This week we have seen the last two gadgets of the Nexus brand in action. Neither was a motive. The Nexus 7 tablet and the Nexus Q media center are the last two members of the saga created by Google to be more than just a search engine and software creator. Since launching the Nexus One, Google has always wanted to have a thing to do with their ideas of what hardware should be and, with it, clone Apple's success as a manufacturer of hardware and software at the same time.
First of all, we must remember that there was a Google mobile before the Nexus era. The G1 (HTC Dream in some markets) was the first smartphone to carry Android in late 2008. But it was exceptional in several ways. It wasn't called Nexus, and neither was its version of the operating system, Android 1.1, nicknamed a cake or candy. It was my first smartphone and it weighed like a brick. It still works.
But the first real Nexus was the One. On one of the shelves I still have my first Nexus (and my third Android device). It's a Nexus One that still works like a charm. It came out with Android 2.1 Eclair, when Android still had to improve a lot. But now enjoy Android 2.2 Froyo. Although it stayed there, I can use it in emergencies. His arrival in Spain was at the hands of Vodafone in the spring of 2010.
But he arrived in Spain having lost a good part of his philosophy. When Google launched it in the US at the beginning of that year, this terminal, manufactured by HTC, sought to remove the foundations of the mobile business. There it was free and Google sold it directly. He wanted to skip the chain and avoid the operators, their deadlines and their conditions. However, being a very good motive, his freedom plan failed and he had to agree to a truce with the operators.
The next Nexus to arrive was the Nexus S, the one I have today. I bought it in June of last year although it was presented at the end of 2010. Manufactured by Samsung, it was the first smartphone to have installed the penultimate great version of Android, Gingerbread. It was quite a leap in quality. A couple of months ago I updated it to Ice Cream Sandwich. Although I was already thinking about renewing it (mobiles can last five years, but they become obsolete in just one), the news that it will be among the first to receive Jelly Bean has made me think again.
In November 2011, the Galaxy Nexus, the third in the Nexus saga, was presented in Europe (a few days before it was in Hong Kong). This time, Google partnered with Samsung again. Released the new version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. Even today, months later, it is still one of the best smartphones on the market. Recently, Google reactivated its direct sales from its store in the United States.
With this brief review of the history of Nexus we can draw a series of conclusions: Google has always presented its new versions of Android in the hands of a new terminal in which it has worked directly with the manufacturer. So far there have been two, HTC and Samsung. Google has also always wanted to have independence from operators, as Apple has achieved with its iPhone.
Now two more members have joined the Nexus family. The Nexus 7 tablet and the Nexus Q media center. With both we can see that Google continues with its habit of pairing the latest Android (Jelly Bean in this case) with a new device (the Nexus 7). Also, she insists on selling them herself. To accentuate the independence of the operators, the tablet only has WiFi connectivity.
Google plans to launch three more Android devices this year. The logical thing is that they carry Jelly Bean (they do not have time to launch a new version before the end of 2012 or do they?), Which would break a long tradition. One is going to be a 10-inch tablet and the other is likely to be a Motorola-branded smartphone. We have no idea about the fifth. With Motorola, Google will finally have achieved what it wanted so much: to manufacture its Android devices itself, as Apple does.
This article in Phandroid has inspired us to make this post.
Nice article 🙂
Me with my Nexus S delighted 🙂