Samsung-built Google Nexus Two imitates Galaxy S, coming 8 November?

A Samsung-made Google Nexus Two will launch on 8 November and be sold exclusively through the Carphone Warehouse, if various reports this week are to be believed.

The first suggestion of a sequel to the Google Nexus One was from London free paper City AM, which reported an 'industry source' saying the second Google phone will hit the UK before Christmas, and only be available from Carphone. It said the phone was expected to run the new version of Android, Gingerbread, and that "rumours surrounding a Samsung model are believed to be untrue".

A day later, however, Android and Me confused matters with a post suggesting Samsung was building the Google Nexus Two, and it would be launched at a press conference on 8 November -- a week on Monday. The blog agreed the Carphone Warehouse would be the exclusive retailer.

Popular gadget blog Gizmodo backed this up, going as far as to suggest that 'a friend' had played with the Nexus Two, and it looked very similar to the Galaxy S. The Nexus Two apparently has a 4-inch AMOLED screen, a curved back and a front-facing camera.

This contradicts what Google boss Eric Schmidt told the Telegraph in July. "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," he said, as the Nexus One was discontinued.

The Nexus One was the first phone to come with Android 2.1 software, with the hardware provided by HTC. Its Android OS was pure, with no user interface skin like the manufacturer-branded phones. While Samsung did a bang-up job with the Galaxy S hardware, as our four-star review shows, its proprietary software was rather annoying. The Nexus Two could be the best of both worlds.

An unsullied Google-branded version of Android also has the huge advantage of being updated as soon as it's ready, rather than waiting for manufacturers and networks to update their skins.

We've already seen some of the extra features Gingerbread will give to Android phones, but we were surprised to hear Google could be using the Samsung Galaxy S as the template for its new flagship device. It's a good phone certainly, but we rather hoped something new and Earth-shatteringly different would be the first to run Gingerbread. What do you think?

Image credit: Gizmodo