New Clues Hint at HTC’s Nexus Tablet
If there’s one thing us tech-nerds love, it’s a Google-made gadget, which fall under the “Nexus” brand. Yet more evidence spotted today seems to suggest that HTC is making Google’s latest (and hopefully greatest) Nexus tablet, supposedly to be called the Nexus 8 or Nexus 9, and offering up premium specifications.
A post over on BGR (via HTCSource) points the way back to a certification ID on Wi-Fi Alliance (PDF download) for a tablet made by HTC running the forthcoming version of Google’s mobile OS, Android L. While the listing doesn’t provide any information that says “Nexus” per se, the listing does have some clues in the description of the firmware version – namely, “aosp_flounder-userdebug.”
For those who’ve been paying attention to our attempts to discover the next Nexus, that may seem familiar to you. That’s because many believe that “Flounder” is the codename being given to HTC’s Nexus tablet, since all previous Nexus devices have received aquatic animal-related codenames. Similarly, that’s also why so many people believe that Motorola’s upcoming handset that has the codename “Shamu” might, in fact, be the Nexus 6 smartphone.
However, in the first link in the above paragraph, you can see that a device with the codename “Molly” has also been seen floating around the Internet – and “molly” is a type of fish as well. So, really, it’s anybody’s guess what’s what. But one thing is becoming clear: HTC has a Flounder tablet in the works, which itself would seem to confirm earlier reports we’ve heard on the subject.
In the meantime, HTC just held a press conference last week to announce its first Windows Phone device in a few years, and there was no mention of Flounder or Nexus or anything. We know that Motorola has a press conference coming up in Chicago on September 4, and shortly after that the big consumer electronics convention in Berlin – the IFA – kicks off. I have my doubts that we’d see the new Nexus at that event, but it’s possible Google might take a minute to do a reveal. If nothing else, we know it’s coming – and for fans of Android, Google, and the Nexus device line, that might just be enough for now.