- Posts tagged nexus one
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In The Face Of Android's Success, Perhaps Its Best Phone Dies
Google warned potential customers last week that it was close to discontinuing the Nexus One, and this Android OS smartphone didn't last much longer -- Google has sold its last unit.
Against the backdrop of recent reports about impressive Android sales, perhaps the platform's best phone, the Nexus One, has been discontinued.
Though released a few months ago, the Nexus One's specs are still impressive. A 1GHz processor, 800 x 480 AMOLED screen, 5MP camera, etc. It was certainly not canceled for being out of date. But I'm not interested in phones just for spec geeks—the sum of the parts is what matters—it's the non-geek areas where the phone is more impressive than its flashier peers.
While many Android phones are getting bigger, the Nexus One is a relatively compact, smooth phone that fits well in the hand. The design is low-key, and in my opinion looks better for it.
And then there's the distribution. The phone was sold direct, either unlocked or with a contract for T-Mobile or AT&T, and was unencumbered by any of the carrier or manufacturer add-ons we see creeping into the Android world.
In comparison to many new Android phones, the Nexus One:
- Did not include third-party carrier or manufacturer "crapware"
- Did not include a third-party UI, such that another Android user may not even recognize it
- Represented a "clean" Android install
- Can install the latest Android release (2.2)
That last point is interesting. Android phones released even in the last month (e.g., DroidX, Galaxy) are running Android 2.1. The addition of third-party UIs, software, and carrier requirements make testing an OS release more time-consuming. These phones will likely be certified for 2.2 at some point, but by then that release may be old news. Nexus One's "clean" nature made new release certification a relatively speedy affair.
I don't think the Nexus One cancelation had anything to do with design, hardware or software. Rather, I think it was a victim of its own distribution. Buying online with little chance to touch/feel the phone hurt it. Out of sight, out of mind. It was also a victim of Google being wholly unprepared to deal with client support issues. The decent buzz it had at the beginning was soon crushed by bad buzz about support.
I wish Google had done a Nexus Two, but I understand why they did not. Google's interest in Android is to get it in as many hands as possible and sell ads. In Google's eyes, a Nexus Two would provide no advantages to them or their ad buyers over any other new Android phone. The fragmentation of varying UIs, services, and other add-ons doesn't need to concern them. Sheer volume and ads, that's their business model. I'm not knocking the model (it's very successful), but it's in keeping with it that they not waste resources on another Nexus.
Pity, though. I think Google inadvertently showed everyone the best way to make an Android phone.
Oh Goody, Another iPhone vs. Android Feature List
All the article "proves" is that it's just as easy to devise a feature list favoring the iPhone as it is to favor Android. Big deal.
The inherent worth of a product is the total package, from the hardware to the software to the ecosystem. When measured on that scale I think the iPhone beats up Android and takes its lunch money. But you'll never capture that in a feature list, can't we just leave those to the marketing people?
Poetry Corner: HTC Haikus
Google phone sales slow
But phone isn't a failure
They've got PR spin
Flagship device not wanted
Used by very fewVersion 2-dot-1
Reveals HTC's next move
Windows Phone 7Nexus One success?
A few more such "successes"
HTC bankrupt
Google Cannot Manage the Android Fragmentation Issue
So what’s the pattern I see? Since Google can’t control the versioning issue, they can at least control core functions and apps among the operating system variances. So when Android 2.x learns a new trick, there’s a good chance Android 1.6 will learn it too.
The above article discusses Google and the fragmentation issue on Android devices.
It's a good observation, but really only describes how Google can get some of its bigger features on older versions. I don't agree that this addresses fragmentation:
- There's still the issue of varying screen sizes, and many other hardware differences.
- There's still the issue of the different UIs and software various vendors put on the device.
- There's still the marketplace issue. Even if you upgrade 1.6 with selected 2.0 software features, the OS is still 1.6, so you're presented a different marketplace than higher versions are.
These are what lead to fragmentation, and Google can do nothing to address them. Nor do they have any particular incentive to.
They just want you looking at their ads, and whether you run 1.5 up to 2.1, they've got you for that. Heck, if it was about anything other than ads they wouldn't be giving the OS away in the first place.
The First iPhone sold eight times better than the Nexus One
In its first 74 days of availability, the Google Nexus One has sold an estimated 135,000 units, compared to 1 million in the same timeframe for the original iPhone, and 1.05 million for the Motorola Droid.
And that was at $499-$599 for a device that wasn't "proven" yet. The Nexus One has no such excuses.
When will the tech pundits call the Nexus One what it really is: an abject failure?
[UPDATE:] To answer my question above, somebody finally did.
