Samsung has accidentally confirmed the existence of the next Nexus device by uploading something called a “user agent profile”. Mobile phone makers create said files so developers and websites know the capabilities of the device a user is using to access their content. While it doesn’t provide a complete spec sheet, it does give some hints as to what we can come to expect. For one thing, the name “Nexus Prime” has finally been confirmed. We’d honestly be shocked if Google or Samsung decided to change this. Next up, we know the technical name of the device, the “GT-I9250”. This will come in handy when combing through FCC documents and other certification pages, looking for hints as to the type of phone we can expect to see this holiday shopping season. Finally, and this is the one that hurts us the most, the rumor that the Nexus Prime would ship with a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution screen has now been debunked. According to the user agent profile, the most we can expect is 800 x 480 pixels, which is what every decent Android smartphone has been delivering for close to 2 years.
Has this changed your decision about which smartphone you’re going to buy? Personally, the Nexus Prime is now dead to me since I was highly looking forward to that rumored HD resolution screen. There’s no way I’d dump my iPhone for something that produces blurrier text since I spend a significant amount of time with my smartphone reading the news, processing email, etc.
That being said, it’s not going to stop us from recommending the Nexus Prime since we’re allergic to the layers of “differentiating UI” that hardware vendors throw on top of Android. The pure Android experience, which started with the Nexus One, was continued with the Nexus S, and is now coming with the Nexus Prime in the shape of Ice Cream Sandwich, is the only way we can imagine using Google’s mobile operating system.