According to a new report, the next flagship Android smartphone – which has been given the name Nexus Prime – will be called DROID Prime and it will be releasing exclusively for Verizon Wireless.
The news comes from Boy Genius Report which cites a “close source” who, in turn, states that the reason behind Verizon Wireless’ declining to carry the Galaxy S II is because they will be carrying a much more powerful smartphone in October: the Droid Prime.
A bit of a confusion has cropped up at this point (which BGR hasn’t cleared in their original post): is this Droid Prime device the Nexus Prime that we’ve been hearing about recently or is it a TouchWiz-based Verizon-exclusive version of the Nexus Prime?
From BGR:
BGR has exclusively learned from a close source of ours that Verizon Wireless has passed on offering the Samsung GALAXY S II in favor of something even better. We reported last week that Verizon isn’t going to sell the GALAXY S II, and we have now been told why. Apparently, “Verizon doesn’t think the Samsung GALAXY S II will be competitive with the iPhone 5 when it launches.” Instead, not only is Verizon launching the Samsung DROID Prime, a device that is sure to be the new flagship Android phone ahead of the holidays, but the company will have the handset as an exclusive. The DROID Prime is expected to be the first smartphone to launch with Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich,” and we have been told the model number is SCH-i515. According to our source, the phone should launch sometime in October.
We personally believe that both products are actually going to be separate ones.
Nexus Prime will be the next Google Experience smartphone which will – according to strong rumors – pack a dual-core 1.5GHz chip, a 720p Super AMOLED HD display, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of ROM, an 8 megapixel camera and, of course, be based on Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich”. This will be sold on multiple carriers as well as be available as a factory unlocked model.
The Droid Prime, on the other hand, would be a device based on the Nexus Prime, but with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI added on top. This would be a Verizon Wireless exclusive.
This is echoed by Android developer P3Droid who tweeted the following:
THE PRIME IS NOT, IS NOT, A droid branded phone. Nexus devices have never been branded as such. What I saw does not mention Droid anywere in the naming. ..Samsung legal don’t hurt me, I’m trying to help.
He is right, after all. The Droid series of Android smartphones have never been Google Experience phones as the brand belongs to Verizon-exclusive devices. Google themselves would definitely want to keep their Nexus brand separate from Droid.
In any case, we do expect a top of the line, state of the art Android smartphone based on Ice Cream Sandwich to be released somewhere in October. Whether it will be the Droid Prime and/or Nexus Prime remains to be seen.
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