Google seriously needs to step it up with its Nexus offerings

[worknman]

In response to people who have complained in the past about how long it's taking their Android phones to get updates, we've heard it said time and time again by the Android fanboys 'if you care about updates, buy a Nexus phone.' So that's what I did this time around, and now I can stay up to date. Even if you have a fake Nexus phone (like the one on Verizon), you can install a custom rom almost immediately after a new OS update comes out, where it might take weeks or even months with a non-Nexus phone for custom ROMs to get stable. For this reason, for me (and several of my friends), the Nexus phone is the only Android phone that's even worth considering.

The reason why I bring this up is because I was listening to the latest Android Central podcast, where they were talking about the possibility of the new LG phone being the only new Nexus, with its 8gb of storage, non-removable battery, no SD card slot, etc. They were saying it's no big deal, because you walk into a store and ... 'Hey, we have all these other Samsung phones on the shelf ...'

So if that LG phone is indeed the new 'flagship', it looks like Android users will be forced to choose between piss-poor hardware, or having to wait 6 months or more for updates with a bloatware-filled FrankenAndroid phone. Not only that, but even if they do release more Nexus phones, are ANY of them going to have LTE in the US? Hell, even the iPhone has that.

With Android tablets, the situation is even worse, since the Nexus 7 is the only halfway decent one that has been released so far, and even it had some serious quality control issues out of the gate, not to mention an anemic amount of space. (I might be willing to consider one of the Asus Transformers as decent, if they could manage to release one that didn't lag and/or suffer from reboot loops.)

Apple is about to announce an iPad mini on Oct 23, where they'll have a 4 inch 'player' device (the iPod Touch), a small tablet (the iPad mini), and a regular-sized tablet. Android users? We have the Nexus 7, and that's pretty much it.

So, if the standard reply for those of us who want the stock Google experience and timely updates is to 'buy a Nexus', then Google needs to step up the quality of these devices. I don't care if they cater to the low end crowd who just wants to cheapest thing they can buy, but we need some high-end devices as well. It's kind of depressing having all these phones and tablets to choose from, and only one of them a year is actually relevant.

 

[zpithika]

I agree. I own a nexus s 4g and absolutely love it. And I actually think the galaxy nexus is a good offering. But when I hear about no removable battery, 8 gbs of storage and no expandable storage it really makes me shake my head. Overall I think the lg nexus phone has potential but come one! 8gbs?? Even my nexus s has 16! They need to step it up if they want their line up to continue to be considered the top android phones.

As far as the nexus 7 is concerned, I love mine. I got the 16 gb version and it is perfect. I use it everyday and it is just a joy. A solid yet affordable 10 inch model would really be a nice option for some consumers though. Especially when the iPad is out there.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G

 

[worknman]

You know, I would almost be willing to live with 8gb of storage. But to me, lack of LTE is the real pisser. This is 2012 for Christ's sake! If Apple can figure out how to deal with the US carriers and get their phones on the networks unscathed, why can't Google?

 

[Fairclough]

In aus (where i am from) LTE is no big deal, as the main carrier which is the most expensive by easily twice the price is the only one with decent lte coverage and even then if your more then 3km out the cbd... its a bit lets say inconsistent. Maybe in the future they will do more lte phones but think about the price your paying for a nexus 4 in comparison to a iphone 5. Would you pay almost $300 more just for LTE? probably not.

 

[gnr_2]

Apple is about to announce an iPad mini on Oct 23, where they'll have a 4 inch 'player' device (the iPod Touch), a small tablet (the iPad mini), and a regular-sized tablet. Android users? We have the Nexus 7, and that's pretty much it.

So now Apple is marketing the iPod Touch as a mini - tablet? Interesting since when it first came out it was an iPod. Then it became an iPhone without the phone, and now it's a mini-tablet?

Actually what it really is is a PDA. A better marketed version of my Palm TX that I had for years but finally had to replace, and not even nearly as good.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

 

[gorwani12]

You know, I would almost be willing to live with 8gb of storage. But to me, lack of LTE is the real pisser. This is 2012 for Christ's sake! If Apple can figure out how to deal with the US carriers and get their phones on the networks unscathed, why can't Google?

Google definitely needs to gear up .