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Sony Ericsson snubbed Google over Nexus One

Sony Ericsson turned down the chance to make the Googlephone, because it didn't want to become a contract manufacturer - not even for the Chocolate Factory. Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg told Swedish newspaper Sydsvenssan (Swedish only) about the discussions. In the interview Nordberg says relations remain good with Google, …

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Richard Taylor 1
Go

Available in UK

Hmm. I keep reading that you can't buy the Nexus One in the UK. You can - direct from google.com/phone. It will cost around £404 inc VAT and taxes. Expensive but its sweet...

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward
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They didn't say "you can't buy in the UK"

The article said it was "only for sale in the US". You can buy from the US and have it shipped to the UK, but it can still only be bought in the US.

Rob K
WTF?

ODMs are upset?

"Google upset its ODM (original device manufacturer) customers.. when it decided to.. compete directly with licensees of its own Android OS"

Erm, isn't Android open source, i.e. free for these ODM licensees to use? They're getting something for nothing, probably saving a substantial amount of money by avoiding having to develop their own proprietry OS, or licensing Windows Mobile.

What right do they have to be upset that Google are making their own branded phone? Surely that's what a free market is all about?

michaelh
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The OS is open source...

...but the Google apps that ship with most Android devices are closed source. I also imagine that most of these ODMs have support contracts with Google to help develop their own interfaces and drivers.

IR

Not quite

The Nexus One is actually a bit better than the other HTC Android phones. It has a better quality camera with a flash, and a much better processor. It is probably very similar to some of the higher end HTC phones that don't use Android. Plus you get immediate updates, rather than waiting for them to update the user interface that HTC have dumped on top (which looks and works much nicer than standard Android, plus you get multitouch for everything) and means that nearly all are still using version 1.5 rather than 2.1.

Jerome 0
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Not quite

I'm guessing you've not seen the HTC Desire (also known as the Bravo in the U.S.). It's almost exactly the same as the Nexus One. Same camera, same processor, same Android 2.1.

IR
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Well

It's not out yet, and although it was meant to be out last month there still hasn't been an announced date for it. Not seen anything recent about it, and not seen the Android version either (but I hope you are right), it will be great when it eventually comes out.

Jerome 0
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Bravo

The release date is March 26th with T-Mobile. The rest of the networks won't be far behind. Android version? It's an Android phone, I'd be very curious to see what the non-Android version looks like.

Alan W. Rateliff, II
Paris Hilton

It would have sucked, anyway

Sony Ericsson would have produced the GodPhone and just dropped support after a short period of time, leaving people holding the bag for a $500 phone with firmware and application bugs and no chance for new firmware updates unless you buy the next phone in the line.

Paris, yeah, she is a little butt-hurt, too.

Jerome 0
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No chance

There's zero chance Google would have let them do that. Perhaps that's part of the reason they didn't agree to do it.

Skrrp
Go

I for one ...

am glad that HTC made the Nexus. If it had been Sony I would have given it a wide berth.

And to back up Richard, it is perfectly available in the UK. You pay your tax on top granted, but that is between you and HMRC. For their part, Google are more than happy to ship here.

Clive Jefferies
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Are you sure?

I am guessing you have never used an HTC phone. I have the G1 and the hardware is awful. It was a real step back from my N95. However, I like the Android platform that much that I stuck with it.

tebiru
FAIL

Well, that was a missed opportunity

Prime case of pride getting in the way of progress - could've worked brilliantly for both sides. Sony Ericsson makes about the best non-Apple hardware, but suffers from poor brand awareness. A G-branded SE device could've been a huge hit, and I'm not surprised Google went to SE before HTC.

SE is hardly in brilliant shape at the moment either. Bit stupid of them to pass this up.

Waffles666

Sony

Thank god SONY doesn't have a good reputation for software of hardware quality when it comes to phones, least not down here in OZ.

Jean-Paul

Some may like it, but...

Some may like it, but I think that is the biggest downfall with Android....You have a vanilla UI with the Google phone...HTC do a little bit of their own, Motorola does a lot and then the Sony Ericsson models feel different yet again....Where is the consistency in user experience? I think its greatest strengths open platform and flexibility are at the same time its biggest downfall....

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