Google kills the Nexus One

[Robert Maxwell]

Google's experiment--selling Android-based phones directly to consumers, online--has failed. No longer will the Nexus One be available online for purchase from Google.



Those of you who have Android-based phones, how did you get them? Anyone here buy an N1 straight from Google? Would you do it again, buying a phone sight-unseen?

 

[Marc]

Google's experiment--selling Android-based phones directly to consumers, online--has failed. No longer will the Nexus One be available online for purchase from Google.



Those of you who have Android-based phones, how did you get them? Anyone here buy an N1 straight from Google? Would you do it again, buying a phone sight-unseen?

Google actually announced this back in May.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/google-abandons-smart-phone-web-store/article1569217/

and people are only paying attention now?

Oh well, Motorola have just released the Droid X and it gets a very good write up on Anandtech though like many phones there's one very very very big draw back - it's being tied to one carrier - Verizon.

 

[Goliath]

Tsk, tsk.

Google hasn't "killed" the Nexus One.

They've retired it.

 

[STR]

I've had my Nexus One since Feb. Best phone I've yet owned, and I've owned a lot. The best part about the N1 is that it's the basic Android install, there's no extra stuff to slow it down. Which means that if I want a new homescreen, I just go to the market and download Launcher Pro, or whatever homescreen/launcher I want. I dabbled a bit in rooting and custom ROM's, I might still flash Cyanogen, but the stock experience is good enough. There may come a day when Google no longer supports OS updates to the N1, but with everything unlocked I know I can still try them out.

Then there's being on the bleeding edge of Android, I was using the test build for a month before the official 2.2 update, which will have been out for 2 months before any other phone gets it. Flash is really nice, most webgames are now totally playable from my phone, which gives me about as many good games as any other mobile OS does (not to drag this into a competition, just saying ports of web-based flash games are a staple of the Apple App Store. Locally stored versions aren't necessarily a bad thing.).

Am I sad to see it gone from consumer shelves? Meh. Not really, I already got mine. If anyone wants one in the future, they'd just have to register as an Android developer ($25 fee) and buy there. There's some B&M places that sell it, and rumor has it Amazon might pick it up. For our foreign friends, Vodafone won't stop selling it.

There was something really cool about actually buying something from Google. You usually think of it as a provider of free services (yeah, you pay for it with information, not the same thing, you don't get an invoice for that).

From "How Has Your Smartphone/iPod Touch (Portable WWW Device) Changed Life?" My complete list of cellphones I've owned, this is over about 4 years, N1 beats them all:

HTC Nexus One (Android 2.1/2.2)
HTC Touch Pro (Windows Mobile 6.1/6.5)
Motorola KRZR K1 (dumbphone, I was feeling retro and bought one for $30 unlocked)
Nokia E71 (Symbian 3rd Ed)
iPhone 3G (iOS 2.x)
Palm Centro (PalmOS Garnet)
HTC Tilt (Windows Mobile 6.0/6.1)
Motorola Q9h (Windows Mobile 6)
Blackberry Pearl 8100 (I HATE Blackberries)
Nokia E62 (Symbian 2nd Ed, what a giant hunk of crap that thing was)
Motorola RAZR V3xx (damn good phone, used it for a year, gave it to my GF, who used it for 6 months, then gave it to her mom who still uses it)
Samsung BlackJack (Windows Mobile 5/6.0)
Motorola KRZR K1m (man that was a sexy phone for the time, decent MP3 player, oddly enough was faster and had better software than the K1 I bought years later)
Motorola RAZR V3c (bought one to shut my GF up)

 

[RapidNadion]

Nexus One was an interesting experiment on Google's part. I myself carry the EVO 4G, the latest in a long line of smartphones. I love it, but as STR says, N1 users have the leg up on every other Android user because they have the only phone guaranteed to get first dibs on new versions of the OS as they're rolled out. At least for the time being.

Funny there's a cellphone thread up now: just recently I snapped up a very rare Trek-related cellphone on eBay. Waiting for it to arrive before I share some pics with the community, but I'm super stoked.

 

[Arrqh]

Am I sad to see it gone from consumer shelves? Meh. Not really, I already got mine.

Well it was never really on consumer shelves, which was of course the problem. Not to mention the lack of advertising geared towards the general consumer (did they even have TV ads?) and the fact that US customers expect a subsidy. Even the T-Mobile N1 subsidy had odd strings attached to it. When I tell people how much I paid for my N1 their eyes tend to bug out... meanwhile, I'm pretty sure my sister got her nearly hardware-identical HTC Incredible for free. And since the big four carriers in the US all use incompatible hardware, having an unlocked phone isn't really all that helpful for most.

Anyway, I definitely don't regret my N1 purchase, though the current Android offerings in Canada are pretty anemic so my view is probably a bit more skewed compared to what it would be if I lived in the US still. I did a lot of research on the phone before I bought it, though I probably would have done nearly as much with a phone I could have looked at in person. I think it's probably pretty unlikely that a phone would be released with some sort of glaring problem that reviewers wouldn't catch that I'd only notice in person, but phones are very personal devices so I can understand other people being apprehensive about it.

The N1 is still for sale and still being supported, so I'm not necessarily sad to see Google no longer selling it directly, though I am sad that their experiment failed. Though I think you can't pin it all on the general idea of selling direct to consumers, I think Google made some mistakes that discouraged it from taking off. Maybe someone else can try it again in a few years...

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

I'm guessing this whole endeavor was to get Android off to a good start. I messed around with the Nexus one and I thought it was pretty awesome.

 

[Sheep]

I read that the Nexus One was Google's "Plan B" in the event other manufacturers' Android phones weren't up to snuff. Since HTC, Motorola et al. delivered, I don't know if the Nexus One was truly a failure since Google managed to get what they want--making Android spread like wildfire.

 

[JonathonWally]

I don't know if you could call a Nexus One a failure considering it's the dev kit for Android.

Google's still going to carry and sell them to developers.

 

[Arrqh]

I read that the Nexus One was Google's "Plan B" in the event other manufacturers' Android phones weren't up to snuff. Since HTC, Motorola et al. delivered, I don't know if the Nexus One was truly a failure since Google managed to get what they want--making Android spread like wildfire.

That was actually "Plan A"... one of the major goals of the Nexus One was to push all the phone manufacturers into making better phones. And on that level, the Nexus was a huge success, as we can see by all the great Android phones that are now coming to market.

 

[STR]

^Yeah, "Plan B" would be to muscle it onto every carrier in the U.S.

I recall reading that Google's goal for the N1 was 150,000 unit sales. It's done 2-3 times that and actually makes up about 2% of all Android handsets in the world. For what was a half-assed attempt (not even that, flashing web ads as your sole advertising doesn't earn you a full cheek) at marketing, it's done pretty well.

Am I sad to see it gone from consumer shelves? Meh. Not really, I already got mine.

Well it was never really on consumer shelves

It's still on consumer shelves, just not in the US.
http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/android/?icmp=int-esh-and-launch-sprm

 

[kipron]

The light that burns twice as bright..