Is it me or does it seem like Verizon is sabotaging this phone in favor of...

nateap87 said:

@ska.t73: no flaming. I'd pick the gn over any other phone on Verizon but if I were selling to the average Joe, I'd try and get them a phone that simply "works."

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Figured you weren't, however some people take things personally. I could see how they would read it as saying something bad about the phone. I knew what you meant.

I agree with you 100% and as a salesperson, that should be your job. The phone isn't for your average Joe cell phone user, that's for sure.

so are you guys implying that the GNex is problematic outta the box? im sure you're alluding to other phones, but as a general android enthusiat IMO the GNex has been the smoothest ride yet.

in the 6 days i had the phone running stock, i had zero problems outside of the verizon-wide network outages. in fact, i've experienced more problems now that im rooted and ROM'd to the point where i've considered going back to stock. but i enjoy that about android. i have the power to choose.

i went with my fiancee to the vzw store before christmas to get phones. she didn't want an iphone even after relying pretty heavily on her ipod touch. what phone does she go after first? the HTC rhyme. why? cuz it's purple. i convinced her to get a DINC2 and get a purple case.

point is - some people buy into a particular feature, be it gimmicky or not. i think android as a whole offers a better experience than iOS, and i try to sell people on that rather than a particular device. vzw may not like this phone for whatever reason, but i've been very pleased, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters to me.

eddieruko said:

so are you guys implying that the GNex is problematic outta the box? im sure you're alluding to other phones, but as a general android enthusiat IMO the GNex has been the smoothest ride yet.

in the 6 days i had the phone running stock, i had zero problems outside of the verizon-wide network outages. in fact, i've experienced more problems now that im rooted and ROM'd to the point where i've considered going back to stock. but i enjoy that about android. i have the power to choose.

i went with my fiancee to the vzw store before christmas to get phones. she didn't want an iphone even after relying pretty heavily on her ipod touch. what phone does she go after first? the HTC rhyme. why? cuz it's purple. i convinced her to get a DINC2 and get a purple case.

point is - some people buy into a particular feature, be it gimmicky or not. i think android as a whole offers a better experience than iOS, and i try to sell people on that rather than a particular device. vzw may not like this phone for whatever reason, but i've been very pleased, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters to me.

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Not at all, mine has been running like butter since the day I got it. What I'm saying is that this is not a device for the average user. I think Google would even say that. It is a developer phone first and foremost, it is a way for Google to get the latest and greatest version of the OS out to good number of people.

There will be some issue in doing that. Remember we are by and large using a beta version of ICS. That being said it is a very polished beta and Google deserves props for that.

If you are VZW (or any cell phone provider) you are going to want to gauge the customer and what will work best for them. For and average user who wants a great smartphone then the Razor or Rezound might be what you sell them, they are both great phones and run a stable version of Android with bells and whistles on top (blur and sense). If you have a customer who is cell phone savy and wants the latest and greates and knows what they are doing, then the nexus is what you would probably sell them on.

chrisexv6 said:

It actually makes me wonder if this will be the LAST "pure google" phone we ever see from Verizon.

Frankly Im surprised they still use Samsung, since seemingly every Samsung Android phone can be rooted/debloated/etc (even completely safely) in a matter of minutes.

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But if they are pushing Moto because of locked down hardware, etc.....why even let Samsung make phones for you to begin with?

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I'm thinking this will be the last and only Nexus device released on Verizon as well. Google probably realizes by now that Verizon "had their way" with their Nexus device by insisting/getting their My Verizon and Backup Assistant apps on the device.

However, perhaps the next Nexus device will be made by Motorola since Google has acquired Motorola for their patents. Who knows? Given Verizon's strong history with Motorola, Verizon may want another Nexus device if it is manufactured by Motorola. But being a Nexus, Motorola (if they built a Nexus) would need to have an unlocked bootloader.

per the thread topic, i haven't experienced vzw sabotaging this phone. i think we, as android fans, want to see a good phone pushed harder than it is.

but i think that the sales folk are selling what they are told to sell. if at the beginning of the day, the store mgr tells them that they have a goal to sell x-amount of some R phone, they will push to get that out the door. it's very likely that moto and htc have deals in place to sell a min # of phones. can't foul vzw for wanting to do that before CES comes and goes with newer phones.

it does appear however that the timing of the gnex and R phones were not very well spaced out. the district mgr i worked with even acknowledged that. when you've got 3 top phones released within weeks (or days) of each other... they are all gunna take a hit.

ska.t73 said:

Not at all, mine has been running like butter since the day I got it. What I'm saying is that this is not a device for the average user. I think Google would even say that. It is a developer phone first and foremost, it is a way for Google to get the latest and greatest version of the OS out to good number of people.

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i'm not sure why this is not considered a phone for average users. i agree that it's very dev friendly, and i'm grateful for that. but everything in stock ICS seems very user friendly and nicely integrated. aside from the size of my phone, family and friends during the holidays really liked the way that it was laid out. most of them either have flip phones or have android phones.

Verizon has nothing to gain by sabotaging the Galaxy Nexus. They thought it was a good phone and that people would buy it, which is why they decided to get exclusivity on it and sell the phone.

If it sells well, then they will want to release more Nexus phones in the future. If it causes problems for Verizon and is not worth the costs, then they will not release any more Nexus phones.

But if Verizon thinks it will make more money with the RAZR, then that is their primary phone they are going to sell. Don't take it personally, its business.

The only 'sabotage' I see is the lack of quality accessories. With the Moto A855 (OG Droid) we had a top notch car dock and available battery only chargers/batteries; both of these are missing in the VZW accessory lineup for the i515.

teddyearp said:

The only 'sabotage' I see is the lack of quality accessories. With the Moto A855 (OG Droid) we had a top notch car dock and available battery only chargers/batteries; both of these are missing in the VZW accessory lineup for the i515.

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I think it has to do with that phone, the Droid was a HUGE gamble for both Moto and VZW. They pushed that thing for at least a month before launch. I have never seen a phone pushed like that by VZW since, maybe the iPhone when it first came to VZW, but even then I don't think it was as big.

I noticed the lack of accessories whent he TBolt launched as well. Heck they didn't even have any cases for the extended battery until months after it came out. The dock also wasn't available at launch, and the card dock that was available at launch didn't fit the extended battery (I still don't think they have one avaiable that does).

The other thing is that Samsung hasn't released the desk dock yet, it showed that it would be available shortly after launch. I will admit that I'm at a loss about the car dock not having the 3 pins like the European version though.

teddyearp said:

The only 'sabotage' I see is the lack of quality accessories. With the Moto A855 (OG Droid) we had a top notch car dock and available battery only chargers/batteries; both of these are missing in the VZW accessory lineup for the i515.

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Granted it's only a few anecdotal things, but I stopped in a couple of VZW reseller stores and they have like NOTHING for the Rezound. And many of the quality screen protectors from 3rd party companies don't exist for the Rezound.

So it could be much worse! hehe

As for VZW "sabotaging" it, I think it's been apparent from the beginning they were going to let Samsung/Google do all the marketing. I'm not surprised, but FWIW, the store near my in-laws' that I took my Nexus for exchange had a few reps carrying them and the one who checked me in was honestly baffled by me returning the Nexus for the Rezound. I explained my reasoning, but I could tell he thought I was nuts.

jkc120 said:

Granted it's only a few anecdotal things, but I stopped in a couple of VZW reseller stores and they have like NOTHING for the Rezound. And many of the quality screen protectors from 3rd party companies don't exist for the Rezound.

So it could be much worse! hehe

As for VZW "sabotaging" it, I think it's been apparent from the beginning they were going to let Samsung/Google do all the marketing. I'm not surprised, but FWIW, the store near my in-laws' that I took my Nexus for exchange had a few reps carrying them and the one who checked me in was honestly baffled by me returning the Nexus for the Rezound. I explained my reasoning, but I could tell he thought I was nuts.

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I still think your nuts!!! Just joking, you have to use what is best for you. The Rezound is a great phone, hoping you guys get some CM 9 love for it now that the bootloader is unlocked.

Like I said above the OG Droid was a special case, I've never seen a phone treated like that on VZW since. The only phone I see with a ton of accessories right at launch on VZW was that purple HTC phone for women, and that was because that was a major selling point of the phone...

ska.t73 said:

I still think your nuts!!! Just joking, you have to use what is best for you. The Rezound is a great phone, hoping you guys get some CM 9 love for it now that the bootloader is unlocked.

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LOL, I probably am...but thanks, yeah, hopefully CM9 comes relatively (like, within 6 months) soon. Time will tell I guess! I will miss ICS and the direct updates, that's for sure!

In the end, it always comes down to business. Follow the money trail. I DO think VZW pushes the Razr above all others at this juncture. To say something isn't awry would just be ignoring some evidence right in front of our eyes. One example is, the phone wasn't even announced (officially by VZW) until the day it was on sale. I don't follow all of the VZW releases, but I don't know a single "flagship" expensive smartphone that was announced the day it went on sale.

Dev and tech enthusiast community aside, VZW definitely pushed the Razr and Rezound over the Galaxy Nexus, in that order, and as always with business, it likely has something to do with money.

That said, it's business, as was pointed out. It's not personal. I'm fine with that.

It business, agree with everyone that says that. It is what it is.

Look at this article about WP7....and yall might be asking this same question with WP7 soon:

http://www.winsupersite.com/article...ias-plans-marketing-windows-phone-2012-141784

From the article:

Nokia is helping, but so are other Windows Phone hardware partners like Samsung. (As you might recall, Nokia previously stated that it would spend more money marketing Windows Phone in the coming year than it had on any previous initiative.) According to the internal Microsoft documentation I've viewed, the total cost of this marketing tsunami is in the neighborhood of $200 million, not $100 million. And again, that's just for the United States. And on AT&T at least, Nokia is outspending Microsoft 2-to-1.


Included in the plan are sales incentives for retail workers, aimed at getting them to finally start recommending Windows Phone as an alternative to Android and iPhone. The amount of payments are $10 to $15 per handset sold, depending on the number sold, for some handset models.

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All I know is, if I was a sales rep....money talks and... And with Samsung helping with this WP7 push...Its business folks. It is what it is.