Google Reportedly Working on Own-Branded Phone Set for Release This Year

[v0lume4]

74 years old and an Apple addict from almost the beginning, I have owned almost every Mac from the beginning, plus iPods, and most MacBooks. I am heavily invested. I also had a moderate amount of Apple stock. When I recently learned that Tim Cook valued his LGBT lifestyle over his fiduciary responsibility to the stockholders and that he was leveraging Apple against Trump, I decided to dump my Apple stock. Glad I did since BREXIT has accelerated the loss of stock value. I got out at a good time. I am not too fond of Google, but I am seriously considering changing my iPhone 4S, iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 Plus for new Google offering. See, at my age, I do not have to impress anyone by having the latest seemingly mediocre Apple product.

To second what you said, I don't believe that ANY company has a place in politics. That goes for Apple, Google, and everyone else (the hundreds if not thousands) of companies that are lobbying our government for their interests and not the interests of the American people. Unfortunately this happens everywhere, not just America and our government. Good riddance.

 

[Zirel]

You can't actually compare Motorola under Google, because at the time they didn't really want to compete that hard in the mobile hardware world to not alienate other OEMs.

And now they want to compete hard and alienate OEM's, specially Samsung?

Good strategy, Google!

 

[dampfnudel]

Like any smart business they smell blood in the water and are ready to take a bite out of Apple. Declining sales, yesterday's tech for tomorrow's prices and (easiest of all to pounce on) ridiculously high profit margins. Competition breeds innovation, perhaps this'll get Apple to stop phoning it in (pun intended) and get back to their core business.

Tru dat a million times. It looks like Apple needs a higher/hotter flame under its derrière. In the past, Steve would provide that in-house for his development teams.

 

[JGIGS]

If I did not have an iPhone, it would be a nexus. It is a very similar experience IMO...clean and nearly no bloat.

I wish they still made a google play version of the samsung galaxy phones. but I'm guessing a lot of people just rooted regular galaxy phones and installed a rom that was pretty much pure Android,

 

[Keirasplace]

74 years old and an Apple addict from almost the beginning, I have owned almost every Mac from the beginning, plus iPods, and most MacBooks. I am heavily invested. I also had a moderate amount of Apple stock. When I recently learned that Tim Cook valued his LGBT lifestyle over his fiduciary responsibility to the stockholders and that he was leveraging Apple against Trump, I decided to dump my Apple stock. Glad I did since BREXIT has accelerated the loss of stock value. I got out at a good time. I am not too fond of Google, but I am seriously considering changing my iPhone 4S, iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 Plus for new Google offering. See, at my age, I do not have to impress anyone by having the latest seemingly mediocre Apple product.

WTH argument is that! Wow, talk about non sequitur.

 

[dan110]

I would actually give the Google phone a try if I knew they would actually stand behind it longer than three years. They're as fickle as a teenage girl.

 

[bozzykid]

Google don't manufacturer those themselves, they still have partnerships to manufacturer them. That won't change with the Pixel phone if one ever emerges, and it will likely be with someone like Huawei or Foxconn

No. Google does not use a partnership to build the Pixel hardware. It is designed by Google themselves and the manufacturing is sub-contracted just as Apple does it. That is what this article is referring to. They already use partnerships for their Nexus phones. Clearly Google is considering moving to the Pixel model for their phones so they have complete control.
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And now they want to compete hard and alienate OEM's, specially Samsung?

Yes they do. Considering Samsung is working to move to their own OS, Google has to respond by having more control over Android hardware.
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Like any smart business they smell blood in the water and are ready to take a bite out of Apple.

This has little to do with competing with Apple. It is more about losing control of the Android OEMs. If anything, this will hurt 3rd party Android smartphone sales. It would be hard to cause major harm with Apple considering the smartphone market is already saturated.

 

[WhatUp?]

I had an issue with Google Play Music which allows 4 device 'de-authrorisations' per year. I go through a lot more phones than that

Wow!! More than 4 phones a year. Perhaps you should consider an iPhone, I've had mine for 4 years.

 

[mi7chy]

Glad Google is focusing on hardware. While Android is top notch what holds me back from buying Nexus is the mediocre Chinese quality much like iPhone. Samsung level hardware quality and pure Android would be a great match.

 

[Surf Donkey]

And now they want to compete hard and alienate OEM's, specially Samsung?

Good strategy, Google!

Which is exactly why this story is bunk.

 

[mi7chy]

Guy at work has a Note 5. Came out in October 2015, around the same time as Marshmallow. He just got Marshmallow a couple weeks ago. That's almost 8 months for a flagship device to get the latest version of Android. Utterly pathetic.

But even Samsung flavor of Android Kit Kat which is older than Lollipop has more advanced features than current iOS on iPhone and even if you update to iOS it won't guarantee that you'll get new iOS features because Apple forces you to buy new iPhone to get them.

 

[MRU]

74 years old and an Apple addict from almost the beginning, I have owned almost every Mac from the beginning, plus iPods, and most MacBooks. I am heavily invested. I also had a moderate amount of Apple stock. When I recently learned that Tim Cook valued his LGBT lifestyle over his fiduciary responsibility to the stockholders and that he was leveraging Apple against Trump, I decided to dump my Apple stock. Glad I did since BREXIT has accelerated the loss of stock value. I got out at a good time. I am not too fond of Google, but I am seriously considering changing my iPhone 4S, iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 Plus for new Google offering. See, at my age, I do not have to impress anyone by having the latest seemingly mediocre Apple product.

Google support LGBT rights just as much, if not more so than Apple both socially and politically, so if you're prime motivation is for homophobic reasons then Google offer no solace.

 

[MRU]

Wow!! More than 4 phones a year. Perhaps you should consider an iPhone, I've had mine for 4 years.

What makes you think for 1 second that i don't have an iPhone or multiple iPhones ? I am a community expert for Vodafone, I get to own and experience many phones. I'm not bound by one single company or device, and appreciate what the myriad of great technology out there has to offer, not just blindly experience 'some'...


Likewise as many other iPhone users here i would always upgrade my phone every year regardless. So owning a 4 year old phone whether it was by Google or Apple is irrelevant to me.

 

[bxsonic]

Not sure what a Google branded phone can offer over the Nexus phones or other android phones. Chips will probably be sourced from Qualcomm, screens probably from Samsung, etc. Anything exclusive to Google phone would just drive OEMs away from Android. Meh

 

[EricTheHalfBee]

But even Samsung flavor of Android Kit Kat which is older than Lollipop has more advanced features than current iOS on iPhone and even if you update to iOS it won't guarantee that you'll get new iOS features because Apple forces you to buy new iPhone to get them.

Sure it does. I guess if you think widgets or animated wallpapers are more advanced. Under the hood iOS crushes Android with technology. Android is all flash and no substance. An example? It's still using software based encryption when the iPhone has had hardware encryption since the 3GS. Do you know how old the 3GS is? Ooooh, but you can customize your home screen. That's sooooooooo much more important than something like encryption. Just one of the reasons iOS COMPLETELY DOMINATES Android in enterprise/corporate use. You know, by people who actually need to get real work done on their devices.

 

[falainber]

Wow!! More than 4 phones a year. Perhaps you should consider an iPhone, I've had mine for 4 years.

Most phones can last four years. Some people can afford changing Android phones four times every year. Few people can afford replacing iPhones four times per year.

 

[mattopotamus]

I wish they still made a google play version of the samsung galaxy phones. but I'm guessing a lot of people just rooted regular galaxy phones and installed a rom that was pretty much pure Android,

I'm right there with you. The GS4 play edition was really expensive for a long time though.

 

[physicsprof]

"News and Rumors you care about"

Exactly - we want to hear about watchbands and new shades of space gray! Yay!! Sigh.
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[...] even if you update to iOS it won't guarantee that you'll get new iOS features because Apple forces you to buy new iPhone to get them.

I wish I wouldn't have to agree with this, but as an iPhone 5 owner who cannot get Night Shift (because that "requires 64-bit" - seriously?), and also is not permitted to use f.lux (banned from App Store), I am afraid that Apple is more interested in their profits than in supporting older devices.

 

[diipii]

Like any smart business they smell blood in the water and are ready to take a bite out of Apple. Declining sales, yesterday's tech for tomorrow's prices and (easiest of all to pounce on) ridiculously high profit margins. Competition breeds innovation, perhaps this'll get Apple to stop phoning it in (pun intended) and get back to their core business.

Absolutely spot on and crystal clear.

 

[lowendlinux]

IMHO with about 2B smartphone users, we could use a 3rd platform competitor against Android and iOS. Competition is good.

Maybe there could be an open source one like Linux vs Wind and OS X

There are three; Sailfish, Tizen, and Ubuntu Touch

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I don't really want a Google iPhone if the boot loader is unlocked OK if not then it's not OK

 

[mi7chy]

I wish I wouldn't have to agree with this, but as an iPhone 5 owner who cannot get Night Shift (because that "requires 64-bit" - seriously?), and also is not permitted to use f.lux (banned from App Store), I am afraid that Apple is more interested in their profits than in supporting older devices.

Right? I just wanted ad blocking which would benefit older devices a lot more but Apple decided to artificially restrict it on 32-bit devices when I know technically it's doable because Adguard runs fine on 32-bit Android Ice Cream Sandwich from 2011. So much for frequent iOS updates that I feel is primarily to remove the ability to jail break which would allow adding the stripped features.

 

[neohavix]

Have you ever used Google customer support ?

Google customer support is very good. They offer easier returns than Apple outside of the USA, and like apple have no issue replacing devices if there is a problem. Google are doing very well at this at the moment.

Likewise Google customer support often go out of their way to help you if they can, I had an issue with Google Play Music which allows 4 device 'de-authrorisations' per year. I go through a lot more phones than that and I had to contact Google a couple of times to sort this, which they did. But instead of just being re-active, they then contacted me themselves (after I explained why I had to have this corrected previous), and they proactively worked with me and my account lifting the de-authorisation limit from my account so that I never have the problem again. That's by anyones standard is fantastic customer support.

What's google's customer support number?
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IMHO with about 2B smartphone users, we could use a 3rd platform competitor against Android and iOS. Competition is good.

Maybe there could be an open source one like Linux vs Wind and OS X

There is...or, at least in this case, there was. Microsoft. However, MS can't even get out of the <1% market share. So, it's a moot point. Linux? Really? I understand your point that competition is good. The problem I see is that the current competition can't compete with Apple. They don't have the resources. Outside of Apple, no vendor has their own comparable Ax series chip. No vendor has their own "homemade" OS that is not Android. These two are integral in what makes Apple very successful in what it does.

 

[Razeus]

I'm really curious where Apple will be in 5 years.

Triple the stock price hopefully. I've got shares riding on this fact.

 

[MRU]

What's google's customer support number?

For Ireland it's 01 4361000 or 1800 710297 ...


If you need other countries you should be able to get the support number from

https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/6179357?

 

[639051]

The only problem in your reasoning is that they would probably take a bite out, but not from Apple, from their own OEMs.

Profit margins are high because the whole package is first class; for example, good luck with Google support, while Apple's is the best in town, by far and away. Then add a stunning third party hardware and software support, and deep integration with other Apple devices, instead of a mess of OS pieces from different manufacturesrs with conflicting interests and agendas.

That's why you resell an used Apple device to a consistent premium vs an Android one.

First off, I've actually used Google's support and it works really well. Takes a bit longer to get the phone replacement since it has to be shipped, but I have had no problems with them.

Second, the whole resale thing is outdated. If you have current gen tech the price isn't bad for Apple, but let it go a little and it drops like a brick like everyone else. Several Android handsets hold a premium just as well now.