The Next Nexus Devices by Google: Tablet and Phone

There has been a lot of talk as of late about the next Nexus devices being made by Google.  As we all know Google makes all of the software for Android OS, but uses different manufacturers to do the hardware.  For this reason there has been much speculation over which manufacturer will have the opportunity to have the next Nexus phone and tablet.  Keep in mind that the Nexus tablet is expected to be announced in June, while the Nexus phone is expected to be announced towards the end of the year.  I'll be going over these today and my reasoning that would help Google make their choice more clear, by giving examples of all possible outcomes.

First I just want to clear the two that were originally thought about.  Motorola and Samsung.  Motorola would probably be the worst one Google could go with, for this year only, simply because Google's competitors have put a great fear into other manufacturers that Google will show more favoritism towards Motorola.  Which if anything Google has shown it's best to keep the two companies separated, even going to the extent of putting up a firewall between the two companies.   Samsung might seem like an obvious first choice for Google, but many online have said it might again show favoritism, since Samsung has produced the last two Nexus devices (the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus).  More on that later.  The other choices are looking to be between HTC and LG.  Two carriers that have said they are talking to Google right now at least about the next phone device.

Personally I think I would prefer Google and Samsung again for both the phone and the tablet.  In android I think the best hardware is Samsung.  Even high end phones like the Moto Razr wouldn't be as popular if it had the same screen as the Bionic. The Super AMOLED screen really helped make it a hit.  Companies like HTC are now having Super AMOLED screens as well in their upcoming phones and I think it will help them a lot.

I understand it would be showing favoritism but at the same time another nexus phone would be a great strategy for Samsung.  They will most likely have their Galaxy S III before summers end, then they could release the Galaxy Nexus S(or 2) right before the holidays.  This "one two strategy" definitely worked for them in 2011 and would help them even better in 2012.  Think about it, the Galaxy S III comes out and a lot of people purchase it. Huge success.  Then the iPhone 5 comes out in October. Sales for the S III drop because the attention then goes to the iPhone 5.  Finally in November, a month after all the apple loyalist get their phones, the new Samsung Nexus is announced with new Hardware that drew everyone to the Galaxy S III in the first place with a new OS.  Android ends up winning the holiday season, as they would have last year if it wasn't for all the delays and set backs.  It's just better business, for Google to dominate the market share in the OS battle and for Samsung to dominate the manufacturer battle.

HTC I think needs to prove itself again this year.  Last year they had just so many disappointing phones, especially when they easily had the best phones in 2010.  LG hasn't made any amazing phones, and though they've had good quality their skins have not been impressive.  I do not believe either brand would bring good PR for Google from a Marketing stand point.  HTC will always be a big part of Google, and even if there's a bit of resentment from them, people do not buy HTC phones for their hardware, they buy it for the "Sense" skin interface on top of Android.  Since Nexus is stock OS without skins, there’s nothing really that appealing about another HTC Nexus phone.  If LG has a backlash, well honestly if LG decided to be exclusively for Windows phones because of it, I don't think it would be a huge loss to Android.  The people that had bout LG Android phones could easily go to Samsung or HTC or now Sony.

In terms of the tablet, I would like to see either Asus or Samsung take it.  I think either company would do a great job with it.  In this instance I see more likely HTC or Samsung than Asus though.  Asus already will have a High End Tablet at low price, it just seems like it would be competing with itself.  Samsung's new Tab 2 (7.0) will probably be priced at $299, so having a $199 wouldn't take away as much it just would have a greater market share which has been Samsung's strategy for this year, at least for the first half of the year.  HTC would be another great candidate simply because we haven't heard about ANY tablet from them.  The Flyer and Jetstream were less than successful, and they could make up for it with at least a High End well priced tablet.  HTC is such a great company and it was honestly sad to see what happened to them last year in tablets.  In the end I think and hope that Google will make some great choices as they have in the past with Android and the Nexus series.


As always this is R-I-C-K-Y, The Android Guy

The Results Are In Apple's iOS crashes more than Google's Android

For a long time now Apple has given the false conception that their platform was more stable than Android.  Most people believed this because of Apple's history when being put up against companies like Windows and Blackberry.  One company that never feared the challenge however was Google.  Since Google has come into the phone market with Android that have been several steps ahead of Apple's OS.  Many people even criticized iOS5 for copying features that Android already had for over 2 years.  Since the beginning of the year Apple has take quite a few hits.  The create of the first Apple Computer, Steve Woz, gave an interview where he said Apple's prize Voice Assistant, Siri, still doesn't compare to Android Voice Commands in accuracy and functions.  After Q4 of 2011 the results came that Apple has lost over 10% of the tablet market share in just 3 months, which is the trend continues means Apple will no longer have 50% of the tablet market by mid 2012.

The biggest blow would come from a recent study that was done however that reveals that when tested, iOS crashes more often than Android does.  This is another huge blow to Apple always claiming to be the more stable OS.  It turns out that Apple's apps crash with a much greater frequency than Android apps do.  Not only that but the newer the OS is the more frequent the crash is for Apple. While in Android it seems to be the opposite.  The newer versions of the OS's crash less frequently than their older counterparts.  The easiest explanation for this would be from the big flaw in Apple's OS.  Which is since the OS is so closed off, developers have to go through a lot just to give their app an update. While Android is open source platform allows develops to jump through less hoops to update their apps for the new OSs.  Unfortunately because this flaw is integrated into the OS there is no easy fix or solution for Apple in the near future.


Once Again
This is R-I-C-K-Y, The Android Guy

Apple's Co-Founder Prefers Android over the iPhone

Steve Woz was the brain behind all Apple early electronics.  He was the one who actually built everything while Steve Jobs took care of the business side.  The "Woz" is there for one of the most respected people in the electronics industry.  He is the primary example of even the most dedicated to Apple, moving towards Android because of it's better technology.  This first occurred when he went to Google's Headquarters to get the Galaxy Nexus.  Since then he even got another android phone which is known for it's style, the Droid Razr.   Woz finds himself now carrying his Android phone along with his iPhone 4S more and more.  In an interview, where Woz was trying not to say anything too bad about the iPhone he said " 'My primary phone is the iPhone, I love the beauty of it. But I wish it did all the things my Android does, I really do".  Woz goes on to say that he thinks the GPS is worlds apart from Apple's   He said he had spoken with developers and they said "developers can get programs out faster and work on making tweaks and revision in less time"

The biggest blow to Apple would have to come from Woz's comment on Siri. He goes on and on about how he says after using both phones on a daily basis Android's Voice commands are much better than Apple's Siri. Just one of the comments were, "I have a lower success rate with Siri than I do with the voice built into Android, and that bothers me. I'll be saying, over and over again in my car, 'Call the Lark Creek Steak House,' and I can't get it done.  Then I pick up my Android, say the same thing, and it's done.  Plus I get navigation.  Android is way ahead on that" Ouch!  I felt bad for the Apple fanboys on that one.    Lastly he also goes on to complain about the poor battery life on the iPhone.  He feels it is always dying much quicker since the new OS 5 update came out.  (Keep in mind he is using the Droid Razr, a phone that is considered to have one of the poorer battery life's in the Android community)

In the end, Woz does say that the iPhone is more simple and recommends it still of course.  Still there is no one that is more of an expert on Apple than Woz, and with Apple biggest elite using Android more and more over his iPhone, it shows how persuasive and better Android has gotten in just a lil over three years.  Finally Woz sees Android as having the edge, simply because when it was Windows vs Apple, he felt Windows took a long time before they did things like Mac did, but with Android it seems to be more of the opposite.  This shows too, in a recent statistic it shows that about 40% of people's next planned purchased phones will be Android phones.  This and Google's brand value almost being double what Apple's is, it's now surprise the trend that is occurring.

Android it's just the way of the future, don't get left behind.


This is R-I-C-K-Y, The Android Guy.

Google & Samsung Dominate the Phone Market

When it comes to smartphones only one name really matters, Google.  Android is getting closer and closer to owning over 50% of the market in the US.  In recent comScore, we found out that though Apple would have you believe the iPhone 4S was dominating the market buyers showed something else quite different.  Android grew more than double what Apple did these past few months even with the iPhone 4S launch.  Seeing as how iPhone 4S didn't have anything really impressive to show this comes as no surprise to anyone that knows technology.  Apple camera and sales were both beaten by the Galaxy S II, and the screen, speed, smoothness and web browsing were all outdone when the Galaxy Nexus came out.  It also comes as no surprise that the two phones that outclassed Apple would be Samsung since they now have the biggest share of phones in the US, with 25% of the market share.  Which just goes to show you if you don't have a Google/Samsung phone you really should be asking yourself why not?

This is R-I-C-K-Y, The Android Guy