

Are Google and Samsung Announcing a "Nexus Two?" - Garbage
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/are_google_and_samsung_announcing_a_nexus_two.php

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pkulak
I'm betting it's just that new Verizon phone with the useless second LCD. I
spoke with someone months ago at Google who said they were working on a "Nexus
Two" device, but he could have been referring to the G2 for all I know.

Here's what I've been waiting for in an Android phone since they started
pumping them out: thin, no keyboard, responsive touchscreen, iPhone4-quality
camera, accurate GPS and stock Android or easily rootable. Pretty much, I
don't want any compromises, and no one seems to want to do it. Every single
model skimps somewhere. If it's got a nice camera, the GPS doesn't work.
Otherwise, the camera is crap or it's 3/4 of an inch thick with a keyboard I
won't use. The Nexus One is so close, but the touchscreen sucks and the camera
is beyond terrible.

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billybob
+1 for stock Android. I sure as heck don't want carrier modifications. Note to
carriers: your job is radio frequencies and call routing. That's all I want
you for. You are not a software company. It sucks to be a commodity, but it
sucks more to be an anchor on an airplane, which is what you are for the
quality of your phones. Give them a connection and free reign.

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jordanroher
I was under the impression that the carriers and manufacturers modified their
phones so they could differentiate themselves. There's the revenue
opportunities, sure, but they have to do something to stand out.

Now here's the crazy part: no one is selling a device with stock Android. If
your phone was straight Android 2.2, it wouldn't look like any other phone on
the market. The minute Motorola or LG realize this, they get 100% of the nerd
phone market.

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eljaco
It's usually not up to Motorola or LG. It's the carriers that add (or ask to
add) these additional/non-stock features. I'm curious what the state of
Android is outside of the US - do carriers in other countries add the likes of
V-Cast or a NASCAR app?

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dreaming
In Australia, the biggest carrier Telstra generally adds a tonne of crapware,
and several people I know with htc desires have links to various telstra
features that are broken on the default firmware. I seem to recall the reason
telstra didnt get into the iphone game until significantly after the other
carriers was because of the iphone impeding sales of telstra 'services'.

We also have the more budget oriented virgin mobile who have generally little
to no customization depending on the phone.

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orangecat
I certainly hope so. And it makes sense that they'd focus more on Europe this
time, which hasn't been as infected with phone subsidies and lockins as the US
has.

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sahaj
what makes you think it would be focused on europe? the event is in NYC.

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orangecat
Not Europe exclusively, but more available there, as indicated by the
potential Carphone Warehouse deal. IIRC Google didn't sell the Nexus One
directly to Europeans, even though they're much more willing to pay up front
for unsubsidized phones than Americans are.

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ars
I hope it has a keyboard and a front facing camera.

Those are the two differentiators I'm looking for to pick an android phone.

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brettnak
I like the front facing camera idea, but I actually hate having a physical
keyboard on my phones nowadays. Seems to just make the phone bigger and
heavier. I also had the original Verizon/Motorola droid which had a completely
worthless excuse for a keyboard. Perhaps that soured me on physical keyboards.

Now that I have Swype, not to mention the normal android keyboard, I'm pretty
satisfied.

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ars
Well, I want the phone also as a mini laptop. I read that it's hard to do
things like ctrl-s on the virtual keyboard.

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parbo
Is a bluetooth mini-keyboard good enough?

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ars
It might be actually. Are they small enough that I can fit both the phone and
the keyboard together in my pocket?

Wouldn't it be smaller if the keyboard was integrated into the phone?

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martingordon
Two things killed the Nexus One for me: 1\. Two versions of the device. I
travel to the UK a lot and I wanted to pick up a Nexus One so I wouldn't have
to unlock my iPhone. Being forced to choose between 3G in the US (on AT&T) or
3G in the UK made me choose neither. 2\. Skype is a Verizon exclusive. Yay
artificial fragmentation!

#1 can hopefully be fixed by the Nexus Two. Not so sure about #2.

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fragmede
What aspect of skype is Verizon only? It's in the marketplace for me, and I'm
on Sprint.

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dannyr
I'd like to see a front-facing camera but what I need the most is larger
internal memory.

I want to install more apps but with Nexus One's meager 512MB flash memory, I
hit the limit already. Now, I don't even install apps that are more than 2MB.
A lot of developers also have not enabled SD card storage for their apps.

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yock
What? They can't even put a reliable date on Froyo for the Galaxy S line in
the US but they're already shifting resources to a new hotness?

Could this be interpreted as a call to abandon the Galaxy S ship?

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martey
For what it's worth, Engadget's original article about the Samsung press event
suspected that it would announce the Samsung "Continuum" - a Galaxy S branded
phone with two OLED displays. Considering the stock tickers in the background
of the press image, and the fact that the secondary OLED display on the
Continuum is called the "Ticker", I think this makes the most sense:
[http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/25/samsung-to-unveil-new-
and...](http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/25/samsung-to-unveil-new-android-
device-november-8th/)

