[Update: Still Shot Procured] LIVE: Eric Schmidt Holding What Looks Like the Nexus S with Gingerbread
Well well well, rumors came out regarding the Web 2.0 conference and a Gingerbread announcement, but those were just rumors. And while today’s occurrence wasn’t a formal announcement by any means, Eric Schmidt took to the hot seat with a device that looks JUST LIKE the Nexus S seen spied in various angles. (Look at it, just sitting by Schmidt’s side as if tens of thousands of Android geeks don’t want to get their hands on it. How rude.) We believe this is the Nexus S due to the layout of the capacitive buttons with the “Home” button oddly sitting to the far right – just like the shot on the Best Buy Mobile Magazine’s site. Schmidt didn’t get into Gingerbread extensively, but we could tell that it was the same update that’s supposed to be emerging from the oven any day now. I wasn’t able to get a screen grab as this was going on live, but I’m sure you’ll be able to catch a peek a bit later on once this goes live for on-demand playback.
[Update]: A bit more from their talk with Schmidt. When asked about the Google Phone Store and a new Nexus, before they could even finish asking him, Schmidt clearly states: “I said there’d never be a Nexus ‘2’,” with extra umph on that ‘2’. So Schmidt’s biting his tongue about something, and we think we know what it is. He also stated that Gingerbread – and most likely the Nexus S that’ll be the first phone to don it – will be out within the next few weeks.
Another tidbit that leaked out was that this phone had near field communications capabilities, meaning you could potentially replace your credit cards with your phone or use it for some other NFC-based application. (Something one of our trusted sources tells us Google was looking to do with these next couple of iterations of Android.) The phone he was holding was running on T-Mobile’s network, as well, lining up perfectly with what we learned from Best Buy’s blunder earlier last week. Score!
[Update 2]: Thanks to Engadget, we’ve got the still of Eric Schmidt’s uber-rich hand holding the device right here. More stills courtesy of the fast folks at Engadget. Ooooh, bring it on!
