Nexus 4 will not get the same kit kat!

[Citizen Coyote]

I'm not a huge fan of The Verge's reporting, but in this case they talked directly with several top Google/Android engineers. This wasn't some third-party reporting or a repost of something they saw on Ars Technica or one of the Android blogs with their own commentary sprinkled in.

We sat down with three of the four main leaders of the Android team to ask those questions yet again.

That's from the article. Granted, the part about the new launcher being exclusive for the time being to the N5 was not a direct quote from one of these three individuals, but the whole article is liberally sprinkled with them. Given that, it's a serious stretch to call the exclusivity something The Verge made up. And they emphasized that Google had not yet decided whether or not to make this exclusivity permanent. I think it's a fair guess to say they will release it to the Play Store eventually, once the rollout of 4.4 to other Nexus devices is complete. But at this point, we don't know.

 

[someguy01234]

People need to stop taking the Verge as a reliable source.

 

[Rule9]

There's worse tech media outlets than Verge

Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

 

[bobsacomano]

Fragmentation worsens. Nice.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[Aquila]

Fragmentation worsens. Nice.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

Does it? Two apps being possibly slightly different during a beta test on one device is fragmentation? If that's the case, Apple, Windows, TouchWiz, etc all have major fragmentation issues.

XT1060. Through spacetime.

 

[Rule9]

Does it? Two apps being possibly slightly different during a beta test on one device is fragmentation? If that's the case, Apple, Windows, TouchWiz, etc all have major fragmentation issues.

XT1060. Through spacetime.

Until very recently I was a huge opponent of non nexus phones and fragmentation. But some of the q4 launches really surprised me in a good way. I previously would never even consider a non nexus phone. The oems now actually put features on their phones I really like a lot and the quality took a big upswing. Finally! Now I find myself actually willing to look forward to what my brand will put on their fork of android in updates rather than what Google will do.



Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

 

[Aquila]

Until very recently I was a huge opponent of non nexus phones and fragmentation. But some of the q4 launches really surprised me in a good way. I previously would never even consider a non nexus phone. The oems now actually put features on their phones I really like a lot and the quality took a big upswing. Finally! Now I find myself actually willing to look forward to what my brand will put on their fork of android in updates rather than what Google will do.



Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

I hear that. I have done the math so many times to try to optimize leaving my carrier in order to get in the Nexus line (last nexus phone I had was a G Nex, but I've had Nexus tablets since then). This time around I ended up staying with the network and getting the Moto X, but there were a couple other head turners as well. Nothing will probably ever beat the feeling of being on the new OS while the guy is still on the stage telling us what it does... but there are other great feelings too... like not caring what version your device is on, because it works awesomely the way it is.

While obviously not everyone can be a show stopper, HTC, Sony, LG and Moto all made some HUGE statements this year, and that's saying nothing of some of the highly impressive devices we don't see covered very much in my neighborhood. 2012 was pretty great for mobile devices, but 2013 feels like it's been a non-stop, "wow" show.

 

[Pottere]

Does "Okay Google" work on your phone?

 

[Tall Mike 2145]

So, a salt lick?

How about this lovely creature? She'll happily lick your salt (all of it) for you...