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Google To Step Up Smartphone Wars With Release Of Own Handset (telegraph.co.uk)
According to a report by The Telegraph, Google is working on its first Google-branded smartphone, and plans to release it by the end of 2016. Unlike the Nexus program, in which Google mandates the design and specifications of the phone, but leaves the manufacturing aspect to its handpicked OEM, the new supposed phone will be built from the scratch by Google. From the report:The technology giant is in discussions with mobile operators about releasing a Google-branded phone that will extend the company's move into hardware, sources familiar with the discussions told The Telegraph. [...] The new device, which will be released by the end of the year according to a senior source, will see Google take more control over design, manufacturing and software.NYMag questions company's reported move:It's an unsurprising rumor to hear: Google CEO Sundar Pichai has publicly commented on the company's emphasis on phones, and Motorola's Rick Osterloh was hired earlier this year to head up a new hardware division. And there's also the much discussed Google Ara, a modular phone which lets you swap out pieces like a camera or speakers and is slated for release in 2017. But Google is already working with hardware companies like LG and Huawei on the Nexus line of phones, which are made to the company's exact design specifications but are manufactured by third parties. It's hard to see how Google could take more control over design or software than it already does with Nexus, and while the company is likely eager to move into the manufacturing space, the timeline for Ara hasn't changed, and it seems unlikely that this new mystery Google phone is going to jump in front and actually become available to the public by year's end.
I'm convinced that Google, as an entity is absolutely insane and should probably be heavily medicated. They bougth Motorola to move into smartphones, but sold them, because they couldn't integrate them (IIRC there were culture issues) so when they move back into mobile, they hire a Moto guy as CEO? I'm at a loss.
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
Imagine, a phone where you can't turn off Google services because they're baked into the firmware.
And with built-in direct-to-Google data-spying features too!
" boycott Google and it's evil products. "
Could you boycott apostrophes? At least until you master the fact that it's means it is?
What is a manufacturing plant test run, Alex?
Anyone who thinks the Ara would be made and released next year from a vaccuum needs to give up their job in speculation.
Because Google needs to be in every aspect of our lives.
You must have GPS and Data enabled at all times to use the phone.
If you cover the the camera and try to use the phone, it will ask you to uncover the camera and block the phone until you comply.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
This is just one more reason to boycott Google and it's evil products.
I don't understand. Why would a Google manufactured phone be a reason to boycott Google? If you're worried about evil, surely they can't pack much more evil into a Google Manufactured phone than they could into a phone developed by a 3rd party to their exact specs?
Introducing the Google SpyPhone, now with 50% more data-mining ability!
We don't just connect you to the world, we paw through everything you do and say and track everywhere you go in order to monetize you better!
Free yourself from the constraints of bothersome privacy with the new Google SpyPhone!
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Good golly when are people going to get over "the no removable battery" schtick. The number of people that care about that can barely be measured. There's plenty of external boost chargers that are easier and safer to carry around and easier to charge on the go in your car or off your computer than a second battery. Only people that talk 24/7 need a second battery. I'm surprised you are not complaining that apple only has 1 mouse button. Time to move on.
Now as for unstoppable google software. Indeed. andorid phones are crippled without a google play store and there's so much insideous opt-out settings to wade through. By default your phone will "listen for wifi IDs" even when Wifi is turned off? By default it sends your location to google. By default it listens on the microphone. All your autocompletes and searches go to google. my guess is it tracks your healthy movements too. It's a total tracking device in every way that it can be.
They don't need to bake it into the firm ware as most people don't have the time or knowledge to hunt down all these things and turn them off. plus they are so linked to the phone's services that you can't practically do that anyhow.
I guess the reason, real or imagined, that this bugs me is that Google is trying to monetize this while my impression is apple is not.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
one thing i would really like is if Google/Alphabet made their own open source baseband processor because that's the one part of the phone that is the most insecure because it runs completely independently of the operating system, is 100% closed source, has access to the memory bus of most smartphones and full access to your SIM card. simply put, it's a backdoor to your system that is protected by a black box.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
If Google is about to start making Google branded phones, what is the couple year old Nexus 5 thing in my pocket? Am I a time traveler?
They took the first step to end one of the two main problem Android has, poor quality phones with bloated bullshit. I just switched to iPhone two weeks ago sick and tired of waiting for LG to update my phone as they did on other parts of the world. Now they need to enforce strong patterns into app devs and then you'll have a decent competitor. All this won't be needed if manufacturers would spend half the time they spend building unnecessary bloated and unstable UIs porting and releasing updates
Citation needed.
Or did I hear a whoosh? I am not sure these days.
You think you know what wars are?
https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/03/06/1834211/eric-schmidt-gets-a-job-at-the-pentagon
That's one way to drive adoption rates of updates to your OS up. Assuming they can wrest control away from the carriers, that is. Hate Apple and Steve Jobs all you want - that's the one thing they got right with their phone.
Not to sound like an Apple Fan Boy. But nearly all of the Phones out today are based on the iPhone design.
Square box, mostly all touch screen. All in all rather boring today. If Google is getting back into the handset market again, they better come up with something ground breaking like Apple Did when they released the iPhone, otherwise Google will just be competing against its other Android Market Phones.
At this point, where most people who have phones already do. If they had Apple they will stick with Apple, if they had Android they will stick with Android.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Sorry, I don't want any more of Google's crapware on top of the phone, I'll be getting either the Wileyfox Storm https://www.wileyfox.com/storm/ or the YU Yutopia http://www.yuplaygod.com/product/yutopia/index.html which come preinstalled with Cyanogen from the factory.
Since they've (probably quite rightly) been attacked for "forcing" OEMs to install Google play etc. if they want Android.
Easy fix; make your own 'phones...
and apple makes their own products, too. i don't think so. foxconn or someone will make them, just as they do i-whatevers for apple. all this means is google will keep full control over specs and software instead of letting manufacturers have at least a little flexibility (e.g. nexus).
....you need a battery replaced just take it to a tech and pay the $15. In the meantime enjoy a phone that uses the space that would have been wasted with engineering to facilitate swapping.
You sir, are a moron if you pay that much. Just to to your local Mobile RX and pay $15
How does Google get any deeper, tighter, more control than they have already with their Nexus phones? What will they do in house then that they don't do now?
Google already has a near-monopoly on search, a browser that gets bundled and installed all over the place, an smartphone OS, a widely-used map service, etc. The privacy / surveillance implications of what Google can do is staggering.
When is Google going to get the Ma Bell treatment?
Google will have to involve heavily in creating an entire infrastructure for dealing directly with customers needing service for their purchases. Which now barely exists.
Make sure it is a compatible 4G protocol.
As I understand it, both AT&T and T-Mobile are dropping 2G GSM at the end of this year, and T-Mobile is also dropping a number of their 3G services to clear up bandwidth for the 4.5/5G stuff.
Why do I mention this? Because like AMPS a lot of our phones may be going away. Additionally it helps make it easier to ensure those 4th amendment violations the FBI/NSA/etc are planning are easy to pull off. It's not like you see manufacturers providing phones with physically or logically seperated baseband modems anymore, and they almost all have ring 0 security access.
My Nexus 4 was the worst phone I've ever had. The phone ran blisteringly hot and was so poorly sealed that it corroded its own power button due to sweat and humidity. 3G would stop working for 30 seconds at a time. It perfectly covered up its own speaker when sitting on a flat surface, so sounds were muted. It was smooth enough to slip off of nearly any surface.
Now the same company that was in charge of the specifications wants to be in charge of everything? Shoot me now!
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
My guess is he works for another manufacturer and sees this competition as unfair.
I remember a while back being at a beverage industry conference, and hearing some guy saying he was going to drop his Costco membership because they were trying to become a "distributor" to get around the distributor lock-in of the various beer and soft drink companies. I thought this was a rather odd position as all they are trying to do is reduce costs to lower prices for consumers, then one of my coworkers reminded me that the guy worked for the distributors, and that is why his position was what it was.
This AC comment sounds almost exactly the same to me. How dare Google try to improve the user experience and sell phones directly, this will kill my industry that has been raping the consumer for years!
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?