A leaked picture, purporting to be Google’s next Nexus smartphone, has surfaced, showing off a design that lacks the familiar Android buttons.

According to the source, supposedly a Google employee on the Android development team, Google is considering both HTC and LG manufacturing this Nexus 3. Whatever they decide on, the phone would be targeted for a December release, along with Android Ice Cream Sandwich itself.

While the picture he was able to snap doesn’t give us much to go on, it shows the absence of the Android navigation buttons we’re used to. ICS, it’s claimed, will no longer require hardware inputs like that. This image is definitely not what the final Nexus 3 will look like, but only demonstrates a prototype at this early stage where Google chooses what hardware’s right for it. It could end up producing two models, one for T-Mobile and one for Sprint, to be released simultaneously.

Source: Tech Hog 1, 2

Via: The Droid Guy