Google Nexus Rumors: Two New Google Nexus Devices By HTC May Release In August

The new Google Nexus smartphone may release earlier than anticipated, as a new report from Neurogadget suggests that HTC is developing two new devices for Google’s Nexus line – and that they may release as early as August.

And that news is based on rumors that Google’s new Android operating system – codenamed Nougat, and otherwise known as Android 7 – will officially be releasing by the end of July.

Not to mention, that doesn’t even address another piece of the total picture: as the Inquisitr previously reported, Google has their own smartphone on its way, designed, developed, and produced (unlike the Nexus series) entirely in-house, and theoretically launching in September to compete with the new Apple iPhones – and it’s a safe bet that Google doesn’t also want to be competing with its own brand, Nexus, when the new device arrives.

In the meantime, though, the Google-branded Nexus 7 designed by one-time smartphone giant HTC is highly-anticipated, and it’s beginning to look like there will be two devices to choose from.

The two new devices, codenamed Sailfish and Marlin, are apparently practically identical – the only real difference is the screen size, a move which may be another shot at Apple and their multiple screen-size iPhone options.

The Nexus Sailfish will supposedly sport a 5-inch screen, while its bigger brother, the Nexus Marlin, will feature 5.5 inches – a fairly significant feature when one considers that it’s comparable to the current highest-end Samsung device, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (the regular S7 has a 5.1-inch screen.) That said, we still don’t know what sort of screen the new Google Nexus devices will feature beyond that it will be a full HD display – although VineReport indicates that it will be an AMOLED screen, which again puts it in line with the latest Samsung devices.

In other specs, the new Google Nexus, both Sailfish and Marlin, will be driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 2.0 GHz quad-core processor backed by 4 GB of RAM and will likely feature 32 GB of internal storage – the devices won’t exactly be breaking any performance records, in other words, as even many mid-range devices feature more powerful and sometimes dual CPUs; the ASUS Zenfone 2, for example, released a year and a half ago, sports a quad-core 2.3 GHz chipset – and their latest devices will reportedly feature 8-core chips. But, it’s a mid-range device and you take what you get.

Meanwhile, Neurogadget is suggesting that the battery life on the new Google Nexus devices will be fairly lackluster; both are reportedly powered by a 2770 mAh battery, putting them behind the latest competition, although not especially far behind; most smartphones still don’t come with much more than 3000 mAh – probably to keep them as slim as possible.

On the other hand, Christian Daily is reporting a 3450 mAh battery, so perhaps we shall simply have to wait and see.

Whatever the case, one thing that the new Google Nexus will come with out of the box is Android Nougat, and that may be worth the price of admission all on its own. Among other features, Nougat can display multiple apps at once in a split-screen with support for in-line notification replies, support for the Vulkan graphics platform, and features an OpenJDK-based Java environment. It’s also expected to be far more secure than Android already is; AndroidPolice is reporting that the newest version of Android will prevent ransomware from resetting lockscreen passwords.

One other thing that the rumors generally agree on is that the new Nexus devices will feature a USB Type-C port which will support far higher data and power transfer rates than older USB cables, which is definitely another must-have feature.

All in all, the new Google Nexus – if the rumors are true – is shaping up to be a pretty decent mid-range device. Or, rather, they are.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]