By It often seems our readers want to know one thing: when will the Samsung Galaxy Nexus launch? The sky is falling! Who cares, when does the Galaxy Nexus launch? That guy has a machine gun and is about to kill us! Okay, I’ll start running once you tell me when the Galaxy Nexus launches!
We already knew that O2 in the UK would be launching the Galaxy Nexus on November 17th, but retailers throwing their own dates into the mix sparked confusion. O2 killed that confusion over the weekend by publishing a picture of the Galaxy Nexus on G+ and then answering a launch date question with, well:
Meanwhile, Virgin Mobile (Canada) has announced to it’s customers – and everyone else’s customers craving Ice Cream Sandwich – that they’ll be able to obtain the Holy Grail get the Galaxy Nexus in early December. They’ve even got a signup page on their website:
Here is the quote directly from Virgin Mobile:
“The new Galaxy Nexus™ will be available from Virgin Mobile when it arrives in Canada in early December. Plus, only Virgin Mobile Members can get this smartphone with a no-term contract on the Virgin Mobile SuperTab™. Whether it’s with talk and text plans or the hottest data plans, Galaxy Nexus™ can be hooked up to Virgin Mobile’s full range of plans – just pick the Virgin Mobile SuperTab™ amount and plan that’s perfect for you!
“Samsung’s ongoing collaboration with Google has resulted in a next generation smartphone that has both superior functionality and a stunning user-experience,” said Paul Brannen, Vice President, Mobile Communications at Samsung Electronics Canada. “The large, responsive HD SuperAMOLED screen offers users full 720p video playback on the device, and accommodates the new Android 4.0 user interface that is based on soft keys.”
UPDATE: Bell didn’t want to miss out on the action and has offered their promise and sign-up page too.
Don’t you wish American carriers were as forthcoming? Looking back on the Nexus One disaster that promised the device would be “Coming Soon” to Verizon but saw it get lost in the wilderness and left to perish, I won’t be satisfied until I hear a date cemented into a press release.
Lastly, a Notion Ink support thread indicates that Android 4.0 Source Code, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, will be published on November 17th. This makes sense since it would coincide with the date of the first ICS device launches.
It’s already November 14th… the Galaxy Nexus is almost here.
If only it came out on Virgin Mobile USA. I would switch from T-Mobile in a heartbeat.
At least we have a release date somewhere. :)
If our Virgin Mobile got any high end phone I would switch in a heartbeat. Locking phones to artificially create “high” and “low” end markets is annoying as shit.
Lmao at the gun comment. Lol
Who cares about the comment! I just want to know when it’ll be released!
Matias has an interview on TheVerge.com TONIGHT so maybe he will let out some more details or at least give a few of them away.
I wish vz would at least give a release date. Nobody is telling them they need to advertise it like they do the Razr or Rezound… just give us a date already!
is virgin mobile GSM like att?
All of Canada is HSPA like ATT these days.
True. To add a bit more detail: Bell, Telus, and Rogers (along with their subsidiaries and budget brands: Virgin Mobile, Solo, Koodo, Fido, and Chatr) all use the same HSPA bands as AT&T, so all phones are totally compatible (if unlocked). There are also a few newer carriers that use the same HSPA bands as T-Mobile: WIND, Mobilicity, and Videotron. Their devices are compatible only with AT&T’s legacy GSM network, without 3G speeds. They are fully compatible with T-Mobile’s network.
If, as has been widely reported, the Galaxy Nexus really is a pentaband HSPA phone, none of that matters since it will offer full compatibility with all of the above networks. But most phones aren’t like that.
Wouldn’t Big Red be the biggest market for this phone? I’m not familiar with O2 and have no idea how big Virgin Mobile is in Canada but it would seem to me that the first company allowed to bring this phone to market should be the biggest.
UNLESS….VZW is going to allow the Razr and Rezound sit on their shelves for a few weeks before releasing the GN.
Virgin Mobile in Canada is not very big…Bell on the other hand is big in Canada.
And Virgin Canada is 100% owned by Bell Canada. That said, VZW has 5 times more subscribers than Canada has *total* population, more or less.
I’m thinkin the 21st for verizon. I just pre-ordered screen protectors from amazon that are being released the 18th so maybe that means the phone will be soon behind it? I’m hoping at least.
I hate you verizon. Nobody wants the stupid razr just give us the nexus!!!!!
I hate Verizon so much. This is so obviously a power play against the Google Experience devices. Sign up an exclusive deal then bury it behind a device that’s loaded with carrier bloatware.
“a power play against the Google Experience devices”. Huh. Remember a little device called the Motorola Droid? It only put Android very squarely on the map, did more single-handedly than any other Android device to this day in making Android mainstream and, to this day, non-techies refer to Android devices as “Droids”. It was heavily advertised, the first handset with Android 2.0, and was a vanilla Android “Google experience” phone. It was also Verizon’s.
I know a lot of people are frustrated because of a lack of solid release date, but this has nothing to do with VZW or Google – this has far more to do with blogs such as this one hyping every miniscule bit of information and speculating on release dates and silly things like “release more imminent than ever”. I’m looking forward to seeing just how good the Nexus is myself, but let’s not get ridiculous with conspiracy theories. If Verizon didn’t want the Nexus, they wouldn’t carry it. Plain and simple. Be patient, Christmas morning will come soon enough.
Yes, what you said about the OG Droid is true, but back then I don’t think Verizon really understood what we would be capable of doing with an unlocked Android device. Once they started seeing us removing bloatware and getting free tethering they demanded that OEMs lock down the phones. Now I agree with sfeldkamp…they are totally anti-Google Experience.
The delay with the G-Nex has everything to do with Verizon. Even Google reps sound flustered in some of their statements. They’ve come right out and said (and I’m paraphrasing), “We don’t know when the device is coming out. We’re waiting on Verizon.” It’s probably taking so long because Verizon is trying to force Google to lock the device and Google is like, “Are you serious right now?”.
Possible, but I think they are waiting because outside of the techie world (ie, the majority of the population), no one knows what a Nexus is or even cares. Most people don’t even know what version of Android they’re on or even care. Most people wouldn’t know what a bootloader is if you hit them with it. Obviously, we do, but ask the average person on the street what a Nexus is and what a RAZR is – most people recognize the RAZR name, most won’t know what a Nexus is; some may think it’s the thing from Star Trek: Generations.
I’m not defending Verizon, not at all; they piss me off on a fairly regular basis. However, from a business standpoint, I can understand – the RAZR name is far more well known than the Nexus name, so they want to get to sell as many as possible before they release the Nexus and that bites into RAZR sales – even non-techies will see “Android 2.3” and “Android 4.0” and connect the dots.. In regards to the bootloader, the only phones with encrypted bootloaders are the Motorolas; post-OG Droid. The only thing an encrypted bootloader prevents you from doing is building a ROM on a different kernel (which is why the OG Droid had Gingerbread ROMs long before GB made it to the D2/DX) it doesn’t prevent you from removing the bloatware, blur, or even tethering. I, personally will never buy another Moto device as long as they encrypt the bootloaders -and DEFINITELTY not a phone with a non-changeable battery (I don’t know what the hell they were thinking there), but, again, I’m in the minority. I highly doubt that Verizon is trying to get Google to encrypt the Nexus’s bootloader because the HTC and Samsung phones don’t have encrypted bootloaders.
As I said, if Verizon didn’t want to carry it, they wouldn’t. If anything else, I wish they’d release the damn thing today so the blogsites aren’t inundated with a bunch of silly articles (seriously guys; “More Imminent Than Ever”? Are we a bunch of Ritalin-deprived spastic children a week before Christmas?). All of this minutae is just feeding the spaz-fest. I love Android and I’m definitely looking forward to the Nexus mostly to see how well Android 4.0 works and looks, but it’s the first handset to have 4.0,not the Ushering In Of A New Era Of Peace And Prosperity, it isn’t curing cancer, ending war, making me immortal, doing my accounting, and giving me the ability to teleport. Some of the comments I’ve read here and on other sites are outright absurd – I’ve seen one person actually claim that this is ruining their life.
-smh-
Actually, 4.0 will cure cancer and make you immortal. They’re still working on an accounting app.
marry me.
And how many Google experience devices has Verizon released in the 2 years since the Droid?
How many have been released by anyone? Except for T-Mo, Verizon isn’t behind anyone else in “Google experience” phones.
Stop making sense and rational comments! We want to bash them for not satisfying our ever increasing demand for instant gratification.
Since its coming out on virgin mobile canada does that mean it will come out over here in the states
no virgin mobile in canada gets all kinds of flagship phones in us they just get eol sprint phones
Verizon blows goat. I went in to the store on Saturday just to play around with a RAZR and the rep would not shut up about how I’d be crazy to go with the Nexus (which I honestly don’t think he knew about) over the RAZR. I said, “really? non-removable battery, locked bootloader, bloatware, and no ICS?” He just gave me that look. :
It’s so annoying to me how clueless the Verizon reps are. A good salesperson should know everything about the products they sell. Even our corporate rep is a complete idiot. We called a meeting with her once to complain about Verizon’s weak smartphone selection, high prices, and elimination of services (new every 2, early upgrades, unlimited data, etc.). She spent 1/2 hour trying to lie to me like I’m some uninformed moron. She told me things like the Droid X2 has 4G LTE and that Verizon has no control over how much their devices sell for on contract. Really!?!
Eff Verizon reps!
They are getting paid to sell as many RAZRs as they can.
I only worked retail for 2 years (selling computers in the 90s) but there’s a logic to it: sell what you have now rather than what you will have in the future. You want people that are in your store this minute to buy something. If you tell them about the advantages of something that’s not out yet, and suggest they wait, then you don’t make the sale today, you may not make the sale at all. It’s not necessarily a knowledge or training issue. He couldn’t put the Galaxy Nexus in your hands on Saturday, so he was attempting to put the RAZR in your hands instead.
This is total BS, how could three multi billion dollar companies (Verizon, google, Samsung) fail so hard at announcing and shortly releasing a phone. Google this is your baby and your treating it like a basterd child, Verizon just showed that they call the shots which sucks because all it does is hurt their already fading image and make us see google as a little bitch. I’m starting to doubt if I will ever get this on Tmobile. galaxy nexus is hands down better then iPhone 4s, but that doesn’t matter because you can’t get a nexus or even a release date. OEMs learn something from Apple (even though I hate them) announce and release in a short time, it’s the best way.
Vergin Mobile == Bell
(Same Company)
Yes, the Bell network (which is shared with Telus and used by Virgin) is AT&T compatible.
Also since the HSPA+ version is Pentaband then it should also work on T-mobile.
Verizon needs to be very careful with how long they wait. If another US carrier gets the G-Nex before them, I’m jumping ship without a second thought.
I think the concern is that they bought exclusivity so nobody could launch it against them and now they are going to wait until the Razr gets it share of press and sales before launching the Gnex. Obviously it makes sense for them from a business standpoint (Don’t want too many flagships on your own carrier competing for mindshare) but it sucks for those of us who would love to buy a Gnex on another carrier but cannot because Verizon has paid for exclusivity for now. Now those of us on Sprint, Tmo, ATT, etc. will have to wait longer for an ICS handset at the level of the Nexus.
Then again…I was also annoyed when the N1 came out and I wasn’t on TMo. Then 6 months later I had a shiny new Evo with the same class of specs but with wimax, nicer screen, etc. These things come out fast so no matter where you are, there will be GN-class phones everywhere by Spring.
I am currently living in France and here also we do not know when the nexus will be available. SFR will sell it with contract mid-december, thanks but no thanks.
I want to buy it sim-free, but i don’t know which retailer will propose it or when.
Damn you T-mobile.
Google appear to be well on its way to repeating the Nexus One disaster
Google isn’t responsible for the launch dates or announcements, the carriers are. In this case, it’s all Verizon’s responsibility to announce and market the Galaxy Nexus in the United States, at least until the exclusivity period ends… And maybe that’s what Verizon is doing: waiting until their exclusivity period ends before launching it at the same time as other carriers, that way they prevent them from having a better device than they do while selling the hell out of the RAZR…
That model is a recipe for disaster. They don’t want to sell an exclusive device because of some brand loyalty. Verizon doesn’t care about Razr all it cares about is selling. They would be idiotic to hold back an exclusive device to allow other carriers to get a piece of the pie. There is something else going on that have made both Verizon/Samsung/Google unhappy.
It’s just a random theory I came up with as I wrote that. However, as I stated, it would advance the RAZR and their own income. Even if they sacrifice the advantage of having the Galaxy Nexus first by not releasing it, the exclusivity negates the possibility that the competition will have an advantage over them with regards to the GN. Heck if they have a 2 month exclusivity deal, they could hold back the GN for a month to get the RAZR properly launched, and still have a month of exclusive GN sales. I’m not saying this is what’s happening; I barely have a job, let alone at Verizon or any other cellphone provider, but it’s possible. Personally, I’m holding on to the hope that it’ll be released this week.
Google builds the OS and works with manufacturers to make each generation’s “reference” design. After that it’s up to manufacturers to build them and carriers to order them. The “Nexus One Disaster” to everyone else was just a look at what we could expect for phones that year. It was pretty legit.
Rob. You should turn your first paragraph into one of those iphone vs android cartoons with the talking cat like characters.
As much as I wish Verizon would just spit out the release date, I understand their concern. They want to get their current top of the line branded phone out into the hands of as many people as possible before they make the unbranded, non-Verizon infiltrated Galaxy Nexus available. If they start talking about release dates, especially if it’s only days or a couple weeks away, people won’t go out and by the Droid RAZR, they’ll hold off for the Galaxy Nexus. Although as a Verizon customer you might be able to download the Verizon specific apps on the Galaxy Nexus, they make a good deal of money (I’m sure) from them being present on the phone to begin with. In some ways, it’s more surprising that they’re carrying the Galaxy Nexus at all than the fact that they haven’t announced its launch date…
It’s not just Verizon that deserves jeers. Google and Samsung, together with carrier partners around the world, have botched this release beyond belief. It’s hard to fathom how they could have managed this so poorly. I suspect we’ll never know who all deserves the blame and in what portion, but this is just awful. It’s now a month since the phone was announced to the world, and we still have just a few vague hints as to which carriers will be selling it, and no dates on most-to-all of those carriers. The holidays are fast approaching, and people want to make purchasing decisions.
By the time this thing actually available for most people to purchase, it won’t even feel new anymore. Apple is so far ahead in terms of executing a phone launch it’s not even funny. And even Samsung seems to do a far better job on their own devices. Having Google’s heft behind this device shouldn’t be making things worse.
My hunch at this point is that it’s a software engineering failure: that there are still unresolved issues in ICS, and Samsung and the carriers are being left hanging while Google scrambles to finish up. If true, it’s a sad situation, but what else could be responsible for the failure even to pin down dates?
But even then, how can we explain the failure to announce a line up of carriers that will be offering the device?