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

[HanSolo]

That sounds reasonable to me. I agree there was a disconnect between upper and middle management as to just what this phone represented. I'm not happy with the idea that the Gnex's launch is tied to the sales performance of two other phones, but it seems plausible based on how they keep moving the launch (didn't say "delay" so nobody freak").

Another theory I have is less sinister but similar. Based on previous Nexus sales performances, Verizon figured they wouldn't sell many but the phone would still be a feather in their cap. When the tech world exploded with interest about this phone, their initial order was too small and would never meet demand. As cool as it is to say something has sold out, every person turned away is a possible lost sale. They upped their order with Samsung, who is cranking them out as fast as possible. When Verizon has enough stock to meet the interest, they will launch the phone.

If you combine my theory (I probably heard it somewhere, don't freak) with the management disconnect, I think it fits some of the things we've heard, like when the Source said if Verizon could have aborted the launch, they would have. A few thousand "uncontrolled" phones on their network is nothing for concern. A many hundreds of thousands of "uncontrolled" phones is a scenario Verizon never envisioned nor desired.

These are great points, guys. Makes a lot of sense. I too, think that there is a huge disconnect even within Verizon. My sister has told me that there a lot of "geeks" that work there who are excited about the phone and upset that it's not released yet.

I really, really hope that when the Nexus 4 comes out, there can be a sort of compromise where Verizon will accept it on their network, but Google will sell it through their own website or through Best Buy. That way, Verizon can concentrate on their DROID line and ignore the reality as they usually do.

 

[cereal killer]

And will beyond useless on ICS not to mention.

ICS, Gingerbread, Froyo, and Eclair. Terrible for them.

 

[AntimonyER]

I never felt flash worked well on my DX, so I don't see the lack of it as a big deal. It always ran like a pig. I hate when Apple is right, but I think they are in this case.

I wonder if the improved browsing experience on the GNex, couple with LTE, will solve most of that though...

 

[pcriz]

I never felt flash worked well on my DX, so I don't see the lack of it as a big deal. It always ran like a pig. I hate when Apple is right, but I think they are in this case.

See I had the opposite experience. I mean it wasnt a full blown desktop experience but I more reliable playback on the full versions of sites with embedded flash movies.. I just had to go full screen because all the adverts would bog down the player..

 

[woodraskam]

Well, at least those TM and AT&T subscribers among us can breathe a little easier: Your baby is here!

Unlocked Galaxy Nexus starts to hit American retailers | The Verge

And all you need is $750.

Plus tax.

Ouch.

I looked into it. Taxed only in Illinois from expansys

 

[AntimonyER]

ICS, Gingerbread, Froyo, and Eclair. Terrible for them.

Yeah I agree. So glad they went with a webOS-esque app management system for ICS. My two days with my Touchpad before I sold it, that was my favorite part. Very excited about swipe to kill on ICS.

 

[HanSolo]

You may want to go hide after agreeing with Apple. I'll try to distract them for you.

Nah, I think Jobs was right, too. Flash is a huge battery hog.

 

[woodraskam]

Will this run at 4G speeds on tmobile or at&t? Not sure why I'm confused about this.

Everything I've read says it can.

 

[pcriz]

I wonder if the improved browsing experience on the GNex, couple with LTE, will solve most of that though...

I don't think LTE will solve the issue of the browser running out of mem because of so many lil flash apps on one page.

Also I think when they test phones and run speed tests they should run them at 3G and then caveat with LTE since at a minimum you will be running 3G

 

[garbageduck]

These are great points, guys. Makes a lot of sense. I too, think that there is a huge disconnect even within Verizon. My sister has told me that there a lot of "geeks" that work there who are excited about the phone and upset that it's not released yet.

I really, really hope that when the Nexus 4 comes out, there can be a sort of compromise where Verizon will accept it on their network, but Google will sell it through their own website or through Best Buy. That way, Verizon can concentrate on their DROID line and ignore the reality as they usually do.

I'm hoping this experience is more of a wake-up call for them in the end, and that next years nexus goes smoothly. I have a feeling i'm going to become that new-phone-every-year guy once I can get a Nexus on Verizon. Unlimited LTE? Yes plz

 

[HanSolo]

. . . so many lil flash apps on one page.

That's what I can't stand. I really liked having a Macbook for the reason that you could disable all flash ads on a website.

 

[ajoudi84]

Let's see if Verizon will recognize that many of their OG Droid users upgrade to the Nexus and will maybe offer us a stock experience every couple of years. Hmmm.......too hopeful?

 

[RichSz]

You may want to go hide after agreeing with Apple. I'll try to distract them for you.

Thanks for covering my "6"!

I think it's wrong to not look at the situation as unbiased as possible. Besides fanboys on all fronts bug me.

(I don't think even BabyBlues can cover my back after that comment. )

 

[Trent Reznor]

That sounds reasonable to me. I agree there was a disconnect between upper and middle management as to just what this phone represented. I'm not happy with the idea that the Gnex's launch is tied to the sales performance of two other phones, but it seems plausible based on how they keep moving the launch (didn't say "delay" so nobody freak).

Another theory I have is less sinister but similar. Based on previous Nexus sales performances, Verizon figured they wouldn't sell many but the phone would still be a feather in their cap. When the tech world exploded with interest about this phone, their initial order was too small and would never meet demand. As cool as it is to say something has sold out, every person turned away is a possible lost sale. They upped their order with Samsung, who is cranking them out as fast as possible. When Verizon has enough stock to meet the interest, they will launch the phone.

If you combine my theory (I probably heard it somewhere, don't freak) with the management disconnect, I think it fits some of the things we've heard, like when the Source said if Verizon could have aborted the launch, they would have. A few thousand "uncontrolled" phones on their network is nothing for concern. Many hundreds of thousands of "uncontrolled" phones is a scenario Verizon never envisioned nor desired.

I think there may also be one more component to this.... the longer VZW waits to release the phone the closer we get to CES on 1.10.12 and the tech community will turn there eye to the new latest and greatest. I imagine quite a few exec's at VZW are hoping that this will dissipate some of the tech communities interest in the phone and limit the # of uncontrolled phones on their network as some potential buyer decide to wait for other phones coming next year.

 

[garbageduck]

Let's see if Verizon will recognize that many of their OG Droid users upgrade to the Nexus and will maybe offer us a stock experience every couple of years. Hmmm.......too hopeful?

Hopefully going forward they'll get the yearly Nexus like the other 3 US carriers...

 

[HanSolo]

I'm hoping this experience is more of a wake-up call for them in the end, and that next years nexus goes smoothly. I have a feeling i'm going to become that new-phone-every-year guy once I can get a Nexus on Verizon. Unlimited LTE? Yes plz

I can see that, best case scenario. For me, a dual core LTE handset with 720p resolution will do it for me for the next couple of years. I have unlimited data, too, and I can't imagine that quad-cores will be a gigantic improvement over dual cores (except in the battery life department, probably) during the next couple of years.

But I know I can't do this obsessive thing every year. I'll go insane.

 

[statepenn03]

I want the Nexus' browser to have adblock installed. The only two reasons I use firefox instead of Chrome as my primary browser (on PC) anymore are adblock and firebug.

 

[pcriz]

That's what I can't stand. I really liked having a Macbook for the reason that you could disable all flash ads on a website.

Yes, my Firefox with Adblock is a completely different experience. I go to a friends house and use their browser and I sometimes I can barely recognize the very same websites..

I see why you got so much spyware, you can barely find a smidgen of free space that won't drag you to an ad page..

 

[BabyBlues]

Thanks for covering my "6"!

I think it's wrong to not look at the situation as unbiased as possible. Besides fanboys on all fronts bug me.

(I don't think even BabyBlues can cover my back after that comment. )

I'm gonna be running with you on that one cause I agree.

It's one thing to tease like we do here. But when it becomes a true flame war over something as trivial as what OS is best I wonder why. They all have their positives and negatives and it boils down to what works for you.

 

[woodraskam]

Hopefully going forward they'll get the yearly Nexus like the other 3 US carriers...

They didn't make a very good first impression if that's what they wanted.

 

[acmonster]

Also AT&T is now rolling out real 4G LTE, but the UK version of the SGN won't work on that.

Also, the Verizon LTE version likely won't work on AT&T LTE since they use different bands.

 

[efdisaster]

I think the elephant in the room, for me, about this phone is: how do I navigate all the flash on the internet without flash? Will this phone frustrate me. Even my own website is written with flash, in fact. I won't be able to fully view my own site?

At risk of angering a Mod, that was your mistake!

I kid... Sorry! I'm a web design dinosaur from the 90s and I came from the HTML side of the Flash vs HTML web design wars. I was SOOOOOO happy to hear that Adobe was going to stop developing flash for mobile... because Mobile is the future of the web, so it is essentially an admission of defeat. I may not be designing anything but friends', family and coworkers' sites, nowadays, but I am fiercely proud of the fact that I never used flash on my sites and never saw it as anything more than a toy.
/rant

In all seriousness, I see the move by Adobe as progressive and impressive. It takes balls for a company to say that their giant, and extremely popular, acquisition just isn't the best tech for the job, anymore. If web designers aren't designing with desktop & mobile users in mind, they're bad designers. It can't be any harder to test for mobile devices than it was for all the crazy browser/platform combinations that existed back then [dinosaur designer memory kicking in... ramble beginning]... It didn't matter to us that nobody using Opera 5.10 on Windows 98 might ever go to our clients' sites... it had to look right. Testing might have been tedious, but it was part of the job. One of my favorite accomplishments from those days had nothing to do with the design/launch of any site... it was the day we took our testing lab of 10 computers and "virtualized" it down to three machines, and then donated the other seven machines to a junior high after-school club. [/end dinosaur rambling] If the future of web design is HTML5, they should be doing everything they can to get up to date... especially when it was Adobe who announced this shift of focus.

Anyway, if ICS phones like our coveted Nexus are the last to have Flash, I hope that I don't even have to install it, to get my full web experience. I hope that the designers of the web will accept that Flash is no longer cutting it and they need to accept alternatives. And, conversely, If some future Adobe AIR apps do a better job of getting me to my desired information than the browser, I'll accept and use them.

 

[statepenn03]

Yes, my Firefox with Adblock is a completely difference experience. I go to a friends house and use their browser and I sometimes I can barely recognize the very same websites..

I see why you got so much spyware, you can barely find a smidgen of free space that won't drag you to an ad page..

Another awesome thing about firefox is it blocks preview ads that usually play before youtube or espn videos. Overall I think Chrome is the fastest browser but adblock in firefox more than makes up for it. And if you're doing web development firebug is an awesome firefox addon to have.

I wonder how the browser on my nexus on 4g will compare the browsers on my pc on my comcast internet? Hmmm...

 

[AntimonyER]

Thanks for covering my "6"!

I think it's wrong to not look at the situation as unbiased as possible. Besides fanboys on all fronts bug me.

(I don't think even BabyBlues can cover my back after that comment. )

Actually I think most would agree with that. Unbiased reviews are always my favorite, and I think the more unbiased the person, the more civil they are at all times.

 

[garbageduck]

I can see that, best case scenario. For me, a dual core LTE handset with 720p resolution will do it for me for the next couple of years. I have unlimited data, too, and I can't imagine that quad-cores will be a gigantic improvement over dual cores (except in the battery life department, probably) during the next couple of years.

But I know I can't do this obsessive thing every year. I'll go insane.

Mark today on your calendar and set recurring to every year. You'll see next year you will want the latest and greatest phone again, hehe. I came to Verizon for the Droid because at&t was practically shunning android 2 years ago and my Tilt just wasn't cutting it anymore! In retrospect, if I had waited I would've ended up with the nexus one but i'd also be about a year behind in LTE development.