New Nexus Phones and Key Lime Pie in 2012

Earlier in the year Google announced that it would move away from releasing a single smartphone every few months and instead aim to release a number of devices concurrently. Google has been in talks with Samsung, LG, Sony and HTC to produce the new Nexus devices and it is thought that as many as five new Nexus phones could be launched with the release of Android Key Lime Pie later this year.

While little is currently known about LG or Sony’s Nexus phones, some information is starting to make its way into the public domain regarding Samsung and HTC’s Nexus offerings.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus 2

Samsung produced the last two Google phones, the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus, and due to the current popularity of its Galaxy handsets it is no surprise that Google would look to the Korean company to produce some of its new phones.

The Galaxy Nexus 2, currently known by the codename GT-i92560, is thought to include a 4.65 inch Super AMOLED HD screen, 2GB RAM and a quad core processor. Other hardware specifications are currently unknown but it is likely that the handset will closely resemble Samsung’s recent Galaxy offerings including the Note 2 and S3.

HTC One X 5

Also rumoured to be one of the five Google phones is the HTC One X 5. As the name might suggest, this phone comes with a five inch screen, 1080p screen resolution, 12 megapixel camera, Snapdragon S4 processor, and a hefty 64GB internal storage.

HTC produced the first Google phone back in 2010 but was later ditched in favour of Samsung. The move to include other manufacturers could see the company that popularised Android coming back to centre stage.

LG and Sony?

There is currently little information about what LG and Sony have planned for their Nexus devices, although it is likely that they will follow similar design principles to other phones developed by the companies in recent months.

Google had stated that it had planned to release five new Nexus phones which leaves the possibility that either a fifth manufacturer will be developing a Nexus phone or one of the four manufacturers mentioned above will produce more than one Nexus phone. If the latter is the case, it will most likely be Samsung that will produce multiple Nexus handsets.

Android Key Lime Pie

To date, new Nexus phones have always been released alongside a new version of Android suggesting that the next updated, thought to be called Key Lime Pie, will launch along with these five handsets. Some people doubt this due to the relatively recent release of Jelly Bean and as yet there is little information on what new features will be introduced with the next update.

One thing that might make an appearance is an enhanced Google Maps with 3D flyover mode. Google was taken by surprise earlier this summer when Apple announced at WWDC that it would drop Google Maps from iOS a full year before its contract was due to expire. When the new Apple Maps was announced, including a 3D mode, Google quickly announced the new feature for Google Maps.

Google Maps with 3D Flyover Mode

In response to people speculating that Google has already submitted a new Maps app to the iOS App Store the search giant stated that it was still working on the new version and its release would still be a few months away. Google has only been working on the new Maps app since WWDC and developing a 3D mode that works properly will require a lot effort – as can be seen from the poorly executed feature offered by Apple.

If this new Maps app is one of the key new features of Key Lime Pie it could suggest that the Android update will be released later this year alongside the five rumoured Nexus phones.