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I'm sad that the Galaxy Nexus isn't supported. My phone has increasingly been running out of RAM lately for reasons I don't understand - hearing Google boast a

I'm sad that the Galaxy Nexus isn't supported. My phone has increasingly been running out of RAM lately for reasons I don't understand - hearing Google boast about how KitKat has been optimized for memory had me hoping that it would support more than just the latest-greatest.

Grognak 13y ago
Galaxy Nexus isn't supported? Got a source on that? If so, that's really disappointing :\.
- canistr 13y ago
  Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.
- kevincrane 13y ago
  > "Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks." Hopefully they get it working for the Galaxy Nexus somehow, mine has been a crapshoot for memory recently with Chrome just randomly restarting at times.
  - hrkristian 13y ago
    We'll see ports to the GNex by various teams soon enough, although it is a bit of a shame Google are not supporting it themselves, that leads me to believe they tried and failed to make it work properly. That's a bit odd, though, as 4.0 works almost perfectly on my Galaxy S, and 4.3 runs "okay". The smaller memory footprint should make 4.4 work great in theory, but it might not be a memory issue at all.
    - keeperofdakeys 13y ago
      Google stated they have a 18 month support period in one of their posts, so it's just a matter of not committing to too much.
  - MoosePlissken 13y ago
    That statement doesn't mention the Galaxy Nexus one way or the other. I imagine it's just a listing of the devices that Google has direct control over that they'll update in the near future. Since updates for the Galaxy Nexus have to go through the carriers, Google can't really say how soon the updates will go through, or if they ever will.
    - bsimpson 13y ago
      The Galaxy Nexus doesn't go through carriers unless you're on Verizon (or maybe Sprint). It was sold through Google Play (and given away at developer events like I/O) completely unlocked. Here are the images Google has supplied for this device in the past: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#takju https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#takju Leaving it out of Google's announcement feels a lot like an implicit deprecation to me.
      - MoosePlissken 13y ago
        My bad, I have the Galaxy Nexus through Verizon and assumed it was the same for other carriers. I forgot it was available unlocked through the Play store. I'm used to ignoring all of the news from Google and waiting an extra 6+ months for every update.
      - syjer 13y ago
        There is a FAQ page that confirm the deprecation of the support of the gnex : https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3468085 https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3468085 Well, I'm a little bit disappointed, I hoped to have the update too.
        ars 13y ago
        That says they support for 18 months, but the Galaxy Nexus was available from Google Play as late as July 4[1] - that's less than 18 months. [1] http://www.redmondpie.com/galaxy-nexus-pulled-from-google-play-store-as-samsung-appeal-is-denied/ http://www.redmondpie.com/galaxy-nexus-pulled-from-google-pl...
conroy 13y ago
Me too. I really wasn't planning on getting the Nexus 5, but I don't want to be on a phone that no longer sees operating system updates.
danellis 13y ago
What?? The whole point of getting a Nexus device is that, unlike a carrier phone, it's not supposed to get left behind by updates!
- reustle 13y ago
  The Galaxy Nexus came out at the end of 2011. It can only handle the latest OS for so long...
  - dasil003 13y ago
    For less than 2 years? That's worse than Apple, and not just a little.
    - stesch 13y ago
      I have an iPhone 4S, but I guess I could buy a new Nexus phone every year and it would cost me less. :-)
    - bsimpson 13y ago
      They seeded the Galaxy Nexus to developers at I/O in 2012. Presumably they'll seed the Nexus 5 at I/O in 2014. For the next seven months, developers who rely on Google-seeded devices will be using out-of-date software. That defeats the whole point of seeding devices.
    - X-Istence 13y ago
      I know Apple is heralded as the company that builds planned obsolescence, but until about 2 months ago an 4 year old iPhone 3GS was still able to run the latest iOS without issues.
      - dasil003 13y ago
        Yeah I wouldn't say Apple goes out of their way to screw users, but compared to Microsoft in their heyday they have traditionally been pretty terrible. On the other hand, in the age of startups and smart phones Apple seems to be screwing over customers less than almost everyone.
blinkingled 13y ago
I am sad as well given KitKat was supposedly designed to work well on devices with 512MB RAM. Given the GNex has 1GB and over the time they've added bit of bloat with 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 - I was very much expecting that KitKat would be the last release for the GNex. But to be fair it was released with 4.0 and got 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 - 3 major releases and more minor ones. So yeah I think I'll give them a pass and hope CM team will have 4.4 for the GNex sometime down the line. Also no news on the integration of French startup they bought - forgot the name, but they had a native code converter for Android apps which helps further with low RAM low power devices - hoping that they release it to the Play Store (DroidBooster?).
- josteink 13y ago
  Not to nitpick details, but really. > But to be fair it was released with 4.0 and got 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 - 3 major releases and more minor ones It only received one major update: ICS to Jellybean. If google calls all of 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 "Jellybean", getting updates from one version of Jellybean to another can hardly be called "major". This is different from how Google did things back in the Gingerbread era, where these incremental updates were version 2.3.3, 2.3.4 etc. But just because Google changed numbering scheme for Jelly Bean doesn't change that these were indeed minor updates. Almost nothing changed in the OS. The Galaxy Nexus is the first and only Nexus device so far (sans the pointless Nexus Q) to only receive one major upgrade. That's less than most consumer-devices receive. That's an insult to each and every buyer of that phone. I doubt you'll see them lining up for a new "Nexus" anytime soon.
  - blinkingled 13y ago
    >It only received one major update: ICS to Jellybean. I am not sure people will agree with that. Even if Google called all 4.{1,2,3} releases JellyBean they did introduce significant new features in every version. Take a look - http://www.android.com/about/jelly-bean/ http://www.android.com/about/jelly-bean/ . 4.2 brought new camera with PhotoSphere HDR etc, full Braille accessibility services, stock browser HTML5 Video support and better performance and Gesture Keyboard. 4.3 brought Restricted User Profiles, OpenGL ES 3.0, Bluetooth LE/AVRCP etc. Not more of the same IMHO. (Now some of these required HW support not available on the GNex but still the point is it will work well at least another year on 4.3 giving it a 3 yr lifespan - not bad for that piece of crap hardware - it uses a TI SoC and TI isn't in that business anymore.)
1010011010 13y ago
Didn't the GN use an OMAP processor? TI doesn't make those anymore. Maybe there were problems getting drivers, etc because of that.
BenoitEssiambre 13y ago
Using Chrome brings older phones to exhaustion. When I switched back to the stock browser, my SII became much more responsive in general.
nly 13y ago
There will be a ROM for you somewhere.
- alimbada 13y ago
  Unacceptable. I put up with way too many buggy ROMs and crappy user experiences with my previous non-Nexus devices. The whole reason I bought a Nexus phone was so I'd receive timely updates and not have to worry about being left behind. The correct course of action for me now is to jump ship to iOS despite how invested I currently am in the Android platform. Luckily, owning an iPad (older than my GNex and running iOS 7!) makes it a little easier.
null_ptr 13y ago
That's ok, Google can keep their OS for themselves. I look forward to taking some time later this year to put Ubuntu Touch or Firefox OS on my phone, and weaning off their services altogether.
cmircea 13y ago
Thank you very fucking much Google. 4.2 and 4.3 trashed the experience for GNex users, now that 4.4 is "butter smooth" again it ain't coming to the phone. Excellent God bless CyanogenMod.
- andrewpi 13y ago
  4.3 runs quite well on my Galaxy Nexus. 4.2 was a disaster though.
  - cmircea 13y ago
    4.3 is okay, but 4.1 was pretty damn quick. Oh well...
devx 13y ago
The problem is even chip makers don't support their own devices that long. For example Qualcomm only supported their own chip the Snapdragon S3 only for 18 months, which is why when HTC used it in the HTC One S in 2012, it was already on its last legs for support, and then HTC couldn't update it anymore in 2013 because they said Qualcomm wouldn't update the drivers for it anymore. So it seems it may not be just OEM's fault, if their component suppliers won't support their components for longer either, although I guess you could make an argument for OEM's making their own drivers for everything, or Google trying to introduce another layer of abstraction for hardware, and upgrade everything themselves.
- throwaway2048 13y ago
  or you know, open sourcing the drivers, or providing the specifications so we can write our own. Im aware of the torrent of weak excuses why this wont happen, save it.
ZeroGravitas 13y ago
You should get at least some of the memory benefits, as they'll be supplied in apps or play services or in better profiling tools for 3rd parties.

Grognak 13y ago

Galaxy Nexus isn't supported? Got a source on that? If so, that's really disappointing :\.

canistr 13y ago
Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.
kevincrane 13y ago
> "Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks." Hopefully they get it working for the Galaxy Nexus somehow, mine has been a crapshoot for memory recently with Chrome just randomly restarting at times.
- hrkristian 13y ago
  We'll see ports to the GNex by various teams soon enough, although it is a bit of a shame Google are not supporting it themselves, that leads me to believe they tried and failed to make it work properly. That's a bit odd, though, as 4.0 works almost perfectly on my Galaxy S, and 4.3 runs "okay". The smaller memory footprint should make 4.4 work great in theory, but it might not be a memory issue at all.
  - keeperofdakeys 13y ago
    Google stated they have a 18 month support period in one of their posts, so it's just a matter of not committing to too much.
- MoosePlissken 13y ago
  That statement doesn't mention the Galaxy Nexus one way or the other. I imagine it's just a listing of the devices that Google has direct control over that they'll update in the near future. Since updates for the Galaxy Nexus have to go through the carriers, Google can't really say how soon the updates will go through, or if they ever will.
  - bsimpson 13y ago
    The Galaxy Nexus doesn't go through carriers unless you're on Verizon (or maybe Sprint). It was sold through Google Play (and given away at developer events like I/O) completely unlocked. Here are the images Google has supplied for this device in the past: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#takju https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#takju Leaving it out of Google's announcement feels a lot like an implicit deprecation to me.
    - MoosePlissken 13y ago
      My bad, I have the Galaxy Nexus through Verizon and assumed it was the same for other carriers. I forgot it was available unlocked through the Play store. I'm used to ignoring all of the news from Google and waiting an extra 6+ months for every update.
    - syjer 13y ago
      There is a FAQ page that confirm the deprecation of the support of the gnex : https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3468085 https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3468085 Well, I'm a little bit disappointed, I hoped to have the update too.
      - ars 13y ago
        That says they support for 18 months, but the Galaxy Nexus was available from Google Play as late as July 4[1] - that's less than 18 months. [1] http://www.redmondpie.com/galaxy-nexus-pulled-from-google-play-store-as-samsung-appeal-is-denied/ http://www.redmondpie.com/galaxy-nexus-pulled-from-google-pl...

conroy 13y ago

Me too. I really wasn't planning on getting the Nexus 5, but I don't want to be on a phone that no longer sees operating system updates.

danellis 13y ago

What?? The whole point of getting a Nexus device is that, unlike a carrier phone, it's not supposed to get left behind by updates!

reustle 13y ago
The Galaxy Nexus came out at the end of 2011. It can only handle the latest OS for so long...
- dasil003 13y ago
  For less than 2 years? That's worse than Apple, and not just a little.
  - stesch 13y ago
    I have an iPhone 4S, but I guess I could buy a new Nexus phone every year and it would cost me less. :-)
  - bsimpson 13y ago
    They seeded the Galaxy Nexus to developers at I/O in 2012. Presumably they'll seed the Nexus 5 at I/O in 2014. For the next seven months, developers who rely on Google-seeded devices will be using out-of-date software. That defeats the whole point of seeding devices.
  - X-Istence 13y ago
    I know Apple is heralded as the company that builds planned obsolescence, but until about 2 months ago an 4 year old iPhone 3GS was still able to run the latest iOS without issues.
    - dasil003 13y ago
      Yeah I wouldn't say Apple goes out of their way to screw users, but compared to Microsoft in their heyday they have traditionally been pretty terrible. On the other hand, in the age of startups and smart phones Apple seems to be screwing over customers less than almost everyone.

blinkingled 13y ago

I am sad as well given KitKat was supposedly designed to work well on devices with 512MB RAM. Given the GNex has 1GB and over the time they've added bit of bloat with 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 - I was very much expecting that KitKat would be the last release for the GNex. But to be fair it was released with 4.0 and got 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 - 3 major releases and more minor ones. So yeah I think I'll give them a pass and hope CM team will have 4.4 for the GNex sometime down the line. Also no news on the integration of French startup they bought - forgot the name, but they had a native code converter for Android apps which helps further with low RAM low power devices - hoping that they release it to the Play Store (DroidBooster?).

josteink 13y ago
Not to nitpick details, but really. > But to be fair it was released with 4.0 and got 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 - 3 major releases and more minor ones It only received one major update: ICS to Jellybean. If google calls all of 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 "Jellybean", getting updates from one version of Jellybean to another can hardly be called "major". This is different from how Google did things back in the Gingerbread era, where these incremental updates were version 2.3.3, 2.3.4 etc. But just because Google changed numbering scheme for Jelly Bean doesn't change that these were indeed minor updates. Almost nothing changed in the OS. The Galaxy Nexus is the first and only Nexus device so far (sans the pointless Nexus Q) to only receive one major upgrade. That's less than most consumer-devices receive. That's an insult to each and every buyer of that phone. I doubt you'll see them lining up for a new "Nexus" anytime soon.
- blinkingled 13y ago
  >It only received one major update: ICS to Jellybean. I am not sure people will agree with that. Even if Google called all 4.{1,2,3} releases JellyBean they did introduce significant new features in every version. Take a look - http://www.android.com/about/jelly-bean/ http://www.android.com/about/jelly-bean/ . 4.2 brought new camera with PhotoSphere HDR etc, full Braille accessibility services, stock browser HTML5 Video support and better performance and Gesture Keyboard. 4.3 brought Restricted User Profiles, OpenGL ES 3.0, Bluetooth LE/AVRCP etc. Not more of the same IMHO. (Now some of these required HW support not available on the GNex but still the point is it will work well at least another year on 4.3 giving it a 3 yr lifespan - not bad for that piece of crap hardware - it uses a TI SoC and TI isn't in that business anymore.)

1010011010 13y ago

Didn't the GN use an OMAP processor? TI doesn't make those anymore. Maybe there were problems getting drivers, etc because of that.

BenoitEssiambre 13y ago

Using Chrome brings older phones to exhaustion. When I switched back to the stock browser, my SII became much more responsive in general.

nly 13y ago

There will be a ROM for you somewhere.

alimbada 13y ago
Unacceptable. I put up with way too many buggy ROMs and crappy user experiences with my previous non-Nexus devices. The whole reason I bought a Nexus phone was so I'd receive timely updates and not have to worry about being left behind. The correct course of action for me now is to jump ship to iOS despite how invested I currently am in the Android platform. Luckily, owning an iPad (older than my GNex and running iOS 7!) makes it a little easier.

null_ptr 13y ago

That's ok, Google can keep their OS for themselves. I look forward to taking some time later this year to put Ubuntu Touch or Firefox OS on my phone, and weaning off their services altogether.

cmircea 13y ago

Thank you very fucking much Google. 4.2 and 4.3 trashed the experience for GNex users, now that 4.4 is "butter smooth" again it ain't coming to the phone. Excellent God bless CyanogenMod.

andrewpi 13y ago
4.3 runs quite well on my Galaxy Nexus. 4.2 was a disaster though.
- cmircea 13y ago
  4.3 is okay, but 4.1 was pretty damn quick. Oh well...

devx 13y ago

The problem is even chip makers don't support their own devices that long. For example Qualcomm only supported their own chip the Snapdragon S3 only for 18 months, which is why when HTC used it in the HTC One S in 2012, it was already on its last legs for support, and then HTC couldn't update it anymore in 2013 because they said Qualcomm wouldn't update the drivers for it anymore. So it seems it may not be just OEM's fault, if their component suppliers won't support their components for longer either, although I guess you could make an argument for OEM's making their own drivers for everything, or Google trying to introduce another layer of abstraction for hardware, and upgrade everything themselves.

throwaway2048 13y ago
or you know, open sourcing the drivers, or providing the specifications so we can write our own. Im aware of the torrent of weak excuses why this wont happen, save it.

ZeroGravitas 13y ago

You should get at least some of the memory benefits, as they'll be supplied in apps or play services or in better profiling tools for 3rd parties.