We Don't Need Nexus Phones Anymore?

[cbrunny]

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone...s/we-don-t-need-nexus-phones-any-more-1151940

Uhh.. is this guy in the ballpark or does he have no idea what he is talking about? A timely article considering I'm poking around to see what can replace my galaxy nexus.

 

[kpkp]

He clearly is USA "narrow" minded (GPE is USA only) and forgets about maybe the most important Nexus feature, price (and this heavy subsidies from Google conspiracy does not have much to back it up).

One funny thing in Europe is that now you can find a Nexus 4 cheaper outside the Playstore and ASUS always sold the Nexus 7 at the Playstore price, clearly at a loss :-S.

 

[Red Storm]

All explained by this:

I'm not a fan of the vanilla Google experience

So because he's not a fan of stock Android, that means no one should have Nexus devices? What an ass.

 

[thedosbox]

All explained by this:

So because he's not a fan of stock Android, that means no one should have Nexus devices? What an ass.

Selective quoting is asstastic:

I'm not a fan of the vanilla Google experience - I think it's too basic, and the "magic" of reviewing phones is in finding out where the companies are providing innovation.

He's not wrong. While nerdier users might appreciate a bare bones experience in the same way some people insist on a command line, a big chunk of the market clearly appreciates Sense, Touchwiz etc.

 

[PlatinumGold]

I think the Nexus program now isn't what it used to be. I actually never purchased a Nexus Device, mostly going to Motorola smart phones, until I got my current GS3.

 

[Kelvrick]

Selective quoting is asstastic:



He's not wrong. While nerdier users might appreciate a bare bones experience in the same way some people insist on a command line, a big chunk of the market clearly appreciates Sense, Touchwiz etc.

Most of the market doesn't even know what the nexus line is.

And regarding finding new features, you do that when you buy the phone and then maybe a year later when you get the next update. Along that line of thinking, how often does a nexus get an update to let you explore? A whole lot more often than any other line of phones.

 

[thedosbox]

Most of the market doesn't even know what the nexus line is.

Right - and many wouldn't care. They buy a phone because the price matches their budget, or because they like some physical aspect of it, or because of some feature their friends tell them is cool.

"Pure" android where they have to research and buy apps to match the functionality of their friends Touchwiz/Sense/iOS devices? Not so cool.

And regarding finding new features, you do that when you buy the phone and then maybe a year later when you get the next update. Along that line of thinking, how often does a nexus get an update to let you explore? A whole lot more often than any other line of phones.

Again, doesn't matter to most people. And given that google is moving towards rolling out new features via google play services instead of the base OS, it's going to become less important.

Don't get me wrong, I think there will always be a place for Nexus devices. They're a great way for developers to have a representative target platform to develop for. But most people don't "need" a Nexus device - especially with the advent of GPe devices.

 

[TerryMathews]

Selective quoting is asstastic:



He's not wrong. While nerdier users might appreciate a bare bones experience in the same way some people insist on a command line, a big chunk of the market clearly appreciates Sense, Touchwiz etc.

I don't care for touchwiz. There are certain Samsung innovations I like on my Note 2:

-Exchange sync schedule (AOSP is all or nothing)
-Exchange contact search (AOSP has very limited search
-File downloader (Will grab MP4 videos off streaming sites :thumbup: )

 

[Strk]

I'd say most people don't know what the Nexus line actually is. At best, they know it's a nice and inexpensive tablet.

People rarely know what phone I have and when I say it's a Nexus. And if I say it's a Galaxy Nexus, all I get is "oh, and S3?" or something similar.

 

[Red Storm]

He's not wrong. While nerdier users might appreciate a bare bones experience in the same way some people insist on a command line, a big chunk of the market clearly appreciates Sense, Touchwiz etc.

I'm sorry but you are also wrong. Comparing stock Android to CLI? lol please...

A big chunk of the market "appreciates" various carrier UI because that's what those phones happen to ship with. They use their own skins to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and to try and lock upgrading users into a familiar interface. Also doesn't hurt that their phones are all over carrier stores compared to Nexus devices.

The author of the article is wrong, as are you.

 

[Bateluer]

The Nexus One was proclaimed as the reason Android smartphones went mainstream, but it was really just a re-tooled HTC Desire

This idiot fails in his first paragraph. The Motorola Droid made Android mainstream. The N1 was a commercial failure.

 

[thedosbox]

I'm sorry but you are also wrong. Comparing stock Android to CLI? lol please...

A big chunk of the market "appreciates" various carrier UI because that's what those phones happen to ship with. They use their own skins to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and to try and lock upgrading users into a familiar interface. Also doesn't hurt that their phones are all over carrier stores compared to Nexus devices.

The author of the article is wrong, as are you.

Did you even bother reading the posts above you? Apology accepted.

I don't care for touchwiz. There are certain Samsung innovations I like on my Note 2:

-Exchange sync schedule (AOSP is all or nothing)
-Exchange contact search (AOSP has very limited search

Those two features alone are why I much prefer the HTC mail app over the android one. Heck, it took google until 4.3 to match the smart dialer from Samsung/HTC. Sure, a buyer of Nexus phone could go find an app that offers those features, but that's the point - they would need to put the effort into doing so. Most people can't be bothered.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

This idiot fails in his first paragraph. The Motorola Droid made Android mainstream. The N1 was a commercial failure.

The Galaxy phones made Android mainstream. Moto Droid sales were a drop in the bucket.

Anyway, I want Nexus phones because until Google gives Android the features it deserves, I need custom ROMs like CM and AOKP or PA. Even with GPE phones, the development support for the GS4 or HTC One don't come anywhere close.

 

[Jodell88]

The Galaxy phones made Android mainstream. Moto Droid sales were a drop in the bucket.

Anyway, I want Nexus phones because until Google gives Android the features it deserves, I need custom ROMs like CM and AOKP or PA. Even with GPE phones, the development support for the GS4 or HTC One don't come anywhere close.

lolwut?

Motorola and Verizon made Android mainstream. Samsung came afterwards.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I definitely think we still need the Nexus phones. It's Google's baseline for how they think a phone should be and to showcase new features that others may not want to adopt right away. For example they had to make the Galaxy Nexus to show off the softkeys.

We also needed Nexus phones because carriers and manufacturers just suck at updating. We do have two Google Edition phones and so far they've both gotten Android updates pretty quick. But that still leaves us with only three Nexus and Google Edition phones and it's nice to have choices. And the Nexus is a great choice because of it's price.

And I imagine there is some concern about Samsung getting too dominate and forking Android and bypassing Google content and apps like Amazon does or doing something else crazy. HTC and Motorola aren't doing enough to keep things balanced and so I think it is definitely a good idea for Google to continue pushing out their cheap subsidized phones.

 

[gorcorps]

lolwut?

Motorola and Verizon made Android mainstream. Samsung came afterwards.

Yeah, I agree with this. Motorola phones put Android out there in the beginning, so people were less hesitant to try android when it came to their own carrier.

Also, I'm pretty sure HTC was at their peak before Samsung hit theirs... So you'd have to ignore a lot Android's early history to think Samsung was first to the mainstream market.

However it Was Samsung that finally showed that android could compete with iOS. They definitely were the biggest player in increasing the market share to current levels, but Android was already out there and heavily advertised at that point.

 

[BrightCandle]

While the addons that various providers make can be good experiences historically they have all been pretty bad. They often had very poor performance and altered parts of the OS that didn't need to change, the new versions were no better just normally slower. Maybe they have finally started producing software that is worthwhile but it seems more likely that the hardware improvements have slowly removed the performance issues rather than the software fundamentally being good.

But actually the main reason to get a Nexus device is about upgrades. If you have a Nexus One today it started on Android 1 but it will have received the latest Android OS within days of the notice. It got 2 as well despite that being targeted at better hardware and each time the device ran better and gained features. Admittedly Google did finally decide that the 1 core device couldn't take the latest and stopped releasing but its important to remember Google Nexus devices get the upgrades days after they are announced and they keep getting the upgrades until they are obsolete. The same can not be said for most phones out there.

This is the main selling point of a Nexus phone, its always up to date with Googles latest which means you often get performance and experience improvements without having to get a new phone. Thus the phone lasts for years because the software moves with it. With a large argument about fragmentation still raging the nexus phones are one aspect of this where there is no fragmentation, they all run the latest and greatest.

 

[Red Storm]

While the addons that various providers make can be good experiences historically they have all been pretty bad. They often had very poor performance and altered parts of the OS that didn't need to change, the new versions were no better just normally slower. Maybe they have finally started producing software that is worthwhile but it seems more likely that the hardware improvements have slowly removed the performance issues rather than the software fundamentally being good.

But actually the main reason to get a Nexus device is about upgrades. If you have a Nexus One today it started on Android 1 but it will have received the latest Android OS within days of the notice. It got 2 as well despite that being targeted at better hardware and each time the device ran better and gained features. Admittedly Google did finally decide that the 1 core device couldn't take the latest and stopped releasing but its important to remember Google Nexus devices get the upgrades days after they are announced and they keep getting the upgrades until they are obsolete. The same can not be said for most phones out there.

This is the main selling point of a Nexus phone, its always up to date with Googles latest which means you often get performance and experience improvements without having to get a new phone. Thus the phone lasts for years because the software moves with it. With a large argument about fragmentation still raging the nexus phones are one aspect of this where there is no fragmentation, they all run the latest and greatest.

Thankfully nowadays most of the new features are baked into the apps themselves, which anyone can update from the Market.

 

[tvdang7]

I love "Nexus" because 1 they are cheap and 2 the development community is great! Not saying s4 one X doesnt have good development but I am pretty sure the nexus phones have better.

 

[Midwayman]

I think we need the nexus devices mainly as a leash on the normal android OEMs. It keeps them a bit more honest about price and updates.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

lolwut?

Motorola and Verizon made Android mainstream. Samsung came afterwards.

The Droid sold only a few units. And even then that's 1 carrier out of the 4 in America. How many Motorola Milestones sold worldwide? Practically none. It was the Galaxy phones that helped Android take off. It hit all 4 carriers in the US and was a worldwide launch. THAT is what I call mainstream.

Please. I'd be willing to bet more people bought iPhone 3GS phones on launch weekend than the Droid 1 ever sold.

 

[Red Storm]

The Droid sold only a few units. And even then that's 1 carrier out of the 4 in America. How many Motorola Milestones sold worldwide? Practically none. It was the Galaxy phones that helped Android take off. It hit all 4 carriers in the US and was a worldwide launch. THAT is what I call mainstream.

Please. I'd be willing to bet more people bought iPhone 3GS phones on launch weekend than the Droid 1 ever sold.

The Droid 1 is the phone that put Android on the map. It's the phone I switched to after getting fed up with the iPhone. It's the phone that I discovered Android with. It sold over a million units, and that's just the Verizon model.

 

[Jodell88]

The Droid sold only a few units. And even then that's 1 carrier out of the 4 in America. How many Motorola Milestones sold worldwide? Practically none. It was the Galaxy phones that helped Android take off. It hit all 4 carriers in the US and was a worldwide launch. THAT is what I call mainstream.

Please. I'd be willing to bet more people bought iPhone 3GS phones on launch weekend than the Droid 1 ever sold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoTywCnEj1I

 

[sweenish]

To deny the impact of the Moto Droid (OG) and the HTC Evo 4G is simply ignorant.

And the "only 1 of 4 US carriers" comment? Garbage, as it was on Verizon, the largest by far.

 

[gsaldivar]

There are certain Samsung innovations I like on my Note 2:
-Exchange sync schedule (AOSP is all or nothing)
-Exchange contact search (AOSP has very limited search
-File downloader (Will grab MP4 videos off streaming sites :thumbup: )

I'd much rather use Google's OS as a foundation and select my own apps to extend features, rather than the manufacturer trying to bake them into the firmware.