RANT: Nexus "the developers phone" and updates argument

[CrazyRussian007]

Hi all,

first off, I got the GNex on it's release day, a very happy owner, have no issues with the phone, havent even unlocked or rooted and dont plan to, while rooted and romed all my other android phones the entire 4 years I've been using them.

I also love this forum - the amount of info is incredible and users are helpful.

BUT.

I think the arguments "nexus is a developer phone, so expect glitches" and "because it's nexus updates will be more frequent" are very weak, to put it politely. Stupid, in MHO.

Updates - ok, given the previous history and minimal OEM involvement, might hold some wather in it but has anyone seen that anywhere in writing? Was that advertised anywhere? Sure I would love to see updates come quickly, but all who are complaining "where is an update" sound silly to me.

Updates argument is no big deal, I could care less, but the "Nexus is a developer phone, so expect glitches" is really one that I think is .... weak, poor, and stupid. Have anyone seen any advertisement for the "nexus developers phone"? Did anyone see mentioning anywhere about "still in development"? Why should I expect glitches on the product i bought IN A RETAIL STORE? It doesnt say anywhere on the box nor in the manual that glitches are expected. I did not get this phone as part of "testers" group or "developers" distribution channel. THIS PHONE IS SOLD IN REGULAR RETAIL STORES AND MUST BE TREATED AS ONE - A REGULAR RETAIL PRODUCT.

You dont expect to buy a ... cool looking and multifunctonal toaster in a regular retail store and then find out that it could burn your kitchen because ... it's a developer product.

I just dont get why everyone accepts that common notion of "developer phone". Especially I dont get how some reply with that "developer phone" crap to other users problems.

Rant done. Oh, I feel so much better.

 

[LBTRS]

Agree 100%. You can also add the argument I've heard on this forum several times "You'll get Jelly Bean before everyone else". We have not even got ICS working properly and people are already using Jelly Bean as a selling point of this phone.

 

[anon(596177)]

Hi all,

first off, I got the GNex on it's release day, a very happy owner, have no issues with the phone, havent even unlocked or rooted and dont plan to, while rooted and romed all my other android phones the entire 4 years I've been using them.

I also love this forum - the amount of info is incredible and users are helpful.

BUT.

I think the arguments "nexus is a developer phone, so expect glitches" and "because it's nexus updates will be more frequent" are very weak, to put it politely. Stupid, in MHO.

Updates - ok, given the previous history and minimal OEM involvement, might hold some wather in it but has anyone seen that anywhere in writing? Was that advertised anywhere? Sure I would love to see updates come quickly, but all who are complaining "where is an update" sound silly to me.

Updates argument is no big deal, I could care less, but the "Nexus is a developer phone, so expect glitches" is really one that I think is .... weak, poor, and stupid. Have anyone seen any advertisement for the "nexus developers phone"? Did anyone see mentioning anywhere about "still in development"? Why should I expect glitches on the product i bought IN A RETAIL STORE? It doesnt say anywhere on the box nor in the manual that glitches are expected. I did not get this phone as part of "testers" group or "developers" distribution channel. THIS PHONE IS SOLD IN REGULAR RETAIL STORES AND MUST BE TREATED AS ONE - A REGULAR RETAIL PRODUCT.

You dont expect to buy a ... cool looking and multifunctonal toaster in a regular retail store and then find out that it could burn your kitchen because ... it's a developer product.

I just dont get why everyone accepts that common notion of "developer phone". Especially I dont get how some reply with that "developer phone" crap to other users problems.

Rant done. Oh, I feel so much better.

I understand your points here totally, but there are a few things i need to hit on in my own rant.

1. Updates: I have never owned an earlier nexus phone, so im just speculating here, but I would imagine the "updates before everyone else" argument comes up because it has been shown with the other nexus phones that they do indeed get updated more frequently than any other type of phone out there.

2. Arguments about the phone being buggy because its a dev phone: While I agree that this argument is indeed somewhat of an excuse, I also disagree that point as well. This phone IS created for development usage, and one of the bigger reasons why we get nexus phones with the newest and the greatest is for Devs to hone in on the newest software and ensure their apps are ready for it when it hits a wider range of phones. Why do we not see ICS on any other phone natively other than the Nexus phones yet? Simply because it's not ready to be deployed on them yet. Now saying the nexus is JUST for developers would be just as stupid, as it has a lot of great features and is as usable as any other cell phone for normal day-to-day operation, those early adopters just need to live with whatever bugs might be in the software for a little while as it gets fine tuned.

I dont believe its fair to critisize the fact that there were no ads about the phone being a dev phone or about the phone being in development. Either of those advertisements would turn many of the average Joe's away from the phone immediately, and as you know, thats bad for marketing and making $. Besides, anyone who cares that the phone is for developers already knows that this is a dev phone, the Nexus name gives that away.



My bottom line: I understand your point about the whole "retail phones should just work and just because its a dev phone doesnt excuse that" argument, but try looking at it more along the lines of "this is the first actual ICS phone on the market" perspective. If you know anything at all about technology, you'll know that 'firsts" are NEVER perfect on the first go-around.

Examples:
Windows ME
Windows XP
Windows Vista....
iPhone4
ChromeOS
Windows Phone 6

Just to name a few off the top of my head.

 

[CrazyRussian007]

Poseigon, I agree, mostly. I merrely was ranting about using the "developer phone" excuse. Anyone could buy Microsoft Visual Studio but not all will be able to use it - only programmers. But, if there is something wrong with the product - if it cant compile code - it is defective and no excuse of the product "being this" or "that" is an excuse. If a user complains that "my camera app doesnt start", there is no excuse that it is because this is a "developer phone" and we "should expect a bumpy road"

 

[greydarrah]

First of all, you will get updates faster than any other device does. Why? Because the phone is not loaded up with carrier bloat that has to be added to base OS code as well as tested within the code. That doesn't mean that you're going to be getting updates every couple of weeks, but it does mean that when 4.0.3 comes out, you'll get it soon thereafter, while the Razr/Bionic/Resound/ect... still have not even gotten ICS. In a year from now, when jellybean is released, you'll be running it and it wouldn't surprise me if 1 or 2 of those phones I just listed still have not gotten ICS.

Having said that, if updates are what you really want, you need to root your phone. That's what this device was made for. 4.0.3 is already out and compiled into the majority of ROMs that you can install. It's also running more bug free than the 4.0.2 that has been "officially" released. It's better because there are a great number of developers that are constantly working to improve the software and fix known issues through these ROMs. That's why this is a "developers" phone. I suspect that when Google/Verizon finally release 4.0.3 via an official OTA, the ROM developers will be using 4.0.4 or .5. If you don't want to use it that way, that's cool too. You just have to wait for the updates (which will still come way sooner than they will for other phones).

The only "glitches" you will see are related to it being the only phone running ICS as well as it being on a new and unstable 4g network (I don't think Verizon has got this LTE figured out yet). The 4g part is an issue that every other 4g phone sees from time to time and the ICS part is pretty much like every other OS release...it mostly works. That means that as far as a normal development team could code and test an OS to work, it's perfect. Unfortunately, they can't test the OS with 300,000 different Android apps that anyone can download, and some of those apps are what will cause the problems.

 

[anon(596177)]

Poseigon, I agree, mostly. I merrely was ranting about using the "developer phone" excuse. Anyone could buy Microsoft Visual Studio but not all will be able to use it - only programmers. But, if there is something wrong with the product - if it cant compile code - it is defective and no excuse of the product "being this" or "that" is an excuse. If a user complains that "my camera app doesnt start", there is no excuse that it is because this is a "developer phone" and we "should expect a bumpy road"

Yes, agreed, but again, only really in that particular context. In this case, it's a dev phone with a brand-new remodeled Operating system, which again makes sense because of the fact it's a dev phone, which is where these comments are coming from. Nexus S is having problems with pretty much any ICS build they put on their phone, and had problems with virgin Gingerbread as well.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-nexus-s/149979-just-me-does-ics-run-like-crap-nexus-s.html

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-nexus-s/143899-im-starting-wish-i-hadnt-migrated-ics.html
(mainly using first posts as examples here.)


It's really just the way of the Nexus phones. It sucks there's no warning to the average user to not buy it early if you cant deal with issues, but what are you gonna do?

 

[anon(596177)]

First of all, you will get updates faster than any other device does. Why? Because the phone is not loaded up with carrier bloat that has to be added to base OS code as well as tested within the code. That doesn't mean that you're going to be getting updates every couple of weeks, but it does mean that when 4.0.3 comes out, you'll get it soon thereafter, while the Razr/Bionic/Resound/ect... still have not even gotten ICS. In a year from now, when jellybean is released, you'll be running it and it wouldn't surprise me if 1 or 2 of those phones I just listed still have not gotten ICS.

Having said that, if updates are what you really want, you need to root your phone. That's what this device was made for. 4.0.3 is already out and compiled into the majority of ROMs that you can install. It's also running more bug free than the 4.0.2 that has been "officially" released. It's better because there are a great number of developers that are constantly working to improve the software and fix known issues through these ROMs. That's why this is a "developers" phone. I suspect that when Google/Verizon finally release 4.0.3 via an official OTA, the ROM developers will be using 4.0.4 or .5. If you don't want to use it that way, that's cool too. You just have to wait for the updates (which will still come way sooner than they will for other phones).

The only "glitches" you will see are related to it being the only phone running ICS as well as it being on a new and unstable 4g network (I don't think Verizon has got this LTE figured out yet). The 4g part is an issue that every other 4g phone sees from time to time and the ICS part is pretty much like every other OS release...it mostly works. That means that as far as a normal development team could code and test an OS to work, it's perfect. Unfortunately, they can't test the OS with 300,000 different Android apps that anyone can download, and some of those apps are what will cause the problems.

Well said.

 

[ragnarokx]

Being a dev phone has nothing to do with it. If you care that much about having a phone (or any other consumer product) without any significant problems/bugs, buy last year's model. By that time, everything has been fixed.

 

[PowerThroughLove]

Im currently running the last build of android with new kernels updated daily based on the latest source. Everything I wanted out of it

 

[samkatz]

Nexus may be the phone developers want to buy, but it's not being marketed, sold or maintained with an audience of only developers. Not enough developers to go around to sell the unit volume. Either way, Google and VZ should get their act together on updating the phone and making it work as promised. Otherwise it will be bad for us and bad for the future of ICS because it's the first.

..Some call it a beta, but isn't anyone who's an early adopter of an app or OS really doing some beta testing? No matter how well they test, they can't get large enough sample size or every permutation and combination of apps/networks etc to foresee all the bugs.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

So what phone is Google supposed to use to push updates for ICS if not their current development phone?

The Galaxy Nexus is a development model, and will be buggy while Google is finalizing ICS features and performance. No need to rant, just have an understanding about how large-scale development works. If it works on the 5 guys in engineering's phones, they send it to everyone at Google working on/with Android. If it works on those 5,000 or so phones, send it to everyone who bought one -- then fix the bugs that 100,000+ people found and 5,000 didn't. Welcome to the big Google SOAK test.

 

[EggoEspada]

Completely agree with you. It irritates me to no end how many people excuse for bugs in this device is that its a "developer phone", or simply buy a different phone, then proceed to talk about how perfect their's is functioning as if they represent the majority. Obviously with a new product, there's going to be bugs, but the excuses people give are ridiculous.

 

[aergern]

Hi all,

first off, I got the GNex on it's release day, a very happy owner, have no issues with the phone, havent even unlocked or rooted and dont plan to, while rooted and romed all my other android phones the entire 4 years I've been using them.

I also love this forum - the amount of info is incredible and users are helpful.

BUT.

I think the arguments "nexus is a developer phone, so expect glitches" and "because it's nexus updates will be more frequent" are very weak, to put it politely. Stupid, in MHO.

Updates - ok, given the previous history and minimal OEM involvement, might hold some wather in it but has anyone seen that anywhere in writing? Was that advertised anywhere? Sure I would love to see updates come quickly, but all who are complaining "where is an update" sound silly to me.

Updates argument is no big deal, I could care less, but the "Nexus is a developer phone, so expect glitches" is really one that I think is .... weak, poor, and stupid. Have anyone seen any advertisement for the "nexus developers phone"? Did anyone see mentioning anywhere about "still in development"? Why should I expect glitches on the product i bought IN A RETAIL STORE? It doesnt say anywhere on the box nor in the manual that glitches are expected. I did not get this phone as part of "testers" group or "developers" distribution channel. THIS PHONE IS SOLD IN REGULAR RETAIL STORES AND MUST BE TREATED AS ONE - A REGULAR RETAIL PRODUCT.

You dont expect to buy a ... cool looking and multifunctonal toaster in a regular retail store and then find out that it could burn your kitchen because ... it's a developer product.

I just dont get why everyone accepts that common notion of "developer phone". Especially I dont get how some reply with that "developer phone" crap to other users problems.

Rant done. Oh, I feel so much better.

Why are you complaining? OS X gets a dot release every few months. Windows has patch Tuesday. iOS is about to get it's 2nd update ... etc .. etc.

The glitches stem from it being effectly a .0 release .. if you are an early adopter then this is what happens. I don't care if it's Ubuntu 12.04.00, Windows 7 (first release), OS X Lion 10.7.0 or whatever. They can ONLY test SO much in a clean environment and this is what it is. This is a rant that should NOT exist if one has had more then one computer or phone and done an update. The OGD had 2.0 when it was released and days later it got 2.1 but was that bug free? Not on your life. While 2.x was baked beyond normal by the time most tried it .. the original first releases were a little sketchy. It is what it is.

 

[MMcCraryNJ]

I was in the middle of typing up a response, but I thought it better of me.

All I'll say is that "technology is amazing and no one is happy"

 

[moosc]

I'd love to slam every aspect of your post. I generally feel that the nexus brand has been corrupted buy selling to average joes like your self. It started with nexus S. This phone should be sold by google with every carrier radios. This phone should be cutting edge next generation technology like original nexus. But when u do that then its not going to sell well.

 

[greydarrah]

Being a dev phone has nothing to do with it. If you care that much about having a phone (or any other consumer product) without any significant problems/bugs, buy last year's model. By that time, everything has been fixed.

This thread could have been locked after this post. Nothing more true can be said on the subject.

 

[darreno1]

You had 30 days to return it if it wasn't your cup of tea. Not sure what good is a rant after the fact. Also, please name a single phone that is without glitches. And don't even mention the iPhone because I can post a wall of text describing its issues.

 

[CrazyRussian007]

Being a dev phone has nothing to do with it. If you care that much about having a phone (or any other consumer product) without any significant problems/bugs, buy last year's model. By that time, everything has been fixed.

Why? You dont buy a used car when you want it .... just runs... right? Or a HD, or a printer, or a TV, or an MP3 player ... anything for that matter. My rant was about: using "developer" excuse, and you just used it again. :-\

 

[CrazyRussian007]

So what phone is Google supposed to use to push updates for ICS if not their current development phone?

The Galaxy Nexus is a development model, and will be buggy while Google is finalizing ICS features and performance. No need to rant, just have an understanding about how large-scale development works. If it works on the 5 guys in engineering's phones, they send it to everyone at Google working on/with Android. If it works on those 5,000 or so phones, send it to everyone who bought one -- then fix the bugs that 100,000+ people found and 5,000 didn't. Welcome to the big Google SOAK test.

Pardon me, but <gasp> how does the iPhone was developed and tested? If the fruity people can develop, test, and release a product - then it can be done.

Again, I dont understand why the notion of being beta testers is so widely and easily accepted.

 

[Johnly]

Hi all,

first off, I got the GNex on it's release day, a very happy owner, have no issues with the phone, havent even unlocked or rooted and dont plan to, while rooted and romed all my other android phones the entire 4 years I've been using them.

I also love this forum - the amount of info is incredible and users are helpful.

BUT.

I think the arguments "nexus is a developer phone, so expect glitches" and "because it's nexus updates will be more frequent" are very weak, to put it politely. Stupid, in MHO.

Updates - ok, given the previous history and minimal OEM involvement, might hold some wather in it but has anyone seen that anywhere in writing? Was that advertised anywhere? Sure I would love to see updates come quickly, but all who are complaining "where is an update" sound silly to me.

Updates argument is no big deal, I could care less, but the "Nexus is a developer phone, so expect glitches" is really one that I think is .... weak, poor, and stupid. Have anyone seen any advertisement for the "nexus developers phone"? Did anyone see mentioning anywhere about "still in development"? Why should I expect glitches on the product i bought IN A RETAIL STORE? It doesnt say anywhere on the box nor in the manual that glitches are expected. I did not get this phone as part of "testers" group or "developers" distribution channel. THIS PHONE IS SOLD IN REGULAR RETAIL STORES AND MUST BE TREATED AS ONE - A REGULAR RETAIL PRODUCT.

You dont expect to buy a ... cool looking and multifunctonal toaster in a regular retail store and then find out that it could burn your kitchen because ... it's a developer product.

I just dont get why everyone accepts that common notion of "developer phone". Especially I dont get how some reply with that "developer phone" crap to other users problems.

Rant done. Oh, I feel so much better.

+1 "expect bugs" them are some low expectations.