Google To Drop Nexus Brand Name, Move Away From Stock Android (theverge.com) 203
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.
Translation: (Score:4, Insightful)
"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.
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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
Re:Translation: (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Translation: (Score:4, Funny)
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?
Because they don't want to drive more people to alternative roms.
This is no different from everyone bitching and complaining about Windows 10... the customers aren't going to go anywhere, they're just going to complain and then bend over.
Speak for yourself, ankle-grabber.
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...This is no different from everyone bitching and complaining about Windows 10... the customers aren't going to go anywhere, they're just going to complain and then bend over.
Speak for yourself, ankle-grabber.
Agreed. Shh.. don't tell anyone, but I'm researching a move of all users at my company to Linux with only one Windows machine for Windows-only applications we need to use for our line of work; RDP box, of course.
MS, you lost with the Windows 10 BS. Google started it, but you could have kept more business by being a pseudo-defector.
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I stopped buying Nexus phones a while ago when they jacked up their prices. I switched to OnePlus. It is an excellent phone with a nearly stock android experience. I am s still using the OnePlus One, and might upgrade to the OnePlus Four if they put a 4k screen on it.
My Nexus 6 is more than enough for my needs. I treat it nicely and it still looks new. If Google puts a self-destruct mechanism into unlocked bootloader Nexus 6 phones (or any other BS that encourages hardware "upgrade") and I lose this phone, I'm not getting another. I'm getting a mobile phone-phone and using a Linux-loaded tablet.
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...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...
If I were a brain at Google, it seems like a good means to a void-of-warranty excuse-maker. More may want to root and block ads or, like you said, CM-it. Either way, warranty is voided and overall cost is reduced. Plus you make a good point about adding extra crap to spy with more. I'm on the fence.
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That's like saying someone's less of a rapist than Bill Cosby.
I've got a low end Samsung that has loads of crap I can't delete, but it's all got Google's name on it.
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Looks to me like Google have changed policy. Rather than Nexus being an example for other manufacturers to follow, it looks like Google want to be in full control of Android. Expect features that no one else is allowed to have.
Re:Translation: (Score:4, Insightful)
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It's still just a rumor site reporting this. Everybody calm the fuck down.
Easy there tiger, sounds like you're not familiar with the way Slashdot works.
When rumoursite.com publishes a slightly negative rumour of an upcoming Apple product, everyone is like "Apple are such visionaries, removing buttons and speakers are such brilliance and wow, I'm going to cream myself over this for months".
However when it's an Android rumour everyone is like "Holy Squirrelballs am I angry. How dare they think of ADDING things to Android" and then you would hear the gnashing of teeth as they
Re:Translation: (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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You must have missed the headphone jack palava where the internet went on a near meltdown over the completely unsubstantiated and unconfirmed rumour that Apple were going to drop the headphone jack.
If iPhone 7 comes with a headphone jack, then several hundred of megabyt
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Well if Google wants to get into a dick-measuring contest with the iPhone then other manufacturers will take up the slack of missing features:
Audio jack (to be removed in iPhone 7), FM Radio, removal battery, SD Card, robust cheap black plastic housing that doesn't require a stylish case.
Cheaper *is* better.
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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
Re:Translation: (Score:5, Interesting)
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....
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I remember when I needed the additional capacity provided by the SD Card.
These days the phone has adequate storage. I don't need to back up all 400 of my Youtube videos on it; an SD Card just isn't needed.
My current phone does have a slot for one, it just wasn't a factor in my decision to buy it.
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I hope you do know that the black plastic case is exactly why your phone hits thermal limits way faster than a metal case, and proceeds to clock the fuck down and tanks in performance. The only thing I'd agree to in your list is the audio jack, and I'll have to wait for the official announcement to know.
Re:Translation: (Score:5, Insightful)
Aha, features like no boot unloking, no rooting, no adblocking, no means to block tracking.
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That is Google's core business after all.
Never forget that.
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Does this mean Google will make Android incompatible with VPNs? It'd have to, because rootless tracking blockers appear to the operating system as VPN clients.
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Aha, features like no boot unloking, no rooting, no adblocking, no means to block tracking.
Google's devices have always had unlockable bootloaders, unlike the rest of the industry.
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I just want them to unify the SD storage and the embedded so I don't have to shuffle stuff around every time an app wants an update. It'd be nice to be able to delete the shovelware, but I'll settle for being able to get it out of my way.
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This is already a feature in Android as of Marshmallow, which allows you to have the traditional removable SD card format, or essentially set it up on LVM and roll it into your phone's internal volume group. Recommended with fast cards only.
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This is already a feature in Android as of Marshmallow, which allows you to have the traditional removable SD card format, or essentially set it up on LVM and roll it into your phone's internal volume group. Recommended with fast cards only.
Too bad it only half works. I have apps move themselves back to the phone storage when they update all the time. Or just vanish, needing to be reinstalled and reconfigured.
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tldr; "We need to make more money"
Re: Translation: (Score:5, Insightful)
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I know that this is not insightful or interesting or modworthy, but I am so mad at the prospect of Google's actions here that I am taking the time to post.
The *only* reason that I bought a) an Android-based device and b) a Nexus is because I value a "pure" option. I have been fooled by Google several times already -- the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 5 -- when they decided that they were no longer going to support software updates on those devices. That decision has forced me to upgrade earlier than I original
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"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.
But Judge, EVERYBODY'S doing it! Waaaah
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Well this sucks ... (Score:3, Interesting)
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?
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Their website says:
*Out of stock
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Amazon will have them in 5 days:
https://www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-... [amazon.com]
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Custom firmware will make most brandname hardware work well.
It's the lack of excessive preinstalled malware that made Nexus devices special.
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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 presume you are literally talking about the second one, the Nexus 7 2nd, because the Nexus 7 1st was poop.
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Yes. I had the first one for a year and it was fine. Got the 2nd gen and sold the first get.
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Today you can buy Nvidia Shield K1 8inch tablet for around 200USD. It's a almost two year old model, but it came out originally with kickass specs and cost 400USD. In 2016, it's a good value.
For something more high end, consider the 2016 Galaxy Tab S3 which is going to be announced any week now.
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If current trends continue, 7" will be a phone size in the near future.
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Maybe Apple will have to hire tailors [nydailynews.com] for their release day.
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Sure, it's Samsung and has some of the Samsung-specific apps, but many can be disabled and/or shoved into a "bloatware" folder and ignored. Plus the tablet takes a MicroSD card so you can greatly expand the storage space, I think up t
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I like the Samsung sketch/note application on those too. But I agree, it's a shame you can't uninstall the other Samsung shovelware.
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I still have the original Nexus 7. It survived a bad fall - the case detached at the screen, but with careful pushing I managed to place it back. This tablet is fantastic and still does all I need.
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I've got a 7 and a 10. I don't have interest in a 9. When I want big, I want big (10 is almost too small). And when I just want to read, the 7 is the perfect size. You'd think they'd want me to buy multiple tablets, rather than trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all approach.
Vanilla is the only flavor I like (Score:5, Interesting)
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?
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Flip phones!
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The Oneplus brand smartphones come with a very basic Android ROM, and they're actually a better value than Google Nexus.
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The OnePlus One was a better value, but the Two was pretty clearly lacking in the bang-for-the-buck catagory. The Three is better than the Two, but missing some key features IMHO.
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What features? Everything is great. If you mean sd card slot, most people can do just fine with 64GB it already has.
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What's wrong with Cyanogen, besides the annoyance and difficulty of finding a phone it works well on, rooting it, etc. (i.e., it's not an out-of-the-box thing)?
If you're talking about CyanogenOS, that's different from CyanogenMod.
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Incorrect.
As I said before, CyanogenMod and CyanogenOS are two different things. From my quick google search, what you're talking about does not apply to CyanogenMod, which is entirely open-source. The OnePlus One uses CyanogenOS.
This is like complaining about Google's telemetry in the Chromium browser (i.e., it doesn't exist, that's in Chrome).
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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?
What is "Vanilla?"
The definition of Vanilla was the look and feel of the phone that came from Google. How does that change if Google's phone now starts adding value added features that aren't part of core Android?
To me "Vanilla" was like saying copying popular features that other OSes had long before it was standard in Android.
Reference devices? (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
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They probably mean that they will support hardware specific to that phone. In the past they have always provided APIs that anyone can use for things like the fingerprint sensor and camera features. Maybe they are planning to allow some stuff that is unique to their phones and not supported elsewhere.
My guess would be it is related to VR and 3D mapping.
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I don't understand the reason for going away from "vanilla" Android.
Keep in mind that these are rumors, not product announcements.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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The massive Android ecosystem which would have enriched Google with a monopoly on mobile de
Chocolate Teapot (Score:5, Funny)
Pointless (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
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Earlier this year I bought my two 32GB Nexus 5X for $290 and $320 IIRC. Now they can be found for $240 [ebay.com] new.
Where are you finding a Galaxy S6 at a comparable price? The S6 still doesn't retail for what the Nexus 5X retailed 8 months ago and is at least $100 more expensive than what you can find the 5X now.
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The fact that some vendors are having "backdoor sales" blowouts of the less than one year old Nexus 5X smartphones (often though ebay) simply proves that Nexus 5X was ridiculously overprices. Just consider these two specs and the price: 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, almost 400USD MSRP. Shocking. Granted, I will still buy a google Nexus device over a carrier branded/locked garbage like LG or Samsung phones, but such pricing is not sustainable considering the presence of the Chinese startups like Onepus.
That's
Profoundly Stupid Move? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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There must be more to this than the story indicates.
Or less. This is just a rumor.
Google should address Android security (Score:5, Insightful)
.
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 (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Because they're going with HTC, (Score:2)
I rooted my last HTC, (a Desire 510), but it was kind of a 'partial root'. It gave me root access, and I could do things like manipulate system files and run a firewall that requires root. But I couldn't delete crapps like Facebook, Twitter; or rather, I could, but they'd magically reappear after the next hard boot. I tried changing file permissions, and even set immutable, but a hard boot over-rode the perms and restored the original files. I needed to get the phone into "S-OFF" mode, but apparently that w
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It just looks like behavior from squashfs and friends. If you wanted to delete system files on your router or live CD permanently, you would have to flash a new firmware image or burn a new live CD, even if you're running as the root account.
What I'm saying thus is, this crap is to be expected.
Can you run a script as root on startup that "deletes" the so-called apps? I would settle with that.
It's a shame (Score:2)
When they came up with don't be evil, I think they meant it in good faith, it was naive and it was impossible, like pacts to be best friends forever, but at some level the people at the top there believed in this with respect to their muddled conception of evil.
So this is disappointing. Nexus was at the very least a huge bone to the tech community, and was pretty much the last man standing against a snowcrash vision of the mobile space. It was rooting friendly, and the majority of users kept it hooked into
Timely security updates (Score:3)
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.)
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The doddering old man named Google could just as easily break this "promise" whenever it chose to. Or just "forget" its promise as doddering old men are wont to do. What are you gonna do about it?
Eh. (Score:2)
I feel like they're going for what they had when they owned Motorola. Basically stock Android with Google Apps and a few extras (like enhanced camera apps and the like.)
As long as they don't do things like bundle "special offers" as non-removable systems apps and continue with the Nexus update policy, I don't really see it as a problem. (New versions for at least 18 months, security updates for at least 36 months.)
Hopefully, this time, they won't sell it all to Lenovo.
disappointing, but not surprising (Score:2)
Bad Power Button Placement (Score:2)
The only reason I didn't stick with Nexus after my 4, was the idiotic decision to place the power button, right under your index finger, where you're holding the phone. I'd say a good 80% of the times I turned that phone on or off were unintentional.
There aren't many phones that still place it on top, but that was pretty my only requirement for my next phone. Getting tired of all the different models pretty much just being clones of the same crappy design. A little variety would be nice.
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Cue Huawei, Xiaomi, BLU..... (Score:2)
I think this is a big opportunity for some of the up and coming brands to grab some market share.
I have a BLU Life One X and I am not sure how "vanilla" it is, but it's definitely not bloated. It's affordable ($150) has good specs, dual sim, and is unlocked.
Why would I want an iPhone or Nexus?
It's kind of a shame that people only think there are a couple of choices when it comes to phones.
Re:Damnit (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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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.
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Have.. I mean, have you used any Samsung products lately? I own a Nexus 5, Nexus 6P, Samsung Galaxy S6, S7 and Note 7 (I do a lot of hardware testing). They are all rock solid, but the most rock solid is the S7 and Note 7. Without question, they are very well made devices, and stand up to a lot more than the Huawei 6P. The LG Nexus 5 is pretty solid, but there are problems especially with the power button (a problem that plagued older Samsung phones).
So when I see comments like this, I can only picture some
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Not lately, no. I've been Ludditely gripping my ancient Samsung Galaxy S2 because I've modded it to suit my needs, it works, and don't want to go through the pain of mastering a new phone unless it will be a game-changer for me. That's why I have to find reviews and evaluations that cut through the noise of shiny new features and get to the meat of the matter to find out if the phone works *as a phone* and can withstand daily use.
If I were to get something other than a Nexus it would be a Samsung based on t
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no miracast option
That's an Android-wide change. They removed that because they want you to use a Chromecast.
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I still use an LG G2 and it's a great phone for its age. G4 by all accounts I've read was an awful phone. Sometimes good manufacturers make terrible products (like OnePlus Two, or LG G4).
This isn't Android's fault. This is the fault of LG in this case.
That said, I like your STD naming system. Android Blue Waffles could be a dessert or an STD name.
Android annoyances (Score:3)
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 w
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It sounds like all your issues are with LG and/or your carrier, not Google/Android proper.
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And that's the problem. I expect my Windows computer to work like a Windows computer regardless of the manufacturer or the seller. I also expect to get updates directly from MS without having to wait on the OEM and the seller. Why should Android be any different?
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Google is a well known brand, but has Google ever made something other than the search engine that people are proud to have and use? As far as I can tell, Android is a negative brand: It's defined by the things it doesn't do, i.e. lock you into a walled garden.
I prefer Android to Apple. Both do a good job and there's not really much difference but I do prefer Android.
Google has lots of products I use. Gmail, Google Maps, Google Voice, Google Drive, Google Photos, Google Labotomy
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It was a joke. Yes, I meant Lobotomy.
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Damn you! I have coffee all over my keyboard!
Re:"I have to get me a Google phone" thought nobod (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Yeah, it's just a name change: http://www.theverge.com/2016/6... [theverge.com]
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It does appear that Google is abandoning all the things that made it so widely, if not universally, beloved. Letting their devs spend work time on passion projects. The dream of one day, however far in the future, ditching Comcast for Google Fiber. Phones and tablets that are, if not cruftware-free, at least set a minimum baseline for cruftware. They even pulled an Oracle with that Nest thing, buying an energetic indie startup and then almost immediately killing it dead for no real reason at all.
What th
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What the eff? Why is this all happening now? What's changed? Did they stop making All the Money? Are the founders going through menopause? Was Google secretly run by a group of elves whose spirit tree just died?
One word: monopoly.
Best way to avoid it, have proof of things you did that negated it, so you're not the DIRECT monopoly, but still bringing in buttloads of cash.
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That's odd, all three of my nexus branded phones are still working fine - power buttons, usb ports, everything.
Maybe you've been unlucky or possibly it's a wetware issue.