***Official Galaxy Nexus Pre-Release speculation thread**

[HanSolo]

I just soiled myself.

 

[HanSolo]

^

Sorry, I couldn't mess with the sight that first greets us upon entering this page, the excited proclamation of Troll Killer.

But my original post said that I don't really care if this a pure Sammy device with Touchwiz. I'll just root the stupid thing!

 

[troll_killer]

^

Sorry, I couldn't mess with the sight that first greets us upon entering this page, the excited proclamation of Troll Killer.

This is what the Prime makes me feel like.

Like I'm waiting for a sweet, sweet prize!

 

[johnlgalt]

My guess is that the VZW exclusivity is for subsidized phones only - as a dev, you'll still be able to buy directly from Google as in the past.

There is no way that Google is gonna let that slip through their hands.

Mark my words.

 

[deekjx]

This thread is seriously reminding me of the HTC Incredible thread from early last year. Is anyone going to start a post with all the specs and a list of the links/resources that provided the information?

 

[Steven58]

This thread is seriously reminding me of the HTC Incredible thread from early last year. Is anyone going to start a post with all the specs and a list of the links/resources that provided the information?

Check the OP.

 

[Grandmadroid]

Oh my goodness!!! It's about time for me to get my upgrade....you guys taught me so much about the Incredible...and I've loved this phone dearly.....thot I'd check in to see if any of you were still around...and TA DAH!!! New things to learn!! YEAH!

 

[Steven58]

Oh my goodness!!! It's about time for me to get my upgrade....you guys taught me so much about the Incredible...and I've loved this phone dearly.....thot I'd check in to see if any of you were still around...and TA DAH!!! New things to learn!! YEAH!

Hi Gramma!

I remember you from http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-incredible/42916-official-htc-incredible-thread.html !! You and I are Facebook friends, as I recall, right?

I was a regular member, back in the incredible days. Now, it seems as if I posted so much, they gave in and put me on staff. Their loss!

Anyway, yeah, this next phone is as or more important that the Incredible was, in my opinion. So, welcome back. Lemme know if you need anything.

Steven

 

[HanSolo]

Just a thought on the possible branding of the Droid Prime.

True, Nexus has never branded itself anything other than a Nexus, right? But we also know that the Nexus phones have never sold as well as actual branded phones, like the Droid, or the iPhone, etc. Is it possible that Google has finally had enough with being on the periphery of the marketplace? (Granted, Nexus is huge in the dev’s forums, but I’ve never even met a person that had a Nexus, and most that I've talked to had never even heard of one).

It’s quite possible that Verizon has never gotten the Nexus because of inability/unwillingness to get together on the marketing of it. Releasing a Nexus device on a Droid line will give it much more of a marketing push, which will lead to much more distribution, which will lead to the actual Battle Royale that Google wants vs. Apple.

People keep saying that since Nexus has never done this before, that it never will happen. That’s foolish logic. Whatever marketing strategy Google has made so far hasn’t worked too well. The release of the first Nexus was an utter disaster (an old link regarding Nexus One sales). The subsequent release of Nexus S was very much under the radar, at least to normal, non-forum-perusing people.

Google is probably thinking that it’s time to play with the big boys, and it finally has the firepower to do it.

Wishful thinking? Maybe. But it makes sense.

 

[johnlgalt]

Why would this be a Google move? Sammy is developing the phone, and while it might have the Prime moniker, I've seen leaked reports about the DROID Prime, not Nexus anything...

If anything, my money is that this will be the DROID Prime *and* a Google nexus Prime, available respectively from VZW and Google.

Oh, also FWIW - I don't say it won't happen - I say it's my opinion. I'm pretty sure most people are saying the same, even if they don't explicitly state it.

 

[Steven58]

Just a thought on the possible branding of the Droid Prime.

True, Nexus has never branded itself anything other than a Nexus, right? But we also know that the Nexus phones have never sold as well as actual branded phones, like the Droid, or the iPhone, etc. Is it possible that Google has finally had enough with being on the periphery of the marketplace? (Granted, Nexus is huge in the dev’s forums, but I’ve never even met a person that had a Nexus, and most that I've talked to had never even heard of one).

It’s quite possible that Verizon has never gotten the Nexus because of inability/unwillingness to get together on the marketing of it. Releasing a Nexus device on a Droid line will give it much more of a marketing push, which will lead to much more distribution, which will lead to the actual Battle Royale that Google wants vs. Apple.

People keep saying that since Nexus has never done this before, that it never will happen. That’s foolish logic. Whatever marketing strategy Google has made so far hasn’t worked too well. The release of the first Nexus was an utter disaster (an old link regarding Nexus One sales). The subsequent release of Nexus S was very much under the radar, at least to normal, non-forum-perusing people.

Google is probably thinking that it’s time to play with the big boys, and it finally has the firepower to do it.

Wishful thinking? Maybe. But it makes sense.

makes sense ^^^^

edit: top of the page.

 

[The_Chief]

The only thing I DON'T get is why Verizon would drop TWO "Droid" phones in such rapid sequence. The Bionic and then the Prime? That close together? P3's assertion of Nov/Dec makes so much more sense - a la the timing between Charge and Bionic. But September and then October? They'd be cutting Motorola's foot off with sales, because no one in their right mind would get a Bionic when they know the Prime is coming.

Can it happen? Sure it can. Do I hope it happens? Of course I do... we all do! But do I expect it to happen, knowing full well that Motorola is VZW's OEM of choice? Would YOU?

 

[HanSolo]

Why would this be a Google move? Sammy is developing the phone, and while it might have the Prime moniker, I've seen leaked reports about the DROID Prime, not Nexus anything...

If anything, my money is that this will be the DROID Prime *and* a Google nexus Prime, available respectively from VZW and Google.

Oh, also FWIW - I don't say it won't happen - I say it's my opinion. I'm pretty sure most people are saying the same, even if they don't explicitly state it.

Yes, it’s true that Sammy’s manufacturing it, but even though HTC and Samsung have made the others, you don’t think Google’s made money off of those phones? Of course they have, just not very much. Maybe my point got a little muddled in my rant, but my main point is that Google wants to show the world that Android OS is better than Apple’s IOS. The best way to do that is by putting ICS on the biggest, most recognizable brand, which will appeal to the general public. People know the name “Droid”. Droid owners will want to be loyal to their brand. Google’s done this before, when Verizon put a virtually stock, vanilla 2.0 “Eclair” on the OG Droid, and it sold like hotcakes. That was as close to a Nexus device than any other phone other than an actual Nexus. 2 years later, and people still comment on my phone. What better way to showcase ICS than to put it on a Droid?

The only thing I DON'T get is why Verizon would drop TWO "Droid" phones in such rapid sequence. The Bionic and then the Prime? That close together? P3's assertion of Nov/Dec makes so much more sense - a la the timing between Charge and Bionic. But September and then October? They'd be cutting Motorola's foot off with sales, because no one in their right mind would get a Bionic when they know the Prime is coming.

Can it happen? Sure it can. Do I hope it happens? Of course I do... we all do! But do I expect it to happen, knowing full well that Motorola is VZW's OEM of choice? Would YOU?

November/December does make more sense, which is why I'm only very cautiously optimistic regarding October. But haven't the Droid X2, Droid 3, and now Droid Bionic dropped all within a short period of time of each other? Granted, the Bionic is in a class of it's own, but that's still 3 Droids in what, a couple of months?

Also, remember that Motorola might have lost its exclusivity because of long delays. Perhaps Verizon didn't mean for all of these phones to be mashed up together, but Moto dropped the ball and now it has to deal with it. I can't believe that Verizon hasn't had a deal done with Samsung for a good long while. We're just now hearing about it through leaks, but I'm sure this deal was in place way before Motorola was finishing screwing around in their basement, pitching out the Etna and fast-tracking the Targa.

A lot of people are saying it doesn't make sense for the Bionic and the Prime to come out in such a short period of time, but they're forgetting that the Bionic should have been out in May or June.

 

[The_Chief]

You don't think Verizon's gone too far down the dirt road to offer up another stock vanilla phone? They haven't done that since the Droid, have they? I think they have too much MONEY to make by bloating it up and locking it down.

When they released the Droid, I don't think they had any idea that the dev community would get so big and so popular. So they started wanting encrypted bootloaders and lots of bloatware so they could cash in some more from us. They get paid good bucks to load up Netflix, Blockbuster, etc. and don't want us stripping it off and I doubt they're gonna release the most popular Droid since the OG, the Prime, without all that happy stuff firmly locked in there.

Or am I just totally off base here?

 

[HanSolo]

You don't think Verizon's gone too far down the dirt road to offer up another stock vanilla phone? They haven't done that since the Droid, have they? I think they have too much MONEY to make by bloating it up and locking it down.

When they released the Droid, I don't think they had any idea that the dev community would get so big and so popular. So they started wanting encrypted bootloaders and lots of bloatware so they could cash in some more from us. They get paid good bucks to load up Netflix, Blockbuster, etc. and don't want us stripping it off and I doubt they're gonna release the most popular Droid since the OG, the Prime, without all that happy stuff firmly locked in there.

Or am I just totally off base here?

nope, not off base at all. My above rants are all basically optimistic thinking.

However, they did recently release the Motorola Xoom bloatware-free, and it was stock Honeycomb. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Also, we don’t see any bloatware whatsoever on the iPhone. Granted, Apple has a ton more leverage than Google and can dictate to Verizon what it will do and not do. But the possibility of being the first with ICS (which translates to more sales) might be enough for Verizon to agree to no bloatware or very limited use of it.

But I don’t think that a stock ICS Droid is too far fetched. But say it was full of bloatware; I’m sure we’d still get something like Gingerbreak (which was able to get rid of the bloatware on the X2 within a week or two of the phone’s release) running on it pretty soon, and all would be fine.

 

[The_Chief]

Bluefire, I really hope you're right. I'm right there with you, wanting a stock vanilla ICS device on Verizon. In October.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, LTE too

 

[johnlgalt]

Yes, it’s true that Sammy’s manufacturing it, but even though HTC and Samsung have made the others, you don’t think Google’s made money off of those phones? Of course they have, just not very much. Maybe my point got a little muddled in my rant, but my main point is that Google wants to show the world that Android OS is better than Apple’s IOS. The best way to do that is by putting ICS on the biggest, most recognizable brand, which will appeal to the general public. People know the name “Droid”. Droid owners will want to be loyal to their brand. Google’s done this before, when Verizon put a virtually stock, vanilla 2.0 “Eclair” on the OG Droid, and it sold like hotcakes. That was as close to a Nexus device than any other phone other than an actual Nexus. 2 years later, and people still comment on my phone. What better way to showcase ICS than to put it on a Droid?



November/December does make more sense, which is why I'm only very cautiously optimistic regarding October. But haven't the Droid X2, Droid 3, and now Droid Bionic dropped all within a short period of time of each other? Granted, the Bionic is in a class of it's own, but that's still 3 Droids in what, a couple of months?

Also, remember that Motorola might have lost its exclusivity because of long delays. Perhaps Verizon didn't mean for all of these phones to be mashed up together, but Moto dropped the ball and now it has to deal with it. I can't believe that Verizon hasn't had a deal done with Samsung for a good long while. We're just now hearing about it through leaks, but I'm sure this deal was in place way before Motorola was finishing screwing around in their basement, pitching out the Etna and fast-tracking the Targa.

A lot of people are saying it doesn't make sense for the Bionic and the Prime to come out in such a short period of time, but they're forgetting that the Bionic should have been out in May or June.

Agreed. I did miss the point - and you're spot on with those.

You don't think Verizon's gone too far down the dirt road to offer up another stock vanilla phone? They haven't done that since the Droid, have they? I think they have too much MONEY to make by bloating it up and locking it down.

When they released the Droid, I don't think they had any idea that the dev community would get so big and so popular. So they started wanting encrypted bootloaders and lots of bloatware so they could cash in some more from us. They get paid good bucks to load up Netflix, Blockbuster, etc. and don't want us stripping it off and I doubt they're gonna release the most popular Droid since the OG, the Prime, without all that happy stuff firmly locked in there.

Or am I just totally off base here?

I think you're off base (in a good way) - I don't think VZW did the demand for locked bootloaders to cash in on devs - I think they did it because so many n00bs 'semi-fried' their phones and cashed in on warranty replacements. They lost a decent amount of money on folks that got new phones as replacements for FUBARd phones, which were in fact not FUBARd, but which they could only hereafter use as Refurb replacements. I've said much the same thing in the past - it makes quantitative sense for them - minimize the number of ppl hosing phones, thereby minimizing the number of replacements they have to give out, and thus maximizing the number of phones they actually sell. That's my theory, anyway.

nope, not off base at all. My above rants are all basically optimistic thinking.

However, they did recently release the Motorola Xoom bloatware-free, and it was stock Honeycomb. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Also, we don’t see any bloatware whatsoever on the iPhone. Granted, Apple has a ton more leverage than Google and can dictate to Verizon what it will do and not do. But the possibility of being the first with ICS (which translates to more sales) might be enough for Verizon to agree to no bloatware or very limited use of it.

But I don’t think that a stock ICS Droid is too far fetched. But say it was full of bloatware; I’m sure we’d still get something like Gingerbreak (which was able to get rid of the bloatware on the X2 within a week or two of the phone’s release) running on it pretty soon, and all would be fine.

More good points - and Google has far more clout than you'd think - if they pull out of VZW permanently I can guarantee a lot of users will jump ship with them - and VZW does not want to play that game of chicken with Google. Android is pretty much what's keeping them in business these days. They cannot survive on the iPhone alone, not if what I believe to be true is.

Bluefire, I really hope you're right. I'm right there with you, wanting a stock vanilla ICS device on Verizon. In October.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, LTE too

I'll even forgo LTE right now as it is not available here where I live anyway. but it would be a nice bell or whistle on the phone I get.

It would really be perfect if my next phone were to be vanilla all over again - I can go dig out my rant from last year when I learned Moto was making all devices with locked bootloaders, quote myself and tell myself to thank everyone that read that post, b/c someone, somewhere, actually listened to me - and I owe them big time.

 

[MaxSpeed Droid]

man I am STOKED!

I hope this isn't some stupid rumor that falls flat on its face. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks.

 

[Steven58]

I love the speculations. Keep them coming! Fun!

 

[Steven58]

Slightly more info:

Verizon Subbing Samsung Droid Prime for Galaxy S II - Mobile and Wireless - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

Edit:

Found potentially new pix of the NP (DP?), that I'd never seen before. Added them in the OP (original post). Notice the new style home buttons.

 

[kyler13]

Slightly more info:

Verizon Subbing Samsung Droid Prime for Galaxy S II - Mobile and Wireless - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

Edit:

Found potentially new pix of the NP (DP?), that I'd never seen before. Added them in the OP (original post). Notice the new style home buttons.

You do know that's the Motorola Atrix with a photoshopped screen, right?

 

[ckeegan]

The only thing I DON'T get is why Verizon would drop TWO "Droid" phones in such rapid sequence. The Bionic and then the Prime? That close together? P3's assertion of Nov/Dec makes so much more sense - a la the timing between Charge and Bionic. But September and then October? They'd be cutting Motorola's foot off with sales, because no one in their right mind would get a Bionic when they know the Prime is coming.

Can it happen? Sure it can. Do I hope it happens? Of course I do... we all do! But do I expect it to happen, knowing full well that Motorola is VZW's OEM of choice? Would YOU?

Do you know how many times Verizon has probably pushed the Bionic back on the roadmap? Just like us, I'm sure they're probably saying to Motorola, "whatever, your loss, we've only been waiting 8 months."

For the record though, I do think November/December makes more sense for the Prime, as it sticks with previous Nexus launches. However, the iPhone5 is launching in a different timeframe than previous years, so Google could see this as an opportunity. Two opportunities actually. 1. Compete directly with the latest version from their biggest competitor. 2. Market it like no Nexus has been marketed before. (i.e. Droid)

When you think about it like that, it's totally possible, and logical.

 

[deekjx]

Just a thought on the possible branding of the Droid Prime.

True, Nexus has never branded itself anything other than a Nexus, right? But we also know that the Nexus phones have never sold as well as actual branded phones, like the Droid, or the iPhone, etc. Is it possible that Google has finally had enough with being on the periphery of the marketplace? (Granted, Nexus is huge in the dev

 

[RichSz]

I've been paying close attention to all the NP/DP talk and am cautiously optimistic. One thing which has me worried is SW/FW updates. Verizon seems pretty picky about what updates are allowed onto their phones (understandably). I've seen how Moto updates got rejected by V and know how frustrating that can be to wait for fixes to my bug-riddled phone (first Froyo release). From what I've read, Samsung is very slow at updating their phones.

Bringing this together, if it's a Droid Prime and has to go through Samsung then Verizon for updates it is likely to be a very frustrating experience due to slow SW/FW roll out. If it's a Nexus Prime with updates coming from Google, then it's a whole other ballgame. People have been taking the branding in stride but it may play a larger role, particularly on a new version of Android (ICS) which is likely to have a good number of bugs out of the gate.

I'm simultaneously concerned about Verizon forcing Samsung to lock the bootloader. Moto said they'd unlock / decrypt their bootloaders if the carriers allowed it. Has that actually happened yet? Would Verizon allow that to happen?

I need more details about these things before I consider a buying a DP/NP.

 

[The_Chief]

I do think November/December makes more sense for the Prime, as it sticks with previous Nexus launches. However, the iPhone5 is launching in a different timeframe than previous years, so Google could see this as an opportunity. Two opportunities actually. 1. Compete directly with the latest version from their biggest competitor. 2. Market it like no Nexus has been marketed before. (i.e. Droid)

You make very valid points and I will remain cautiously optimistic that you're right. An October Prime launch would be great... even as a Droid release.

I'm simultaneously concerned about Verizon forcing Samsung to lock the bootloader. Moto said they'd unlock / decrypt their bootloaders if the carriers allowed it. Has that actually happened yet? Would Verizon allow that to happen?

Samsung is very good about not locking their bootloaders: in fact, they sent several SGS2s to the CyanogenMod team to get the rooting & ROMming process started. I don't think Verizon can FORCE an OEM to lock their phones down, but they DO reward OEMs for doing so... hence Motorola's preferred status. Moto gets priority marketing and sales resources, whereas other phones - even superior ones - sort of sit in the background hoping someone will buy them. I don't think we have to worry about Sammy encrypting their bootloaders.