With over 50 new Android phones poised to hit the market next year its hard to ignore the reality that the platform is picking up not just in popularity, but in variety as well.  Some argue the open approach is Androids greatest strength, while iPhone loyalists would have you believe the lack of a singular vision is its biggest weakness. Either way, Google has been able to sit back and observe the changes in the market since the G1 first launched, and the company finally has an answer for even the purist among us, meet the Nexus One. Sporting a speedy Snapdragon processor running on Android 2.1, it also features a 5.0 MP camera, and two microphones to assist in noise cancellation. The hardware itself will be manufactured by HTC, but the phone was designed, and will be sold by Google itself as an unlocked carrier independent device.

The Nexus One represents a pretty significant game changer not just for the wireless industry, but for a multi billion-dollar company that has never sold a single piece of consumer hardware in its history. With so many high profile handsets on the market already Google will need to compete not just with iPhone’s, Blackberry’s, and other Androids, but with the media perception that they are nothing more than a software company. Failure to hit a homerun on their first attempt could end up doing little more than alienating competing companies who just recently adopted Android, and now find themselves in a head to head battle with the OS maker itself.

Leaked Photos on Twitter and a January 2010 release date are pretty convincing evidence of the phones existence, but Google has yet to come out formally to confirm or deny the exact specs. I hate to drag out a tired old metaphor, but is the iPhone killer finally here?