Someone in the marketing department at Best Buy apparently did not watch the Samsung/Google event that took the rest of the world by storm on October 18. That would be the day that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus was unveiled to the world, bringing it from rumored “Nexus Prime” to official and coming to the U.S. with 4G LTE capabilities. They also need to go back to October 21 in their inboxes to look for unread emails from Verizon’s PR. That would be the day Big Red made themselves the exclusive U.S. carrier of the phone, referring to it in every sentence as the “Galaxy Nexus.”

Nexus Prime, just a code name. Always was. Galaxy Nexus on the other hand, is the retail name of the world’s first Ice Cream Sandwich device. It’s also not a part of the Galaxy SII family as Best Buy seems to think in the ad up top. If you can’t tell, we aren’t buying the idea that Verizon has all of a sudden changed their mind and decided to call this the Prime after more than a month of referring to it publicly and internally as the G-Nex.

Who the hell says that Verizon has any choice in the name of this anyway? This is Google’s baby, and they dubbed it the Galaxy Nexus. Why would Google and Samsung release this phone to the world as the G-Nex, yet decide to change it up a bit here in the States as the Nexus Prime? Makes absolutely no sense. The Nexus One was the Nexus One everywhere in the world. Same with the Nexus S.

And let’s not forget that BBY once referred to the XOOM as the “DROID XOOM” even though we had all known for weeks that the “DROID” brand had been dropped. So yeah, let’s not jump to a bunch of crazy conclusions and think that Verizon and Best Buy are selling separate exclusive versions or had a sudden change of heart with just a couple of weeks left to go before launch. It’s the Galaxy Nexus, my friends. This is just a pre-printed BBY guide that has hasn’t been updated.

One more shot after the break.  

And if it ends up as the Nexus Prime, call me the most surprised man on the face of the Earth.

Via:  Android Forums

Best Buy Seems Confused, Calls Galaxy Nexus the “Nexus Prime 4G LTE” in New Flyer is a post from: Droid Life

OK, so it says “Nexus Prime” in Best Buy’s Cellebrite system, but we all understand now that Prime was just a code name, right? The retail name – at least according to a couple of our sources as well as a variety of independent reports – will be Galaxy Nexus (SCH-i515). We now have the device in Verizon Cellebrite, VZW Device Management, and at Best Buy. Feels good, doesn’t it?

So what about this “exclusive” talk? Just a thought we wanted to toss out. The original Nexus S that launched with support for T-Mobile was a Best Buy exclusive. You still to this day (to my knowledge), cannot walk into a T-Mo store and buy a Samsung Nexus S – it has to be done through BBY.

Could the same happen for the G-Nex? We will hopefully know for sure next week. The odd thing many of you have noticed is the lack of Verizon anywhere near the  announcement for the device and Ice Cream Sandwich. They weren’t mentioned in the original event that was scheduled to take place in San Diego nor are they listed for the new Hong Kong spot. That leads me to believe that this could end up with Best Buy and not at Big Red stores. Can’t say I’m the biggest fan of that approach as it limits everyone’s access to it, but it is what it is. Again, just a thought – have not heard that this will actually happen.

Update: One of readers below brought up an excellent point since many of us will be buying this phone at full retail (off contract). The problem with Best Buy selling it exclusively then, would be the fact that they jack up the full retail price on their phones. For example, the Bionic is $699 at BBY and only $569 at Verizon.

Cheers DL app tipster!

Galaxy Nexus Also Shows Up in Best Buy Cellebrite System, Will It Be Their Exclusive? is a post from: Droid Life

If CTIA had gone as planned, we probably would have had more Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus talk today than any normal human being could handle. But since things did not go as originally scheduled, we were left this morning with an empty 11:00AM slot to think about what could have been. And during that time, we found ourselves looking at the significance of this device. Not only will it be Verizon’s first Nexus (assuming it does end up as the Galaxy Nexus), but it’s the first to launch with Android 4.0. Two incredible things to think about.

Long time VZW Android enthusiasts have longed to finally get a Nexus – a device that receives updates directly from Google and is as unlocked and bare as you can find. It’s really a dream phone for any uber-geek. Throw in the fact that it will run on Big Red’s 4G LTE network and you’ve got history in the making.

But then there is the fact that we finally get to see ICS – the version of Android that would merge both tablet and phone operating systems into one. Most of us expect this to be a massive upgrade over Gingerbread in UI, polish and features.

Which one is more important though? The biggest network finally getting its first Nexus or a phone finally running Ice Cream Sandwich? I personally would lean towards the option of this being the first Nexus on Verizon, but then again, ICS is a real game changer.  Thoughts?

Tuesday Poll: More Significant – Verizon’s First Nexus or the Release of Ice Cream Sandwich? is a post from: Droid Life

Fire up the wacky Galaxy Nexus rumor mill! With the Samsung/Google CTIA event no longer happening, the gossip has started flowing in waves. What do we have this morning? A couple of things to note. First, is Samsung UK’s sales director who confirmed to T3 that we will see the Galaxy Nexus (aka Nexus Prime) “sooner” than the second part of this post would lead you to believe.  

Here is his quote after receiving an award for their Galaxy SII:

“You will have an announcement of the Nexus Prime very shortly and will be seeing it in shops sooner than you think”

Sounds great, right? Not according to rumor machine Eldar Murtazin, who as an industry reporter, has been pretty hit or miss over the years. And his sources are telling him that some features in Ice Cream Sandwich have come in to question in this never ending patent battle with Apple, leading to a delay.

Buying a delay? I’m not willing to just yet. Every person I have talked to over the last week is under the impression that the next Nexus and ICS will be here around the end of the month.

Update:  9to5Google received word from an “impeccable source” saying that invites to the new Samsung/Google event will be sent out in the next couple of days and that there is no dispute over ICS features.

Ahh rumors.

Via:  T3, Twitter, Phandroid

Cheers John and Walt!

Galaxy Nexus Coming “Sooner than you think” or Delayed Because of Dispute with Apple? (Updated) is a post from: Droid Life

In case you need additional proof that the next Nexus will be known as the Galaxy Nexus when launched, look no further than the photos uploaded to Picasa from a couple of Google employees – one of which works on the Android team. The EXIF data, which you can see above, clearly states the name that we expect to be attached to the phone come launch.

The photos only weigh in at 3MP, but don’t be worried by that. It could easily have to do with the service that was used to upload the photos or maybe these photogs aren’t into 2MB file size shots.

Everyone OK with the Galaxy Nexus? Nexus Prime sounds all robotic and transformer-like, but remember that we saw a merging of Samsung and Google brands last year with the Nexus S. Now, if only we could get a reschedule date for the event that was originally planned for today and we could get on with our lives.

To see the photos, hit up the source link.

Via:  AndroidNext

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Mentioned in Photo EXIF Data, Buying That Name Yet? is a post from: Droid Life

After hearing that the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich announcement was postponed, things seemed to have quieted over the weekend. Let’s go ahead and ramp them back up, shall we?

First, take a look at the new render up above that was created from Samsung’s CTIA teaser and the hands-on video that took the world by storm on Friday morning. That is probably about as close as we will get to an official looking mock-up until the phone is announced in the next couple of weeks. Is this not one of the sexiest phones we have ever seen?    

Next, we have potential dimensions for the phone thanks to one of our readers. In the image below, he scaled it up against the original DROID to get a height of 5.26″ and a width of 2.62″ along with that 4.65″ diagonal screen. It’s not going to be the next hummer Thunderbolt, and will fit nicely in your pocket as almost all Samsung phones do.

The next subject that was attacked this weekend was the thought of the 4.65″ screen being far too big. I guess I thought we had covered the idea that the extra size was due to the on-screen buttons, but quite the conversation was started over it on a variety of sites and wanted to bring it up here.

So yes folks, the screen is 4.65″, but during normal use there will only be 4.3″ or 4.5″ of usable screen – the rest of the space is for the on-screen buttons. The cool thing here, is that during video playback or games, the buttons will more than likely be hidden like on the XOOM and Honeycomb, giving you the full 720p experience.  (via: reddit, geek.com):

Talking about this phone never gets old. There are so many things going on here that should make this the phone to beat for the foreseeable future. Any thoughts on the screen or dimensions?

Top render via Tumblr. Cheers Greg, sperho and everyone else!!

Galaxy Nexus Updates: Possible Dimensions, New Render and Usable Screen Size Thanks to On-Screen Buttons is a post from: Droid Life

So as of Friday, Verizon cut the price on the DROID Charge all the way down to just $199 on contract. Anyone wondering why?  I’d say it’s because the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is only a couple of weeks away and is reportedly the Charge’s replacement.  (We know in the grand scheme of thing that it is much more than that, but it’s model number makes it look that way.)

It’s pretty well known around these parts that the next Nexus is headed to Big Red first as the SCH-I515. And of course, with the Charge being the SCH-I510, it only makes sense that VZW would look to move all remaining stock since there will be no reason to purchase this phone once the G-Nex is out.

For those of you looking at a phone with a beautiful Super AMOLED Plus screen though, you may want to…well, I can’t in my right mind tell you to buy this phone now, knowing what is coming.  A leak to our inbox pegs the G-Nex for a 10/27 launch, but that date could easily change over the next few weeks.

Buy.

Cheers to everyone who sent this in!

Verizon Drops Price on DROID Charge to $199, I Think We Know Why is a post from: Droid Life

Click here to view the embedded video.

The boot animation from the Nexus Prime aka Galaxy Nexus that was teased to us earlier in the week is now available for everyone to play with.  The instructions we have are for flashing in Clockwork Recovery, but if you aren’t rooted, you will have to do it the old fashioned way by extracting and moving the bootanimation.zip into /data/local or wherever your particular phone pulls media from.

Sexy, isn’t it?  

Download:  Nexus_Prime_Boot.zip

Instructions:

1.  Download the file from above an drop it on your SD card.
2.  Reboot your phone into recovery.
3.  Choose “install zip from sd card.”
4.  ”Choose zip from sd card.”
5.  Select the file you downloaded from above.
6.  Once it finishes running choose “Go Back” and then reboot!

Via:  MyDroidWorld

Download: Nexus Prime Boot Animation is a post from: Droid Life

The non-Verizon Nexus Prime aka Galaxy Nexus (GT-I9250) made its way into the FCC yesterday sporting both T-Mobile and AT&T radios. I know that this may disappoint our readers who were expecting this to be exclusive to Big Red when it first launches, but don’t worry, because that could still happen.

We received a press invite yesterday from a company at CTIA who let slip this line – “I know we’re up against the Samsung/Google news and the Verizon announcement…”  I would say that the goal initially was to let Samsung and Google do their thing on stage which would be followed by a press release from VZW on dates for the phone.  Now, we know none of that will be happening next week after hearing of a postponement, but I’d say the LTE version will still be the first out.

Don’t be surprised if you see the SCH-I515 cruise through the FCC next week.

Via:  FCC

Non-Verizon Nexus Prime Cruises Through FCC, AT&T and T-Mobile Radios Included is a post from: Droid Life

While you were dreaming about sugar plum fairies a Romanian tech site was busy posting a video about the coveted Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Interestingly enough, they refer to the phone as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Prime. Nonetheless, the 1:28 video is clean and for once not a blurry-cam, this looks to be the real deal folks.

Ice Cream Sandwich looks slick and as expected an evolution of Android 3.0 Honeycomb. The tech site is reporting that the device is running a TI OMAP 4460 dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex A9 processor with 1GB RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, a 5-megapixel rear shooter that can shoot 1080p and a 1.3 front facing camera. The 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD screen has a 1280×720 resolution, and of course this baby is running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. These specs are identical to the ones reported yesterday from BGR, and confirmed by our overlord Kellex.

When you get this kind of news right when you wake up, you know you will be having a good day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via: Mobilissimo, Gadget.ro

Massive Samsung Galaxy Nexus Leak, Video and Much Much More is a post from: Droid Life

GSMArena has apparently received a tip from an “anonymous” tipster who works at Google, yet is…anonymous. This source claims that the real Nexus, which they are referring to as the “Nexus Prime” has completely different specs than the ones released this morning for the Galaxy Nexus.

Their source suggests that this phone will actually run Samsung’s new 1.5GHz Exynos processor – a chip that has yet to even go into sampling and was just announced last week.  It will also pack a PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, 8MP camera, and 2050mAh battery.  The screen though, is indeed the 4.65″ Super AMOLED HD that was reported earlier.

So what do we make of this?  Well, if this device truly exists, it is NOT the Galaxy Nexus.  The G-Nex is as was reported earlier.  I know people with the phone that are not “anonymous” and believe what they have told me.  

So what is this unicorn that the anonymous Google tipster speaks of?  I would bet that if it exists, could be the Nexus Prime or the non-Verizon Nexus that is expected to come out towards the end of the year or beginning of 2012.

It sounds like a wonderful device, but there are too many things going on here that would suggest it won’t be announced next week at CTIA.  The fact that the processor will start sampling this quarter means there is almost a 0% chance that it will make it into a retail device in the next few weeks. Remember, the Galaxy Nexus has been rumored time and time again to be available at the end of October/early November. Let’s also not forget that Texas Instruments has been flaunting their relationship with Google for Ice Cream Sandwich for months.

My thoughts are that the Galaxy Nexus is the SCH-I515 and is headed to Verizon at the end of this month. The unicorn Nexus Prime could be the GT-I9250 and will be the non-Verizon Nexus released early next year.

You guys tell me what you think. What a day, eh? Anyone else wishing it was Tuesday, October 11?

Update:  Is there a chance that the phone referenced above is a version similar to the Galaxy SII LTE HD and ready for a stateside appearance?  I guess we have all been surprised before.  I just know that the device that is currently floating around to some pretty major players, is not that phone and is the one mentioned time and time again this morning that is known as the Galaxy Nexus.  Would it be amazing if Samsung and Google surprised us with this SGS2 LTE HD variant in a last second swap?  You betcha. We’ll know on Tuesday.

Update 2:  Check out this mock-up that was posted to Tumblr (not real of course):

Via:  GSMArena

Possible “Nexus Prime” Specs Sneak Out This Afternoon, This Isn’t the Galaxy Nexus (Updated) is a post from: Droid Life

(Click for full version)

The Galaxy Nexus (or Nexus Prime) that made a brief appearance last night in Samsung’s teaser video for their CTIA event next week, has been polished up and presented to us in a shiny little package from one of our readers.

It’s obvious that the screen has a slight curve to it, but we are also getting a nice look at those odd dock notches on the side which are just down from Samsung’s famous side lock switch.  You can see the bottom hump that was included in the Nexus S and Galaxy SII, plus a possible camera housing on the other side of it.  The grey metallic color is a nice surprise after seeing black phone after black phone for the last year.

This phone needs to get here now.  Sexy doesn’t even do it justice.

Cheers Greyhaven7!

Beautiful Galaxy Nexus Render Created from Samsung Teaser is a post from: Droid Life

Samsung  just released an updated Nexus teaser video. This is exactly the same as the previous version but adds two things of mention. There is a new combination – a bride and groom, plus a cheap shot at the expense of Apple and the so-so changes that were announced for their new handset yesterday. Or of course, it could just be a hint that this device will have a beautifully ‘curved’ screen.

This added bit definitely gives the video some more spice and of course, we still love looking at this device from the side. 

Hurry up and show us the whole device, Sammy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Samsung Updates Nexus Teaser, Mentions Screen Tech and Takes Mini-shot at Apple is a post from: Droid Life

Click here to view the embedded video.

This may just be our moment.

Yesterday Apple held their “Let’s Talk iPhone” event, revealing the iPhone 4S. While most (including myself) were expecting a redesigned iPhone 5, Apple decided to iterate on the internals of the iPhone 4, much like they did with the jump between the iPhone 3G and the 3GS. The improvements made to the device are great, but it left many disappointed. In fact, almost 60% of the people polled at TiPB (an iOS enthusiast blog) said that they were not going to get the iPhone 4S.

So far I’ve been skeptical about what Ice Cream Sandwich will bring. I’ve been worried that ICS will be another iterative improvement, much like Gingerbread was. After watching the above video, however, I’m a lot more excited. The message of the video is cryptic, but it’s exciting to think that we’ll finally be able to see something new from Google.  

The thing that excites me most, however, is the idea that the Nexus Prime (or Galaxy Nexus or whatever) might actually best the iPhone 4S on some specs. I have no idea what the processor or RAM will be, but I’m sure they’ll be competitive. Hopefully Samsung will include an amazing camera and hopefully the ICS camera will show some marked improvements in speed and usability. With a cleaned up UI, ICS may even bring the polish that many of us have been clamoring for to really compete with iOS.

The screen on the Galaxy Nexus may be a big selling point for a lot of us. As we reported earlier this week, GSMArena scored an early shot of the Nexus Prime. The lack of any physical buttons was to be expected, but what I did not expect was a better resolution than the iPhone’s. The iPhone’s screen resolution has been one of the major things that I really liked about the phone and disliked about phones like the Incredible 2 and even the Droid Bionic. Sure, Motorola and others have begun to use qHD screens, but the iPhone still had the best screen available. It looks like that may be about to change with the Nexus Prime.

I can remember when the Nexus One was first announced. I was absolutely ecstatic. I loved the design, the new OS, the Nexus logo, and the potential for me to have the best Android phone on the best U.S. carrier (Verizon). When none of that panned out, I was disappointed, but I hoped that we would one day see a return of the Nexus program in full swing on all carriers.

When the Nexus S came out last year I was very, very disappointed. It was a Samsung Galaxy S with stock Gingerbread. I liked it, but it wasn’t as innovative as the Nexus One before it had been. The Nexus One was a brand new device by HTC with state of the art specs, whereas the Nexus S was really just a celebration of all things 2010. I have a feeling that the Nexus Prime will be a phone that jumps the curve and that outdoes the competition in some meaningful ways. We’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to find out, but my hopes have definitely been raised.

The iPhone 4S is a great product, but it’s essentially the same phone that Apple shipped 15 months ago. The Nexus Prime might be the phone that shows consumers what innovation should look like in this new era of mobile technology. This is a rare moment where Android’s main competition has failed to really do anything that the average consumer will notice. Sure, Siri is a massive improvement in voice recognition software and the camera looks great, but overall it’s the same old device. The Nexus Prime just may be our shot at showing the world that Android can go head to head with the iPhone and come out on top because unlike Apple, Google doesn’t stop innovating.

What do you think? Will the Nexus Prime blow the competition out of the water? Will you be disappointed if it’s just a Galaxy SII with stock Android? Sound off in the comments to let us know.

This May Be Our Moment [Opinion] is a post from: Droid Life

Last night’s Nexus-fest that started after Samsung posted a teaser to their CTIA event has already created enough talking points to take us through to next Tuesday.  The video did not give us much, but as with any teaser, folks spotted what they believe to be hidden messages like the one we are about to talk about.

The topic of the video was the idea that some things are just better when they are put together:  candles and wine, cookies and milk, newspaper and coffee, etc.  So when G+ member Joe Lancaster paused it when the new Nexus showed up, he noticed an extra shadow or outline behind it that he believes may be a tablet of some sort. His idea – that the Nexus that will be unveiled will also have the ability to be docked inside a tablet.  

Seem crazy?  Yeah, pretty much, but let’s talk about it.  See those 3 pinholes on the left side?  Those look like docking connectors of some sort.  It certainly seems odd that a phone would dock on the same side as its lock switch, but the MHL port is likely on the bottom so they needed to move them somewhere.  The logistics of it all seem impossible, but with a “better together” theme, we should keep our minds open to all possibilities.

With that said, Samsung could simply be referring to Ice Cream Sandwich which is the merging of a phone operating system with one from a tablet.  And the shadow that looks like a tablet behind the Nexus is just a visual opportunity for that idea to be displayed.  That’s a pairing that Google has been talking about for quite some time.  It could also mean that Samsung and Google are just better together among other things.

Interesting idea – and this is why we love teasers.

And the video one more time because it’s that awesome.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via:  Joe Lancaster, Phandroid

Nexus Prime Will Sport Tablet Docking Mode? is a post from: Droid Life