The Nexus line will be entering phablet territory with 5.9-inch Shamu, according to rumors.
Speculations have been brewing regarding the fate of the program, most especially after LG denied involvement in the next Nexus project (LG had built the Nexus 5). Android Silver is in full swing too so it was not hard to think that the Nexus program was being scrapped. Apparently, that's not the case. In an interview last month, Google's Android engineering head Dave Burke laid to rest rumors that Google is shutting down the Nexus Program.
"We are still invested in Nexus," said Burke. Just because one program is being developed doesn't mean that another can't be pursued at the same time.
"I think Nexus is also interesting in that it is a way of us explaining how we think Android should run. It is a statement, almost a statement of purity in some respects. I don't see why we would ever turn away from that, it wouldn't make sense," he explains.
Burke confirms the presence of a device in development though because if the Nexus program is not going away, it's going to need hardware to go along with it.
"When we are working, there are sort of two outputs. We're building a Nexus device and we're building the open source code. There is no way you can build the open source code without the phone or tablet or whatever you are building," he adds. Burke is also the head of the Nexus program.
So what is this rumored Nexus device?
Codenamed Shamu, it's a 5.9-inch smartphone that will be built by Motorola. It will be available from major U.S. carriers and will feature a fingerprint sensor. What supposedly gives rumors weight is that a screenshot of Google's issue tracker for developers mentions Shamu, as well as a bug for Android L, a version of Android that only works with Nexus devices. It has to be noted though that the screenshot may be a fake since the copy of the issue tracker was sent from a regular Gmail address, not an official one from Google.
It will take months before this rumor can be confirmed but what consumers can at least take away from this is that the Nexus program is very much alive. It may not be clear what the new Nexus device would be but definitely Google is working on something. It may not even be a stretch to expect the rumored Nexus device will be unveiled this year as well.
