The rumor mill churns and, having churned, moves on. The big story today is that according to sources familiar with the matter, reports have leaked that lead us to believe that an employee who asked to not be named has told Digitimes that sources say the next Nexus may have already been patented by Apple as the subject of the latest lawsuit to come out of Cupertino.
According to the sources, LG, HTC, and Samsung are all working on their own Key Lime Pie-based variants of the Nexus Google Experience Galaxy 10 7 4G LTE series. Early reports peg these devices as being faster than the old versions and also thinner, and probably bigger, but definitely expensive. The three companies are working with Google on this single, joint-venture Nexus device, confirming that the multiple Nexus rumors were both true and false at the same time. We've obtained an exclusive slide revealing this device for the first time:

In a preemptive move, however, Apple has filed suit against HTC, LG, Samsung, Google and you. Among the patents asserted by the Cupertino company is one covering the use of NFC in the device. Apple claims that "We work hard to innovate and push the boundaries on consumer technology. We can't abide other companies coming in ahead of us and stealing our ideas before we have the chance to bring them to market because we don't think the world is ready for them yet."
Google has stepped in to defend its partners' innovations, stating that "We do not believe that litigation is the best way to move technology forward. Seeing lawsuits pop up before devices are even released should be more than enough proof that our patent system needs reform." When asked what, if anything the company would be doing to fight back in the legal battles, Google said, "We've formed an alliance of over a dozen carriers and manufacturers to ensure that counter-suits are delivered in a timely fashion and will be supported for up to 18 months." When asked for details on this alliance, the Google rep seemed to have completely forgotten the program existed.
Apple, in a rare display of transparency, commented on the new patent lawsuit, describing it as "magical" and "revolutionary." Said Tim Cook, "This is the most beautiful lawsuit we've ever released. It's twice as fast as our previous lawsuits, and the subpoena we served Samsung was carved out of pure sapphire."

That's right, we're finally jumping on the rumor train for the next Nexus phone(s?). Today, Android and Me published an article with a rather detailed rumor stemming from a "regular source who has provided accurate information in the past."
Given their confidence, and the specificity of their assertions, we're inclined to put some stock in them. So, what is the rumor? Let me break it down for you.
First, the Optimus G is going to be a Nexus phone. But it's not going to be the only one. According to A&M's source, the annual Nexus flagship program is being dismantled in favor of a more open model. Manufacturers won't have to compete to be the next Nexus phone, they'll just have to meet some rigorous hardware and various other requirements in order to slap the Nexus name on a phone. This falls in line with what we heard from The Wall Street Journal way back in May about multiple Nexuses.
One such requirement is 64MB of dedicated, secure storage for media streaming. This is, presumably, to keep Google's content providers on the Play Store happy. Limited custom UI overlays will be allowed, but they will fall into a "customization center," that will act as a theme manager. Presumably, you'll be able to go between stock Android and a custom overlay if you so choose. There will be additional hardware requirements (no microSD slot?), but no more specifics have been provided.
There are also no details about how much control Google would retain over OTA updates, but given that it could see the number of devices it has to maintain expand rapidly, there will obviously need to be either, A.) more manufacturer involvement, or B.) more AOSP device maintainers at Google. But back to the rumor about Optimus G.



The name of the LG Optimus G Nexus phone will be... The LG Optimus G Nexus. No, seriously. That is what A&M's source is currently saying. Yeah. We're assuming the Nexus program will allow manufacturers to choose the name of their Nexus phone, though, and LG doesn't exactly have a great track record for catchy ones. I definitely wouldn't put it outside the realm of possibility.
As for the next version of Android, A&M and their source confirm what we too have seen our own server traffic logs: Android 4.2. The name of the release, though, is apparently a point of some contention - it may still be Jelly Bean, it may be Key Lime Pie. (I'd like to take this time to remind everyone at this time that I will, as promised, 100% for-real, smash a Key Lime Pie in my face if the "K" version of Android is not called Key Lime Pie. I might even do it if it's Jelly Bean. We'll see.)
On the far more uncertain side of things, A&M's source is claiming we'll see Android 5.0 next fall (2013), but given that we know Google's versioning system is pretty non-committal up until a new release nears public availability, I'm not going to put too many eggs in that particular basket.

It functions as a proxy, and not as a NAT/masquerade solution that other tether solutions use. Though carriers can still check for http user agent string, but I have an idea to work around that. They typically check the TTL for desktop values. All usual carrier data charges and quotas will apply, but you will not need a separate tethering plan.

MoDaCo founder Paul O'Brien has just released details on the purported LG Nexus, which he says came from a source he trusts "101 percent." The smartphone will be released in mid-November and is based on the flagship Optimus G, but the device will not look the same as LG's. The leaked specs include a 1280x768 "True-HD" IPS screen, quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor, and 2GB of RAM. It will also have a sealed, non-removable battery and, initially at least, either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage with no microSD expansion. Although MoDaCo doesn't say how large the LG Nexus' screen might be, if it's based on the Optimus G 4.7-inches would be a good guess.

Aside from a spec sheet that's among the best on the market, a big selling point for Google seems to be wireless charging out of the box — a feature that's never been found in a Nexus device in the past. O'Brien says it's not clear if the device will be the only Nexus to be released, or one of many, but with the supposed release date little more than a month away, we shouldn't have too long a wait to find out.

Update: More details are slowly starting to emerge, with CNET reporting that the LG Nexus will be officially announced at the end of October.

There are things in the Android app that aren't in the iOS one, like multi-upload, mentions in comments and posts, and event creation. And between the release of version 1.9 for Android and 5.0 for iOS, the Android app was faster on equivalent hardware (though not by as dramatic an amount as the iOS app has jumped now).

I oscillate between an iPhone 4 and a Galaxy Nexus, so I actually experience both apps pretty deeply. I suspect most people who talk about the platform gaps do not, but when you're dissatisfied with an app the grass will obviously look greener. Especially when the schedules line up such that the "other guys" got a big jump first.

Updates faster is wrong in a hysterical way. iOS released twice this year: 4.1.1 in March, and 5.0 in August. Android has released 8 times since April, 6 if you don't count hotfixes; it'll continue to be a faster cycle for some time, ignoring hotfixes. But again, most people don't use both, so they don't really keep track.

I've discussed the "looks like an iOS app" thing elsewhere, as have others, so you'll forgive me for not repeating. I have to board a flight in 20 mins and I'd like to write a couple more replies...