This weekend, Google posted a message on its Mobile Blog referring to a new mobile phone concept device that Google’s employees had been given to test. This new device, the blog said, “combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities.”

According to reports, the device is Nexus One, Google’s first attempt at a cell phone that it will sell directly to consumers, with software designed entirely in-house.

The phone is being manufactured for Google by HTC Corp., reports said. It runs Android, the operating system for mobile phones that Google developed.