Saturday, November 2, 2013

Google and Verizon: The Effects of Their Unhealthy Relationship

It's great to be back writing! So as you guys know, I've been working on that Wii hack.  Sadly, it is not working out; there have been countless bugs with my program.  I will try this program with a different approach, but if it doesn't work this time, I must forget this project.

Anyway, I want to focus on the title of this post "Google and Verizon: The Effects of Their Unhealthy Relationship" and get your guy's opinion on this matter.  Before I go into detail about this relationship, I first want to acknowledge that I immensely love both companies and they have done fabulous things for their users.  I, in no means, want to diminish my admiration for these two businesses. That being said, let me explain why I sometimes contemplate this "bond."

Google just released the Nexus 5, which is by far one of the best Android phones (if not the best) of 2013. The phone has amazing specs and its a Nexus (the pure Android experience), yet this phone will not be available on Verizon's LTE network.  The company will be working on "projects" with Google for 2014, instead. Though I have no idea what these projects could entail, I am somewhat annoyed that I cannot purchase one of the best phones I have ever seen.

The phone will be released on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.  Sprint is a CDMA carrier.  Yet, Verizon's CDMA towers will be incompatible because of the 700 MHz band that they placed on their phones. This upsets me even more because of Google still going with a CDMA network.  The Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 are two previous devices that probably caused Google to not even think about Verizon. Even the new Nexus 7 was a problem with Verizon when Verizon stated that it would be incompatible with their service, even though Google said it would.  Later, Verizon changed this claim and said "they will be working on it."  

Both corporations have millions of users, yet they cannot come up with a proper set up for the masses. Sometimes I believe Verizon doesn't really want Android devices on their network, but then I see all their Droid phones and think otherwise (I'm happy that Motorola's Phone department is under Google's supervision now).  Sometimes I believe Google just doesn't want to get involved with the specific coding and hardware for Verizon.  Whatever the case may be, it is damaging both companies' images and revenue. Some people might even want to switch to AT&T because of the vast selection of Android phones, the GSM towers being international, and the somewhat fast updates to their phone (opposed to Verizon's).

Tell me what you guys think about this matter in the comments section.  Would you be willing to leave Verizon or would you choose a new mobile OS to use?

Thank you guys for reading!

Programmer84