Google's Nexus 4, 7, 10 Strategy: Openness At All Costs
MrSeb writes "There have been plenty of rumors about how the Nexus program was going to grow and change with this year's announcement. Now that we have all the details, it looks like almost none of them were right. There is no Nexus certification program, and the dream of multiple Nexus phones seems well and truly dead. What we do have is a range of device sizes with the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10. However, the Nexus program has been altered in one important way: we know what Nexus means now. There can no longer be any doubt: a Nexus device is about openness first and foremost. Last year the technology sphere was busily discussing whether or not the Verizon Galaxy Nexus was a 'true' Nexus device. This year we have an answer: a Nexus controlled by a carrier is no Nexus. Rather than get in bed with Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T to produce an LTE version of the Nexus 4, we have HSPA+ only. Even the new Nexus 7 with mobile data is limited to this enhanced 3G standard. And then there's the pricing: The super high-resolution (2560×1600) Nexus 10 tablet starts at just $399; The Nexus 7 is dropping in price to $199 for a 16GB tablet; The Nexus 4 with 16GB of storage is going to sell for $349, exactly the same as the old Galaxy Nexus was until yesterday. To put this into perspective, the LG Optimus G, which the Nexus 4 is based on, sells for $550 without subsidy. Google is pushing the idea of openness with the Nexus devices, but it's not an entirely altruistic endeavor. By giving us cheap and open devices, Google is making sure it's in control — not the carriers. That's better for the consumers, but it's also better for Google."
Lame.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
If it was all about openness, then why no micro sd slot
I don't know about anyone else, but I think that the size of the Nexus 4 is too big at 4.7". I was hoping for a 4" to 4.3" screen, but Google have really pushed for that extra big handset.
I had heard a rumour that there were going to be several manufacturers involved in the Nexus 4 - Samsung, LG, HTC and Sony - but apparently it's just LG. A shame, as I think that if Google had managed to score a contract with them to produce a variety of Nexus 4 devices, all controlled by Google, they would have produced the ultimate Android phone.
Well, at least there's Cyanogenmod, with it's incoming OTA update feature.
THE HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS - CC Licensed Sci-Fi Novel
Google need to expand the Play Store to more countries. Not only apps, but music, books and movies too!
Google should also sell its Nexus devices in more countries too.
USA and Europe are not the only places in the world...
That's better for the consumers for now. But in the long run there's no more reason to trust Google than the telephone companies where power is currently concentrated. Once all the power is in Google's hands (if they get their way) it's not so good for consumers anymore.
What other options are more sinister? Obviously iOS is a closed system, but Windows Phone 8 has yet to be tested security-wise. We also have Firefox OS on the horizon as well as hopefully a resurgence of Meego
There Can Be Only One...
Apple and Microsoft do want total control. Google does not care much about total control, they get their money in so many ways that it is unavoidable that they will get it in the end. The proof of that is that anyone can sell apps outside Google Play, be it in other stores or in his own site, instead having to go through the centralizing policy Apple and MS apply to their products.
manufacturers. both neglect their users. what google is doing is providing an open device where the user is in control and no longer bound by limitations of carriers and manufacturers.
In some countries and on some carriers one of the promises of the Nexus brand was broken: we didn't get timely OS updates.
I felt this was a breach of trust - the sort of thing we expect from our carriers and some manufacturers - and it meant I couldn't recommend the Galaxy Nexus to others.
Fortunately, it seems that what happened with the Galaxy Nexus was not acceptable to Google either, and I'm really impressed with the lengths they are going to - bypassing the carriers completely in my country - to set things right.
They will probably only sell a tiny number of the new Nexus w/o carrier support but then again, the carriers' were never going to like or promote a phone that came unlocked and with broad carrier support - so they did little to promote the G'Nex anyway.
So, I'm disappointed that the new Nexus doesn't have LTE, but there is some sense in it (see the linked below for a good explanation) and I believe that the Nexus is once again worth recommending to friends*.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3569688/why-nexus-4-does-not-have-4g-lte
(*assuming the reviews don't uncover lots of bugs or unexpected shortcomings.)
And if they would just add a hardware keyboard I would be perfectly satisfied... every try working on a server with a touchscreen even in a pinch? Was that backspace or enter you wanted on that commandline? Finger slipped.... whoops!
Get a web developer
Reaction on the Android forums has been pretty swift: no microSD card slot = fail, especially given that there's a paltry 8GB in some of the units. My iPhone 2G had 8GB of storage. It was about enough for my music and some apps. That was also 5 years ago. They're trying to force cloud storage onto you by giving you a pathetic amount of storage and eliminating expansion. Meanwhile, they're forcing Google+ instant-uploads on people to encourage them to use it. All of this means increased data usage and reliance on google for your storage needs, which means they're going to start monetizing it at some point in the near future.
Please help metamoderate.
I'm all for openness, but I'm not going to buy an "open" phone that's starkly lacking in features. The Nexus One had the best hardware of any smartphone on the market when it was introduced. The Nexus S? Nice, but not spectacular. Galaxy Nexus? Nice, not spectacular, crappy camera. Nexus 4? No LTE - that's a deal breaker for a lot of people. Was the Nexus One a fluke, or has Google given up on trying to deliver a Nexus phone with great hardware?
I believe they missed a big opportunity by not delivering a Verizon LTE capable phone in the $350-$450 range. There is a significant portion of users who are still grandfathered on to "unlimited" data that are approaching upgrade time (e.g., early adopters who bought VZW's first LTE phone, the HTC Thunderbolt back in Dec 2010). There's a large market of people that would choose an unsubsidized LTE Nexus 4 which lets them keep unlimited data for that price. The competitive subsidized phones (i.e. GS3 or Note 2) would only be about $200 or so less but would cost the user their unlimited data plan which a lot of people value more than $200.
Sadly, PS/2 was yet another victim of USB, which doesn't care what you plug into it, the electrical slut.
We used to ramble about Windows, and now Android acts like the old windows system, the swiss cheese of security.
Apart from its not true. Security is a issue on EVERY platform, and Google have routinely stepped up security while allowing the...and I cannot empathise this enough the *option* of openness. Security has just become one of those words that Apple shareholders user to pretend that a closed ecosystem is somehow better...Its not it just means the company owns the device (and the content) not you. It means you get rubbish maps!
The original poster has the qualities of a shill. The open system actually feeds Google's app control needs, and allows Google to continue its privacy-robbing policies, and total location and usage context control of users of the platform.
Yes, Apple does this, too.
It's why I'm hoping for BootGecko, and other "smartphone" operating systems that aren't built on business models that retain way too much customer information. Even Canonical with Unity is starting to bow to the Dark Side.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
All Nexus devices can also be unlocked and rooted in a straightforward process. That they don't come in this way is a protection for the average Joe who doesn't know what "rooting" even means and who'd just be vulnerable to a malicious app trying to elevate its own permissions.
Nexus devices are still consumer devices.
I hope to see this as a continuing trend in unlocked, unsubsidized offerings. The Galaxy Nexus was a pretty good deal for $400 (then eventually $350) for an unlocked device with that kind of hardware. Now with an even lower starting cost of $300 for the 8GB Nexus 4 and even better specs than its predecessor, Google has got to be putting some pressure on the wireless carriers. If I had to pick, I'd still take a phone with Google in control than any of the carriers. At least you own the device (as opposed to basically renting it on contract) without all the bloat and crapware that's usually included.
Their Google play has regional customized availability. i.e. many apps are not available due to some stupid error or censorship. I had to contact at least 2 app authors including Kaiten email to make it available in the country I am currently residing in. The app ranking is also region dependent...
And the rest of the story? Did those authors make it available to your country? If an application author doesn't tick whatever box they need to in order to make it available in your location, whose fault is it? As far as censorship, you could argue that by allowing sideloading all they're doing is refusing to distribute it via their online store. Meanwhile, if Apple doesn't want your app to exist, you'll have to hack your device to get it up and running.
Security is still a main issue. We used to ramble about Windows, and now Android acts like the old windows system, the swiss cheese of security.
I don't recall Windows every explicitly defining the permissions a given application requires when being installed, letting me make an informed decision. The best it currently does is ask if I want to run it as Administrator, basically, don't trust it and close it, or trust it and give it access to everything and anything. The Android model is a pretty good one to copy, IMO.
Unfortunately the other alternatives are more sinister than Android so we don;t have other options. Other possible proposed alternatives are not commercially viable since only large companies can venture into this market.
What do you mean? If you didn't buy your Android device from a company that locked it down, you're free to write your own bootloader. Hell, Canonical is working on a distro now for current Nexus devices, maybe you can lend a hand?
More Twoson than Cupertino
Most of it pasted into the submission. Still not sure if TFA is supposed to be accolades, gripes, or just web-hits.
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There can no longer be any doubt: a Nexus device is about openness first and foremost.
By giving us cheap and open devices, Google is making sure it's in control â" not the carriers.
This is even more true when people are using the internet on a device sold and maintained by Google. Mountain View gets to slurp up more of our data, show us more location-aware ads, and drive adoption of its services. Maybe in this case, freedom really isnâ(TM)t free
OK, so which is it? Is it open, or is it controlled by Google? Either of those things might be fine in a given context, but I think the article's author might not realize they are contradictory. Open means I am in control, for better and for worse.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
In the US, carriers have full control over which devices they allow on their networks, and even if they didn't, the lack of a single wireless standard means that effectively you are locked in anyway. We need uniform wireless standards and a requirement to let people move freely between carriers.
And the last thing I've heard about WebOS was "I'm not dead yet!"
That, or we all switch to AmigaOS. Or BeOS. Why must the Davids always fail and the Giants win?
Thank god it actually has front facing speakers---I might actually be able to hear it without cupping my hands around the back of it. Shame the 32GB upgrade is $100 with no SD card slot, although for what I'd use it for 16GB should be enough as long as I don't store too much music or to many movies on it.
Control? As faras I'm aware, you do not need to have you device talk to Google *at all*. Google wants an open web so they can push ads. They trade services for personal information, but you're not required to use their services. MS and Apple want what AOL had, and I hope they both end up the same way.
1. When you buy a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 4 from the play store it comes with an unlocked bootloader.
2. You can restore factory images quite easily, google provides all of them.
3. You are correct about no root access out of the box, you need to do that yourself.
Yes, the bootloader is locked and that's good. You can unlock them with 'fastboot oem unlock'. This will delete all user data on the device, making it hard to infect the device with bad code somewhere.
False: The boot loader can be unlocked using the Android SDK. Boot into Fastboot, then use the command 'fastboot oem unlock'. Rooting is pretty straight forward these days, plenty of how-to's out there on the Internet. Lastly, factory images can be downloaded from https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images.
You can unlock all of the newer nexus devices with the "fastboot oem unlock" command. You can also easily add root access (not that I have ever encountered a time when I needed it). Factory images are provided at https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images. I've set up and built my own OS for my Nexus 7 in an evening. This weekend I easily installed the current test image for Ubuntu on it too. And when I was done I switched back to android by using the aforementioned factory image. The only issue I've had was waiting on updates for my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon and that was easily fixed by easily unlocking and flashing a new image built from the source that Google released. I don't see what your problem is.
What has openness got to do with a micro sd slot!?
Additional storage slots give people the ability to store stuff on their own devices, not in Google's cloud. They give people the ability to store data rather than having to retrieve it (and advertising) over a carrier's network connection repeatedly.
I was going to buy a Nexus, but no SD slot, no sale. Sorry.
After the Davids win, they grow into Goliaths.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Apple.. high margin on hardware.
MS.. high margin on OS.
Google.. high margin on ads shown on subsidized hardware plus free OS.
Google model is so disrupting here, MS and Apple do not know it yet, but they are history.
I don't know about anyone else, but I think that the size of the Nexus 4 is too big at 4.7
You worried that it will make a bulge in your strechpants?
Buy an "iPhone" or one of hundreds of other smaller handsets.
This is a deal breaker. Who in 2012/2013 would buy a cutting edge smartphone without LTE?
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
What exactly do you want? Those things come with an unlocked boot loader. The complete source of the software is available. Everybody can modify it freely. What else could Google possibly do?
You can quibble all you want about details like not having LTE, I mean really, most markets don't deliver full LTE speeds anyways, and most data plans are not going to let you take full advantage of LTE speeds by capping out at some absurdly low amount (maybe its just Canada, but our telcom sucks). Also lack of Micro SD slot and low capacity models is hard to accept. But the reality is that Google is setting a precedent that an unlocked phones should no longer cost $800+.
Its about time someone like Google smacked down the cost of unlocked handsets. We all know Apple makes 2 - 4x profit on an iDevice, its time for a company to set more realistic expectations of what profit on a mobile device should be.
Same goes for their tablets, considerably cheaper than iPads, and if Google (re Samsung) starts offering more features for less money, like uber-high resolutions, Google will be setting the trend for pricing of ALL mobile devices in the very near future.
Its a shame Microsoft chose to follow Apple's pricing and marketing strategy, I think this will hurt Microsoft. When the Lumina 920 is more expensive than an iPhone 5, and Microsoft choose to lock their devices to specific carriers on roll out, this is a huge decision for me not to even bother with the Windows Phone platform. Had Microsoft offered a "Surface" phone, unlocked for $300 - $400, I might have considered.
So, in spite of limited storage and no LTE, the phone is good enough for most people and the unlocked price is attractive to get a near top end Android device. If you feel you can't live without LTE, then enjoy your $800+ phones and your 3 year data plans.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Your choices are actually:
Apple's hardware + Apple's OS + Apple approved software
or
LG's hardware + Whatever ROM you like + Whatever apps you like
And hats off to them. Read more here:
http://www.reviewlagoon.com/?p=763
Get your dogma outta my yard!
No, it's a "fuck you" from Google to its customers.
Unroot and re-lock the thing before you send it in for a warranty.
Since there's no guarantee you'll even get the same device back with a warranty return, what you should really do is make a nandroid (1:1 backup) first and then restore the phone to factory state (bootloader, recovery, rom, data, and all). Then whatever phone you do end up with can be restored to your 'old' phone in a few minutes, and you don't have to worry about who has your data, and unless the FBI is spying on you no one will ever know you did those naughty unlocking and rooting things.
I think that is more because of Verizon than Google. Google had to make compromises to get the last Nexus on Verizon.
Perhaps Google may succeed in putting the idea of a fully owned phone into the minds of the general American public. We in India and Europe have long since been accustomed to buying cellphones off the shelf from the manufacturer's shop without any contract or any carrier crippling the internals.
"..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."
I still don't think Android is open. Can you check code into their repo? Is there any peer review whatsoever prior to release? It is still a limited definition of open.
(%i1) factor(777353);
(%o1) 777353
Unless Congress has recently repealed the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, no. They can SAY your warranty is invalid, but they can also SAY the moon is made from green cheese. Under MMWA, unless they can prove that the failure was directly caused by unlocking the bootloader, their only recourse is to reflash your phone to stock with a JTAG (which they're going to do regardless) to get it back into a known state and verify that it's a hardware problem & not a software problem. MM does NOT require them to make the phone work using your custom ROM, nor do they have to return it to you after a warranty repair/replacement with anything besides the official firmware. It just means they can't refuse a warranty repair for a delaminated screen, or a volume button falling off, or a cracked USB/headphone jack, because your phone was rooted/reflashed.
Magnuson-Moss rocks. It's one of the most potent pro-consumer laws out there. Even APPLE, in their most arrogant AT&T-exclusive days, didn't dare to mess with the Federal Trade Commission. You don't even have to sue in court. You file a complaint with the FTC, and the manufacturer has a short period of time to respond explaining how they've remedied the situation, or explain why they believe the Magnuson Moss act doesn't apply. If they claim it doesn, and the FTC disagrees, they get fined a HUGE amount of money. Ergo, the manufacturer would have to be completely insane and suicidal to try and press a warranty denial unless their legal department assured them their defense was rock solid. Like I said, not even APPLE dares to fight with them. If you have someone in tech support tell you the warranty is void because you rooted or unlocked the bootloader, tell them you want to speak to their supervisor before filing a Magnuson Moss complaint. The moment a supervisor hears the phrase "Magnuson Moss", they're going to pull out the white gloves and offer you free blowjobs & chocolate to make you happy.
And before you ask... no, you can't be forced to waive your rights under it. If you buy a phone that has an American warranty, and they force you to waive it as a condition of getting an unlock code or something comparable, it's legally meaningless. Check 'yes', get the code, and submit your warranty claim anyway if you need to do it someday. By law, your rights under Magnuson Moss can NOT be waived (because if they could, everyone would just force you to waive them, and render it meaningless).
You can't check code into the Kernel repo either. There are always gatekeepers.
Not true.
On a nexus device you unlock the bootloader and then you can flash an image with su.
Only on bootloader locked devices is the situation what you describe.
No, but you can't check things into the Red Hat Enterprise repository either. If you want to check something in, you'll need to check into a community repository such a Fedora. Similarly, if you want to check into an Android repository, look into the community supported CyanogenMod.
The lack of storage is what will keep me away. It's ridiculous. Come on, Google. Where I live, cloud storage is effectively unusable, you insensitive clods!
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The Nexus One has an unlocked bootloader so you can install (and uninstall) anything you want (including a completely "bare" Cyanogenmod) if you'll take a few minutes to google-it.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
All Nexus devices can also be unlocked and rooted in a straightforward process.
I don't know about the newer models, but with the Nexus S, said straightforward process wipes all the data from the phone. "Make a backup first", you say? The slight problem with that is that backup apps on Android aren't fully effective unless the device is rooted....
Or, taking a lesson from market paleontology, today's hungry scurrying mammals become tomorrow's overbearing complacent dinosaurs.
Market dominance inherently carries the seeds of market abuse and, ultimately, market failure within.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
I used to quote MMWA to car dealers all the time. when I installed car audio (usually my own) they always used to give you crap at the dealership. scare tactics of 'oh, youll crash the cars CAN bus!' and BS like that.
but have you known anyone to successfully fight against a phone vendor when they initially refused warranty service and the customer cited MMWA? if there is even one winning example, I'll believe that this can work. but until then, I have a hard time believing that any consumer rights exist anymore.
corps are people, now. and our rights, as actual born people, are reduced as each year passes.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Firefox OS might kinda suck for apps for the awhile but then again so did Android and Firefox will at least really be open where as Google is just open enough to lure you in to snoop on your personal data. Quite frankly I wasn't impressed with the upgrade process or how long Google took even to fix some pretty annoying bugs in Android.
Unfortunately it does feel like Windows for mobiles. Linux hits it big on a consumer computing device for once and it's been less than stellar.
Learn some physiology of vision. As we age, our lenses lose adaptation, so we cannot change the distance of focus easily. Contact lenses do not fix this; in fact they are less use than glasses. My resting focal point is about a metre. This means that I can drive, walk around etc. with no problems, but I find it hard to use a laptop screen under 15 inches. If I had contacts to see closer, I would need glasses when walking around or I would bump into things. So I would need two sets of equipment to get the same utility I get now with one cheap pair of reading glasses (actually I have 4 sets, left in the house, office and so on so I don't forget them.)
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Because Google doesn't care *that* much about selling apps. They're happy know everything you're doing on your phone which helps their primary business which is advertising.
*cough*wrong*cough*
IS-95 and its successor, CDMA2000 are both "Code Division" air interfaces. And they thus share some concepts of "Code Division" on the air interface with UMTS's WCDMA - but that's where it's stops. UMTS WCDMA is really based on FOMA from NTT/DOCOMO, which shares little in common with IS-95/CMDA2000.
The UMTS/WCDMA architecture scales signficantly better than IS-95/WCDMA - which is why GSM 3G networks consistently beat the crap out of Qualcomm CDMA networks. Additionally, your statement about everyone transmitting at once? Wrong again. While its possible to do (and was done on earlier UMTS implementations) modern GSM 3G networks use scheduled resources. Each device in a HSPA state has a dedicated control channel, and their transmis receive time is scheduled...
Also wrong is the part about 2G being used for voice communications. In 3G GSM systems, WCDMA is also the air interface for voice.... Which is why can make a voice call and use data on 3G GSM networks, which you can't on Qualcomm CDMA networks. GSM won.
CDMA lost. That is, Qualcomm's CDMA lost. The succesor to Qualcomm CDMA, UMB ("Ultra Mobile Broadband") also lost. Nobody wanted it. When verizon pulled out (who is majority owned by Vodafone - a GSM carrier) and went the GSM 4G route, LTE, Qualcomm gave up and jumped on the LTE bandwagon.
You're like 99% wrong dude. Read some wikipedia articles or talk to those of us who work in the industry, but don't just assume because one stanard shares the acronym of another standard that they're the same thing. They're not, far from it.
That's an astroturf if ever I heard one. Android is only open for hardware companies. It's not that open for the vast majority of consumers who are not going to root their phone. That just is not an option for most people.
So?
Ice Cream Sandwich added the ability to disable those applications entirely from the Applications menu. And even if you have root, and you uninstall with something like titanium backup, you're not gaining any benefits over the ICS method of just disabling it, because the APK is stored in the /system partition, which doesn't share space with the rest of your applications (which means you're not gaining any usable space unless you repartition /system...and lets face it...who does that?).
The real test of openness, can we root and reload?
Just by eating Apple's usage share, its constrained Apple's ability to generate revenue. To be disruptive, Android doesn't actually need to generate any direct revenue of its own as long as it constrains the ability of other mobile OS's to serve as revenue generators.
I disagree with "MS... high margin on OS". If you think that, then you do not understand Microsoft's business model.
Well, a few issues with that analogy:
1. Difficulty to jailbreak - for many Android phones I'd agree with you 100%, though at various points in time some are easier or harder. For the Nexus line, however, I have to disagree - jailbreaking is vendor-supported via a standard tool that works out of the box and on every OS update.
2. Whatever ROM you like - you get a lot more ability to modify the OS on any rooted Android phone, since the OS is open source. It is true that people do modify iOS, but that isn't nearly as flexible.
3. Whatever apps you like - agree, though Android does make it legit to build software without paying for the SDK, for what that's worth.
Agree partially - it isn't a community project, but it is fairly open. You can't just check stuff into Debian's package repository either.
Would I prefer to see commits on Key Lime Pie published as they're made, sure! Will I turn up my nose at free FOSS code released after the fact, of course not!
If i buy a tablet.
Be seeing you...
Really? So how would one go about jailbreaking an iPhone 5? I previously had a droid-x, bought an iphone-5, used it for about a week, and returned it. The walled garden, plus distinct lack of google app support made it a non-starter.
I just bought a Galaxy Note 2 last week; now that the Nexus 4 is released, it has made me really question whether I should return the GN2 for the N4. There are a few reasons I decided against it:
1. I *LOVE*LOVE*LOVE* the 5.5" true RGB AMOLED screen! Sure at least one person here is whining 4.7" is too big, but the GN2 fits in my pocket fine, though holding it one-handed can be tough without a case (it's slippery like most modern phones). In any case, this is the #1 reason I bought it and I think I'll have a hard time buying something smaller in the future.
2. All (recent?) Nexus devices have no SD? What's up with that? I agree with everyone else, this is sort of a deal-breaker, and the main reason I never bought the Galaxy Nexus. I do *NOT* want to have to store my crap in the cloud.
3. Not really Nexus, but vs LG, HTC, etc, no removable battery is a total deal-breaker PERIOD.
4. GN2 has 4 cores and LTE built-in, even on the T-Mobile USA version (which future-proofs it from a network standpoint); only the "international" (unbranded) version is lacking it. That said, unless you're tethering, I don't think HSPA+ 21Mbps is going to be that bad unless you're in a fringe area, which LTE handles much better, supposedly (and LTE-Advanced should do better still). Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, and "international" GN2 all have pentaband radios as well, meaning they should support GSM and HSPA+ on every band in the world except 12cm (2600 MHz used for Sprint/Clearwire here in the USA, also Telstra down under according to Wikipedia) and 700 MHz (Verizon and AT&T in USA, but they're only putting LTE there so it doesn't matter).
Now, the one iffy part is Nexus is, by definition, open--what the whole article is about--and the GN2 is not. Being Samsung, rooting should be easy on the GN2, and with Exynos open sourced (still a bit in shock over that, but not as much as Broadcom and the Raspberry-Pi's chip!), hopefully CyanogenMod will be available soon, though I'll probably wait until the warranty goes first.
One last thing: I'm coming from my N900 and I'm still not sure I'll be selling it. I've read numerous times that Android appears clunky compared to Maemo (which is Debian-based), though Jelly Bean is better: after playing for a while, I agree, but it's certainly not horrible unless you're a dev, I suppose. My main worry with Android is security: that you can't revoke app permissions in stock Android and you pretty much have to root. It's not a huge problem for me because I don't trust carrying around Google Wallet and NFC along with lots of personal stuff without much better security, but it's painfully clear that they want to track you: I mean, the Accuweather widgit on the main window won't even update unless you turn tracking on!
I know this is overly-long, but hope it helps someone.
Mike
Android's been out for four or five years and hasn't generated anywhere close to comparable revenues to Apple. I wouldn't hold my breath.
Dates! Released june 2007 the iphone fits that date description.
Android, OTOH turned *exactly* 4 years a few days ago on Oct 22nd Unsubsidized prices are only starting to make it affordable for entry level prepaid markets, a death blow against nokia because of the feature / price ratios sought by the masses. Just you wait. People don't like phones without touchscreens and with horrible feature-phone GUIs anymore because Android can be had for $90 without contract. In first world lands, Android is the death by 1000 paper cuts to feature phones and iPhones.
Broadly speaking, Android hardware and features is to iPhones what Linux Wintels are to Sun Unix Boxes.
Matter of fact, try and find true bluetooth support on an iPad and see where the Apple mentality is failing. I found you can't share files via BT with an iPad owner without jailbreaking. In the android world, BT allows small phone shops to cheaply do the magic address book transfers when you upgrade to a newer Android phone from an older one. It seems pro equipment / software and sync cables cost them money and training.
Apple may be profitable, but at some point wallets win out. Android
Opennness without sdport looks strange to me.
And where's the PCMCIA slot? The floppy disk drive?
I think this is akin to when the first laptops without CD drives appeared. Yes, it's a tradeoff, but it turns out you can do without.
For those concerned about lack of storage space why not use an OTG (On The Go) cable using a thumb drive? You can pick a cable up on the cheap. I know it's not the most convenient way but it's better than nothing. Personally I would prefer having a microsd slot but I'm willing to overlook it, for now.
No, you're the one who's omitting its most important point: if the manufacturer wants to deny a claim for some failure that would otherwise be covered by the warranty because you did ${something}, the burden is 100% on THEM to convince the FTC that the failure occurred BECAUSE you did ${something}, not merely that you DID ${something}.
Pre-MMWA, they just had to show the clause in the warranty that excluded coverage if you did ${something}, and prove that you DID ${something}. They could insert language invalidating the car's warranty if you installed an aftermarket stereo or changed the oil and used a non-approved aftermarket oil filter, even if the warranty claim were for something completely unrelated, like body rust.
If you root your phone or unlock its bootloader and reflash to a custom distro of Android, and your warranty claim for a delaminated OLED or cold solder joint on the USB port or headphone jack gets denied, the FTC will hang the vendor from the nearest tree, flog them until they're metaphorically nude and bloody, then hit them with a major fine for good measure after seeing to it that you've been adequately taken care of, because that's EXACTLY the kind of abuse MMWA is intended to stop.
If you brick your phone while trying to defeat the bootloader, MMWA doesn't officially apply. But you'll probably get your phone reflashed for free anyway, because JTAG reflashing is the first thing any repair center is going to try as their first diagnostic step. It comes down to risk vs reward for the manufacturer. If your phone was bricked, and JTAG reflashing fixed it, they'd have to be complete idiots to risk the FTC's wrath by trying to deny the warranty claim.
In theory, they'd have stronger case if you did something, like blow OTP fuses that rendered the phone permanently bricked, or caused real damage requiring real money to fix... but once again, consider that you're talking about a phone that represents (worst-case) a $200-300 hard loss for the manufacturer if they chuck it and send you a remanufactured replacement, vs thousands of dollars in potential fines and compliance costs if they choose to fight. In most cases, they'll probably hedge their bets and cut their losses by offering to replace the phone for $100-200 and call it a day. MMWA doesn't directly FORCE them do that, but it makes it too expensive for manufacturers to risk trying to profit from your phone's nonworking state.
MMWA doesn't give you the right to abuse a product and expect a free repair. It DOES, however, prohibit manufacturers from trying to use the warranty as a weapon to force compliance with its TOS or software licensing policies.
happy to see this after the yakjuxw...