I can only come up with one reason why Google is really releasing this device. Because people asked for it. Every time a phone is released, a vocal minority takes to the Internet to say things like, "I would buy this if it had stock Android." It won't hurt Google at all to see if people will put their money where their mouth is, and gauge interest in this sort of thing.

Right now, it really comes down to radio compatibility. Which is going to be fixed by the end of this year, early next year. Next year's flagships should all have identical internals.

In Hangouts....

Shameless referral link drop.

https://copy.com?r=Z739V4

Always loved the look of that tablet.

The pretty white one?