its below it
Essential Official Android Thread
its below it
Android head Andy Rubin calls the lack of LTE a "tactical issue," and cites cost and battery life as major concerns with devices that have to support multiple radios. "A lot of the networks that have deployed LTE haven't scaled completely yet — they're hybrid networks [...] which means the devices need both radios built into them," he said. "When we did the Galaxy Nexus with LTE we had to do just that, and it just wasn't a great user experience." But the reality now is that many LTE devices — including the iPhone 5 and the LG Optimus G, which shares common hardware with the Nexus 4 — use larger batteries and newer, more efficient chips to balance the power draw from LTE.
VERIZON'S LTE OPEN ACCESS RULES ARE VIRTUALLY MEANINGLESS
That leaves the issue of control, and the politics of LTE network access tilt almost exclusively towards carriers. For example, Verizon has offered an "Open Development" initiative since 2008, offering other companies the ability to run devices on its networks, including the LTE network. "As long as the person follows our specifications and certification process as outlined on our open access website, they can get a device on our network," a Verizon spokesperson told us. However, that program — which to date has primarily been used in a business-to-business context — would still prevent Google from updating its phones in a timely manner. "Firmware pushed to devices over the air must be tested and certified," Verizon told us.
Ironically, Verizon's LTE network runs on 700MHz "C Block" spectrum which has FCC "open access" rules attached to it, which require that any compatible device be allowed to connect. Google fought vociferously to put these rules in place, even participating in the FCC's spectrum auction to ensure Verizon paid the minimum bid price that triggered the rules. But the rules have turned out to be virtually meaningless in practice, as Verizon uses 700MHz in conjunction with CDMA spectrum that doesn’t have similar open access rules — so while Verizon might be legally required to support an unlocked LTE device, the legacy CDMA network still effectively keeps all of Verizon’s phones locked.
AT&T WILL ALLOW UNLOCKED DEVICES TO ACCESS ITS LTE NETWORK
For GSM / HSPA carriers, the issues are primarily economic, not access. AT&T, T-Mobile, and international carriers all uniformly allow unlocked devices to run on their GSM / HSPA networks, and AT&T says it will allow any unlocked device to access its LTE network, although the carrier can't guarantee everything will work or that it would be able to provide technical support.
But building an LTE phone is an extremely costly undertaking with sharply limited potential markets. Although Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Everything Everywhere, and other carriers are working quickly to roll out LTE networks, it's still a nascent technology with significant interoperability problems across many spectrum bands, requiring companies to create different hardware variants of their phones for each network. Profitably building all those variants requires either financial assistance from the carriers or a large addressable market for an unlocked device. So while Verizon has by far the largest LTE network in the world, covering over 400 markets and over 250 million people in the US, Google has no access to those customers. Other LTE networks are much smaller: AT&T currently has LTE in just 77 markets covering 135 million people, and Everything Everywhere in the UK has a goal of covering only 20 million people by year's end.
NEXUS PHONES HAVE NEVER BEEN BESTSELLERS
In short, the number of people that Google could reach with any single unlocked LTE Nexus 4 is relatively small. And while the Nexus 4 looks like a solid flagship device, Nexus phones have never been bestsellers, shrinking an already-small potential market to virtually nothing. Google may be getting serious about selling hardware with the Nexus 4, but not so serious that it's willing to compromise with carriers, and compromising with carriers is the only way to make LTE work.
WTF HTC
ZTE has today announced that it is ranked as the 4th biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world as of Q3 2012, superseding HTC. Shipping 7.5 million handsets in a quarter is not to be sniffed at, but we suspect they're still a long way off the top spot.
It'll interesting to see how things change over the next couple of quarters. In Q3 this year ZTE were only 0.1% in front of RIM who are still holding on, but with BlackBerry 10 on the horizon they too could move up the rankings next year.
ZTE has today announced that it is ranked as the 4th biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world as of Q3 2012, superseding HTC. Shipping 7.5 million handsets in a quarter is not to be sniffed at, but we suspect they're still a long way off the top spot.
It'll interesting to see how things change over the next couple of quarters. In Q3 this year ZTE were only 0.1% in front of RIM who are still holding on, but with BlackBerry 10 on the horizon they too could move up the rankings next year.
so you are about to lose all the feature of the gs3 lol
now you gonna be stuck with a hardware menu button lol
capacitive buttons work nikka
look at youtubeand fukk all these s3 features i dont use, this stock shyt looks beautiful
STAN JONES
Fire John Harbaugh
so clean Android remains top dog in US and Europe, market share down however in the States
Our favorite mobile OS has more than half of the total market share in the US, UK and the entire Europe, while iOS is the very distant second in all three rankings. The biggest gap is on The Old Continent, where Android crushes Apple’s mobile platform 67.1 to 16.5%.
That’s also where Android grew the most over 2012’s third fiscal quarter, from a market share of “just” 50.9% in Q3 2011. There’s good news on the UK front too, where Android had a smaller, but still very healthy boost of 4.8%, from 53.4 to 58.2.
Brits boosted iOS from 18.1% to 28%, which is still way behind Android’s market share, but a (small) reason of concern nevertheless. As for the States, the good news/bad news scenario repeats itself, though there is clearly a lot more of worrying to do here.
Android leads with 57.5% stateside, which is pretty good compared with iOS’s 35.7% share, but if we look at the year-on-year trend, things are not very promising. Apple’s platform enjoyed a very cool 14.2% increase year-on-year, while Google’s OS is down from 66.4%.
The causes of this rather unexpected fall? Well, believe it or not, Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar, thinks that the iPhone 5 is to blame. Although the company’s report included just one week of iPhone 5 sales, this is thought to have been enough to put iOS on that very encouraging upwards trend and Android on a downwards spiral.
“We can see that in markets with a large number of existing Apple customers, sales have already seen a significant boost. We expect this momentum to be fully realized in the next set of results. “ says Sunnebo, anticipating a far bleaker final quarter of 2012 for Android. Exactly how bleak we don’t yet know, but one thing is certain – Android will remain the leader no matter what, even if by a much smaller margin than before.
Our favorite mobile OS has more than half of the total market share in the US, UK and the entire Europe, while iOS is the very distant second in all three rankings. The biggest gap is on The Old Continent, where Android crushes Apple’s mobile platform 67.1 to 16.5%.
That’s also where Android grew the most over 2012’s third fiscal quarter, from a market share of “just” 50.9% in Q3 2011. There’s good news on the UK front too, where Android had a smaller, but still very healthy boost of 4.8%, from 53.4 to 58.2.
Brits boosted iOS from 18.1% to 28%, which is still way behind Android’s market share, but a (small) reason of concern nevertheless. As for the States, the good news/bad news scenario repeats itself, though there is clearly a lot more of worrying to do here.
Android leads with 57.5% stateside, which is pretty good compared with iOS’s 35.7% share, but if we look at the year-on-year trend, things are not very promising. Apple’s platform enjoyed a very cool 14.2% increase year-on-year, while Google’s OS is down from 66.4%.
The causes of this rather unexpected fall? Well, believe it or not, Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar, thinks that the iPhone 5 is to blame. Although the company’s report included just one week of iPhone 5 sales, this is thought to have been enough to put iOS on that very encouraging upwards trend and Android on a downwards spiral.
“We can see that in markets with a large number of existing Apple customers, sales have already seen a significant boost. We expect this momentum to be fully realized in the next set of results. “ says Sunnebo, anticipating a far bleaker final quarter of 2012 for Android. Exactly how bleak we don’t yet know, but one thing is certain – Android will remain the leader no matter what, even if by a much smaller margin than before.
Nexus 4 to have bumper accessories available, not for the same reasons as the iPhone 4
The Nexus 4 and iPhone 4 seem to share some similarities. Both were lost in bars in California by testers working for Google and Apple, respectively, and both share the same interest in glass. Yes, the front and back of the LG Nexus 4 are made of glass also, and it looks like the device will get bumper accessories when it launches, but not for the same reasons.
The iPhone 4 was plagued at launch by an unexpected problem, the Death Grip, also known as Antennagate, which prompted Apple to offer free bumpers to users that observed cellular signal attenuation when holding the handset the wrong way.
The bumpers were supposed to serve as protection for the device, without hiding the front and back glass panels, but they ended up protecting the antenna of the iPhone 4 from human touch as well.
The LG Nexus 4 doesnt come with an Antennagate problem out-of-the-box but buyers will apparently have access to a similar accessory to protect the glass design.
Moreover, the handset has an edge-to-edge screen, so a bumper may be indeed needed to protect it. Googles Dan Morrill revealed on Google+ that such accessories will be indeed in stock:
Weve actually got some bumpers (ring-like cases that wrap the side but not the back) coming as accessories for Nexus 4, if thats how you roll.
On the back, there is indeed a small raised ridge, which should prevent scratches if not breaks.
The Nexus 4 and iPhone 4 seem to share some similarities. Both were lost in bars in California by testers working for Google and Apple, respectively, and both share the same interest in glass. Yes, the front and back of the LG Nexus 4 are made of glass also, and it looks like the device will get bumper accessories when it launches, but not for the same reasons.
The iPhone 4 was plagued at launch by an unexpected problem, the Death Grip, also known as Antennagate, which prompted Apple to offer free bumpers to users that observed cellular signal attenuation when holding the handset the wrong way.
The bumpers were supposed to serve as protection for the device, without hiding the front and back glass panels, but they ended up protecting the antenna of the iPhone 4 from human touch as well.
The LG Nexus 4 doesnt come with an Antennagate problem out-of-the-box but buyers will apparently have access to a similar accessory to protect the glass design.
Moreover, the handset has an edge-to-edge screen, so a bumper may be indeed needed to protect it. Googles Dan Morrill revealed on Google+ that such accessories will be indeed in stock:
Weve actually got some bumpers (ring-like cases that wrap the side but not the back) coming as accessories for Nexus 4, if thats how you roll.
On the back, there is indeed a small raised ridge, which should prevent scratches if not breaks.
The Fukin Prophecy
RIP Champ
As much as I'm unhappy with the minimal space capacity and lack of LTE, having a pure Google phone is a big plus...
So I've been seriously contemplating using my upgrade for the Iphone 5, flipping that and copping the new Nexus...
Basically a free piff new phone and a profit...Only real negative is I got to reup with ATT...
So I've been seriously contemplating using my upgrade for the Iphone 5, flipping that and copping the new Nexus...
Basically a free piff new phone and a profit...Only real negative is I got to reup with ATT...
JMurder
SOHH Member since 01...
Tha Snowman
Rookie
Not a bad idea. Hspa is fast enough for the majority of things you do on a phone.
I still can't believe they won't include an LTE enabled nexus in a mid-cycle refresh though. The LTE enabled S4 chipset has been turning in decent battery life results.
Having an unlimited data plan on Verizon, I'm not going anywhere until they force me off of it, but I really want a new nexus. Hoping Google/Verizon can come to an understanding.
For the Voice settings in Google Now, I see
- Language
- Speech Output
- Block Offensive Words
- Personalized Recognition
- Google Account Dashboard