ORLANDO—If AT&T takes over T-Mobile, where can Google turn to support its "pure" Android phones? How about Sprint? Sprint and Samsung today introduced the Nexus S 4G, Sprint's first pure-Google Android phone and the first stock Android phone with WiMAX.
Geeks and developers like "stock Android" for a bunch of reasons. Stock Android phones get new versions of Android first, because they don't have to spend months getting manufacturer overlays reprogrammed. They're easily hackable, and developers like them because they interface well with Google's developer tools. Some people also say Google's stock experience is more elegant than manufacturer overlays like HTC Sense, but that's a matter of taste.
"Sprint Nexus S 4G customers will be among the first to receive Android software upgrades and new Google mobile apps. In many cases, the device will get the updates and new apps as soon as they are available," Sprint says in a press release.
The Nexus S 4G is just what it sounds like. It looks like T-Mobile's Samsung Nexus S, an elegant black slab with a slightly curved 800-by-480, 4-inch display, and its 1-GHz processor and other features are on par with the popular Samsung Galaxy S series. The Nexus S is, so far, the only Android 2.3 phone on the market, and the only retail phone in the U.S. to feature NFC technology, which banks have said may be used for mobile payments in the future.
As the name implies, this phone also has Sprint's 4G WiMAX, which should give the phone download speeds of 3-8Mbps in about a third of the United States. The phone also works on Sprint's 3G CDMA network and has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, working as a 3G or 4G mobile hotspot for up to five devices. There's 16GB of memory on board.
Sprint's press release for the Nexus S also heavily promotes Google Voice, Google's system for using one phone number across multiple devices and the Web.
"Sprint Nexus S customers also will be able to easily use their current Sprint wireless phone number as their Google Voice number without having to port their number, avoiding porting charges and potential service disruptions," the Sprint press release says.
Does this mark a shift for Google to use Sprint as a preferred partner for a developer phone? Maybe. Remember that the vast majority of phones in the world use the GSM technology rather than Sprint's CDMA, and Google still wants to make Nexus phones for the GSM world. If AT&T and T-Mobile merge, they'll become the only nationwide U.S. GSM carrier. That means Google will probably have to deal with AT&T whether it wants to or not.
Sprint's Nexus S will be available "this spring" for $199.99 with a two-year contract, Sprint says. I'll get hands-on with this new phone later this week here at the CTIA trade show in Orlando.