Google's pre-order sales of the Nexus 6 on the US Play Store have been, to put it delicately, crap. By my estimate all four storage and color variants of the phone have been available for ordering for a grand total of about twenty minutes over the last two weeks, and Motorola hasn't fared much better selling them on its own site. If you're waiting for the retail release of the Nexus 6... prepare to be disappointed.

A tipster sent us this image of a purported T-Mobile internal memo.

If you're too busy to read the image above, here's the gist: only certain T-Mobile retailers will be getting the N6 on November 12th, and even at those, the inventory will be "constrained." They'll be happy to take your money and ship the phone directly to your home... which may or may not get it in your hot little hands faster than ordering from the Google or Motorola stores.

Also consider that though the Nexus 6 is compatible with every major United States carrier including Verizon and Sprint, there may be banks of IMEI numbers assigned for retail distribution. If you intend to buy an N6 at T-Mobile and use it on another provider, it's possible that switching to different carriers isn't as easy as swapping out a SIM card, as should be the case with the Play Store and Motorola.com units. (To be clear: this is speculation. If there are any cross-carrier problems like there were with the N7 LTE, we won't hear about them until after the launch.) T-Mobile retailers also might be hesitant to sell you an unlocked phone without service, though I suppose you could simply cancel it immediately and eat any fees.

There is at least some good news. Select T-Mobile stores will have demonstration units available, allowing potential buyers to try out the phone and its controversial 5.96-inch screen in person before laying their money down. For the best chance at getting a Nexus 6 or just playing with one on Wednesday, go to the larger corporate stores in high-traffic areas of major cities, and avoid resellers. AT&T, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular stores (but not Verizon stores) should have at least some Nexus 6 units available sometime in the next few weeks.

Thanks, anonymous.