Samsung and Google are planning to announce an Android 2.3-based “Nexus Two” heir to the Galaxy S smartphone on Nov. 8, say industry reports. Another report says the Nexus Two will go on sale exclusively in the U.K. for the holiday season.

Samsung has scheduled a press event for Nov. 8 in New York City, and media invitations to the event went out earlier this week. While some believe the news will be about the formal introduction of the Android-based Samsung Galaxy Player (pictured at right), the gadget blog AndroidandMe claims the companies will unveil the Nexus Two as the first smartphone based on the tablet-optimized Gingerbread release — which it now appears will be Android 2.3 rather than Android 3.0.

The news comes two days after City A.M. said Carphone Warehouse will sell the Nexus Two exclusively in the United Kingdom this holiday season. Both Google and Samsung declined to comment. 

The emergence of a Nexus Two on Samsung would be a surprise to the five million owners of the Samsung Galaxy S devices (pictured at left) offered by Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. If AndroidandMe's claim is true, it would also count as a revitalization of the Nexus brand after the demise of the inaugural Google Nexus One. 

Google launched the Nexus One (pictured at right) last January as the first handset based on Android 2.1, selling the device unlocked through its Web store for $529, or $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile. The device was unique because, while HTC made the hardware, the phone was branded with the Google name, and Google put only the software it wanted on it.

Few people purchased the device and, after Sprint and Verizon Wireless reneged on their plans to offer the device. Google shuttered the Web store in the spring, and stopped receiving shipments in July. In August, Google began offering the Nexus One to developers as a testbed gadget.

Questions remain. If Samsung launches the Nexus Two this holiday season, will it retain the Nexus brand model of allowing Google to provide all of the software? If so, what carrier will carry it, outside of Carphone Warehouse across the pond? Moreover, how soon before existing Samsung handsets, many of which have yet to get the Android 2.2 bump, receive Gingerbread?

Availability

The AndroidandMe story on the Samsung Nexus Two may be found here, and the City AM story should be here.

An eWEEK analysis piece by Wayne Rash on the rumored Nexus Two may be found here.

Meanwhile, eWEEK updates on carrier availability of the Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet may be found here (Sprint), here (Best Buy), here (T-Mobile), and here (U.S. Cellular).

This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.