Google Doesn’t Need To Make Nexus Phones Anymore

Megalith

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Does anyone actually agree with this? I sure don’t; I like the idea of vanilla Android.

The past few Nexus devices have brought nothing new to the table. They’ve been nice handsets, but there’s just not a feature that non-Nexus devices would be sorry not to have.
 
I cant remember a time when google put out a phone that had unique features outside of fast upgrades. They might have been the first to not put external SD slots and buttons on a android phone. The only difference from this year and years past is that Motorola is making a nexus like phone but its as much a compromise(or more) as the nexus phones.

Google needs to keep the pressure on the samsungs of the world to not jank up android every year with a bunch of crap no one wants or uses on their phone.
 
I'd rather have a vanilla Android phone over anything that would come with carrier software (holy crap AT&T!), then the "sponsor" offers (holy crap AT&T). Lastly, then you have the manufacture's array of crap (stop it Samsung).

Thankfully I was able to root>de-bloat my device so its snappy and has wonderful battery life. My next phone will not be from a carrier or from an manufacture that shovels the shit on in.

The price point IMO is competitive of Nexus (no crap) to a carrier/mfg locked town turd burglar. When you buy the device out right there should be zero reason to shovel in the crap.
 
Nexus phones will always be valuable to the power-user community. Fully stock android, always being first to get the latest updates, and an unlocked boot loader. To your average user these things don't mean much, but there is still a significant enough group of people who will favor these over the gimmicks of the major OEMs. I don't give a crap about a curved screen, or a second screen, or a style. Being able to root my phone effortlessly is 100% imperative to my purchasing decision.

There are other companies that are mimicking Google's stance on things like this, which is why my last two phones have been from OnePlus, but it's still not quite the same experience. Your still behind the curve on software updates.

Above all though, the Nexus continues to do exactly what Google meant for it to do. Usher in the latest major Android release. Having a Google branded phone, where they are in control of every aspect of the device, is the ideal way to showcase what they have been working on on the software side of things. It also allows them to better pursue other projects within the company (such as Project Fi). Nexus phones will never be mainstream. They will never match a Galaxy in terms of popularity. But I think they will always be a useful tool for Google, and I think they will always be favored by a certain sector of the android market.
 
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The reason I switched to Nexus was because

1) My service provider taking forever to push out update from the OEM + bundling their own BS
2) The OEM taking forever to push out updates + bundling their own BS...
3) OEM's deciding that a particular product is EndOfLife (prematurely) ...

These three things pushed me to nexus when a particularly nasty security bug surfaced...
While any one of these 3 exists, the existence of a nexus-like device is paramount
 
and...Viper87227 wins this thread! ^^^^^^^^^

If the handset is not bootloader-unlocked (or can't be made as such), i'm not touching it.

There will always be a market for stock OS / fully unlocked handsets.
 
As long as Google doesn't lose money on Nexus there is no penalty for them to work with partners to deliver new models ... they must also keep it a niche product though since their customers (the other phone manufacturers) would be much less likely to buy their software if they also had to compete against them ... if they are losing money or it is upsetting their customers enough to switch to a competing OS then that would be the ideal time to drop the Nexus
 
Equally Google helping an OEM to create a flagship phone for that generation or two of Android actually helps keep the OEM pool diversified.

I wonder how much Google put down to cover a phone that launched samsung into making androids left right an centre, HTC sort of blew it but LG seem to be doing ok
 
Yes and no.
Google could have done a lot more with the last Nexus 6 and the current nexus 5 and 6.
Finger print scanner should have been in the Nexus 5 (2013) and by now they should have added some sort of waterproof feature (Got Sony on board).
 
The moment the other carriers keep their phones instantly up to date with the latest versions of Android, then Google can stop making Nexus phones, but not a moment sooner.

We need to get the phone industry to where the PC industry is. Software/OS is independent of the manufacturer or carrier.

Updates get pushed by the OS maker directly to the end user.

This will - of course - mean that the carriers will have to stop trying to differentiate themselves through stupid, highly customized android ROM's, and carriers will need to relinquish control of what users do on their phones, but it MUST happen.
 
The reason I switched to Nexus was because

1) My service provider taking forever to push out update from the OEM + bundling their own BS
2) The OEM taking forever to push out updates + bundling their own BS...
3) OEM's deciding that a particular product is EndOfLife (prematurely) ...

This is what I hate the most about Android phones.
I have an S3, and even though other vendors have released the 4.4 update, T-Mobile decided not to update their version of the S3. I could root the phone, and load my own 4.4 rom, but then I would lose WiFi calling.

My biggest problem with the Nexus phones is the lack of an SD slot.
I used to be adamant about having a removable battery, but as long as the battery can be replace without too much hassle, it doesn't need to be removable.
Now if they can start shipping phones at a decent price with 64GB built in, I might be willing to give up on the SD slot.
 
Article is practically click bait.
Despite android success Google *needs* to keep kicking out Nexus devices to keep manufactures and cell service providers from stagnating, and locking everything down and raising prices.
 
I don't like the idea of any Android. Google can keep it's spyware.

These days, I really feel like I'm almost out of a job. :( It's like everyone knows Android is a data mining spy box with a candy coating, but since Microsoft is doing it too with Windows 10, I just feel hollow and empty inside. Maybe I need to change my forum name to CreepyUncleMicrosoft, but that has a absolutely horrible abbreviation thingy that makes CUG look super decent.
 
These days, I really feel like I'm almost out of a job. :( It's like everyone knows Android is a data mining spy box with a candy coating, but since Microsoft is doing it too with Windows 10, I just feel hollow and empty inside. Maybe I need to change my forum name to CreepyUncleMicrosoft, but that has a absolutely horrible abbreviation thingy that makes CUG look super decent.

Yeah, I'll take the company that's doesn't get more than 90% of its revenues from activities related to it's spying and tracking. Google is strongly incentivized against doing the right thing, despite their new hypocritical motto.
 
The worst thing about Nexus is that they stubbornly refuse to add a micro sd slot to their devices. Samsung builds a better device and includes this slot. I'd be one of the first to buy a Nexus device that had expandable storage.
 
Yeah, I'll take the company that's doesn't get more than 90% of its revenues from activities related to it's spying and tracking. Google is strongly incentivized against doing the right thing, despite their new hypocritical motto.

Yup, Alphabet/Google/Spyco has no choice but to be super-creepers, but that doesn't mean that other companies don't aspire to grab some of that same "farming everything you do for money" thing. Just because it's vital to Google's survival doesn't mean that other companies aren't or won't do the same thing. Like two-ish years ago, I would have been like, "Well, Microsoft isn't doing it because they make money in a different way." Now though, their latest OS thing has prove that while they do make most of their money some other way, its not stopping them from branching out into Creepy Corporate Uncle land. It's really sad that's become the case too because now I get to hide out on Linux and not do the phone thing (which isn't a bad thing at all, mind you because I can spend the same money I would have on a cell phone on beer and hookers...and hookers pretty much have to listen to you talk about Linux because you're paying them).
 
Yeah, I'll take the company that's doesn't get more than 90% of its revenues from activities related to it's spying and tracking. Google is strongly incentivized against doing the right thing, despite their new hypocritical motto.

Meh, I feel fairly confident with googles approach.

There are risks of rogue employees abusing their data troves, but very few actually have access, and they police it strictly, as Google ahs everything to lose and nothing to gain if they had a big privacy scandal. They would lose customers in droves, directly hitting the bottom line.

There is a lot of self preservation at work there.

Google has been pretty open about how they use the data. All the input sources combine to build a profile of your likely interests, which is then used to target you with relevant ads, which increases the value of those ads to advertisers, as they spend less money advertising the latest F150 truck to your knitting grandma, etc. Individual data sources are discarded after they ahve been used to augment your profile, and you can even view your profile and opt out of the profile all together in your account.

I'm more concerned about other platforms that mine my data, who have been less transparent about how it is used, than Google has.

Like all those pesky little apps in Facebook's app platform collecting data on you, or your cellphone carrier and ISP logging all your requests, and location data and selling it to the highest bidder, or the flashlight app for your phone that really is just colecting data and sending it to the author. It's the ones you barely know that they are even collecting any data which are the dangerous ones.
 
The worst thing about Nexus is that they stubbornly refuse to add a micro sd slot to their devices. Samsung builds a better device and includes this slot. I'd be one of the first to buy a Nexus device that had expandable storage.

Except the S6 doesn't have an SD slot, and doesn't have a replaceable battery.
2 reasons I will not be upgrading to an S6.
 
Except the S6 doesn't have an SD slot, and doesn't have a replaceable battery.
2 reasons I will not be upgrading to an S6.

Yeah, I LIKE the concept of not being limited, and having the option of MicroSD storage, and replaceable batteries.

But I say this knowing that even when I've had these things, I've never used them.

Right now, i have neither on my Droid Turbo.

I'm not too happy with my Droid Turbo, but it has nothing to do with missing microsd slots or replaceable batteries.

(my gripes with the Droid Turbo are its AWFUL wifi performance when using AES encrypted networks, and the fact that updates are slow, and it is bootloader locked, and I can't run the ROM's of my choosing, and the OEM ROM is full of bloatware I'll never use.

These things bother me more than anything else.

From any phone I get, I want the PC experience:
  • Near instant OS updates
  • Complete freedom to run whatever I want whenever I want, including alternative operating systems, unapproved software, etc.
  • Nothing pre-installed. (Or at the very least, if something is preinstalled, allow it to be removable)

If I have the above, I'm willing to overlook almost any other shortcoming.
 
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