8 Tantalizing Rumors About the Samsung Nexus Prime

Nexus Prime: Enough to Break Your iPhone 5 Obsession?

Now that Apple has finally announced this year's iPhone, the slightly upgraded iPhone 4S, attention has turned to what Google might bring to the table. Rumor has it that the next Google phone is the Nexus Prime, and that it will be announced at an event hosted by Samsung and Google next Tuesday, October 11.

If history repeats itself for the third time, the Nexus Prime will debut Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich. Google's Nexus devices are known for delivering the "purest" Android experience your money can buy (no fragmentation, no bloatware!), appealing mostly to mobile wonks and hardcore Android fanboys.

But this year Android overtook iOS as the most popular smartphone platform in America, so the Nexus' appeal could broaden very quickly.

Two weeks ago Tom Fleming, who aligns himself with @black_man_x aka "Panda King" (Panda was spot on in predicting the specs in the HTC Thunderbolt), tweeted a riddle with details on the Nexus Prime. In short, he said the Nexus Prime will hit Verizon and Sprint on November 3.

Days later, Notion Ink CEO Rohan Shravan slipped that his Android tablet Adam would be upgraded to Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, in November "after Google's launch in late October."

The rumors surrounding Nexus Prime are getting red hot. But unfortunately for eager fans, Google is keeping its mouth shut and relying on some free buzz marketing. We've tralwed the Web to bring you the most enduring, believable rumors about the Nexus Prime OS. From a dual-core processor to a QWERTY keyboard, click on the slideshow below for 7 of the most compelling Nexus Prime rumors.

1. Bigger, curved screen

GSMArena and others report that the Nexus Prime will come with a 4.65-inch 720p HD display and an inverted curved screen similar to that of the Nexus S. Droid Guy claims he saw the Prime at a Verizon Developer's conference, and that it looked like the Nexus S except "taller and a little thicker."

2. 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, autofocus, and HD video recording

The Nexus Prime is supposed to pack a 5- or 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing one. The better front camera one-ups the iPhone 4S, though that phone also got a camera upgrade.

3. Debut device for Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich

Most believe the third-generation Nexus phone will launch Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich. After all Google has used the last two Nexus phones to launch the last two major Android revisions.

4. Power: TI dual-core OMAP processor

In June, Boy Genius Report was the first to report that the Nexus Prime would pack a Texas Instruments dual-core 1.5GHz OMAP4460 processor. HTC's Nexus One featured a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, while Samsung's Nexus S featured a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor.

5. Verizon first, then Sprint and AT&T

Rumor has it that leaked specs of the Samsung Droid Prime is Verizon’s version of the Nexus Prime, given similar specs that were reported by Boy Genius Report last month. Thien this week, Tom Fleming’s Twitter poem alluded to carriage on AT&T’s GSM network, Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network, and Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Given that Sprint is unveiling a brand new 4G strategy on October 7, and AT&T’s 4G LTE network has just begun rolling out, it’s not completely implausible that Verizon will be the first to offer the Nexus Prime.

6. One, or zero, buttons

Back in June, Boy Genius Report said the biggest aesthetic change to the Nexus Prime is that it won't have any buttons, doing away with the four-button display on both existing Nexus phones. Then last week The Droid Guy reported seeing a phone with a single "home" button, also rumored to be a dedicated Google+ button.

7. QWERTY keyboard

A final tweet from Tom Fleming ("The one with keyboard is what I enjoy") sparked a rather surprising rumor in the blogosphere: the Nexus Prime will come with a QWERTY keyboard? But as Fleming notes, Android 4.0 is a touch screen only OS so interpret as you will.

8. 4.5-inch display

On Tuesday, GSM Arena posted a photo allegedly showing the corner of a Nexus Prime device, an important corner that reveals specs like a 4.6-inch display with 720p HD resolution and 330 ppi pixel density. That pixel density would make Nexus Prime's display even sharper than the iPhone 4's so-called retina display, which at 326 ppi, is still the industry leader.