Brought on by the ridiculous miss-handling of the Galaxy Nexus by Verizon Wireless the guys over at Android Community have suggested that Google make a Nexus Certification Program where any OEM can submit devices for the Nexus label. Months of delay caused by Verizon’s desire to partner with ISIS for a NFC payment system that won’t be ready until early 2012, combined with Verizon’s and other carriers’ need to lock bootloaders for major releases like the Droid Razr and carriers’ ability to have apps removed from the Android market seemingly at will are reason enough for me to agree with the proposal made by Android Community.
The problem is that as Android has come of age and become more widely accepted carriers and OEMs have meddled and messed with what Android was meant to be. Fortunately Google started the Nexus label as the “Pure Android Experience.” But if this latest Nexus device is an indicator of what’s to come Google really needs to go back to where it started and wield some of the power we saw them use in 2008 and 2009 when the Nexus One came out. But there are a couple of things that need to be addressed along with that assertion.
There also need to be more form factors associated with the Nexus label. Personally I love the giant screen super slim design. I have a Galaxy S II and am very happy with its size and design. However there are others like my Dad who prefer a real keyboard since he has thicker fingers. I know several of my friends are put off by the current trend of bigger and bigger screens, they just want a sleek easy to carry design. Another form factor I’d love to see is a Nexus phone that is ruggedized from the get go. No need to purchase an extra case, it’s military grade out of the box.
All of these things can be possible if Google would make a Nexus Certification Program which would speed up the process by which new Nexus devises are released. Basically OEMs would submit devices, get approval and then agree to NOT put any bloatware etc on the devices thus producing the pure Android experience. Android Community goes so far as to “cut out the middle man” (carriers) entirely and have a Google Nexus store online where we could purchase the Nexus devices which would free up consumers to choose carriers based on service and not just what device is offered. For instance, I’d love to get my hands on a Galaxy Nexus but I’m happy with my T-Mobile service and don’t want to switch. If I could purchase a T-Mobile Galaxy Nexus version from Google I then have total freedom to choose what carrier works for me and still have one of the best phones on the market. Get the picture?
Another feature of the Nexus branding would be OTA updates from Google directly. Since the Nexus branded devices would have to fit certain criteria Google could have the freedom to update them directly. This would eliminate the months of waiting for OEMs and carriers to update software after Google puts out a new release. It would also hopefully help with the Android’s fragmentation problem. If you had a Nexus device you could rest assured that you won’t be left behind on the next big release or even just going from 2.2 to 2.3!
Point is there needs to be a Pure Android Experience standard and I hope the Nexus brand will be it. Maybe we the end-users can influence the decision. But I fear if this doesn’t happen Android will lose its way and be a failed experiment in Open-Source caused by greedy carriers who don’t really care about the end-user’s experience.
