Google To Drop Nexus Brand Name, Move Away From Stock Android (theverge.com)

tripleevenfall quotes a report from The Verge: Google's newest smartphones won't be Nexus devices after all. According to Android Central, Google is dropping the Nexus branding with its two upcoming, HTC-made smartphones. Instead, the company is expected to market the devices under a different name and to lean heavily on the Google brand in the process. This shift is more than just symbolic. The report states Google will load the devices with a special version of Android Nougat, as opposed to the standard "vanilla" version of the operating system that's shipped on past and current Nexus devices. Android Police reported earlier this month that Google may remove the Nexus branding from its upcoming smartphones and replace it with a "G" logo. It's too early to tell which direction Google is taking with its upcoming Android Nougat smartphones. Google has spent years marketing the Nexus brand as a hardware entity, while Google has reserved its own name for software services.

Comments

Translation:

[Anonymous Coward]

"We want to load up our devices with even more shit that nobody wants or needs, and make it even harder for you to remove it."

Don't be evil my ass.

Re:Translation:

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no indication whatsoever as to what the changes would be, but it would not be in Google's interest to make a significant change in direction from previous Nexus devices, since most people who buy them do so because they want a) a bloatware-free phone with stock Android, and b) timely updates.

I suspect whatever modifications they do make to the OS for these forthcoming phones, it won't involve adding a lot of bloat. Perhaps they want to support some unique hardware features that they're going to add to these phones, that don't need to be supported in stock Android. Who knows.

Re:Translation:

[rockout]

It's still just a rumor site reporting this. Everybody calm the fuck down.

Re:Translation:

[Alumoi]

Aha, features like no boot unloking, no rooting, no adblocking, no means to block tracking.

Re: Translation:

[johnsmithperson123]

Actually, most people buy Nexus devices for the lack of bloatware and the security updates. I'm thinking that they might add additional experimental/dev features that aren't going to be a stock Android feature, as opposed to meaningless apps.

Re:Translation:

[gtall]

You have that backwards, when rumoursite.com publishes a slightly negative article on an upcoming Apple product, the Apple haters go into transports of delight declaring this validates their beliefs they told us years before when no one would believe them.
 

Re:Translation:

[Grishnakh]

How is this not in their interest? Why should Google give two shits about what Nexus users want, especially as far as having a bloatware-free phone?

If you're one of these people who wants a bloatware-free phone, what are your options? Right now, it's to get an iPhone, get a Nexus, or use an alternative ROM like CyanogenMod. Presumably, people who really like Nexus really don't want an iPhone for various reasons, or else they would already have one; I think it's safe to assume that these people are invested in the Android ecosystem and want to stay away from the Apple ecosystem. So that leaves Nexus and CM. If they were technically skilled and comfortable with doing things like rooting phones and installing alt-ROMs, they probably would have just gone that route already, since you can get much better phones that way (like the Galaxy S series, with removable batteries up to S5 and expandable storage and the best screens available, plus excellent availability of spare parts). So Nexus users appear to be people who don't like Apple, and aren't comfortable with or don't want the hassle of the DIY approach that CM offers; they want something they can just buy off-the-shelf and have a bloatware-free, stock Android experience phone with timely updates.

Now Google is removing that. So what are these people going to do?

I don't think any of them are moving to iPhone. Maybe a select few will finally decide to take the CM plunge. But the rest are just going to get the new bloated-up "G" phone, and any others will just get some other Android phone. Either way, Google wins, as they get to push more bloatware and spying on the users and increase profits.

This is no different from everyone bitching and complaining about Windows 10 and how it's bad for MS's customers. It's good for MS because the customers aren't going to go anywhere, they're just going to complain and then bend over.

Reference devices?

[Misagon]

I don't understand the reason for going away from "vanilla" Android.
Wasn't the point of the Google Nexus line to produce reference implementations of devices for the Android operating system, to show to other brands by competing with them which minimum features and specifications that Google thought that Android devices should have?

Pointless

[Artem S. Tashkinov]

Google initially built its reputation by offering vanilla Android at affordable prices and that made Nexus 4 and 5 hugely popular devices.

Then for some reasons they decided to compete with Samsung and other big players by offering the largely insipid (in terms of features) Nexus 6 and it's not like this phone tanked, but it was several times less popular than the preceding Nexuses.

With the Nexus 5x and 6p Google seemingly lost the remainder of common sense by offering them at the prices comparable to first tier smartphones like Galaxy S6 or Note 5.

Perhaps Google needs to return to its roots instead of offering barebone phones (no SD slot, no removable battery, no dual sim support, very basic camera setup) for very high prices, since we already have companies which out-android'ed Google: I'm talking about ZTE Axon 7 and OnePlus 3.

Profoundly Stupid Move?

[StormReaver]

It's entirely possible that I'm misunderstanding Google's strategy here, but if the summary is correct (the summary contains the vast majority of the article, which, yes, I read), this is a profoundly idiotic move on Google's part. Not necessarily dropping the Nexus name, as that's very minor, but moving away from stock Android. One of the primary appeals of the Nexus was the complete and total lack of crapware.

I'm going to reserve final judgment until I see more of what Google is doing with its phone brand, as I have a hard time believing that Google's Android division is being run by morons.

There must be more to this than the story indicates.

Google should address Android security

[QuietLagoon]

Android's huge problem these days is the number of unpatched devices "out there" because the OEMs don't want to patch those devices and, when the OEMs do patch, the incredible slowness of getting the devices patched and upgraded.

.
The proposal under discussion on this thread has no benefit to mitigating those two problems that Android has.

Why is google putting Android security and upgrades in the low-priority queue?

Re:Google should address Android security

[KozmoStevnNaut]

The problem is that because the manufacturers and carriers are slow to push out updates (if they bother at all), it reflects badly on Android as a whole. Google obviously doesn't want that.

Re:"I have to get me a Google phone" thought nobod

[Grishnakh]

Are you some kind of Apple fanboy or something?

Yes, Google has made some other big winners: the two biggest ones are GMail and Google Maps. GMail's been going great for over 10 years now (though they pushed through a crappy UI change a while back, but everyone's been making crappy UIs now for some time, including Apple with their buttons that don't look like buttons), and Maps is unparalleled as a platform that provides both mapping, turn-by-turn navigation, plus a business directory, so I can do a search for "greek restaurant" in some unfamiliar city I'm in, find a place nearby, look at reviews to make sure I won't get food poisoning, and then have it navigate me there, all within one convenient app.

They also have Hangouts Dialer, which lets me make free VoIP calls, and a lot of people seem to like Google Voice.

They do have a serious problem with abandoning products, so don't make yourself too dependent on them if it's not one of their big flagship products (search, Gmail, Maps), since they do have a history of pulling the rug out.

As for Android being a "negative brand", that's just plain stupid. It has some serious flaws to be sure, but it's the *only* viable competitor to iPhone, which has gigantic problems of its own.