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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.
Needing to swap in a second battery in the middle of the day isn't the issue. The problem is that batteries lose their capacity after a year or two. Being able to swap in a new battery and have the same battery life from when you first got the phone can put off that upgrade for another year or two. I can see why manufacturers don't want user replaceable batteries though.
You do realize that the Nexus line is built to Google specs and runs firmware directly from Google, right? Sure, they yank the removable battery and SD slot from those phones, but you sure can turn off the Google services. In fact, you can easily unlock the bootloader (it's a checkbox in the developer tools menu) and flash your own firmware, if you wish.
I've had phones with removable batteries before, and I used to actually think they were more convenient than USB battery packs. Back then, my phone was the only USB-charged device I owned, so I was probably right. They're definitely more efficient, as every bit of power they store goes to the phone; but, if you own more than one power-hungry USB-charged device, a USB battery pack is immensely more convenient as you can charge just one battery, which you can then use to charge all such devices.
When I got my first Android phone, a Motorola Atrix, I wished there was a battery charging cradle available for it; after all, it didn't quite match the battery life of my BlackBerry Bold (or the Curve I had before that, for that matter) and I used a spare battery for that. I did buy a spare, but it was a pain in the ass to juggle batteries in the phone for charging, so the spare battery ended up getting lost in a drawer and I bought a USB battery pack.
When I upgraded to the HTC One X, I had several other USB-charged devices, a few of which did not have removable batteries (bluetooth headsets and such), so I already had a couple USB battery packs. I thought I'd miss the removable battery as an option (even though I hadn't used it in the Atrix). I was wrong, the USB packs were great for the rare occasion that I might be away from power long enough to need one. Mind you, I plan my charging habits around my day, so I plug the phone in to fully charge before I'm going to be gone for an extended period.
This carried to the HTC One, which also had no removable battery. Then, I got an LG G3, with which T-Mobile included a spare battery and a cradle. I was excited, I had a viable (e.g. externally charged) spare battery again! And I used the USB battery packs... I always had one, to charge my other devices, so the battery itself was just another item to carry, which I never carried, just as spare batteries for the plethora of USB-charged devices I carry on a regular basis would have been. At the end of the day, a removable battery isn't as convenient as it seems on the surface.
Sure, there are fringe cases where it can be. If you're packing light, you can fit 3 or 4 of them in the space of one decent USB battery pack, which is fine if you only have one device that might need a battery; the moment you have more than that, the USB pack wins. If you actually let your phone's battery die completely, it's quicker to swap in a new one than to wait for it to charge enough to turn on; if you plan your charging habits around your day, though, you can top off that battery long before it reaches a critical charge level, rendering that a non-issue.
As for the SD slot, this is one thing I was absolutely positive I was going to miss on the Nexus 6, which I got because I wanted to try a plain vanilla Android experience. I didn't miss it one bit, in large part to my no longer carrying tens of gigs of music with me, having replaced that with Rhapsody (free through T-Mobile, though I do pay $6.99/mo to get all the features, including downloading favorite tracks so I'm not stuck without music when in airplane mode). Now, I'm not everyone, and some people might record a lot more video or take a lot more photos than I do; an argument I made for the iPhone having an SD slot at least on the 128GB models, because you're likely in an area with little or no coverage if you're also in an area where you can't find a computer to dump that content onto; but we're talking about Android here, there are options, if you need the SD slot, you buy a phone that has one.
When I upgraded to the Galaxy S7 Edge, I
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
The s7 has an SD card slot... it's hardly niche.