
Galaxy Nexus OS Variant Not Controlled By Google - techiediy
http://www.techieinsider.com/news/13274
======
stanleydrew
Damn it Google. I thought I could count on you not to mess this up. I want to
be able to tell my mom that she should get a galaxy nexus and not have to
worry. Now I have to track down a GSM edition from abroad that has a
particular software build on it? You're not making this very easy.

~~~
danilocampos
It's not meant to be. Google has sold their users down the river, including
letting Verizon disable Wallet, in exchange for a piece of the action in
mobile. So they can keep having a relevant platform for their ads.

It's been a mostly sharp move, but it wasn't done for reasons of user
experience. And it shows with stuff like this. I wish they would take a harder
line – enforce higher standards, fight the good fight on NFC. But that's not
what they're after. Every phone that ships without Android, or a Google-free
flavor of Android, is one more point where they can be left out in the cold
when something like Siri comes along.

So as long as they can get most of what they want from these manufacturing
partners, they'll take it.

~~~
joebadmo
Not sure how to interpret this comment.

I don't understand why Wallet is a big deal. For users, it wouldn't be much of
a difference from Isis. How is this selling users down t he river? What
exactly is the good fight on NFC?

 _Every phone that ships without Android, or a Google-free flavor of Android,
is one more point where they can be left out in the cold when something like
Siri comes along._

What does this even mean? Google-free? Show me an Android phone on the market
that's Google-free. And, at least as far as I can tell, Siri seems to have
been a dud. I certainly don't know anyone that uses it regularly, and I don't
know anyone who uses it at all for anything other than simple voice commands,
which are not really Sir's value prop.

 _So as long as they can get most of what they want from these manufacturing
partners, they'll take it._

Manufacturing partners? This is about Verizon, isn't it?

I also wish that Google would take a harder stance on stuff like the Nexus
experience, and UI consistency, and update frequency. But I don't really see
what Google is bargaining with here. What can they withhold from Verizon at
this point?

EDIT: I know one person who uses Siri regularly. His name is Nicholas. He
seems like a pretty nice guy. A bit snarky.

~~~
esrauch
> Google-free? Show me an Android phone on the market that's Google-free.

Nook & Kindle Fire are examples of Google-Free android devices, though you
specified 'Phones' so I guess that excludes them.

------
tomflack
So basically Google just ruined the nexus brand? It was the one constant in
Android they'd created that you could supposedly rely on and they just killed
it in only the third generation.

~~~
there
i was pretty disappointed with the nexus s as the successor to the nexus one.
cheaper-feeling hardware, all plastic instead of rubber and metal, no sd-card
expansion (i think that was on purpose to push google's cloud synching), no
notification light, and a bigger footprint with no bigger screen resolution.

------
old-gregg
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc: <http://bit.ly/5xgJcA>

We need this to happen to:

    
    
      * All wireless carriers and their practice of locking phones
      * Apple/Amazon with their "stores" tied to their devices

~~~
nknight
Companies in a given market sharing many of the same practices does not
automatically violate the Sherman Act, nor does vertical integration by a non-
monopoly or non-coercive monopoly.

~~~
old-gregg
Doesn't it bother you that there is only 1 retailer in the world who sells
software for the iPhone? It is very possible that 3-5 years from now literally
every byte of information flowing to our portable devices will be 100%
controlled (or approved) by the big 3: Google, Apple and Amazon. Wintel
domination pales in comparison.

P.S. In my comment above I used wireless carriers but forgot Google. In
reality they all try to do the same thing: google/apple/amazon are using the
platform, while carriers are using the pipe, but in the end they all want to
own the whole enchilada.

~~~
nknight
Lots of things bother me, that doesn't necessarily mean I think they should be
illegal. Laws affect society as a whole, that means they should be made
carefully and with restraint, and applied in the same way, because there's a
lot of variation within society as to what is viewed as right or wrong.

I don't like that iOS is as closed as it is, but I do have other choices.
Apple is not a monopoly, they don't control the market, they didn't make it
more closed, or less consumer-friendly. On the contrary, they're directly
responsible for the smartphone market's rapid advance, and a renewed focus on
the needs and wants of end-users.

In other words, your call for an antitrust case against Apple, besides being a
serious perversion of antitrust law, is proposing to harm Apple for the good
they've done for consumers. What kind of sense does that make?

Certain markets have long been dominated by a handful of large companies.
That's always been the case with telecommunications and consumer electronics,
and to some extent, it will probably always be the case.

On the other hand, technological advancements, some of which came out of these
very companies you're vilifying, have made it more practical for smaller
players to enter markets that have had prohibitive costs of entry. It is
increasing competition -- the very goal of antitrust law.

Everybody sees the danger of a few large companies controlling a market,
that's why the FCC and Department of Justice have been, shall we say, less
than receptive to the idea of an AT&T/T-Mobile merger. That doesn't
automatically mean that those companies should be torn to shreds because some
of us don't like their business model.

~~~
old-gregg
You are arguing against the points I did not make: I am not "vilifying" these
companies, and I am not proposing they to "be torn to shreds". Paramount
Pictures with other movie studios aren't evil either.

Users should be able to freely exchange software/information (which they paid
for) between their devices (which they paid for).

This is all about consumer protection, not about how evil/awesome/innovative
these companies are. Nobody is going to be "torn to shreds" if the practice of
companies locking and controlling access to devices that don't belong to them
becomes illegal.

Look, Apple selling you the phone which only runs software they approve is no
different from, say, Toshiba selling you a TV which only shows FOX News, but
refuses to show you the video which you bought here: <https://buy.louisck.net>

~~~
nknight
I disagree with none of your principles except the one that apparently says
legal intervention is necessary. The walled gardens are not a secret, people
are making the decision to buy these devices knowing they won't be able to do
certain things. They do have other reasonable options.

This isn't fraud, and it's not a hidden problem hard for people to grasp.
There's no apparent collusion to block new competitors. If the masses conclude
it is intolerable, the companies will stop making money and that's the end of
it. If not, it shouldn't be illegal in the first place.

If you're upset about it, well, this is a site targeted at people into
startups...

~~~
joebadmo
Disagreement downvotes... such a shame. I disagree with you, but find your
position to be valid and reasonable.

------
jinushaun
In other words, can the Verizon Galaxy Nexus even be considered a "Nexus"
anymore? The article implies "no."

~~~
snotrockets
According to the twitter conversation linked in a message here
(<http://twitter.theinfo.org/146020135109533696,>) mysid, which is the Verizon
GN is built by Google, like yakju (the Google GSM build,) and unlike yakju.+
(which are built by Samsung)

------
joebadmo
Here's a conversation on twitter with Jean Baptiste Queru, who works on AOSP
for Google. It's not completely illuminating, but there are interesting
details:

<http://twitter.theinfo.org/146020135109533696>

------
RandallBrown
Why can't Google or Samsung push out the updates? Is it just that Verizon
won't let them?

I guess it takes the selling power of the iPhone to ink a deal like that with
Verizon.

------
technogeek00
So in these builds are they going to disable the ICS feature to disable
programs, like the crap-ware Verizon shoves on the phones.

------
ypcx
So again, what is the problem when you can "flash" the phone with the OS
variant you want? I noticed there already are floating various user builds for
Galaxy Nexus. I'm much more worried about the frequent hardware build quality
issues that German users are reporting about so much. I hope I won't have to
send mine back. Let's stay optimistic!

------
jarek
Somehow, I can't help but think "LOL, Verizon."

------
rpikencal
It sure does seem like Verizon likes to add their 2 cents to everything rather
than leave it as intended. To have a clean phone without all the bloatware
that Verizon adds on would be great.

------
ldesegur
What would stop people from removing crapware that VZ enjoy crippling their
phones with? I know it's not as easy to remove apps on Android than it is on
iOS but still...

------
CountSessine
Not a Nexus.

