An open letter to Verizon on the Galaxy Nexus

[edoublediz]

i see two issues floating around here.

1) VZW wont get it: if you guys think VZW passed on the SGS2, one of the worlds best selling phones, to NOT have the Nexy, you crazy!!

2) they will Verizonify the phone: you know what i wouldnt put it past them! in all my years with my "smartphone hobby" i have seen VZW make the absolute worst decisions in regards to phone releases.i mean things that just dont make any sense whatsoever. so, i wouldnt put it past them to try to cook up some cockamamie crap to pull for the release of this one.

personally i think it is all gravy baby! we will get what we want!!!

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

And not to burst any bubbles, but from the official Samsung Facebook thread: "Samsung Janel: My mistake, no U.S. carrier has been determined yet. Stay tuned for updates."

Do you guys the importance of a reversal like this? If the phone wasn't important then they would just ignore a comment like this, even if it's earlier than intended. Some rep on Facebook having to reverse herself for confirming a phone that's already been seen means that the companies are on high alert over the state of their negotiations, and almost certainly means that Verizon is playing hardball over something (i.e. threatening to delay or otherwise screw with the release timeline).

Obviously we can't know what for sure, and I've already shared by concerns above.

As I said on the actual post on the blog, the rep from Samsung probably had to backtrack because the carriers usually want to be the ones to actually announce a phone that they are going to release.

 

[ottscay]

i see two issues floating around here.

1) VZW wont get it: if you guys think VZW passed on the SGS2, one of the worlds best selling phones, to NOT have the Nexy, you crazy!!

2) they will Verizonify the phone: you know what i wouldnt put it past them! in all my years with my "smartphone hobby" i have seen VZW make the absolute worst decisions in regards to phone releases.i mean things that just dont make any sense whatsoever. so, i wouldnt put it past them to try to cook up some cockamamie crap to pull for the release of this one.

personally i think it is all gravy baby! we will get what we want!!!

Thank you, this was basically my entire point in a nutshell - I was just hoping that more people would chime in to encourage Verizon to make the right choice here.

 

[ottscay]

As I said on the actual post on the blog, the rep from Samsung probably had to backtrack because the carriers usually want to be the ones to actually announce a phone that they are going to release.

I guess that's where we'll have to agree to disagree. The material used in last nights event had a Verizon-branded phone in it - clearly when they planned the even they were expecting to be able to announce it. Clearly the reps know it. And in a normal world Verizon would have been at least mentioned in last nights launch event (have you ever seen an unpacked-style even where the carriers weren't named?). They were certainly all over the Motorola RAZR event.

And if the phone were truly unimportant (i.e. just a developers phone) Verizon/Samsung would not have cared enough to make a correction. No, something is up. And P3Droid has confirmed that something is up, as has the VZW insider on Phandroid. No one has said what is up, but given Verizon's history I think it's fair to have suspicions.

 

[p3unit32]

It wouldn't make much sense for Verizon to not want this phone on their network either. Verizon has just as much to lose as Google and Samsung would if the deal were to fall through.

This phone is huge for everyone. I'd be thoroughly surprised to not see it hit Verizon in November considering the whole "Verizon Wireless" branding on the promo video and such.

I think we all need to take a chill pill and relax. Verizon won't decimate the Nexus brand with bloatware either. This thing will literally print money for all three companies, so it makes no sense for one to back out. At all.

Keep in mind that no other carrier is the biggest and has best 4G LTE network. Verizon will have other models, because the manufactures will want their products running on their network to gain custom base. Until AT&T catches up, there's only Sprint. And their coverage is worse than AT&T.

 

[moosc]

First off remember this just a ordinary android phone. It will not get the marketing push like the Droid branded phones. The Droid branded phones are vzw top tier phone. Also this just a plain ol stock android phone it will not sell very well. Every day bloaks want flashband piez not plain and borrowing. Ordinary folks could give a ratz azz about unloacked boot loaders. I think vzw wanted this branded as a Droid phone and google / Sammy said no. If you don't like how vzw runs there business model then leave there's no one holding u back just walk away. Vzw has never been kind to developer community so speak with tour wallet. Because when u leave 3 more people sign up.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[htowngator]

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but looks like Samsung is confirming Verizon out of the gate.
https://www.facebook.com/SamsungMobileUSA/posts/10150317622831786

Where does it say that?

 

[allan1313]

I would be very pissed if this does not come to VZW. But at least there is a backup plan in the RAZR. But first choice is still the Galaxy Nexus.

 

[ottscay]

Where does it say that?

It doesn't anymore, they had to walk it back. It's on a thread on their Facebook page.

 

[edoublediz]

First off remember this just a ordinary android phone. It will not get the marketing push like the Droid branded phones. The Droid branded phones are vzw top tier phone. Also this just a plain ol stock android phone it will not sell very well. Every day bloaks want flashband piez not plain and borrowing.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

i would have agreed with you before i saw ICS. i think the days of skinned Android are over, thank god!! not to say that skins didnt advance the Android platform by making a rather dull GUI sparkle or what have you. Mamufacturers are going to have to come up with something else to diferentiate their warez cuz ICS is the shiz i tell you.

 

[AndreaCristiano#AC]

i would have agreed with you before i saw ICS. i think the days of skinned Android are over, thank god!! not to say that skins didnt advance the Android platform by making a rather dull GUI sparkle or what have you. Mamufacturers are going to have to come up with something else to diferentiate their warez cuz ICS is the shiz i tell you.

Yes but I don't believe the skins are gone

 

[ottscay]

First off remember this just a ordinary android phone. It will not get the marketing push like the Droid branded phones. The Droid branded phones are vzw top tier phone.

You mean like the "Droid" Thunderbolt versus the "Samsung Charge"? (I reversed them on purpose because their marketing doesn't line up with the traditional Droid idea you outlined). Also, Verizon explicitly said they took this over the GS2 because they didn't think the GS2 could compete well enough with the iPhone. Does that sound like they are talking about a no-name device to you? And furthermore, it's MAP is $299 on contract - in line with their top tier devices, not the $199 or $249 of their other mid-upper end phones.

Also this just a plain ol stock android phone it will not sell very well. Every day bloaks want flashband piez not plain and borrowing.

Everything about the Samsung/Google launch was aimed at ordinary folks. Did you see anything but a passing mention of new APIs? How many times did you hear the words "enchanting" and "awesome"? ICS and the Galaxy Nexus are being aimed straight at the general public this time.

Ordinary folks could give a ratz azz about unloacked boot loaders. I think vzw wanted this branded as a Droid phone and google / Sammy said no.

Exactly. And the problem is that no one cares about unlocked boot loaders, so my guess is that Verizon is trying to lock it down even though they were turned down on it being a Droid-branded phone. And they probably want to block a bunch of other services that people want but that compete with Verizon-based services.

If you don't like how vzw runs there business model then leave there's no one holding u back just walk away.

That's exactly what I said. And if they mess it up I will leave (that was the point of the first post, actually). But Verizon isn't actually holding all of the cards this time, so I was hoping more people would speak up in support of a true Nexus phone. But instead people seem to be in denial that this could even be happening.

 

[kilofoxtrot]

But Verizon isn't actually holding all of the cards this time, so I was hoping more people would speak up in support of a true Nexus phone. But instead people seem to be in denial that this could even be happening.

You are kinda giving a vide throughout this whole thread as if its almost a forgone conclusion that VZW is going to mess with the phone. When in reality, we just dont know. (note I said "vide" not a statement of fact)

It was pretty much a given iPhone 5 was coming out.... well you know the rest.

Its hard to be in denial about something that hasnt happened yet. I am not privy to some of the rumor news you have. But I have seen some of the uproar caused by seeing "Verizon Wireless" in the notification pulldown... there is a good chance this is carrier indicator and not branding. If I was Verizon, I think I would make something a little more noticeable than a pull-down menu for my branding.

 

[greydarrah]

I was just hoping that more people would chime in to encourage Verizon to make the right choice here.

This is soooo funny...that verizon cares what we want. You're cracking me up.

 

[ottscay]

You are kinda giving a vide throughout this whole thread as if its almost a forgone conclusion that VZW is going to mess with the phone. When in reality, we just dont know. (note I said "vide" not a statement of fact)

That's fair. It really isn't a forgone conclusion and I've tried to admit that, although perhaps I've erred too much on the other side. The thing is, if people push Verizon to do the right thing and they were going to do it anyway, we don't lose anything (and just make Verizon feel better about their good decisions). But if we act like it won't or can't happen and it does...it'll be too late to have any influence. Something fishy is clearly going on, and so while I certainly don't know for sure that it's an attempt to alter or lock down the Nexus, I think it's work conveying our preference for the outcome (especially given Verizon's history).

It was pretty much a given iPhone 5 was coming out.... well you know the rest.

Heh, actually I told people for weeks that the iPhone 4s was the only phone that would launch, but you'd have to check out BGR and other sites for that.

Its hard to be in denial about something that hasnt happened yet. I am not privy to some of the rumor news you have.

Yeah, I linked them in a couple of subsequent posts, but that's fair - I did sort of assume everyone was following this as closely as I was, and that wasn't a fair assumption on my part. You think I should go back and update the first post with more links and info?

 

[ottscay]

This is soooo funny...that verizon cares what we want. You're cracking me up.

Any corporation has to care to some degree what their customers want. I'll grant you that Verizon has traditionally been one of the worst at this, but in this case Google and Samsung have a strong brand and are offering other points of leverage/reward, so it couldn't hurt to provide a bit of customer feedback as well.

 

[Droid800]

I guess that's where we'll have to agree to disagree. The material used in last nights event had a Verizon-branded phone in it - clearly when they planned the even they were expecting to be able to announce it. Clearly the reps know it. And in a normal world Verizon would have been at least mentioned in last nights launch event (have you ever seen an unpacked-style even where the carriers weren't named?). They were certainly all over the Motorola RAZR event.

And if the phone were truly unimportant (i.e. just a developers phone) Verizon/Samsung would not have cared enough to make a correction. No, something is up. And P3Droid has confirmed that something is up, as has the VZW insider on Phandroid. No one has said what is up, but given Verizon's history I think it's fair to have suspicions.

Nonsense. It wasn't announced then because they had to move the announcement to China. Only an idiot would expect Verizon to announce their version of the phone several thousand miles away from the market its being sold in.

No, Verizon will announce the phone on its own time, and in its own format. There is nothing holding it back, no imagined issues with the device, and no malicious intent to f@#$ up Verizon's first Nexus device.

Seriously, some of you guys are worse than Apple fanboys...

 

[Droid800]

Oh, and to add to the 'chill out guys' vibe, here's a quote of P3Droid in another post recently:

Well I'm afraid I may be the person who started this whole storm. So let me add my .02 here.


I believe that the Galaxy Nexus is going to make its debut on Verizon. Is it having some problems, yes it is. Do I expect them to be ironed out, yes I do.

I only shared information with all of you because that is what I do, but I do not think you all should be acting in this manner. Its just a phone, and its just a carrier. You will have an opportunity to get the device somewhere and somewhere soon.

So please dial it back. This attention to detail is good for you and me. Because the ultimate goal of Verizon is to ensure a quality product running with no problems so that the network and device meet yours and mine expectations. In fact I want them to be thorough so we don't have another Thunderbolt fiasco.

So relax, and enjoy the new OS by watching the replay over and over again, the device launch will be here before you know it.

In short, chill the eff out. It'll come when it comes. All this speculation needs to stop, and all the hand-wringing is a waste of time and energy.

 

[BrianTufo]

I don't mind the 4G logo on the rear of the phone, I will never see that, and would have a case over it anyways, but the front is the most important, and if it does say "Verizon Wireless" in the notification bar, that's pretty crappy :-$

And it will also say O2 and Three and T-Mobile and AT&T etc. I believe that's part of the system actually. Instead of having ugly carrier labels printed under the ear piece it will just be in the notification window like it is currently in AOSP.

 

[ottscay]

Just saw Panda's post: http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus/127646-verizon-launch-delayed-rumors.html

I may have underestimated Verizon. That would make me very happy (and impressed).