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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.
I have owned two Nexus7 tablets. I still have the second one and use it every day. It is getting a bit old but I haven't replaced it because they stopped making the 7 in favor of the larger 9 which is too expensive. The 7 was a great bloat-free device at a great price ($200 ish). I was hoping Google would reintroduce the 7 but I guess those hopes are lost. Time to start looking at some replacement candidates. Suggestions?
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
The only reason I bought the Nexus devices was because of the vanilla version of Android. So where does that leave me? Is Cyanogen still evil too? Any good alternative after market firmware?
So what's your problem? There's no reason to believe that other than changing the branding, there's going to be any major change in direction. They probably want to drive some slightly more interesting hardware designs, as the Nexus phones have become a little boring.
I had a Nexus S back in the day (still in a drawer somewhere actually), with the contoured Super AMOLED screen; that was an interesting and distinctive phone at the time. By comparison, there's not much exciting about my Nexus 5, it's a good phone at a decent price, but that's as exciting as it gets. So if they're going to make things more interesting again with the hardware, I'm all for it.
Oh no... it's the future.
I'm inclined to disbelieve the story because of this. Developers use Nexuses (Nexi?) as a reference platform, and manufacturers know that if their device doesn't run something a Nexus does, then the fault lies with them.
Completely eradicating Nexus and the concept of a base platform (contrary to myth, the Nexus doesn't run "Stock Android", but "Stock Android with Google's recommended extensions") would make many of the issues Google has been trying to fix a major headache again.
It's possible that Google intends to release the G branded phones in parallel to the Nexus devices, or that the G branded phones will be reference platforms after all. But the story as written seems improbable.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
SD card, I've had phones with and without them, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why I miss it when it isn't there, and never install one when I do have that ability. I've come to the conclusion that I only want the ability, not that I'll ever use it ... just in case. Meh
The people who want SD cards in their phones want it for one of two reasons:
1. Music - Some of us still actually buy music and keep it for future listening instead of paying each month to a streaming surface. Those of us who do this, need storage space.
2. Photos/Videos - Some like to use their phones to take pictures. It's a pain to move photos and videos via any software or cloud solution. It's a tonne easier to simply pull out a SD card and copy the files to you laptop/desktop.
The cost of buying the higher end phone with more memory would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that the manufacturers charge at least 4x as much as it would cost to buy a SD card. Plus, you can add memory by simply buying a larger SD card. To expand your phone storage on a phone without an external SD card slot, you have to buy a whole new phone....