tablets. Good luck.

          1. UPDATE: Well, by this evening it has fully charged and seems to be back to working order…gonna play with it until end of day tomorrow…and may have to put the replacement on hold.

          2. Did customer service give any explanation? Or they were just ready to replace?

          3. They apologized and were ready to replace. The gentleman actually said, “That can’t be good.”

          4. Lol. Well glad to hear it’s working! Good luck.

  14. So in other words… pretty much ANYBODY could be making or not making a Nexus device.

    Am I the only one would thinks it’s kind of strange the Nexus leaks aren’t more substantial? It seems like Google is even better at keeping secrets than Apple these days.

    1. Apple is terrible at keeping secrets. Google has always been better.

    2. Be patient…they are just getting started if last year is any indication.

  15. If Google is really doing this Nexus program thing then there are three things that I would expect them to do: 1. Google controls the software updates! 2. Google sells them on google play with THEIR pricing so they would control the pricing like with the Galaxy Nexus. 3. Have the best version of each manufacturer’s flagship device.

  16. PLEASE BE SONY SONY XPERIA NEXUS!! im trying to hold out my upgrade till then

  17. If this is true then I will be very interested to see a Nexus designed by Sony.

  18. November is my birthday I just cannot wait for all these nexus device to choose from! :D

    1. Mine too, but I don’t plan on a new phone until next year. Maybe they’ll be affordable by then.

  19. i just dont like this idea…make one flag ship device. update the hell outta it. just seems like multiple chipsets being upgraded simultaneously screams issues…agree on one oem to produce your hardware and stick with it.

    1. what if the chipset is part of the guideline?

  20. I am a Google fanboy. As a Google fanboy, I in no way want to sound like I am saying anything positive about Apple or the iPhone. That being said, I would rather not see multiple Nexus devices put out by multiple manufacturers. If a new Nexus device is to arrive this year, I don’t mind if Samsung, Sony, LG, or whoever else puts it out, but I wish it was just one of them. If you want an iPhone, you really only have one or two choices. You can buy the new iPhone 5 or buy the iPhone 4S. If someone sees a person with an iPhone and asks ‘is that an iPhone 5?’ the person can say ‘ yes’ or ‘no, it is an iPhone 4S’. Everyone knows exactly what the iPhone is. If you want a pure Android phone, you buy the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (yeah yeah yeah, or you can root whatever phone you have). With multiple Nexus phones, the Nexus loses it’s identity. ‘Is that a Nexus?’…’Acutally it is the LG Optimus G Nexus. I was going to go with the Motorola Droid Maxx 4G LTE HD Nexus or the HTC One X+ VX Nexus, went with LG instead.’ To me, that makes these phones sound way more complicated, and harder to remember than an iPhone. Google should team up with one manufacturer and have the Nexus be something exclusive. Not exclusive to a carrier, but different than every other Android phone. Market the Nexus so it becomes a household name, the same as the iPhone.
    TL;DR Nexux should made by one manufacturer

    1. good point, plus the added (dreaded) “should have gone with the lg instead on the moto…lg sends out updates a lot faster!!” At least with one phone we’re all in it together lol

    2. Are people really that dumb that they can’t handle multiple Nexus models?

    3. I disagree and think that any manufacturer should be able to make one as long as they follow the guidelines. I do think the names should just be Samsung Nexus, LG Nexus, Sony Nexus etc though, cause the names tend to get ridiculous. Android is about options and I want more.

    4. yeah its confusing if you drive a ford model T…

      cars come up with bazillions of variety. there’s no reason why phones can’t.

  21. Since I’m still an Afanboy, awesome! Super mega phone! It’s going to pwn i5 even more! Rip apple. Die Steven jobs! Die Tim! Long live android!

    1. keep in mind that these guys have family. wishing someone to die is moronic. you’re not proving your point other than acting like an immature a$$

      1. When I said iphone is good, android fans say those stuff to me. Now I’m just saying what they had said… Pleasing android fans sure is hard.

  22. I certainly hope the rumors are true! I want me some Nexus options!

  23. I can’t wait

  24. My 12 step program to the ideal Nexus phone:

    1) Samsung or HTC.
    2) 4.3″ 1280×720 SAMOLED display (the ideal display size IMO, anything bigger looks silly and is too big for 1 handed use for the avg person) (Note: that PPI may not be possible with OLED even with Pentile)
    3) Snapdragon S4 Pro
    4) 1GB+ RAM
    5) 16GB+ storage
    6) VERY good camera (8MP+) (competitive with iPhone 5)
    7) VERY good battery life with LTE. (competitive with iPhone 5)
    8) MHL support
    9) Notification Indicator
    10) Thin (8-9mm), compact (thin bezel), excellent build quality (competitive with iPhone 5)
    11) ALL carriers supported and unbranded, including Verizon (competitive with iPhone 5)
    12) $199 on contract.

    Running an updated build of Android (4.2 or something) with guaranteed updates for 2 years from Google (and hopefully CyanogenMod).

    1. I actually don’t care for “thin”. It feels like that the phone is going to fly out of my hand. That’s why I try to find these heavy cases for my phones. Like my E4GT. It just feels so light. When I 1st got it, after having the G2, I almost through it. Like no lie. LoL!!

    2. we might be on the same page, however i don’t mind my s3 4.8 inch screen. it’d be even better if it had on screen navigation though so the phone would actually be smaller.

  25. What? Are wii posting about our dream Nexus?
    Well the Nexus 2 would be nice; track pad; possibly resembling the G2, meaning a full qwerty keyboard; 4-inch, similar in size of the Moto Photon Q. I think that would be nice. I don’t care too much for specs. I’m sure whatever they put in it would be up to par with the current standards. I’m sure HTC wants to make this phone for me. =.D

    1. sorry but i couldn’t respect a phone with a keyboard. i truly believe that if people took the time with an on screen keyboard, they could be just as efficient and possibly more.

      1. I do try. But there are just some things that software keyboards don’t catch. Like “tue” instead of “the”. I know SwiftKey catches it, but I don’t like how it spaces. Like some times it spaces when I’m trying to fix certain words.

        Stock Android keyboard catches my “v” and “b” instead of space. I use that sometimes, but I like Thumb Keyboard. It has that input text ability. But that’s the worst one. It always freezes up when I’m typing, so it won’t auto-correct. And it’s not that smart as the other keyboards.

        The software keyboards have a little of everything I want. One keyboard has one feature, while the other keyboard has what I want. So I just stick with hardware. LoL!!

  26. Motor Nexus!

  27. We need OFFICAL leaked info!! Not all these “oh we hope this” and “oh 1080p screen on my watch”
    If it’s hard enough to hide ONE phone from the new, imagine hiding 4-5 phones!! Where are the leaked photo or specs?!

  28. Maybe this is y verizon didnt pick up the LG Optimus G because they plan on getting the Optimus Nexus

  29. Hopefully one of the guidelines is to have at least 32GB of internal memory on the Nexus….

  30. i love android but there is no reason to release key lime pie already. my gs3 doesn’t even have jellybean yet. and PLEASE no more sammy nexus devices. the gnexus was a utter disaster.

    1. “the gnexus was a utter disaster”

      ….you poor misguided cdma users.

  31. what if nexus with every vendor is Googles answer to fragmentation? every phone will be a nexus just a thought.

  32. I’ll take one with a 5+ inch 1280×800 screen, 64GB plus an empty sd slot, 2GB of ram and all the typical stuff that’s top of the line right now plz.

  33. This is a big step forward in Android history. I’m also excited to see what else there is in 4.2.

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  35. Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between Nexus devices and other Android devices?

  36. =) Owner of 2 original razrs, (yes I know not a smart phone). And now razr maxx. I felt bad for moto customers who bought the orginal driod razr, then they release the mazxx. Happy I have the maxx. It has not let me down. Disapointed yes that it will not be even a year old when the maxx hd is avalible. But to me moto makes solid phones. So much that I am temped to save all my fun money just to purchase the maxx hd when its avalible. And YES Im excited about google n moto being together. Oh please give us Droid Nexus Maxx HD PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! =)

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