Talk about adding insult to injury - in addition to the news of the upcoming Google Nexus S missing any kind of external memory slots (microSD, etc), we’ve just found out that this supposed Nexus One successor is also missing LED notifications. What other essential system function is it going to lose next – a phone speaker?

I am excited about Gingerbread, especially everything it is bringing under-the-hood, but the whole Nexus S situation is turning out to be a disaster. Even Reto Meier, the Android engineer who confirmed the absence of any LED notification, is saddened by it:

We'll update you as we know more.

Update: Some of you have suggested using the NoLed app, which uses the phone's screen for notifications, as a partial workaround. Nothing will replace the notification LED, but it's a decent compromise.