Has anyone ever stopped to think that maybe the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is just another phone that Samsung made and sold to carriers without any real involvement from Google?
This isn't a troll post so don't flame me. I've just been thinking about it and the situation honestly seems like Samsung made a phone for Google and then took the same basic phone and sold it to carriers on their own. That would explain a lot of things. I mean OEM skins are applied by the OEM, So all Samsung had to do was not apply Touch Wiz to their copies. So what if the Galaxy Nexus doesn't have a skin? That doesn't necessarily make it a Nexus, that could just mean Samsung chose to leave it off.
The real Galaxy Nexus is free of carrier modifications, but Samsung could have allowed the carriers to make those modifications. Which seems more likely to you? Samsung allowed Verizon to modify the Galaxy Nexus or Google allowed Verizon to modify the Galaxy Nexus?
The real Galaxy Nexus gets it updates directly from Google. Verizon has claimed that Samsung provides them with the updates for their Galaxy Nexus and once Verizon has tested it, they release it. Samsung provides the updates for all of their other devices also. Again, more reason to believe that Google may have had next to no involvement with the Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
If you look internationally, there are several countries with carriers that offer these sorda Galaxy Nexus devices. I know of someone in Australia that has a carrier branded Galaxy Nexus that is still running ICS. Then you look at the Nexus S that also had more than one model and shares a similar history with certain models. I dunno, to me it seems like Samsung may be to blame for all of this.
Maybe I'm crazy, but the Verizon Galaxy Nexus seems like just another Samsung phone, except without a skin on it. It certainly doesn't seem like a Google phone.