Samsung Nexus Prime

anyone?

 

rule of thumb for android devices: always get the flagship nexus if the specs are comparable

here's a tip: the life cycle of their flagships is approx 10 months, i'm sure with the Nexus 7 release, they'll want to lengthen galaxy nexus a bit longer, but i think we're going to get a new flagship by feb at the latest

 

That's a really hard question to answer without enough background info.

If it were me, I'd go with the Nexus because I'm tired of waiting on updates (even for custom ROMS) for this 1.5-year old phone I have, and going Nexus (Google/Android's flagship phone) would future-proof against that. Only drawback here is that the Nexus is a little older than the alternative choice in this scenario.

OTOH, the SIII out-specs the Nexus (duh, it's newer:grin, and offers some manufacturer-specific software customizations/optimizations (read: TouchWiz) that are actually kinda cool. Screen's slightly better too. If I were to buy one of these though, the first thing I'd do is wipe the TouchWiz crap off it and go with a custom ROM with pure Android. That's just me though. Other generic drawbacks include the biggest draw for Nexus: Update hell. This phone will require first Google releasing an update (Jelly Bean, for instance), then Samsung getting ahold of it and porting all of it's TouchWiz features over, then passing it along to the carrier to make their modifications. This process usually puts you at least 3 months behind the Nexus on updates, which only has to wait on Google to release a new version of Android - that's it.

Of course some will say that all you have to do with the SIII is root it and install a custom ROM to skip to near-Nexus update intervals. This is true for the most part, but towards the end of your contract it will inevitably start to fail. Reason being is less people will own an SIII for the last 6 months to a year of your 2 year sentence, meaning less developers to make custom, up-to-date ROMS for you to use. Then the bigger problem - Samsung only has an agreement that they will continue to issue updates (however long that might take, however far behind they may be) for a year after it releases a phone like the SIII. Any Android update that comes after that would possibly be inaccessible to you. Like phones that came with Froyo or Gingerbread and an overlay (Sense/Touchwiz) aren't getting official updates to ICS/JB. Once there's a major overhaul in the Android ecosystem again, your manufacturer-written drivers and whatnot will fail to work. At that point, even the best developers (if there are still any left) will have problems making a custom version of the latest Android ROM...they gotta write HALs and things like that to bridge the new and the old.



Basically, I see it as this - the SIII is better spec-wise than the Nexus. But not by a whole lot. The extra ppi and GHz's will only get you so far though, 'cause eventually you'll be stuck running an outdated OS. This won't be a problem with the Nexus (at least for a couple years), and the specs aren't far enough behind that you'd suffer much there.

Ideally though, I'd wait on the next Nexus and snag it when it's brand new and still the king of the specs. That way you'd be future-proof on both fronts - hardware and software.

 

might be a dumb question, but when you say the next nexus, you mean the next phone google puts out right?

i guess they're always called nexus something?

sorry i'm thinking of switching to android for the first time with my upgrade. if another google phone is coming soon i can def wait it out.

 

Yes, that's correct. But like Royals Ego said above me, we probably won't see a new Nexus for another 5-6 months.

If you're used to Apple, for instance, I'd compare it this way:

Once a year, Google (Apple) puts out a new Nexus (iPhone) that generally coincides with a new version of Android (iOS).


All of the other phones in between, while still Android, aren't pure Android or Google phones. They're electronics manufactures putting out phones that utilize the Android operating system to an extent.

 

for reference, nexus s was released december 2010, galaxy nexus november 2011, we're due for a new phone soon, possibly with Key Lime Pie (4.2/5.0)

another thing to consider when buying a phone, will you be going on contract for 2 years? it's widely accepted that a phone's life cycle is approx 1 year, therefore are you okay with having the same phone for 2 generations? even though galaxy nexus will be supported by google for some time, eventually it won't be up to snuff, and i'd rather renew with a fresh phone, than an existing phone

take my scenario for example, i have a nexus s, i got it 2 days after release, i'm praying that google does not announce "nexus s will not be getting Jelly Bean OTA update because of hardware issues"... that will suck for me as I still have about 6 months left on my contract

 

thanks for the info guys. i think i'll hold off and see if a new google phone is coming. i can wait it out. since the google phone will be pushed updates sounds like i should be able to have most the updates through the 2 yr contract right?

if not, assuming the phone/software itself isnt completely screwed up, i can wait out 2 yrs for upgrade if updates were to be cut off from the phone

 

you should be fine with updates, i'd wait it out too, especially when there's options like windows 8 coming at the end of the year to coincide with another google update and the soon apple refresh, it's an exciting time for geeks and nerds alike

but just a history lesson, the 2nd google flagship phone, the Nexus One did not receive Ice Cream Sandwich, which their 4th flagship phone debut with, basically, they can no longer support it because of it's dated hardware

what are you using now? 2g brick or iphone?

 

iphone 4, figure move to an android, play with that, can always use the iphone as an ipod

 

From what's been written over the last couple of months, the next Nexus phone release will be late this year and will have 3+ manufacturers instead of just one. Probably will be JB as the alleged Key Lime Pie isn't expected until 2013.

Has anyone heard rumors to the contrary?

 

ordered mine late Saturday and still no shipping info. i'm hoping they still sell it to me.

 

Finally $0.01 at amazon, $49.99 for the 2 year upgrade.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0061R2A1S

 

I just got the Jelly bean update on my Galaxy Nexus. :grin:

 

Me too.

And the jelly is very nice.

 

GSM or CDMA? Which carrier? Please say Verizon... :grin:

 

t-mobile, sorry...