Stop us if you've heard this one before: An employee for a major technology company walks into a bar and leaves a prototype for a secret new smartphone lying around.
Here's the big difference. It isn't an iPhone this time. It's what looks like the Google Nexus 5.
This week, an eager, smudgy-fingered tipster sent 9to5 Google leaked footage of what appears to be the next Nexus phone plugged into a wall charger, alone and momentarily forgotten. On the back of the phone are a few clues, namely the LG logo near the bottom, what looks to be a vertical "Nexus" logo (covered with a sticker), and the words "not for sale" stamped into it.
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9to5 Google's Jordan Kanh suggests the short clip above "could give us a glimpse at Android 4.4 KitKat running on the Nexus 5," although the phone's lock screen does look a bit like "the bootup from Google Play Edition phones."
In a similar vein, Casey Chan at Gizmodo notes that the phone has the "beautifully clean button-less front face we've grown used to in the Nexus line," only with slightly less-rounded corners, which is "mostly a good thing."
The growing pile of evidence seems to suggest that a new Nexus is imminent. Last week, FCC documents showed crystal clear images of what look like the same Nexus phone, big round camera and all, awaiting approval. And a promotional video for Android's chocolate-y new KitKat OS filmed at the company's Mountain View headquarters showed a Google employee snapping photos on a similar-looking device.
Then there's this: The Verge points out that the 16GB version of the Nexus 4 isn't being restocked in Google Play anymore. Which may mean a lovely new phone running the purest distillation of Android available is just around the corner.
