back to article Nexus One resuscitated as 'Pure Google Nexus S'

Rumors of a Google Nexus One resurrection refuse to die. On Thursday, as noticed by Phandroid, US electronics retailer Best Buy published a page to its website indicating it will soon offer a "Pure Google" phone known as the "Nexus S." The thought of Pure Googleness gives us the willies. But some people find it very comforting …

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  1. Goat Jam
    Thumb Up

    "This is a small thing. But quite important to some."

    To hazard a guess I would suggest that a phone unencumbered by manufacturer/telco "improvements" is not reliant on said manufacturer/telco for its updates.

  2. Alastair 7

    Wuhh?

    "But what made the Nexus One the Nexus One was that it was sold from Google's very own webstore."

    No... what made the Nexus One the Nexus One was, y'know, the Nexus One. The phone. The hardware, which was pretty much the best handset out there at launch. And the software, which is still updated more regularly than any other phone out there.

    We'll have to see whether the same will apply to the Nexus S, but Cade's insistence (in every article) that the Nexus One was a failure is getting boring. The web store was a failure. The phone itself was critically lauded, and I'm yet to meet someone who owns one that dislikes it. There's plenty to criticise about Google- how about we choose something valid next time?

    1. Craig Mulvaney
      Thumb Down

      I owned it and hated it

      I bought one direct from Google, and returned it within 14 days. Many, many problems with it - battery life, WiFi performance, music player randomly stopping, pictures not showing in the album after taking them, 12 hour battery life to name but a few....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        Re: I owned it and hated it

        I see that you are the same person who moaned about lag on your Hero, even though HTC had fixed that issue with a firmware update months before.

        You seem to make a habit of buying Android phones just so you can slag them off and say how great the iPhone is in comparison. Do you work for Apple, or are you just a slow learner?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What made the Nexus One

    "But what made the Nexus One the Nexus One was that it was sold from Google's very own webstore."

    For me at least, where I purchased it from was of little consequence. What mattered to me was that:

    a. it was the leading Android device of the time

    b. it has an unlockable boot loader (no need to root)

    c. it runs vanilla Android

    d. it will receive updates independent of operators

    I'm not so sure the Nexus S will do this, being made by Samsung and with how fragile the Galaxy S feels, I'm not all that excited about the Nexus S.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I thought I was the only person to love my N1

      Poor marketing was it's downfall. Technically, it's great and I'm not locked in to an operator who bastardises making it less usable.

      Oh, it satisfies my inner Linux geek as well.

      I'm looking forward to Gingerbread.

  4. Tech Hippy

    Not thrilled by the Nexus S but..

    at least there's still an option for vanilla Android.

    I might not buy into the Nexus S (the N1's still running fine thanks) but if Google can keep the Nexus line going over time then I might buy the next one (HTC please thanks very much)..

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    WTF!

    "But what made the Nexus One the Nexus One was that it was sold from Google's very own webstore."

    Absolute bollocks! Garbage reporting at its very best. As somebody else pointed out what made the Nexus One the Nexus One were the cutting edge specs (at launch), the quality of the product, the openess of the handset o/s and the frequency of the updates. Furthermore in the UK the handset was sold by at least one operator and continues to do so.

    Cade - STFU or go work for Rupert Murdoch & News Corp....

    Paris - coz she doesn't know what she's talking about either :-)

  6. Gizzit101
    Terminator

    Got to say...

    ...I'm a very happy Nexus One owner, and I'm bewildered that anyone cannot see the advantages of running "vanilla" Android.

    With the increasing (but futile it seems) efforts of carriers and manufacturers to lock-down new Android handsets, encrypt bootloaders, and install tons of unnecessary and annoying "crapware", give me vanilla every time.

    I'm running Android 2.2.1 - and I'll be running Gingerbread pretty soon. Getting updates direct from Google for the win (as we geeks say).

    There hasn't been a handset released yet that makes the N1 seem dated or obsolete - not for what I use a smartphone for anyway.

    Personally, I just think its a pity that the next "developer handset" is being manufactured by Samsung - I reckon the build quality from HTC is unquestionably superior. Never mind, I'll keep using my N1 until it cannot cope with the updated o/s, or until the Nexus 3/T/Z or whatever is released.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Web Store replaced by Best Buy & Carphone Warehouse

    According to various rumours that are starting to coalesce the device will still be sold direct to consumers, just via Best Buy and their partially owned UK equivalent Carphone Warehouse. This is more awkward in the states where you need different phones for different networks because of GSM vs CDMA thing, but it seems the core idea is still alive.

    For us brits it's a step up from buying the Nexus One locked and exclusive to Vodafone.

  8. [Yamthief]
    Linux

    Vinilla is all well and good...

    ...but I couldn't do everything I wanted to do without have HTC Sense. I tried, and I just didn't like it. I can see the advantages of having a Google Vanilla OS (speed of updates primarily) but I'm happy to just wait and get a nice shiny UI and additional functionality, like better integrated Facbook and Twitter.

    The Nexus One didn't sell anywhere near as many handsets as it should have done, so supplying through a company like the Carphone Warehouse is the best bet in my opinion.

  9. The Grime
    WTF?

    cutting-edge at the time...?

    The Nexus One is still less than a year old, which admittedly is an aeon in cellphone terms, but it's spec still stands up today. In fact I purchased one for Android development as I believe it will still be a harware yardstick for a good couple of years.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Grime

      >In fact I purchased one for Android development

      Google are still selling loads of them to developers via Android Market - there's a 10 handset limit as they can't meet demand.

      > I believe it will still be a hardware yardstick for a good couple of years.

      By definition - its the Android WVGA reference platform - 2.3 is out any minute, 3.0 is already confirmed.

  10. rahul
    Pint

    "S" is for...

    ... SuperMan (SuperPhone?)!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yay

    Hurray, finally an android phone which runs android; you know as it was intended. We need more stock android phones and with qwerty keyboards

  12. @dartacus

    The tech media does seem to hate the N1

    I've seen the N1 described as 'ageing', 'ill-fated', 'underwhelming' and all sorts of other nasty adjectives all over the tech media, not just in the Reg. Tech journalists in general seem to have it in for the N1, not just Cade Metz, so it's a bit unfair to get at her for just echoing what the sector at large seems to want us to think.

    I love my N1. I love getting updates before anyone else. I love the fact that a middleman can't tell me what I can or can't do with it. It's got its funny little ways, yes, but by and large it's awesome and yes, Google are flogging loads of them to developers, so it's not as if there isn't any demand for an unf**ked with Android phone.

    G

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: The tech media does seem to hate the N1

      Cade is a dude, man.

      1. @dartacus

        Oops

        Apologies to all involved: this isn't the first time, and no doubt it won't be the last, that I've mis-gendered an American based on their name. ;-)

        This is the point where you tell me he's a Brit, probably.

        G

  13. E 2
    Unhappy

    Fear and not fear and fear

    Androids or iPhones have the advantage that they are app platforms as well as being telephones, and the apps can be created by anyone with the skill to do so.

    Apple wants to control what apps run on the iPhone, and AFAICT Google does not (how could it given it does not control the hardware).

    Still, I worry that Google may be data mining my gmail account, so I don't use gmail for anything very important.

    I own a simple cell phone that makes phone calls. I'd like to have a nice graphical iPhone/Dream/Nexus, and I'd have a cross compiler for it installed on one of my PCs right quick.

    Still, I just do not know who would really in fact *own* the cell phone - me or the vendor?

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