Galaxy Nexus rumors and release date

All the pieces appear to be lining up for a rapid release of the Galaxy Nexus on Sprint. Two days ago, we obtained a Sam's Club document suggesting the smartphone would arrive on Sunday, April 22nd, and today, Engadget has an Galaxy Nexus training manual for Sprint employees that they allegedly have to finish absorbing within the next two weeks. Moreover, one page in particular from that manual hints at a launch sooner than later, and you can see it below: the Galaxy Nexus LTE will apparently arrive with its LTE connectivity turned off by default.

Perhaps that's standard practice at cellular carriers when a network is still in its infancy, but it seems to suggest that Sprint could sell the phone before its LTE network launches at all, and given that launch is still slated for a vague "mid-2012" the April 22nd release date sounds quite plausible. Of course, Sprint is touting the LG Viper 4G as an LTE-capable phone and preorders begin on April 12th, so perhaps Sprint's LTE network is closer than we know.

We know quite a bit about Sprint's upcoming Galaxy Nexus LTE except the most interesting part — when it'll be available and how much it'll cost. Eager Sprint fans may not have much longer to wait, however, as an anonymous Walmart employee has sent us an internal document stating that the device will launch on April 22nd at Sam's Club — a Walmart-run discount club store. The device is to be identical to Verizon's LTE variant of the device, except it has Google Wallet support and it's still rumored to run at 1.5GHz — a 300MHz bump over its GSM and Verizon LTE cousins.

Other than the Galaxy Nexus, the document reveals a yet-to-be-announced Intensity III for Verizon, sure to be a followup to the Samsung Intensity II dumbphone. The internal paper also says that Sprint's LG Viper LTE smartphone will be available on April 15th. We've cross-checked the dates provided on the document with known release dates and they all line up. Sprint's first LTE markets are set to go live mid-year, so we certainly expect the carrier's Galaxy Nexus to be available sometime around then — whether or not that means April 22nd is still just a rumor for now.

We first heard about the Galaxy Nexus coming to Sprint through a poorly-timed advertisement, but the carrier made the device official several days later. What we still don't know is when the phone will be launching, but things appear to be moving closer: Google has gone live with a sign-up page for those interested in picking up the latest Android flagship. The Galaxy Nexus will be part of Sprint's first wave of LTE devices, coming after the carrier decided to abandon further development of WiMAX phones altogether in its new 4G push. When we took a look at the Sprint variant at CES we found it to be nearly identical to the Verizon version we've come to love, with the same dimensions and gorgeous 4.65-inch screen — though Sprint's model will be making a break from Verizon by incorporating Google Wallet. There's still no word on an official release date, but Sprint has stated they expect their first LTE markets to go live in the middle of this year. If you're interested in the meantime, head on over to the page itself and sign up!

Finally, we know! Verizon has put an end to all the speculation and announced the release date and price for the LTE-capable, Ice Cream Sandwich-equipped Galaxy Nexus. It launches tomorrow, December 15th, and will cost $299.99 with a two-year contract.

The Galaxy Nexus is the third pure Google experience device, following on from the Nexus and Nexus S, and is the first and so far only phone to run the biggest upgrade to the platform yet, Ice Cream Sandwich (aka Android 4). It took its good time getting to the US, but Verizon will finally release it tomorrow and end all our suffering. Also in the emailed press announcement, Verizon notes that its Double Data Promotion for buyers of LTE devices (new customers and upgraders alike) will be extended through the holidays. That doubles the data allowance of your smartphone plan so long as you continue using a 4G phone, and the Galaxy Nexus will obviously be eligible and in a prime position to exploit that extra bandwidth.

The only thing that's left is the final OK from Verizon, and that seems to be the crux of the matter. Many store managers and employees are at a loss to explain why they cannot sell the devices while conspiracy theories about the decision to nix Google Wallet and even a delay for a 4.1 software update are swirling. We certainly don't want to add to the pile, but it's hard to avoid the conclusion that there is some sort of strategic disconnect between Verizon and Google behind the whole matter.

Whatever the issue, we're training our eyes on December 15th and hoping that it won't be December 9th all over again.

While the launch date and price for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus are still not officially confirmed, it's not complete radio silence about the device out there. Computer World received confirmation from Google that its Google Wallet software won't be included on the Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus. Apparently, Verizon's Galaxy Nexus will also have some pre-loaded Verizon apps installed out of the box. Fortunately, Android 4.0 makes it easier than before to uninstall such apps should a user desire.

For Verizon, it looks like offering a "pure Google" phone is one thing, but offering Google a chance to gain a foothold in a potentially lucrative new revenue stream is something else entirely.

A little inspection of the poster above reveals specs consistent with rumors: 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP4460 processor, a 4.65-inch (or "4.7-inch" if you prefer) HD Super AMOLED display, Android 4.0, and a 5.1 megapixel primary camera. We also see what looks like the planned October 11th announcement date at the bottom of the poster. A bit of trolling through Japanese forums yields yet another image of the Galaxy Nexus in NTT docomo’s 2011 / 2012 lineup.

See the tweet and a purported NTT docomo 2011-2012 device lineup showing yet another glimpse of the much anticipated Nexus device below.

We'll be covering both AsiaD and the Samsung / Google event live, so stay tuned for details.

Samsung has just announced, rather sensationally, that the product launch it had planned in conjunction with Google for next week's CTIA will not in fact be happening. Here's the statement in full:

"Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced."

Look away, there's nothing to see here. Well, perhaps not anymore, but for a few hours this morning Google may have revealed that Tuesday's Samsung Mobile Unpacked event will indeed see the launch of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. It seems the Android Developer YouTube Channel posted a countdown page for a livestream of the big event. The name of the countdown? "Android ICS Launch." Google pulled the countdown soon thereafter, but not before it had been spotted, and in fact as of this writing the name itself is still visible. Tuesday's event is also rumored to see the debut of the new Nexus Prime — or is it the Galaxy Prime? We'll know for sure on Tuesday, so join us for our liveblog to get the latest.

Amidst all the rumors of the Google's upcoming Android Ice Cream Sandwich launch and the next Nexus phone, we haven't actually seen any leaked pictures of the phone purportedly made by Samsung -- until now that is. GSM Arena has published an image of the long-rumored Nexus Prime or Nexus Galaxy (as we've heard it may be called), and well, it certainly looks like the real deal. Sadly, we can't tell all that much from the photo, although, it does reveal that there are no hardware buttons; just three soft buttons line the bottom of the display.