Google's Nexus 4, 7, 10 Strategy: Openness At All Costs 359
MrSeb writes "There have been plenty of rumors about how the Nexus program was going to grow and change with this year's announcement. Now that we have all the details, it looks like almost none of them were right. There is no Nexus certification program, and the dream of multiple Nexus phones seems well and truly dead. What we do have is a range of device sizes with the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10. However, the Nexus program has been altered in one important way: we know what Nexus means now. There can no longer be any doubt: a Nexus device is about openness first and foremost. Last year the technology sphere was busily discussing whether or not the Verizon Galaxy Nexus was a 'true' Nexus device. This year we have an answer: a Nexus controlled by a carrier is no Nexus. Rather than get in bed with Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T to produce an LTE version of the Nexus 4, we have HSPA+ only. Even the new Nexus 7 with mobile data is limited to this enhanced 3G standard. And then there's the pricing: The super high-resolution (2560×1600) Nexus 10 tablet starts at just $399; The Nexus 7 is dropping in price to $199 for a 16GB tablet; The Nexus 4 with 16GB of storage is going to sell for $349, exactly the same as the old Galaxy Nexus was until yesterday. To put this into perspective, the LG Optimus G, which the Nexus 4 is based on, sells for $550 without subsidy. Google is pushing the idea of openness with the Nexus devices, but it's not an entirely altruistic endeavor. By giving us cheap and open devices, Google is making sure it's in control — not the carriers. That's better for the consumers, but it's also better for Google."
Screen size (Score:4)
I don't know about anyone else, but I think that the size of the Nexus 4 is too big at 4.7". I was hoping for a 4" to 4.3" screen, but Google have really pushed for that extra big handset.
I had heard a rumour that there were going to be several manufacturers involved in the Nexus 4 - Samsung, LG, HTC and Sony - but apparently it's just LG. A shame, as I think that if Google had managed to score a contract with them to produce a variety of Nexus 4 devices, all controlled by Google, they would have produced the ultimate Android phone.
Well, at least there's Cyanogenmod, with it's incoming OTA update feature.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't know about anyone else, but I think that the size of the Nexus 4 is too big at 4.7". I was hoping for a 4" to 4.3" screen, but Google have really pushed for that extra big handset.
Nobody not one person alive. The only people even suggesting such stupidity are those promoting Apple...and those would be better selling off their shares ;). Seriously Tiny screens are awful they always were. Just for reference dual core is not better than quad-core, Less memory is just that less memory, If you do proper multitasking and want to build next generation applications these things matter NOW! Apple phones last generation phone or as Apple shareholders say "Specs don't matter"
I think its kind of
Re:Screen size (Score:4, Insightful)
Tiny screens are awful they always were
or, just perhaps, your whole view on how to write gui's for them is all broken.
size matters and if I have to carry the damned thing, I want it small enough to fit in a pocket; a normal human every day pocket.
nexus one is ideal in size for pockets and hands.
the gui is all wrong, the resolution is wrong, but the size is ideal.
bigger is stupid for phones. tablets, I could care less about; but phones should be PORTABLE. you just want a tablet that makes calls; admit it.
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I admit it. About a 7" Phablet is what I'm waiting for.
Galaxy Note II is the closest thing out, wish it was a Nexus device though.
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Seriously Tiny screens are awful they always were
A phone that won't fit in my pants pocket is useless. It might as well be a 1972 landline. My old original Razr had a tiny screen, and it worked fine for texting and internet. The one I have now is bigger, almost too big, and I don't see a lot of difference in the screens.
If you're old and not a cyborg just buy some strong reading glasses.
Re:Screen size (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're old and not a cyborg just buy some strong reading glasses.
or, just consider this fact, THE GUI USED IS BROKEN, by design.
they took big screen concepts and the young kids (sorry, but I'm being blunt here) didn't understand all of the user base for the phones.
all of us who are getting older (happens to everyone, just you wait!) can't easily use the gui's that the kids, today are writing. and they don't get it, it seems, since the gui toolkits are not showing any signs of being usable by those who are over middle age.
I should not have to fight with my phone to get it to accept my input. I should not have to magnify everything to get access to controls. if I have to do that, you did the gui all wrong.
I know the young eyes out there will just write this off; but designing for HUMAN factors includes those whose eyes are not as sharp as yours. ignore us and you'll be ignoring yourself soon enough. like I said, we all will be there at some point or another; stop assuming everyone has great vision and great finger motor control over millimeter distances on flat glass.
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actually, not all vision problems are so easily fixable.
but I won't bore you with the details. just please believe that 'get better glasses!' is a cop-out and it avoids the fact that you need (effective) perfect vision to use smartphones.
pushing the bad gui design on the end user, as his fault for not having perfect or perfectly correctable vision is socially irresponsible.
if you want to be that way, be that way, but you'll be an ass.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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Why? (Score:2)
I don't know about anyone else, but I think that the size of the Nexus 4 is too big at 4.7
You worried that it will make a bulge in your strechpants?
Buy an "iPhone" or one of hundreds of other smaller handsets.
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You mean craptacular, right? If you want a GOOD android phone, they're all huge screens. A sub-4" flagship phone does not exist - the only ones are crap ass ones with little memory, poor resolution, a slow processor, or all three. And they run Froyo. Gingerbread if you're lucky.
It seems Android has stratified - 4" and smaller screen - crappy "free" smartphones. Larger than 4" and you can get some nice phones that show off Android.
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There is a few good 4" android phones.
Most of them spotting a dual core, which is sufficient.
You probably won't find a quad core 4", but do you really need it?
Take a look at these phones, as an example:
Sony Xperia P
HTC Desire X
Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini (coming soon)
All phones running 4.x, with a dual core 1Ghz+.
Though, most of them DO have "poor" resolution, compared to their big brothers.
Not that that really bothers me, but it seemed a concern of yours.
Personally I refuse to go above 4" on my phone.
Currentl
Re:Screen size (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the screen size is a reflection of the market. People are migrating towards phones with larger screens. For example, I'm guess that the Samsung S2 and S3 owe their success, at least in part to their large crisp screens. I'm not saying that 4.7" hasn't gone a little too far for the average user, but I bet that screen looks a lot prettier than the competition.
Personally, I have huge hands, so my next phone will be humongous. I avoid texting because I can't help but hit like 5 characters at once. I'm even considering the monstrously large Note 2.
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I am with you on size. I think 4.7" is too large. Unfortunately there really no options, you can pick large with good top of the line hardware specs, or small with aging and slow hardware specs. Why can't the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy mini have the same hardware on the inside?
I don't want a phone this large. I really enjoy the size of my iphone 4. I don't want to even 'upgrade' to a iphone 5 sized phone.
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I was really concerned about the 4.65 inch Galaxy Nexus being too big when I bought it, coming from a 3.7 inch 480x854 Motorola Defy (which apart from being slow and Motorola I loved). I was also pleasantly surprised - the only time it bothers me is when I'm cycling, because it doesn't fit quite as comfortably in the zip-up pocket of my pants.
I really like the 4.0-4.3 inch screen-size range, and would probably still prefer the phone to be that size. However, having now owned a Nexus I don't think I'll be ab
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Ah..Seems inconsistent with the names of the other devices (a 7" Nexus 7, 10.something" Nexus 10).
They need to expand. (Score:2, Informative)
Google need to expand the Play Store to more countries. Not only apps, but music, books and movies too!
Google should also sell its Nexus devices in more countries too.
USA and Europe are not the only places in the world...
Can recommend Nexus again. (Score:5, Informative)
In some countries and on some carriers one of the promises of the Nexus brand was broken: we didn't get timely OS updates.
I felt this was a breach of trust - the sort of thing we expect from our carriers and some manufacturers - and it meant I couldn't recommend the Galaxy Nexus to others.
Fortunately, it seems that what happened with the Galaxy Nexus was not acceptable to Google either, and I'm really impressed with the lengths they are going to - bypassing the carriers completely in my country - to set things right.
They will probably only sell a tiny number of the new Nexus w/o carrier support but then again, the carriers' were never going to like or promote a phone that came unlocked and with broad carrier support - so they did little to promote the G'Nex anyway.
So, I'm disappointed that the new Nexus doesn't have LTE, but there is some sense in it (see the linked below for a good explanation) and I believe that the Nexus is once again worth recommending to friends*.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3569688/why-nexus-4-does-not-have-4g-lte [theverge.com]
(*assuming the reviews don't uncover lots of bugs or unexpected shortcomings.)
Re:Can recommend Nexus again. (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree with you completely. The Galaxy Nexus was royally screwed up here in Canada, too. It wasn't available in the Play Store here. Samsung sold it through the carriers, but modified the firmware so that they, not Google, would be responsible for pushing updates. They behaved exactly as you would expect, introducing months of delay, and skipping several of the minor updates completely.
Of course consumers were never warned that they were buying anything other than "Pure Google", and many were rightly pissed. Their only recourse was to flash the original Google firmware, but that's not a reasonable thing to expect of the average consumer.
Watching it all, I was appalled. This wasn't the Nexus experience that I've been enjoying with my Nexus S. I'm so glad to see that Google was equally unimpressed. Verizon is out, Canada is back in the Play Store, and all's right with the world. And the price! Just wow.
Unless there's some giant hardware screw-up lurking, I will be recommending this phone to everyone. Alas, I fear that people won't understand the difference between an unsubsidized price and one that comes with thousands of dollars of contract commitment. $350 is more than $200, right?
where is my hardware keyboard? (Score:2)
Re:where is my hardware keyboard? (Score:5, Insightful)
the person who even SUGGESTED that backspace/delete and enter/return should be ANYWHERE NEAR EACH OTHER on a touch screen should be shot. just summarily shot.
and there would be much rejoicing; there really would.
Re: (Score:2)
Hardware keyboards are getting more rare on phones.
My wife just picked herself up one of these though, and damn it is nice. Almost makes me want to replace my HTC G2.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/27/samsung-galaxy-s-relay-4g-review-t-mobile/ [engadget.com]
At the cost of storage, too (Score:4, Insightful)
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Meanwhile, they're forcing Google+ instant-uploads on people to encourage them to use it.
No they aren't. You can turn that off.
Too much sacrifice for openness (Score:3)
Re:Too much sacrifice for openness (Score:4, Interesting)
fwiw, my one and only phone is the nexus one.
and (stupidly, I know) I still run the official google OTA image.
and you know what? its unusable due to one showstopper bug. the screen STILL loses the touchscreen location and needs a power off/on to reset it. happens about 10 times a day.
I ask honestly: how am I supposed to respect google when they won't even fix a showstopper bug on what was their best phone for quite a long time? abandon your flagships so soon?
not a classy move by a mega-power like google. can't they find just one person to fix this showstopper bug and get it off the p1 list? with all their people there, no one cares about the n1 anymore? really? sigh ;(
this is why I don't think a lot of google's engineering, overall. they are too fast to abandon their stuff and this leaves users high and dry.
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I (and my wife) also have Nexus Ones with the current official OTA image and we just don't have this problem.
Perhaps you have a hardware problem?
Missed Opportunity (Score:3)
I believe they missed a big opportunity by not delivering a Verizon LTE capable phone in the $350-$450 range. There is a significant portion of users who are still grandfathered on to "unlimited" data that are approaching upgrade time (e.g., early adopters who bought VZW's first LTE phone, the HTC Thunderbolt back in Dec 2010). There's a large market of people that would choose an unsubsidized LTE Nexus 4 which lets them keep unlimited data for that price. The competitive subsidized phones (i.e. GS3 or Note 2) would only be about $200 or so less but would cost the user their unlimited data plan which a lot of people value more than $200.
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I'm also on Verizon and even though I am no longer unlimited, I was still really hoping for another LTE nexus. I guess I will probably be hanging on to my galaxy nexus for awhile longer. If anyone wants to go ahead and say it's not a nexus, that's fine, I really don't care too much. At least it's something with stock Android. I'm happy enough with it.
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I believe they missed a big opportunity by not delivering a Verizon LTE capable phone in the $350-$450 range. There is a significant portion of users who are still grandfathered on to "unlimited" data that are approaching upgrade time (e.g., early adopters who bought VZW's first LTE phone, the HTC Thunderbolt back in Dec 2010). There's a large market of people that would choose an unsubsidized LTE Nexus 4 which lets them keep unlimited data for that price. The competitive subsidized phones (i.e. GS3 or Note 2) would only be about $200 or so less but would cost the user their unlimited data plan which a lot of people value more than $200.
The HTC Thunderbolt was released in March, 2011. However, your comment is still valid - a lot of people who bought a Thunderbolt then will become eligible for a phone upgrade in November, 2012. A Nexus 4 that runs on Verizon's LTE network would be an attractive alternative.
Re:Missed Opportunity (Score:4, Interesting)
I was hoping to purchase a Nexus 4, and was very disappointed that I can't get one for Sprint. After a little research, I came across this article explaining the lack of LTE: http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3569688/why-nexus-4-does-not-have-4g-lte [theverge.com]
In short, blame your greedy carrier.
Paving the way for unlocked handsets (Score:2)
Not much left in the article (Score:2)
Most of it pasted into the submission. Still not sure if TFA is supposed to be accolades, gripes, or just web-hits.
Open or Controlled? (Score:2)
There can no longer be any doubt: a Nexus device is about openness first and foremost.
By giving us cheap and open devices, Google is making sure it's in control â" not the carriers.
This is even more true when people are using the internet on a device sold and maintained by Google. Mountain View gets to slurp up more of our data, show us more location-aware ads, and drive adoption of its services. Maybe in this case, freedom really isnâ(TM)t free
OK, so which is it? Is it open, or is it controlled b
you have no control in the US (Score:5, Insightful)
In the US, carriers have full control over which devices they allow on their networks, and even if they didn't, the lack of a single wireless standard means that effectively you are locked in anyway. We need uniform wireless standards and a requirement to let people move freely between carriers.
Re: (Score:3)
It's not the standard (Everyone is headed to LTE), it's the frequencies. LTE in the USA is scattered over 8 different bands.
Nope (Score:3, Informative)
*cough*wrong*cough*
IS-95 and its successor, CDMA2000 are both "Code Division" air interfaces. And they thus share some concepts of "Code Division" on the air interface with UMTS's WCDMA - but that's where it's stops. UMTS WCDMA is really based on FOMA from NTT/DOCOMO, which shares little in common with IS-95/CMDA2000.
The UMTS/WCDMA architecture scales signficantly better than IS-95/WCDMA - which is why GSM 3G networks consistently beat the crap out of Qualcomm CDMA networks. Additionally, your statement
Nice looking tablet at a nice price. (Score:2)
Thank god it actually has front facing speakers---I might actually be able to hear it without cupping my hands around the back of it. Shame the 32GB upgrade is $100 with no SD card slot, although for what I'd use it for 16GB should be enough as long as I don't store too much music or to many movies on it.
No LTE = sad face (Score:2)
This is a deal breaker. Who in 2012/2013 would buy a cutting edge smartphone without LTE?
Google is laying a smack down (Score:4, Interesting)
You can quibble all you want about details like not having LTE, I mean really, most markets don't deliver full LTE speeds anyways, and most data plans are not going to let you take full advantage of LTE speeds by capping out at some absurdly low amount (maybe its just Canada, but our telcom sucks). Also lack of Micro SD slot and low capacity models is hard to accept. But the reality is that Google is setting a precedent that an unlocked phones should no longer cost $800+.
Its about time someone like Google smacked down the cost of unlocked handsets. We all know Apple makes 2 - 4x profit on an iDevice, its time for a company to set more realistic expectations of what profit on a mobile device should be.
Same goes for their tablets, considerably cheaper than iPads, and if Google (re Samsung) starts offering more features for less money, like uber-high resolutions, Google will be setting the trend for pricing of ALL mobile devices in the very near future.
Its a shame Microsoft chose to follow Apple's pricing and marketing strategy, I think this will hurt Microsoft. When the Lumina 920 is more expensive than an iPhone 5, and Microsoft choose to lock their devices to specific carriers on roll out, this is a huge decision for me not to even bother with the Windows Phone platform. Had Microsoft offered a "Surface" phone, unlocked for $300 - $400, I might have considered.
So, in spite of limited storage and no LTE, the phone is good enough for most people and the unlocked price is attractive to get a near top end Android device. If you feel you can't live without LTE, then enjoy your $800+ phones and your 3 year data plans.
I'm glad for you, Americans.. (Score:4, Informative)
Perhaps Google may succeed in putting the idea of a fully owned phone into the minds of the general American public. We in India and Europe have long since been accustomed to buying cellphones off the shelf from the manufacturer's shop without any contract or any carrier crippling the internals.
I'll wait for Firefox OS (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately it does feel like Windows for mobiles. Linux hits it big on a consumer computing device for once and it's been less than stellar.
Re:Openness (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Openness (Score:5, Informative)
If it was all about openness, then why no micro sd slot
What has openness got to do with a micro sd slot!? I in no way defend not having one. I think that cripples the devices. Seriously you could have talked about the APACHE license, or binary drivers. Merging the Linux kernel, opening up the 1st Party proprietary programs on Android, or highlight the GPL programs available on android! [use http://f-droid.org/ [f-droid.org] ]Not having a microsd slot is about creating artificial different price points for your device. The truth is when compared to the competition it is the most open.
Re: (Score:2)
If it was all about openness, then why no micro sd slot
What has openness got to do with a micro sd slot!?
Yet again "open" is overloaded with multiple related meanings that seem identical to most of the people using the term.
In this case, the OP is referring to the idea that without viable removable storage a phone like this has the effect of pushing users towards "the cloud." [techcrunch.com]
Everything (Score:3)
What has openness got to do with a micro sd slot!?
Additional storage slots give people the ability to store stuff on their own devices, not in Google's cloud. They give people the ability to store data rather than having to retrieve it (and advertising) over a carrier's network connection repeatedly.
I was going to buy a Nexus, but no SD slot, no sale. Sorry.
Re:Everything (Score:5, Funny)
Oh come on, 16GB should be enough for anybody.
Re:Everything (Score:5, Funny)
Whooosh.
Re:Openness (Score:5, Interesting)
> What has openness got to do with a micro sd slot!?
Internal SPI expansion bus that's trivially easy to program directly with minimal ceremony?
As an embedded hardware guy, I totally get warm fuzzies from SPI. It's just about the easiest low-ceremony bus on planet earth to use, and in a pinch you can even bitbang it with minimal effort. I know there's no room inside a microSD card for useful hardware thicker than a silicon wafer, but you could always use a fake microSD card connected to a ribbon cable to feed hardware built into a thicker replacement back.
Re:Openness (Score:5, Interesting)
Several reasons:
1) It's supposed to guide carriers/mfgs away from partitioning the memory on their phones (apps/music/etc). The Nexus standard is for a single volume that the user can fill with whatever they like. Remember, the Nexus line is a "do as I do" standard.
2) Mixing EXT and FAT is silly, since the benefits of EXT are lost when users shift their stuff to the FAT SD card. Since most people think FAT is what you are when you're overweight, and EXT is a trim level on a Chevy truck, they don't realize what they're giving up (like filesystem security) by moving apps and data to their SD card.
3) Forcing MTP mode means the phone can keep it's entire filesystem mounted without having to hand it over to whatever computer it's plugged in to, as well as keeping control (permissions) over the actual data on/written to the disk. It also means that when you trip and yank the USB cable out in the middle of copying files over, you haven't corrupted your data.
4) It saves on hardware (cost, thickness, etc)
5) Fewer interoperability headaches. Not all SD cards are created equal, and someone trying to run a read/write intensive app off their slow-as-dirt cheap SD may blame poor performance on "my piece of shit phone"
When I first got my Galaxy Nexus, I too was concerned about the storage limitations. After all, I wanted to put my entire music library on my phone... never mind that my entire library is literally weeks of playtime, or that there are apps perfectly capable of streaming my own media off a home server for me on demand (with the caveat/concession that I am normally away from WiFi for no more than 30 minutes), or that if I *really* wanted to go gung-ho with music for some reason I had a perfectly capable MP3 player that was even better than my phone (battery life, etc) for that purpose. Nope, I wanted to put the whole thing on my phone because it would make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. The reality is that I don't need to do that, I just wanted to. Once I shifted my expectations to match my reality, it ceased to bother me.
I compare the lack of an SD card to the "range anxiety" you see in EV cars. It bothers us that it's not available even though the majority of trips are well within an EV's range. Once you prove to yourself that you don't really need it (and can work around it in case you do), it's not such a big deal.
Re:Openness (Score:5, Interesting)
Forcing MTP mode means the phone can keep it's entire filesystem mounted without having to hand it over to whatever computer it's plugged in to, as well as keeping control (permissions) over the actual data on/written to the disk. It also means that when you trip and yank the USB cable out in the middle of copying files over, you haven't corrupted your data.
Of course the big drawback is that MTP was originally a Windows-only protocol that was only later standardized by the USB group and support is very flaky on any Linux-based OS I've used. You're no longer guaranteed that you can plug the device in to any host and have it recognized.
You also can't edit files directly using MTP; you must edit it locally then re-upload in its entirety back to the device.
Re:Openness (Score:5, Insightful)
I had a big post but my browser crashed. So I'll post an abbreviated version:
First: MTP on the system partition is a good thing; the partitioning was stupid. However, that is totally orthogonal to having an SD Card with mass storage.
For me, the big thing is that I personally use my phone as a thumb drive that doesn't take up space in my pocket and can view the files on it. SD Card means easily upgraded storage for cheap. Mass storage means not MTP idiosyncrasies like dropping a file it doesn't like or a .svn directory, etc. Support for MTP is also pretty spotty and generally a pain vs mass storage. MTP costs a lot in terms of flexibility and compatibility.
But this:
> If I *really* wanted to go gung-ho with music for some reason I had a perfectly capable MP3 player that was even better than my phone (battery life, etc) for that purpose
Yeah, well I don't. I don't and I don't want to have to buy one and I don't want to have to carry one and charge one and sync one.
> Once I shifted my expectations to match my reality, it ceased to bother me.
This is a total non-point. Why not shift your expectations to be okay with a cheap 2GB music player and a feature phone with a EDGE connection? Or to a string and a carrier pigeon? An SD slot isn't just possible, but present on many devices. Many cheaper devices, even. The fact that people would need to adjust their expectations when their expectations for a several-hundred dollar device are so easy and regularly met elsewhere is ridiculous. It might be a trade-off they are will to make, or a deal breaker that sends them elsewhere, but to pretend that it's their fault for wanting a fairly ubiquitous feature? Outrageous.
Re:Openness (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, well I don't. I don't and I don't want to have to buy one and I don't want to have to carry one and charge one and sync one.
Yes, exactly. It's simply egocentric and flawed to say "I'd just buy an MP3 player" - as if there is any merit in reason to that statement.
I store offline maps, offline music and offline documents on my 2-year old 32GB microSD card. This means that I always have a PND, an MP3 player and a sizeable USB-stick with me. Reading data off it is easy, always possible and a lot more power-efficient than streaming it from the cloud.
I've even (temporarily, admittedly) used an old 8GB microSD card in an SD adapter as a replacement in a camera (and I'm pretty sure the 32GB will have a similar function in the future). The versatility of dirt cheap internationally standardized little slabs of large amounts of solid state memory is just amazing.
Sure, having an SD slot has some drawbacks, but not having one is unnecessarily stupid.
Re:Openness (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Openness (Score:4, Interesting)
I'll me too this. I have a Galaxy Nexus, and when I got it I also had micro SDCard slot anxiety. It arose partially because I had no way to transfer stuff to and from the device as I use Linux and its MTP was less that stellar (before I could just mount the SDCard as a USB drive), and partially because I wondered if 16Gb was enough.
Turned out the transfer problem was a complete non-issue. There are apps that turn it into a Web Server, an FTP server, a RSYNC server, a CIFS (ie Samba, Windows Share) server, and clients for Drop Box and every other internet storage system known to man. All of these options are faster, more portable, more robust, run over more transports (cable, WiFi, bluetooth, NFC) and are less risky than mounting an SDCard. It's now a case of having to put up with an inferior alternative - its more of a case of hoping I will never have to mount a USB FAT file system again.
As for the storage issue, that is turned out to be slightly more of a concern. I have a whole pile of pod casts I automatically download, an ebook library of 100's of books, 10 or so movies, a couple of complete seasons of TV shows, and a reader application that downs a number of sites for off-line reading. Admittedly the movies and TV shows are transcoded so the play natively, which makes them smaller. (Turns out watching a movie using Android's native player draws less watts than reading an ebook - go figure.) This is enough to keep me occupied for a 24 hour international plane fight. As I said it is a mild concern tight, as I only have a Gig or so spare. But it is difficult to imagine what else I could possibly put on there that is useful on the phone.
Turned out not having an SDCard comes with one huge plus. It makes the whole thing run faster. Even if you aren't using the SDCard, Android has to check it every time a file is opened in case it might be on there, and this ends up making a noticable speed difference. So much so that now I remove the SDCard from any device I own.
So I've gone from having SDCard anxiety, to ripping the bloody thing out in every device I own. Good riddance I say.
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The original poster has the qualities of a shill. The open system actually feeds Google's app control needs, and allows Google to continue its privacy-robbing policies, and total location and usage context control of users of the platform.
Yes, Apple does this, too.
It's why I'm hoping for BootGecko, and other "smartphone" operating systems that aren't built on business models that retain way too much customer information. Even Canonical with Unity is starting to bow to the Dark Side.
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And the last thing I've heard about WebOS was "I'm not dead yet!"
That, or we all switch to AmigaOS. Or BeOS. Why must the Davids always fail and the Giants win?
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Re:Openness Bulshitness (Score:5, Insightful)
We used to ramble about Windows, and now Android acts like the old windows system, the swiss cheese of security.
Apart from its not true. Security is a issue on EVERY platform, and Google have routinely stepped up security while allowing the...and I cannot empathise this enough the *option* of openness. Security has just become one of those words that Apple shareholders user to pretend that a closed ecosystem is somehow better...Its not it just means the company owns the device (and the content) not you. It means you get rubbish maps!
Re:Openness Bulshitness (Score:4, Interesting)
Their Google play has regional customized availability. i.e. many apps are not available due to some stupid error or censorship. I had to contact at least 2 app authors including Kaiten email to make it available in the country I am currently residing in. The app ranking is also region dependent...
And the rest of the story? Did those authors make it available to your country? If an application author doesn't tick whatever box they need to in order to make it available in your location, whose fault is it? As far as censorship, you could argue that by allowing sideloading all they're doing is refusing to distribute it via their online store. Meanwhile, if Apple doesn't want your app to exist, you'll have to hack your device to get it up and running.
Security is still a main issue. We used to ramble about Windows, and now Android acts like the old windows system, the swiss cheese of security.
I don't recall Windows every explicitly defining the permissions a given application requires when being installed, letting me make an informed decision. The best it currently does is ask if I want to run it as Administrator, basically, don't trust it and close it, or trust it and give it access to everything and anything. The Android model is a pretty good one to copy, IMO.
Unfortunately the other alternatives are more sinister than Android so we don;t have other options. Other possible proposed alternatives are not commercially viable since only large companies can venture into this market.
What do you mean? If you didn't buy your Android device from a company that locked it down, you're free to write your own bootloader. Hell, Canonical is working on a distro now for current Nexus devices, maybe you can lend a hand?
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it's about wrestling control away from carriers &a (Score:5, Informative)
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Control? As faras I'm aware, you do not need to have you device talk to Google *at all*. Google wants an open web so they can push ads. They trade services for personal information, but you're not required to use their services. MS and Apple want what AOL had, and I hope they both end up the same way.
Re:This Slashdot post is brought to you by Google. (Score:5, Insightful)
Your choices are actually:
Apple's hardware + Apple's OS + Apple approved software
or
LG's hardware + Whatever ROM you like + Whatever apps you like
Re:This Slashdot post is brought to you by Google. (Score:4, Interesting)
MS.. high margin on OS.
Google.. high margin on ads shown on subsidized hardware plus free OS.
Google model is so disrupting here, MS and Apple do not know it yet, but they are history.
Re:one caveat (Score:4, Insightful)
Worst case scenario, Google gets all the power. Is that better or worse than the phone companies having full control?
Ideally we'd have good healthy competition, but I'll take Google over AT&T any day.
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And like most consumers are actually capable of long term thinking...
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It's also not good for business.
Monopolies break capitalism.
Re:one caveat (Score:5, Insightful)
No, you only need to understand this is at least partially wrong. The carriers *want* you to buy a phone today, and seemingly are happy for it to arrive tommorow, and have problems from the following day. This equates to the idea of contracts where end users can't wait to get a new phone, rinse - repeat. In this regard, the carriers are not your friends, and don't want to be, They only want you to pay them the money, and get a new contract.
Google Nexus devices are likely to get updates and changes, irrespective of the evil shit carriers pull - or lack of effort on their part in none evil cases. I still have Samsung devices that T Mobile either won't update, or the updates come months and months late. Or you simply get told they can't be bothered to work on the update, get a new handset.
So - for now - I'm glad Google are attacking this problem. The carriers need the lesson.
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Re:one caveat (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a good business strategy. Don't make your business a charity; make your business operate on strategies that are actually powerful business motivators, good for the business, but also good for the consumer. Don't just tempt the consumer; keep them from ever leaving. Make sure only wingnuts have much to say about how horrible you are.
The only concerns about Google are quite constant: they're an information trafficking company. They traffic information. Information to design ad campaigns, information to present ads to the consumer. Their base of information grows with each new service--and every time you opt into a new, useful service, you know the cost. The complaint of Google's ever-expanding reach of information gathering is mostly smoke and mirrors: this is what Google DOES, it's the same as when we were just using search. It's bigger, but not more sinister; if it's inexcusable now, it should have been toxic when they were tiny.
Google's best business plan is to make sure their ever-expanding empire is always profitable, but never really threatening. They need to not scare off the consumer. By keeping strict controls on how they provide their services--their real services--they avoid a greater consumer concern. They don't want to be the source of your six hundred phone calls per week from credit card offers; they want to be quiet, unknown, and harmless. They want to have to hide things just for business reasons, to protect from their competitors; they want as little to hide from the small consumers--who could be offended and then leave and diminish the strength of their product--as possible, so that any discovery and release of information is overall non-offensive.
That's the best way to do it. Make sure your business is good for consumers by merit of being based on a strategy that's good for consumers. Make a man cut off his own arm for the chance to shed some of his own blood, rather than the chance to escape your tyranny. Only the insane will cut themselves off from you.
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You don't need to trust Google. Don't set your phone up to use their services. It's basically a good phone for a good price, with good, open OS. It integrates nicely with Google's services, but you don't need to use them.
Re:one caveat (Score:5, Insightful)
Right now my options are:
1. Give complete control to Apple, who are already abusive assholes.
2. Give complete control to Microsoft, who are already abusive assholes.
3. Give complete control to the phone company, who are already abusive assholes.
4. Give very little control to Google, but maybe one day they'll start to be abusive.
5. Do without a phone.
From where I'm sitting, #4 looks like the least bad.
Re:No LTE, less space than a nomad (Score:4, Insightful)
I had the same knee jerk reaction, but HSPA+ while not LTE isn't just 3g either. I'm I'm still considering picking this up if I can get unlimited data from a provider. I grow tired of big red and having to take what they give me. Having unlimited data with them just isn't worth it anymore. I was going to have to buy my next phone outright anyway just to keep that plan, so if I can buy phone without a contract for 299 instead of having to have one subsidized by a carrier and have to deal with their crap then i's still a compelling offer.
Re:No LTE, less space than a nomad (Score:5, Interesting)
HSPA+ is just as 4G as LTE is, according to Wikipedia (which is to say, it was decided that while they weren't technically 4G they advanced 3G enough to be called 4G).
What advantages does LTE have over HSPA+ that would make the latter "lame" by comparison?
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LTE obviously has higher peak bandwidth, but that isn't a big deal for most people. Given low datacaps by carriers especially.
HOWEVER, LTE has much better latency as well. And that matters a lot to me, personally.
Re:No LTE, less space than a nomad (Score:4, Informative)
...but I want to be able to have the ability to use microSD cards to keep my media on and be able to easily change it in and out...
If you put your music on Google Music, you can tap-hold on an album or artist and select "Keep on device", and it'll cache it on the device for offline listening. When you're tired of it, uncheck the same option and it'll be garbage-collected.
Honestly, dicking around with sync programs and SD cards would be much harder work.
They need something like that for movies. I suspect it'll come eventually.
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If you put your music on Google Music
never gonna happen with me. why the hell should I upload a list of my music to ANY corporation?
why? why feed their data model, ignore my own privacy and even risk record labels having info on me? none of that can be good.
oh, but you get a shiny! I forgot. its all worth it if they give you a shiny.
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Score:-1, Didn't Get It
Too bad the mods don't know their slashdot history [slashdot.org].
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Do you actually carry multiple batteries?
Serious question. I hear people gripe about this all the time, but I don't know ANYONE who actually carries extra batteries. I only hear of people either carrying a charging cable or asking to borrow one.
If would be awesome if they made a phone where the battery was hot-swappable and cartridge based so I do not need to turn off the phone or remove the back cover to get to replace the battery.
So, you *actually* want a phone that gets better battery life.
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I have an HTC Thunderbolt. If I'm traveling and away from an outlet for more than 4 hours at a time, I need extra batteries.
I also have a USB battery that can help in a pinch, but a fresh battery is a lot better.
Re:No LTE, less space than a nomad (Score:5, Informative)
Do you actually carry multiple batteries?
Serious question. I hear people gripe about this all the time, but I don't know ANYONE who actually carries extra batteries. I only hear of people either carrying a charging cable or asking to borrow one.
No, but I want to replace the small battery with a large on. I used my Nexus Galaxy with the standard battery for 2 months before replacing it with battery that would last 2 days, which is what I need.
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No SD cad
No removable battery
You are aware that your Apple phone does not have these either! Seriously Fandroids...that doesn't even work as an insult!
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Good luck actually getting it.
Re:No LTE, less space than a nomad (Score:5, Insightful)
Rubbish.
For the past 3 months my internet has come from wireless LTE with 100MBit down, 10MBit up at consistent speeds that put my previous cable connection to shame.
All this in a European capital with dense population and one of the highest rates of smartphones per inhabitant in the world. All this at 49 EUR a month with no data limit. And no restriction whatsoever; no URLs blocked, no services disallowed, streaming via p2p, VPN and ssh tunnels.
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Re:Meet the new boss (Score:5, Informative)
All Nexus devices can also be unlocked and rooted in a straightforward process. That they don't come in this way is a protection for the average Joe who doesn't know what "rooting" even means and who'd just be vulnerable to a malicious app trying to elevate its own permissions.
Nexus devices are still consumer devices.
Re:Meet the new boss (Score:4, Informative)
Unroot and re-lock the thing before you send it in for a warranty.
Since there's no guarantee you'll even get the same device back with a warranty return, what you should really do is make a nandroid (1:1 backup) first and then restore the phone to factory state (bootloader, recovery, rom, data, and all). Then whatever phone you do end up with can be restored to your 'old' phone in a few minutes, and you don't have to worry about who has your data, and unless the FBI is spying on you no one will ever know you did those naughty unlocking and rooting things.
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You can't check code into the Kernel repo either. There are always gatekeepers.
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No, but you can't check things into the Red Hat Enterprise repository either. If you want to check something in, you'll need to check into a community repository such a Fedora. Similarly, if you want to check into an Android repository, look into the community supported CyanogenMod.
Re:Meet the new boss (Score:5, Informative)
1. When you buy a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 4 from the play store it comes with an unlocked bootloader.
2. You can restore factory images quite easily, google provides all of them [google.com].
3. You are correct about no root access out of the box, you need to do that yourself.
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Unless Congress has recently repealed the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, no. They can SAY your warranty is invalid, but they can also SAY the moon is made from green cheese. Under MMWA, unless they can prove that the failure was directly caused by unlocking the bootloader, their only recourse is to reflash your phone to stock with a JTAG (which they're going to do regardless) to get it back into a known state and verify that it's a hardware problem & not a software problem. MM does NOT require them to make