[cjcampbell]

They do not want to get away from Android, they clearly just want to ensure that all their bases are covered so they don't get caught out if something changes in the future.

You're right... I mis-spoke there. I didn't mean to say they are looking to get away but seeing that it is a possibility in the future, it is good to have another option.

[reeneebob]

all of googles "nexus" devices sell in poor numbers when compared to Samsungs and maybe some of HTCs too. its not that they arent great device because honestly the nexus line is spectacular. But many people just prefer to actually get a skinned device and the added features from those skins. I suspect its also because google doesnt advertise for their phones much. The carriers do some but not alot. You see lots of "Droid" advertising from VZW and tons of samsung galaxy and note adverts. Google has hit it big with the 2 nexus tablets but the phones just dont have the magic to the general population like it does to the dev population

This. For long time HTC Sense was the king of skinning, but I am really impressed with new Touchwiz (considering the first thing I used to do was download a alternate launcher, root and freeze TW, for me to say that is amazing lol).

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[dtango]

Samsung to Sell Tizen-Based Handsets After Motorola Deal - Bloomberg

[IF confirmed]
Pops me three ideas:
1. Heins' "full control" strategy seems more than ever appropriate
2. Could be a very bad beat for Android driven devices ... and give (at least temporarily) some more room to RIM
3. No room for more than 3 platform ? One The giant don't seem to belive this "old song" ... (nor Ubuntu)

Just sold 35million s3's and 10million note2's, dont see it happening

[kbz1960]

i dont at all, they are the number 1 manufactuer for a reason, android. There is no reason to move away from something that is making you the king right now

Is that due to the OS or hardware or just plain old brand loyalty? Combination of all?

[reeneebob]

I certainly hope you're right. I love my Android Galaxy phones. And I can't wait for the Note 3....will be a difficult decision, Note 3 or SGIV.

Right now we have the note 2 for $49 (free with a credit) and I can add a line for $20 n month with my discount.

Don't think it's not tempting.

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[TheStoof]

I doubt they'd give up on Android. It's not like they have an agreement with them.... it's a free platform. They're just looking at other options to pursue as Google starts, and have started, their quest for control.

It's just as free as Google made ActiveSync free for GMail users.

[belfastdispatcher]

Qwestion, does anybody believe Google will provide Android for free forever while some manufacturers have made a fortune using it ie Samsung?

[howarmat]

Is that due to the OS or hardware or just plain old brand loyalty? Combination of all?

Its a combination. Like mentioned the new touchwiz is pretty damn nice and there are many added features that come with the note/galaxy that you dont find native on the pure android devices. The generally have good hardware good specs. And yep there is some loyalty with the galaxy line also.

[Rickroller]

Qwestion, does anybody believe Google will provide Android for free forever while some manufacturers have made a fortune using it ie Samsung?

Yes. Considering Samsung was one of the original partners in the Open Handset Alliance along with Google, I don't see Google changing anything anytime soon.

[skyrocket9]

Samsung makes everything, if there is a profit they make it.

Fridges, ovens, tvs, coffemakers, microwaves, android phones, bada phones, windows phones, **** theyd probably make a iphone if they could.

This type of company succeeds rapidly by engaging new environments.

As long as its profitable they make it.

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[randall2580]

If Samsung have proven anything at all they are platform agnostics. Do they pay for WP7 and 8? They are making a phone even though Microsoft has taken in Nokia as an adopted son and many think eventually Microsoft might just buy out Nokia's mobile phone division if not the entire company. Samsung does what's best for Samsung and that is give people devices they want to buy. IMHO it's the reason they were the first name mentioned when folks thought RIM might license BB10 to a competitor (which I believe is not something RIM wants to do - they want BB10 where it isn't right now - not in a phone that would compete with theirs).

Estimates were they sold 30 million GSIII in the first 100 days, about 10 million Galaxy Notes (I and II flavors) and a bunch of other cheap phones on PAYG plans around the world. Why would they leave that for an OS they have no idea how it will be adopted and developed for?

They will be making both, in addition to Windows Phones and whatever else they can get a license for that they think they can sell.

[brmiller1976]

To be fair, Best Buy seems to specialize in making the demo goods unusable.

The Surfaces there have those annoying theft detection devices attached to the keyboard hinge, so you cannot actually use the Surface the way it was configured to be used.

The Nook tablets there have a twist tie gripping them right down the middle of the screen -- where the gesture area is -- so you cannot actually use the Nook!

The PCs have some weird software on it that prevents access to the desktop and things like the Windows Experience Index without typing in a password.

The PlayBooks are usually broken or not on, and the demo phones are either dummy units or aren't charged (so you cannot actually take 'em for a spin).

They really need to work on their product presentation. Or the OEMs who sell there need to get things looking good, like Apple did in their "store within a store" section at BB.

[brmiller1976]

And yeah, Samsung is "technologically promiscuous."

They do Android, WP, supposedly talked to RIM about licensing BB10. They've also done Bada, Symbian and Palm OS.

If it sells hardware, they'll ship any software that piques interest and gets sales.

[chrysaurora]

The PlayBooks are usually broken or not on, and the demo phones are either dummy units or aren't charged (so you cannot actually take 'em for a spin).

Actually, I noticed that PlayBooks were working but people didn't know how to wake-them-up by doing that finger gesture. Most people thought that PlayBook was dead (had no power, no battery) and moved to iPad isle. My thread about this: http://forums.crackberry.com/general...aybook-761020/

[qwertyasdf]

Samsung suck. True, they are making phones for every platform.

But their software is not optimized, it's frustrating. Poor coding, like spaghetti codes.

And they won't release source codes, so no community to optimize their code like cyanogenmod. So I'm stuck with samsung.

They rather ship a new hardware that is powerful than to update their software.
Fanbois are correct. Software > hardware

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[brmiller1976]

Experience > software > hardware.

Good software can make up for many hardware deficiencies. NO amount of hardware can make up for bad software.

And good software on good hardware? BRILLIANT!

[reeneebob]

To be fair, Best Buy seems to specialize in making the demo goods unusable.

The Surfaces there have those annoying theft detection devices attached to the keyboard hinge, so you cannot actually use the Surface the way it was configured to be used.

The Nook tablets there have a twist tie gripping them right down the middle of the screen -- where the gesture area is -- so you cannot actually use the Nook!

The PCs have some weird software on it that prevents access to the desktop and things like the Windows Experience Index without typing in a password.

The PlayBooks are usually broken or not on, and the demo phones are either dummy units or aren't charged (so you cannot actually take 'em for a spin).

They really need to work on their product presentation. Or the OEMs who sell there need to get things looking good, like Apple did in their "store within a store" section at BB.

The reason for that is that employees can't be everywhere at once, and in our store which is not BB and smaller in comparison as a company we have had demo laptops popped off the security display and walked out the door while we were tied up with customers. Heck, our sgs3 demo was removed from an alarm and steel bracket leaving only the backplate with the security attached (to this day I don't know how they did it without snapping the phone in half). If society weren't such selfish, thieving bastards we could have live demos out the way they should be. Unfortunately thanks to some maladjusted asshats, you have to deal with security. And unfortunately that security has to be obtrusive to try to avoid things like a SGS3 osmosing itself out of a steel bracket.

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[playbookster]

i doubt it's anytime soon. they would be dumb to quit their bread and butter.

however, i DO believe it's possible in the future that Google takes back full control of Android.

But is Android the reason people buy the Galaxy and Note? Or is it Samsung?

[Roo Zilla]

But is Android the reason people buy the Galaxy and Note? Or is it Samsung?

Probably a combination of both. The non-overwhelming sales of their Bada phones says people won't just buy it because its made by Samsung. It probably goes along the lines of..... "Ok, I want a smartphone.... Android has a lot going for it, and Samsung makes the best Android phones."

[Roo Zilla]

Qwestion, does anybody believe Google will provide Android for free forever while some manufacturers have made a fortune using it ie Samsung?

"Android" will be free forever. They can't take it back after releasing it as open source under Apache. Now, it's quite possible Google will produce a more advance version of their OS, and release it only under their Motorola division. If that happens, they won't be able to use the "Android" name according to terms of the Open Handset Alliance. Members aren't allowed to use the "Android" name on handsets using incompatible versions of the OS, which is exactly what Google would be doing if they decided to fork it.

[brmiller1976]

The reason for that is that employees can't be everywhere at once, and in our store which is not BB and smaller in comparison as a company we have had demo laptops popped off the security display and walked out the door while we were tied up with customers. Heck, our sgs3 demo was removed from an alarm and steel bracket leaving only the backplate with the security attached (to this day I don't know how they did it without snapping the phone in half). If society weren't such selfish, thieving bastards we could have live demos out the way they should be. Unfortunately thanks to some maladjusted asshats, you have to deal with security. And unfortunately that security has to be obtrusive to try to avoid things like a SGS3 osmosing itself out of a steel bracket.

Two observations:

1. 90% of theft from retail is employee theft, not external theft.
2. I guarantee that Best Buy is losing more margin from lost sales due to crappy experience than it is saving from thwarting the occasional thief.

[brmiller1976]

"Android" will be free forever. They can't take it back after releasing it as open source under Apache. Now, it's quite possible Google will produce a more advance version of their OS, and release it only under their Motorola division. If that happens, they won't be able to use the "Android" name according to terms of the Open Handset Alliance. Members aren't allowed to use the "Android" name on handsets using incompatible versions of the OS, which is exactly what Google would be doing if they decided to fork it.

Google can fork it, and still call it Android. As long as it runs existing Android apps, it's "Android," even if it is proprietary and has apps that only a new version can run.

I expect that the "X Phone" will be just such an offshoot. Google is furious at Samsung and HTC for making Android handsets that don't use the standard Android UI, and I expect they'll punish 'em with an "advanced phone" that does stuff that generic Android doesn't. Android is already fragmented to ****, and Google's recent YouTube and Maps shenanigans with Microsoft show that Google doesn't care about ruining user experience if it thinks it can benefit by slamming a competitor.

[qwertyasdf]

Google can fork it, and still call it Android. As long as it runs existing Android apps, it's "Android," even if it is proprietary and has apps that only a new version can run.

I expect that the "X Phone" will be just such an offshoot. Google is furious at Samsung and HTC for making Android handsets that don't use the standard Android UI, and I expect they'll punish 'em with an "advanced phone" that does stuff that generic Android doesn't. Android is already fragmented to ****, and Google's recent YouTube and Maps shenanigans with Microsoft show that Google doesn't care about ruining user experience if it thinks it can benefit by slamming a competitor.

It's Google's fault for not setting like development rules on manufacturers. And not controlling the carriers also.

Manufacturers suck on software development. They keep releasing new hardware with software not optimized, giving a negative impact on android.

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[sexybabe88]

there is no way samsung will quit android. both complement each other very well and have such a strong foothold in the smartphone market.



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[belfastdispatcher]

Another question, is Android at an advanced enough stage for Samsung to take it and continue on their own without Google's input? sort of like Amazon did?