Well , software is not and never was my strong point or even a thing of great interest . Since we are near the announcement of the next Nexus phone ( that got a little delayed ) i was thinking about how we got here , or at least my view of this trip from the nexus one up to the next one that we all should see in the coming days .
One interesting fact was and still is that Google always needed a device to test and develop Android on too .
HTC's G1 was obviously the first commercially available device but was probably not the first one that got to run Android at it's developing stages . At that time Google only needed a testbed , a device that could actually run the OS and just needed it at quantities large enough to help them develop the OS envolving as many people as possible . Each version that came to market at that time was just handed over to the manufacturers that were just a few at that time , and those manufacturers were just building devices capable of running the OS . In most cases the User Interface was left intact mostly because the phone makers were not willing to spend the money needed to customize it , optimize it and finally offer their own unique device that would stand out from the competition . This was done because Android had a very small , tiny market share at that time , and investing money on it was something that most makers were not exactly willing to do .
Things then started to change , the OS got some popularity , created and supported mostly by Google itself that recognized this and also knew that they had to do something about it . This brought the era of devices that were at least in part differentiated by their makers , with HTC betting first at it's success and transfering some of the design and UI elements they already had created for their windows mobile phones .
Things started to change quickly , this approach from HTC started to attract other manufacturers and suddenly Android started to be this immensely diverse OS that we have today .
Google had to also renew the hardware they used to develop the OS since G1 was starting to show it's age and at the same time they also knew that in order to keep the balance between the phone makers that changed the UI at their own will , they also had to offer a device to the consumers that would show them how they intended the OS to look like on the first place .
With HTC being the biggest Android supporter at that time , and with companied like Sony Ericsson refusing to build the device for some reason , Google turned to them once again to create the first Nexus phone .
Google at that time was in no way able to support the device globally , or even sell it outside North America , since their retail business model was very weak . This meant that the Nexus One quantities would be small and HTC had to find a way to cover that loss . Combined with the fact that HTC offered Google with a choice of a device that was already at the development stage , is what brought as both the Nexus One and the HTC desire , with the second one aiming primarily at those markets that Google was not going to be present .
Even though the Nexus One can not be described as a commercial success , it did serve it's purpose and provided Google both with a test bed for developing the OS even further and with a benchmark device that the phone makers should try to keep up with at least with their high end devices .
When the time came for the second Necus device to appear on the market , things were a lot different and Google was aiming at being able to sell the device in at least a few other countries . This presented an even bigger problem since Google had absolutely no idea and no experience in providing supoort for consumer devices at that time . This meant that the manufacturer that would create the device would also have to support it in those markets that Google could not .
Samsung then came to the forefront , which by now was already on track to be Android's biggest phone maker and even back then was also able to provide Google with a high end device .
Samsung offered Google the hardware that Samsung was already using on their Galaxy S phone , for many different reasons . First of all Samsung was already familiar with it and had most of it's problems worked out by then . They were also making it at quantities large enough to be able to just provide Google with the small amounts they needed without having to find a way to cover the rest of the development costs .
At the same time , Samsung was already creating the successor to the Galaxy S smartphone , and since the announcement of the next Nexus phone was going to happen some time before the next galaxy phone became puclic , Samsung was not willing to give Google their technological edge .
Google obviously agreed to this because at that time , no one else was capable of providing something even remotely as good as the first Galaxy and because Samsung was willing to make the hardware changes that Google wanted . Nexus S got a curved display and an NFC chip for the first time , and also Samsung was able to provide Google with many different variations of the device to tailor different markets .
As it was expected , the new Nexus phone became more popular that the first one , and Samsung also stepped in and supported the device in as many markets as possible , by even using it's own supply chain for the phone .
Google once again got it's testbed device and this time also made the device the benchmark for other phone makers in both software and hardware .
The co-operation with Samsung turned out to be a very successful one , and Samsung only grew bigger at the sime time with their own devices . The second Galaxy phone hit the market some time after the Nexus S and turned out to be an even bigger success that the Galaxy S , while being an amazingly advanced device at the same time .
With all that in mind , and with most other phone makers just trying to catch up both with Google and Samsung in different aspects with each one , Samsung remained the only obvious choice as the maker of the third Nexus phone .
Google also needed some hardware differentiation from the Galaxy S II and once again Sameasung was not willing to give Google their top notch hardware . Instead they settled with providing Google with the first HD AMOLED screen , long before something like that would become available on a Samsung phone globally . They do however combined it with hardware that was arguably less powerfull than the one of Galaxy S II but was still very competitive at that time .
The Galaxy Nexus then saw the light of day , for the first time combining not only Samsung's hardware but also it's naming policy on the phone's name .
Samsung once again supported the device with all means possible , and along with a major OS release from Google the phone managed to become an even bigger success and actually competed with other phones on many markets .
At this point however things started to change . Samsung was becoming a giant , one that all other phone makers could not follow in the Android market field or even outside of it . Google at the same time needed and still needs all other phone makers to keep providing the diversity that Android has and is part of it's success ( and creates some of it's biggest drawbacks at the same time ) and for the first time , giving Samsung another chance to create a successful device was something that the other makers were not actually happy about happening .
So as we all know by now , LG is the maker of the next Nexus phone , which is simply called Nexus 4 because , well , because LG does not have a strong line-up name to use along with the nexus logo like Samsung did .
In all fairness , given Samsung's strategy of using their own hardware where ever they can , and since the Exynos 5250 is not yet ready to be used in a phone , LG was propably the only logical choice . After all , the Optimus G on which the Nexus 4 is based was already almost finalized and close to production .
In the real world , no company can actually afford to design , develop and manufacture a device from scratch just for Google since all of that require resources and money that the Nexus line sales will not pay back .
This is a problem for Google mostly since it means that they always have to choose a device that is already available like they did with the Nexus S or one that is already developed and just change it enough like they did with the Nexus One and now with the Nexus 4 .
Samsung's vast resources and production capabilities were able to deliver the Galaxy Nexus designed almost from scratch but that happened at a time that Samsung still needed the extra "boost" in the Brand's name that it would create and simply because they wanted the partnership that will last for years since they are now the manufacturer of the Nexus 10 which for the time being and the months to come is and will be the most technologically advanced tablet available on the market .
Google now has a decent line-up of nexus devices that has two mobile phones for as long the Galaxy Nexus stays on the market along with the new Galaxy 4 , and two different tablets that aim at exactly the right market segments . A 7 inch one made affordable for everyone , that runs on decent and capable hardware for almost any task , and a 10 inch one that is trully a flagship device for those that either need the bigger screen or just want to be on the edge of the technology .
This is probably Google's biggest victory and one that should not be underestimated . At the time of their announcement , both the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10 are not just the newest devices from Google itself , they are also based on the best available hardware and overall technology at this time .
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