Google Nexus Two Spotted In Shape Of QWERTY Motorola Shadow?

Salt at the ready?  According to the latest rumors out of China, you're looking at the Motorola Shadow and the device that may just end up the Google Nexus Two.  Bearing a marked resemblance to the Motorola DROID, all that's known about the Android smartphone is pretty much what we can see from the renders; that is, that it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, large touchscreen and distinctive lanyard loop.

It would certainly fit in with some earlier rumors about what Google's next own-brand Android device might bring to the table.  Andy Rubin, overseer of the Android platform, hinted in a recent interview that the next Nexus smartphone might have a hardware keyboard and be more palatable to the enterprise market.  Back at the launch of the original Nexus One, Google made no attempt to disguise their intent to promote "best of breed" devices – of which the Nexus One was just the first – through their new webstore.

At that very event, Motorola's CEO was present to talk about the importance of Android and flagship devices, an appearance that prompted many to suggest that Google would look not only to HTC (OEM of the Nexus One) but to other manufacturers for their handsets.  No hardware specifications for the Motorola Shadow have been suggested, though we'll be the first to applaud a narrower QWERTY 'board which demands less thumb-stretch than Motorola's earlier models.

[via Engadget]