First Click: The Android Nexus privilege

May 19th, 2016

84

At Google I/O this year, the presenters spent a solid hour talking about new services and initiatives before even mentioning Android. That’s not because Google’s mobile OS is any less important, but quite the opposite: Android is now so central and fundamental to everything Google does that it scarcely needs to even be mentioned. Like oxygen, Android is critically important to Google, but also abundant enough to be kind of boring.

Except this year’s Android N is shaping up to be rather special. It will usher in the new Daydream VR system, it will support the advanced Vulkan graphics API, and it will bring split-screen multitasking to the mobile masses and picture-in-picture to Android TVs. Now guess who gets to experience all of these novelties first.

Nexus owners.

Each year, Google releases at least one paragon Android device to best demonstrate its vision of the ideal mobile experience. Carrying the Nexus label, these smartphones and tablets aren’t huge sellers, but they appeal to the savvier user who wants to be assured of getting the latest Android updates first and to benefit from direct Google support.

The beta release of Android N is available today, but only to owners of the Nexus 5X, 6, 6P, or 9, the Pixel C tablet, or an obscure Android One device so generic as to be titled General Mobile 4G. Of course, beta software is of interest primarily to geeky tech fans, however the final version of Android N will follow the same, well established pattern. Nexus owners will get it in late summer when it’s first released, while the wicked souls that opted to buy an Android phone outside of Google’s Nexus program will have to wait — weeks for some, months for others.

The AT&T variant of Samsung’s flagship 2015 phone, the Galaxy S6, only just got the Android Marshmallow update yesterday, on the same day that Marshmallow’s N successor was being detailed. There are many great reasons to want a Samsung smartphone, and the present best Android handset is definitely one of the two Galaxy S7 variations. But to have the best of Android itself, to get it soonest and enjoy it longest, you still have to go the Nexus route.

Five stories to start your day



  1. The 10 biggest announcements from Google I/O 2016

    At I/O this year, Google displayed its vision for a more ubiquitous and conversational way of interacting with technology. Its Assistant is chattier, answering natural language queries with a more...

  2. Here's how Google Home could be Amazon Echo's worst nightmare

    Google jumped into the smart assistant game today with its new Google Home device: an answer to Amazon's Echo and the rise of personal-assistant things that sit in your kitchen and listen to...

  3. Daydream will be the reason you'll want a 4K phone

    The Android spec race is back on. With the announcement of a far-reaching Daydream VR initiative, Google effectively rebooted the quest for the biggest and baddest spec sheet among Android...

  4. Instant Apps on Android are the most fascinating thing Google announced

    I'm probably getting ahead of myself by writing that headline — but I can't stop thinking about the deep implications of Google's Instant Apps on Android. The basic idea is simple: when you click...

  5. A bad cable installation destroyed my $2,000 TV and maybe almost killed me

    July will mark my five-year anniversary of working at The Verge, and in that time I've never broken or lost anything loaned to our company for review purposes. But today I'm sitting here sick to my...

Rollout of the day

Loading comments...