Google to drop Nexus in favour of Play Edition?

[Smudger]

Not sure I like this.

Link - Cult of Android

Nexus for me means a cheap, very decent handset without all the gumph on. The Google Play editions don't seem to be that much cheaper than the standard editions...

[scaryjim]

The move could also encourage budget-conscious consumers to pick up one of Motorola’s more affordable devices instead.

They could easily start using moto to make what are effectively "nexus" devices. I'm personally surprised that Nexus got as long a run as it did - afaik it was really meant to assist adoption of Android in the premium market, anf the devices are sold at cost or even a loss. It'd be more of a surprise if Google kept bank-rolling the Nexus program indefinitely to the detriment of its high-end smartphone partners - at some point it has to let Android stand on its own merit. At that point they can start using moto as their vanilla android/new generation launch platform, so the nexus brand won't really be needed anymore.

[jimborae]

Well at least I wont have to spend any more on Nexus phone collection if this happens

[inaamrahman7]

I've still got the Nexus 4 and I'm hoping they'll release another one this year with a better camera. Not sure what's going on with the Nexus 10 though. Was really looking forward to that. Ended up buying a Note 10.1 2014 edition.

[inaamrahman7]

Also, there are no Google Play Edition devices on sale outside the US, so I'm hoping that even if the Nexus line up is cancelled, the availability of the Google Play devices will be expanded.

[Dooms]

Well with the news that Google have sold Motorola I can't see them also now dropping Nexus.

[jimbouk]

Well with the news that Google have sold Motorola I can't see them also now dropping Nexus.

I was thinking exactly the opposite! Invite ALL manufacturers to have Play Edition phones rather than just picking a single company at a time or buying a company to produce Nexus phones.

[aidanjt]

afaik it was really meant to assist adoption of Android in the premium market, anf the devices are sold at cost or even a loss.

The Nexus programme was always intended as a reasonably priced reference hardware platform for android developers. It still serves that purpose.