Reports are appearing of a tie up between Google and The Carphone Warehouse to sell a forthcoming 'Nexus Two' Android phone.
City AM is claiming that a second Google-branded phone would be around in time for Christmas, although no manufacturer has been named (although rumours of it being Samsung are being played down).
Quoting an industry source, the story stated: "It looks like Google is experimenting with the future of its mobile model in the UK. It tried releasing through a single carrier, now it is trying a single retailer.
Solution
"It could be a solution to the problems it experienced when it tried to sell the Nexus One exclusively through its website. People like to be able to go to a store – this solves that."
It also seems like the new phone will be running Gingerbread (Android 3.0) although this would put it at odds with the Christmas release date, given that OS is likely to land in 2011.
It seems unlikely that Google would go down the route of bringing out another Nexus One phone, as the first was only to show manufacturers the power of Android on a high-spec phone and force them to follow suit.
Since then we've seen a glut of WVGA, large-screened phones with fast processors and better cameras - so what Google would gain from another Nexus (apart from more grief from the Philip K. Dick estate).
End of the Nexus
Back in July, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt confirmed that there would be no more Nexus models to the Telegraph, stating: "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. We would view that as positive but people criticised us heavily for that. I called up the board and said: 'Ok, it worked. Congratulations - we're stopping'."
It seems more likely that we'll be seeing another strong Android handset coming through The Carphone Warehouse, offering a 'With Google' logo on the back - but it would take a big U-turn for the Big G to suddenly resurrect the Nexus brand.
