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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.
"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.
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 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?
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
This, combined with the gutting of Google Fiber, reminds us yet again that Google is akin to having a hot but crazy lover; really exciting until one day you wake up on fire.
Android has become a fucking nightmare.
I own an android tablet but frankly I find most Android devices to be more of a PITA than I prefer to deal with. Most of them come with crapware or annoying custom versions that usually don't improve things. I'm not an Apple fanboi but at least for a phone usually I find iOS less headache inducing. When I upgrade my phone all my stuff migrates with minimal to zero problems. Buy an new phone, sign in and all my stuff downloads just like I expect it to. It does most of what I want without getting in my way. Not perfect but fine. The android phones I've used have been an irritation to put it mildly. Plus each vendor does it differently which has no benefit to me. Getting my stuff from one phone to another is a crapshoot, especially if I change vendors. There are some things I like from certain vendors but it's hard to trust that it will remain consistent over time. Plus Android devices too often never get updates which again is of no benefit to me.
I respect that some people want some features Apple doesn't offer (replaceable batteries, SD storage, etc) or that they don't like the interface or the company. No product is perfect for everyone. But personally I want a nice but relatively simple device for the one I carry around everywhere. So far Apple has fit my needs the best. I'd drop them in a heartbeat if that were to change but so far it's been fine.
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.
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.
.
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?
Literally the only reason I recommend Nexus devices is because their security update policy is codified and public: monthly security updates for the life of the device (which is listed here: https://support.google.com/nex... ).
As long as they're still doing that, and keep the bootloader unlockable, the Nexus is still really the only smartphone worth owning. (Yes, Samsung currently does monthly security updates as well, but that's a matter of policy, not a promise to their customers; they could change their policy at any time.)
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.
You know what I find "exciting" in a phone? Something that actually works. A phone that
- has good sounding transmit and receive audio,
- is mechanically sound so something stupid like a 10 cent power button doesn't make it a brick,
- has a decent viewable screen.
You can have your exciting "keeping up with the Samsungs" features, thank you very much. That's just chasing a feather in the wind.
slashdot: A failed experiment.
They way Google is behaving is it any wonder that people are starting to mistrust their services and products? How can you rely on something when you know it's just a matter of time before they radically change or discontinue..