Guess this really makes the Nexus One from Google as unofficially official as something can get: Engadget has a device in hand (more so than even Gizmodo did) and is giving it the what-for, along with a hands-on video. The long and the short: It's fast, it's sleek, it feels good in the hand, but it's not revolutionary for an Android device, though it gives the Motorola Droid a run for its money.

And the specs are as we've seen thus far: a 3.7-inch 480x800 display, 512MB RAM/512MB ROM, 4GB microSD card, animated wallpapers and the like. The apps drawer has given way to a sort of Rolodex of apps, which is a nice change, and there's a bit of a card metaphor going on. (Don't tell our friends at PreCentral.)

Needless to say, we'll be seeing lots more of the Nexus One before the expected Jan. 5 launch. Stay tuned. [Engadget]

File this under "Don't know ... Could be ... Who knows ... Take with a grain of salt ... Maybe ..." and any other number of qualifiers, but the Boy Genius Report says it's heard that there may be a second unlocked version of the Nexus One, and that it would sport support for AT&T's 3G (that's the 850 and 1900 MHz bands, if you're playing at home). That's it for now. Could just be rampant speculation, could be more. We'll find out something in three days.

For those of you with CDMA HTC Heroes who don't mind a bit of hackery, some cooked ROMs are in the works to bring Android 2.1 to your phones.

From XDA Developers member flipzmode come the above screen shots (and more after the break), which have been based off of another 2.1 project at HTCPedia. This is highly unofficial, of course, and still in beta, so there are some bugs. Notably not working are the camera, visual voicemail, multitouch and the light sensor. But this is one that's worth keeping an eye one. (Thanks, Keith!)

Well hows about that. There's the Motorola Calgary/Droid Devour, all dressed up in silver. And while the keyboard doesn't quite look as sexy (and usable) as you might find on the HTC Touch Pro 2, it's definitely bigger than that's on the current Droid. And by now you've noticed the lack of a D-pad, which looks like it's given way for an optical trackpad like the BlackBerry Bold 9700 (which we've found easy to use). That's an improvement, in our humble opinion. But after the extremely disappointing keyboard on the original Droid, we're going to want to take this one for a ride before even beginning to pass judgment.

Other new rumored specs: a 1420mAh battery, WiFi and GPS (natch), and it won't be a world phone.

Whatcha think, folks? An improvement?

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Sure, there's that Dell Mini 3i Android phone floating around out there. But let's face it: It's a little small. Now this is more like it. This guy took a Dell Inspiron Mini 10.1-inch netbook, hacked it to pieces and turned it into a giant Mini 3i phone, complete with Android. In a word: Awesome. Peep the video of how it was done after the break. [Shanzai via Gizmodo]

No top-10 lists. No retrospectives. No countdowns. Just a "Here's to the new year," and prepare for the Android onslaught in the months to come. Have a good one, and be safe, everybody.

We cringe anytime we read a headline that states one company is planning to launch a product to compete with another company's product that doesn't yet exist, but such is the world in which we live. And so, that brings us to the latest pre-CES rumor, which states that HTC is prepping an Android-powered tablet and will be showing it privately next week at CES.

Of course, CES week is the one time that when something happens in Vegas, it definitely doesn't stay in Vegas for long. So, we'll keep an eye out for some mythical HTC device that has its eyes on a mythical Apple device. And when we see unicorns spring out of said devices, you'll hear it here first. [Smarthouse via Slashgear]

Maybe you're not good enough with your hands to code up your own Android app, but certainly your fingers are fleet enough to cobble together this little guy. Cause if you can't code, you might as well stick to sewing, right? Video of how it's done after the break. [via Recombu] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in)

Another Android phone from Motorola? And this one better than the last? Why not? The render you see above reportedly is codenamed either the Mirage or Shadow and has a 4.3-inch (as in the same size as the HTC HD2 and larger than the Motorola Droid), 800x484 touchscreen. Also said to be on board are an HDMI port, 8MP camera, 1080p video -- and it's all crammed inot a body that's just 9mm thick.

Of course, specs like that mean nothing until we actually see a device, but that's more than enough to whet our appetites for a while.

[Mobile01 via BGR]

From the Forums is a great way for you, our readers, to see the hottest topics being discussed. But you must be a registered member and becoming a member is a simple process. So if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now!

• You hear it all the time, "My device has dust under the screen!" It seems that there are always a few people plagued with this issue no matter the device, and sadly a lot of our readers have the dust issue with the Moto Droid.
• A lot of you have recently come over to Android from various other platforms. How does the Android Market stand up compared to the others out there?
• The Nexus One is right around the corner, but are you willing to dish out $530 for this unlocked device? So far in this poll most of you are staying far away from this deal...
• Just another reminder, help out Rene from the iPhone Blog with some of his Android questions - you may just win something and that's always a good thing right?

See you on the forums!