Nexus 5 Release Date? Only Google KnowsNexus 5 Release Date? Only Google Knows

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There has been no shortage of reports about the Nexus 5 smartphone and Nexus 10 tablet. Google has yet to officially unveil either device, but the Internet will have you believe their release is imminent. Let's sort fact from fiction.

First, the date. Reports at the beginning of the month pegged Oct. 15 as the day on which Google would announce its latest Nexus devices. When Oct. 15 came and went, there were suddenly a handful of alternatives. The 21st was floated as a possibility, and then, after Google invited press to an event in New York, the 24th was assumed to be the date. The New York event didn't produce any news, however. Late last week, reports suggested Oct. 31 would be the day of the big reveal. Monday, those reports shifted to Nov. 1.

Let's face it, only Google has a real clue about when the Nexus 5 and Nexus 10 will be announced. None of the leaks have been credible. There haven't been any "people familiar with the matter" sources quoted by reputable news organizations. The rumor mill is simply churning out guesses.

We do know that the Nexus 5 was approved by the FCC several weeks ago. That means it will be released soon. However, it is entirely possible that Google is biding its time to see when the news cycle is in its favor.

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Consider last week. On Oct. 22, Nokia announced a new Windows RT tablet, Apple announced new iPads, and Microsoft made its new Surface tablets available for sale. Those devices dominated the news cycle for the rest of the week. Apple will announce its third-quarter earnings Monday, which means plenty of news and analysis about Apple's performance well into Tuesday. Nov. 1, as it happens, is the day that the iPad Air goes on sale in the U.S. Reviews of that device will be hitting the Internet late Tuesday or Wednesday evening. There's tons of Apple stuff consuming the news right now. Not to say that Google is afraid to go head-to-head with Apple when it comes to announcing new products, but the signal-to-noise ratio is not in its favor at the moment.

But what of the devices themselves? The Nexus 5 itself has been fairly well outed at this point. It will feature a 4.95-inch, full HD display. It will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with four cores, each clocked at 2.3 GHz. The processor will be paired with 2 GB of RAM. It appears that N5 will be offered with 16 GB or 36 GB of internal storage. Other specs include an 8-megapixel camera, dual-band Wi-Fi, support for LTE 4G and a bevy of sensors. Leaked images show that it will come in white or black and has a fairly plain design.

We know much less about the Nexus 10. Several renders of the 10-inch device have been spotted, the most recent suggesting that it will resemble an oversized Nexus 7 tablet. The current Nexus 10 is made by Samsung and offers a high-resolution display. The same display is expected to appear on the N10, as well as improved processors, cameras and so on. There are still plenty of unanswered questions about this device.

Google will tell us all about the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 10 soon. When? Well, when Google is good and ready, that's when.