THE FUTURE OF THE NEXUS PROGRAMME
Goodhour, Synapse Circuit Readers! How’s it going? I hope the weather is treating you well! It is freezing as I type! How are you getting on with your tech projects? Please let me know what you’re doing! Perhaps I can write about it!
Don’t you find yourself wondering about the state of Google? Do you think it can collapse under its own weight? Is it possible that they will go by the way of Microsoft? The Nexus 6 seems to be selling very well though!
#Google #Nexus #Silver #Android #64bitAndroid
NEXUS 6
You know my thoughts on the Nexus6 – I have one despite of the niggles that I found with it. I figured out to extend the battery life I’d just had to turn off the Ambient Display setting! All in all I thought that the Nexus 6 was a bold move on Google’s part! It looks great, it is undeniably premium and not that much of a leap from its predecessor, Nexus 5, in terms of price. And it clear that the Nexus 6 is the most technologically advanced in the Nexus handset series thus so far!
Android 5 Lollipop certainly compliments the hardware and was a clincher for me to finally go Nexus! Lollipop is by far the best version of Android and it can only get better!
SILVER
Either the Google Silver line of handsets were set to replace the Nexus line or add another line of Google’s pure Android experience. The idea was that any manufacturer can create a “Silver” premium handset by adhering to Google’s strict guidelines and by the looks of it these handsets were supposed to be the pinnacle with a 64-bit CPU cherry! And because Apple forced 64-bits on Android the transition to from 32-bit was definitely not the smoothest to say the least but it is not the slowest by any means! I think Google and the whole Android industry are coping quite well! The first Sliver Android handset was to come from LG and it was supposed to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 CPU! Now that the imminent Galaxy S6 has revealed that there could be some heating problems with the Snapdragon 810 this could be the reason why the Silver line of handsets did not materialize (no pun intended on the Lollipop ‘Material’ concept) at the end of 2014. So, plan B turned out to be a massive Moto X 2014! I’ve no real complaints there! The Moto X design amplified for the Nexus 6 is pure sweetness! The Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, 2.7GHz CPU is very fast along with the Adreno 420 GPU handling the graphics it is pure magic! Lollipop features loads of animation as part of the interface user experience feedback which is an area that could cause lag as with older Android versions; there is no lag whatsoever!
The Nexus 6 was designed to not only outclass the iPhone 6 Plus in terms of design but to demonstrate that a 64-bit CPU isn’t everything! It true! The fact that the Nexus 6 (and Galaxy Note 4) aren’t running on a 64-bit CPU was not an issue for me at all!
Still, a Samsung representative did say that they were waiting for Google to deliver a 64-bit Android (around the time of the Galaxy S5 launch – if memory serves) and that makes me wonder why they (Samsung) didn’t have a 64-bit CPU themselves waiting to go! Samsung could have been the one and only Silver handset on the market! As you know, Samsung manufactures chips – notably for Apple! So, I don’t get it! While Samsung is the only company that I know of that can conceptualize a handset / tablet and get it to market so rapidly I would have thought that its Exynos chips would be waiting to dominate the Android world last year! I would imagine that Samsung have already developed its own operating system, Tizen, in 64-bits in anticipation, no?
EQUALITY
Many Apple based tech media sources have it that Android is “fragmented” what with the different versions – it’s not true btw! But are the different 64-bit CPUs from different manufacturers such as Qualcomm (Snapdragon), Intel (Atom), NVIDIA (Tegra) and MediaTek made equally? Oh, not to mention Samsung’s 7420 Exynos processor thrown into the ring! Do the different 64-bit CPUs mean that certain apps won’t be able to function across these different manufacture brand CPUs???? Is this a potential headache for app developers?
Take Android tablets as a prime example of CPU fragmentation in that you ought to know you can’t expect the same performance from a £80 device as one costing over £300! The NVIDIA gaming tablet, Shield, using the Tegra K1 seems to have very few games that can make use of the 64-bit CPU! The K1 CPU also features in the Google Nexus 9 tablet!
2014: THE LAST OF NEXUS?
Could it be that as 64-bit Android takes hold in 2015 it will spell the end for the Nexus line of products? 64-bit enabled Android devices means that consumers will be able to record Ultra-HD 4K (and possibly higher) video it will certainly mean that the Nexus devices cannot come without a microSD slot or two! I don’t think Google can get away with putting out another set of Nexus devices without a microSD card this year! And because of this U-turn Google might just phase out the Nexus line altogether and let the manufacturers deliver handsets and tablets designed for high performance usage with the intended Silver devices.
I think it would be a shame to phase out the Nexus line as the Moto series of handsets could easily be rebranded as Nexus! I would imagine that people would want different sized handsets to suit their tastes and the Nexus branding of the Moto series could hit that consumer sweet spot!
We’ll just have to wait and see what Google will announce this year!
Would you miss the Nexus devices? I think I will because the Nexus concept has been iconic in that Google have allowed the different manufacturers to shine and deliver cost effective devices to the consumer!
MOTOROLA? HTC? AGAIN???
If there is going to be a new Nexus line this year would you want Motorola to do another handset? I would want Motorola to come back and do another handset and perhaps with a removable battery! I can’t say, at this stage, that I would want to see HTC do another tablet! I have understood that HTC will announce new tablets at the Mobile World Congress in March and I am curious about those! But I do feel that Samsung and ASUS makes some formidable tablets and I would want to see them come back for the next Nexus tablet or tablets! Perhaps Google will give NVIDIA a shot at the Nexus tablet! How about Lenovo? Lenovo could create an interesting 64-bit tablet... Who knows what Google will end up doing? I am pretty sure that whatever has been decided that planning started towards the end of last year!
IN CLOSING: LONG LIVE THE NEXUS
I think it would be premature to kill off the Nexus devices as there is a lot of mileage left in it! Maybe the Silver programme has been scrapped!
One more thing... Former Motorola CEO, Dennis Woodside has stated that the reason why there is no fingerprint scanner on the Nexus 6, where the Motorola logo dimple is located, is down to Apple buying up the company that provided the best fingerprint scanning solution. But you know what? We don’t need a fingerprint scanner! I’ve said once, a hundred times and I will say it again:-
A fingerprint scanner might be easier than swiping a pattern to unlock or entering a password but imagine that you have had an exhausting day at a work. You then travel on public transportation; you use your handset to send an email, etc and you fall into a deep sleep as I have seen others do so many times... All a thief would have to do is ease your phone out of your pocket (if you didn’t let it fall out of your hands) and use your finger to unlock it. Simple!
Or you could be asleep at home and your child or significant other can have access to your phone! I find the fingerprint scanner on the iPhone silly for the reasons above. We just don’t need it on Android! Perhaps the fingerprint scanner is designed to add to the data collected on us for the purpose of snooping and what not! We certainly don’t need that!
Can Google end up by the way of Microsoft?
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