Oh please. The Nexus tablets had always won over tech press as well as users due to an excellent balance of affordable price and features (heck, I used to own both versions, they were good). The fact that the Nexus 9 came out universally panned was a huge blow to the Nexus brand. Stop brushing this off like it doesn't matter. Google screwed up here, admit it.
Google can screw up in the Nexus line. The Nexus line is hardly a popular line. Only real Android-aficionados buy Nexus devices. If you look at Android's marketshare, you'll find Nexus in the "Others" department.
Most consumers aren't even aware of the Nexus line.
Yes, the Nexus 9 was panned by many. But then again, so would anything if it was presented the way HTC did it: cheap construction with software problems.
Anything apart, of course, from the iPhone. That one can bend all it wants, the press will always cheer for it.
What mess? The fact that I said that Android had bad news as well?
The tech press had been excited by WP devices before - 1020, 1520 etc. I'm not sure what the point is here?
No. You started by saying that Android hasn't had any exciting devices for a long time when it's not true.
And no, the tech press was not excited by WP devices. The tech press was impressed by the 1020's imaging capabilities. And then always added "a great camera phone brought down by its operating system" sort of line. Actually, that's been a recurring theme in reviews of Nokia Lumia devices. The press praises Nokia's build quality, imaging quality and then trashes Windows Phone. There's no sign of any excitement for a WP device anywhere. Never where.
You've proven nothing.
OTOH I've shown all the supposedly "exciting" Android devices that YOU personally cared about haven't been received that favourably by the tech press. It appears that YOU are the one that is **** hurt here.
Again, you proved nothing. You bring the tech opinion. Tech opinion only praises the iPhone. I don't care about any of the devices I mentioned. I only like Sony's Compact Z line and guess what? The Z3C has been pretty much praised in all the tech reviews I saw. So there goes your theory.
Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that is: there were exciting Android devices released. Just because YOU don't think so or some other guy in a tech website is waiting for a flying phone, it doesn't mean that the devices aren't interesting or exciting.
It seems that YOU are the one seeing the Nexus 6 in rose-tinted glasses when things like battery life, fluidity, the lack of a proper phablet experience (hey similar to the complaints people have towards the 1520!) is constantly brought up to be the short coming of the Nexus 6.
Make no mistaken, people say it's a good phone - but it's not a *great* phone - and that's the point. As considering the halo which Nexus 4 and 5 usually carries (people fall head over heels to praise those devices), the reception of the Nexus 6 is disappointing no matter how you try to brush it off.
I hardly see the Nexus 6 in any kind of glasses. Its cheer size is an immediate deal breaker for me. No 6" device will ever get any praises from me. If the Nokia 1520 didn't get it, it sure as hell won't be the Nexus 6 to get.
That said, perhaps you're reading the review as you want it to read? They say the battery life doesn't live up to the promises made...newsflash: it never does. The battery life on the 930, for example, is beyond appalling.
And again, principal complain is the price. About that I reiterate what I've said: it's American entitlement.
Otherwise, let's see (using the sites you provided):
Pocketnow opens the review with: "With a price tag nearly double that of last year’s model and the footprint of a small tablet, the Nexus 6 comes as a significant shock to those who expected more of the same in 2014."
First paragraph and the price is immediately brought up.
Anandtech: "With a price tag nearly double that of last year’s model and the footprint of a small tablet, the Nexus 6 comes as a significant shock to those who expected more of the same in 2014."
GSMarena: "Whereas the duo of LG-made devices that precede it cut back on certain features to stay attractively priced, the Nexus 6 is ready to rub shoulders with the best in the Android realm."
arstechnica puts it immediately in the title and spends the first 3 paragraphs talking about the price.
Android Central's review is the only one that doesn't open or talk about the price. They yet open with "swapping it into what for us phone nerds (to say nothing of editors of Android websites) is one of the biggest releases of the year."
Yes, they say it's not a "great phone", mainly because of the price. Had it cost the same 350 the Nexus 5 did and you can bet all the press would be saying it's the phone of the year.
I don't have to. Android is about both software and hardware. They've both had some disappointing showing.
We were talking about exciting devices. No exciting updates. When people get excited about a new Note phone they aren't AT ALL excited about the latest version of TouchWiz.
Would you agree that excitement not meeting expectation is bad?
Of course but again, we weren't talking about software. There's always disappointment with OS updates in any platform. They always overpromise and underperform. Just wait until you see what will happen to Windows 10.
What does all that have to do with bad news regarding Android??????
Lollipop's problems would be bad news for Android in general is it was a widely spread update that was affecting a considerable part of the 80% of marketshare that Android owns. As it isn't, it's only bad news to those who specifically buy Nexus or Motorola phones to be the first ones to get the latest updates from Google. Those people have all the reason to be concerned and downright p*ssed off at Google. But they are a really small minor portion of Android users.
Er, I'm not bitter. I"m pointing out the fact that the Nexus 6 isn't turning out to be the "exciting device" that people like you claim it to be.
As for the Crystal? I know about it. But the fact you are pointing this out as an exciting device - that this Sprint-exclusive device limited to the US - actually shows more the hypocrisy of the "waaa WP has not exciting news" crowd even more. In fact I'll turn your comment around - people whining about lack of exciting WP news is bitter, rather than it actually having really bad news.
There was excitement around the Nexus 6. And many people where quite pleased with the blown-up version of the Moto X2. At any rate, I don't understand why you're so obcessed with the Nexus 6 when I spoke of more phones and never even mentioned the Nexus 6 as one of the phones with "exciting" features. I spoke of Sony's accomplishments with the Z3C and the Note Edge.
The Aquos is a carrier exclusive to a US carrier because it comes from an small American OEM and in the USA the market is messed up like that. The fact that Aquos isn't selling in Europe is a problem of Aquos ability to reach foreign markets. It doesn't make the phone they created any less "exciting" because of that. Exciting is a synonymous of a consumer hit. The most exciting device in WP's history was the Nokia 1020. And that one didn't sell like hot cakes. It's still an exciting device that pushed boundaries forward.
As for the WP-whining...I totally agree with you. You don't need to turn my comment around. It's hard to be excited about low end budget phones (and WP fans are in for an even more disappointing start of 2015...). But I'm not also among those who say that "the 930 isn't a flagship". It is a flagship, whether they like it or not. It there's no better phone in the WP market, that's another problem. The HTC One M8 fW is another flagship. It's just a re-purpose of the Android variant? Yes. But then again, that's the price you pay for a failing platform. Nokia was the one pushing WP devices forward. Nokia is gone from WP. If there are no new exciting devices or "flagships" (despite Eflop having clearly stated that the 930 was the flagship for 2014) then WP-fans should blame Microsoft.
The fact is, when you compare WP and Android, yes, Android users have a lot of more reasons to be excited. They've had a plethora of phones released since December, some of them already with the SD805, while WP is still stuck on the SD800 (with the exception of the M8 that has a 801 but HTC hasn't released it outside the US for some odd reason).
If it doesn't get the market share to get developers interested, then yes, it's a gimmick, which is the sad realities of life. Heck I'm probably one of the people most excited by foldable AMOLED development - as I'm dreaming of the day where I can have a clamshell 7 inch phablet that folds onto itself to be no bigger than a 3 inch slab so it could fit in my pocket. But the Edge doesn't show me that we are getting anywhere close to that, rather its current application, as pointed out by many review sites, is that one of a gimmick.
Well, by the logic of your first statement, then the entire WP platform is a gimmick.
Also, you do know that things like the Edge and those Samsung wearables are the first steps of fold-able AMOLED right? I mean, if you want to fold something, you first have to bend it. Samsung is testing things. No, you won't see an Edge every year. You're not supposed too. But it doesn't mean the Edge isn't an exciting device, even though it's a Samsung.
The way they implemented things on that Edge - and you can customize the hell out of it - is an exciting contribution to the evolution of how we deal with the screens in our phones, specially on Android.
No, I'll call that a gimmick too. As it wasn't likely going to be adopted in large either.
You have no idea about that until you put out a device with it. Flip phones, touch screens, cameras etc all that was once considered "a gimmick". Yet they prevailed because the market adhered to them.
Touch screens always made sense because it's a direct interface. It's hardly gimmicky.
I don't know how old you are, but I can assure you that when they showed up many people considered it a gimmick. And others - the thin foil hat people - were even concerned that they could be used to collect fingerprints of people.
It's only interesting when it gets widespread adoption as that's the reality of business. One-off proof of concept designs aren't it.
No. That's not what makes something interesting. That's what makes something popular. There's an ocean of difference between interesting and popular. The iPhone 6 is popular. There's nothing interesting about it (all it has, I had in 2012 in my Nokia 920).
Things gets smaller, I'm not sure how that is exciting? Because you know, that's like how electronics has been progressing for the psat 30+ years.
OTOH, If incremental spec bumps excites you, I'll say you are a person that gets excited a bit TOO easily.
In case you haven't noticed, for some years that phones AREN'T getting smaller. On the contrary. They're getting stupidly big. Specially flagships. The excuses are always the same: to have this we need a bigger screen. To have this we need a bigger battery. To have this camera we need this bulk and this big format. To have this feature it needs more space and the phone needs to be bigger.
Sony is going against the sheep tide. They're working on making a phone with screens as big as possible while still being small. Phones as good as possible with batteries that last as long as possible without overblowing things. There's more inside a phone than chips. So far Sony is the only company that's offering a small version of their flagship and working to offer people great phones without forcing them to go monster.
Did you read what Google said about the Nexus 6 size when questioned why such a big phone for what it had? Yeah. "People will have to get used to it because we say so". And Microsoft is going the same direction with the cheap phones like the 535 etc only arriving in monster sizes.
The simple fact that Sony is offering smaller great phones is enough to be excited. That Sony keeps improving the hardware without making the phone grow it's even more. But then again, people will only admit that if Apple - as rumoured - returns to a smaller sized iPhone 6S.
I pointed out Lollipop had problems, showing that it is bad news for Android, what else do I need to talk about it for????
Answered to this above.
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