Nexus (4?) - Next Nexus Phone

[Ravynmagi]

It is minor. There aren't that many new features that make it shine. Eclair to Froyo to GB were all minor changes. It doesn't fundamentally change how the phone works or looks or operates. ICS was a major change. I suppose if you call Google Now a major change, sure. Honestly, people were more excited about ICS dropping than JB. People who I didn't think gave a rat's ass about Android posted ICS articles on Facebook.

Project Butter is a major change as well and has a big impact on how the phone operates and performs. This is why it's not a minor update to me.

 

[ITHURTSWHENIP]

Jelly Bean really wasn't that minor, we just call it minor to make the phone manufactures feel better for not having it on their phones yet. It would really surprise me if Keylime Pie comes in within 5 months of Jelly Bean.

It's not impossible, but my opinion is it seems very unlikely.

Yes it was minor. We saw very little in terms of design changes or new features. Infact JellyBean coincides with last years rumor that Google had to leave out a number of features from ICS because of time constraints.

Im still not sure what you are basing your prediction on. Not only will Google skip their 2 updates per year schedule but they will also move the date around to early 2013 because of?

Seems more like you are speculating based on wishful thinking that Google will let OEMs catch up with the software before introducing another update

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Project Butter is a major change as well and has a big impact on how the phone operates and performs. This is why it's not a minor update to me.

While I feel like this is an important change, this is a feature that people have considered standard on phones. And quite honestly I don't feel that JB flies on my Nexus S. Maybe some things seem faster because its disguised in animations (more corner zoom, slide animations) kinda like iOS.

But in general if you look at CM10 development it's easy to port things over. There aren't massive delays like CM9 just to get basic things working. The kernels are almost compatible whereas GB and ICS use vastly different kernels. See the transition from Froyo to GB. It was possible to use the same kernel.

I call an overhaul like ICS to be a major update, and updates like Froyo, GB, 2.1, JB to be minor updates.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Well, I hope you guys are right. Because I'd love to be wrong and see a new version of Android and a new Nexus phone by the end of the year. I just don't see it happening.

 

[benzylic]

Have any phones, besides the GNex, even been announced that will ship with JellyBean yet?

 

[zerocool84]

Have any phones, besides the GNex, even been announced that will ship with JellyBean yet?

No one has announced anything official but the supposed HTC One X refresh is rumored to ship with it and it's said to be coming out in September.

 

[Geekbabe]

The Gnex is not at all underpowered. Jellybean flies on it... faster than the newest phones with ICS.

I agree, my Gnex is wicked quick with JB

 

[jiffylube1024]

Well obviously Jellybean is a more minor update than ICS; it's a .1 version change not a 1.0 version change.

However, it just came out, so I couldn't see a new major Android revision coming until at least christmas. But, Android 2.x has three big upgrades (2.1, 2.2, 2.3) so who knows.

 

[lothar]

I honestly don't believe that the new Nexus phone will be out until Key Lime Pie either. I'd love to see a new Nexus phone this fall, but I doubt it. Google, please prove me wrong!

Nexus devices usually come out as the flagship for a new OS version. We have the 4.1 flagship with the Nexus 7, and the Galaxy Nexus seconds as a solid standard-bearer for Jellybean as well.



The fragmentation issue still exists, but it appears to be shrinking. First of all, the phone/tablet fragmentation has now been eliminated. Honeycomb is gone, and tablets now run the same stream of OS as Android smartphones. That's a big step in the right direction right there.

On phones, the Galaxy S 2 took about 7 months to get the Ice Cream Sandwich update (from November 2011 until ~June 2012). I had a GS2 (international version), the wait was excruciating.

On tablets, the ASUS Transformer TF101 took about 4 months (Android 4.0 came in March of 2012).
------

Jellybean just came out. We've got announcements from Samsung that it should be coming soon to the Galaxy S 3 and ASUS saying that their tablets (at least the TF201 onward) should be getting Jellybean relatively soon.

Android still has a huge lag compared to Apple in their release of new OS versions trickling down to older devices (and in the case of the Galaxy S 3 and One X - not so old devices). When Apple releases a new OS, you can download it right away for every device that they will make it compatible for. However, Google seems to be moving in the right direction. The Galaxy Nexus got Jellybean around the same time that the Nexus 7 came out.

Other manufacturers will hopefully follow suit quickly, otherwise I predict Google's own Nexus brand devices, which are essentially assured to get subsequent Android releases, should gain in popularity, which will force manufacturers to adopt a more agressive OS upgrade policy or lose sales.

Samsung released ICS for their International Galaxy S II phones in March a long time ago.
Where have you been?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

IIRC they pulled the ICS update for a bit and then put it back? It's also released regionally and so it wasn't a worldwide deployment.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Samsung released ICS for their International Galaxy S II phones in March a long time ago.
Where have you been?

I got that one. Then another one. Then another one. Wasn't it a Polish version or something initially? I just remember jumping from official leak to official leak, and one thing or another was always wrong (ie duplicate texts in messenger, calendar not syncing, etc) .

 

[JACKHAMMER]

Edit: No ICS on HTC Sensation yet....

Yes, there is. I believe it came out June or July.

 

[lothar]

IIRC they pulled the ICS update for a bit and then put it back? It's also released regionally and so it wasn't a worldwide deployment.

As far as I'm aware, that was never the case.
You're right about the second part though.

 

[Bateluer]

We won't see the next Nexus phone until Key Lime Pie is ready and I doubt that is coming this year. Probably won't be until sometime in early 2013 before we see the next Nexus and Android.

They are on a 6 month release cycle, KLP will come about 6 months after JB's announcement. With rumors of features and devices making their way into the blogosphere about a month before that.

 

[vshah]

Don't get me wrong. I love my nexus, but I'm under no illusions. Tegra 3, Krait or Exynos 4 would have made it a much much better phone.

it also would have been released spring/summer 2012 instead of fall 2011

 

[Nintendesert]

Hopefully they fix the shitty battery life and reception issues of the GNex.

 

[zsdersw]

Hopefully they fix the shitty battery life and reception issues of the GNex.

I don't have any of those issues with mine..

 

[serp]

I occasionally have battery life issues on my galaxy nexus. It's like a process gets stuck and it just runs constantly and burns the battery. The phone even gets hot and stays hot. I've tried using like watchdog or some apps to figure out what it is but it just lists it as the android system process. If I catch it I can reboot the phone and it fixes it.. If I don't then it'll drain the battery until it shuts off in an hour or two.

I've not had any reception issues at all. The opposite actually. I've had better reception with this phone than any other phone I've had.

 

[VashHT]

It would be nice if google would release 2 nexus devices next time around, one as a baseline device for developers like they've been doing and one with some higher end parts. I'm not necessarily saying the SoC needs to be higher end but other things such as a micro SD slot (or more built in memory) and a good camera are things that ultimately kept me away from the gnexus. Also, while jb may run great on the gnexus it's going to run even better on a phone with more powerful hardware.

 

[ilkhan]

I'd like to see a 4" and a 5" Nexus device. Almost exactly the same features, but give the 5" higher resolution and bigger battery. *maybe* a 4.5" in between, but I don't think so. The key with the 5" would be a very very small upper/lower bezel.

 

[Red Storm]

Well if the rumors are true each major handset maker is going to have their own Nexus phone. Basically the software will be identical, and the differences will be in hardware and accessory features (SD slot, HDMI).

Personally I think it sounds too good to be true, but we'll see.

 

[zerocool84]

Well if the rumors are true each major handset maker is going to have their own Nexus phone. Basically the software will be identical, and the differences will be in hardware and accessory features (SD slot, HDMI).

Personally I think it sounds too good to be true, but we'll see.

I believe there will be more than one Nexus phone but not one from each phone maker. It will only be from either Samsung, HTC, or Motorola.

 

[Mopetar]

Well if the rumors are true each major handset maker is going to have their own Nexus phone. Basically the software will be identical, and the differences will be in hardware and accessory features (SD slot, HDMI).

Personally I think it sounds too good to be true, but we'll see.

I hope not. There really should only be one model and they should only release it if they have a good reason to do so. If it's just incrementally better than existing hardware, there's no real purpose to it. Might as well wait until you have some cool new hardware or other ideas/designs for developers to try out. Anything else just devalues the Nexus brand.

 

[zerocool84]

I hope not. There really should only be one model and they should only release it if they have a good reason to do so. If it's just incrementally better than existing hardware, there's no real purpose to it. Might as well wait until you have some cool new hardware or other ideas/designs for developers to try out. Anything else just devalues the Nexus brand.

I'm sure it will only be just slightly better than what's out right now. No way it's higher than the 720p screen as 1080p screens aren't available for mass production and it'll be quad which we already have. Maybe it'll have at least 1.5GB RAM but since the GSIII and One X have set the bar so high right now, it's hard to top what's already out. The Nexus brand has never been about bleeding edge hardware though so it's not devaluing the brand.

 

[ponyo]

I'm sure it will only be just slightly better than what's out right now. No way it's higher than the 720p screen as 1080p screens aren't available for mass production and it'll be quad which we already have. Maybe it'll have at least 1.5GB RAM but since the GSIII and One X have set the bar so high right now, it's hard to top what's already out. The Nexus brand has never been about bleeding edge hardware though so it's not devaluing the brand.

I'm curious if it will have AMOLED screen. Every Nexus had it, even the Nexus One by HTC.

A15 dual core with 720p IPS screen, 1gb ram, and improved camera. LG or Sony hardware. That's my prediction.