Samsung is indeed working on an unlocked Google Android phone as reported by Gizmodo this morning, but it may not be called the "Nexus Two" and it isn't coming out on November 8.

Gizmodo riled the Internet today with photos and details of a slim, slab-style Android phone whose name is the real story. By calling it "Nexus Two," they connect it with Google's failed Nexus One retail experiment, an attempt to break wireless carriers' lock on the U.S. cell phone market by selling phones independently online.

Google's head of Android development, Andy Rubin, has said that Google is trying to find ways to bring unlocked Android phones to the U.S. market, but that they haven't hit on a formula yet.

"Making unlocked phones available in the U.S. is still a possibility. Whether that's simply acquired only online or through traditional retail channels - that's what got canceled. So we have to decide how to make unlocked phones available in the U.S," he said in an October interview with PCMag.com.

Yes, It's Real … Sorta

I hate these unsourced stories as much as you do - probably more, actually. But Samsung and Google are refusing to comment and I have plenty of other sources within the industry, so I called around to my own set of shadowy, unnamed sources and found out that yes, Samsung is working on an unlocked Android device that looks like the one in Gizmodo's pictures. But it may not be called "Nexus Two," my sources said.

Excitement about the "Nexus Two" comes in part from geeks who hope the phone will ship with "stock Android," which is Google's default build with no carrier or manufacturer extensions. An added frisson comes from the speculative idea that it will be the first phone with the next version of Android, known as "Gingerbread." Gingerbread is coming soon, as evidenced by the appearance of a gigantic gingerbread man on Google's campus last week.

Google also needs a Nexus Two for reasons entirely unconnected to geeks' dreams of liberty. Software developers need a phone anointed by Google to always carry the most recent base version of Android, so they can write apps. Whether or not it's called "Nexus Two," this unlocked Samsung phone may be the next developer device.

The unnamed, unlocked Samsung phone is not coming out at an event on November 8, my sources said. While Samsung is having a product launch event in New York that day, the device there is almost sure to be the Samsung Continuum for Verizon Wireless, which has a little secondary screen below the main screen that can show information like stock prices.

I'm still making calls on the whole "Nexus Two" situation, so I'll update this story if I get more details.