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Verizon Galaxy Nexus Jelly Bean Update Gets Some More Bad News

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It looks like the Samsung Galaxy III really might beat the Verizon Galaxy Nexus to the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update.

Earlier today, another report chimed in saying that the Samsung Galaxy S III Jelly Bean update will indeed be making an appearance in Berlin, Germany in just a couple of days. And that could very well mean that it will beat the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, Sprint Galaxy Nexus, and other Galaxy Nexus devices to an update that seemed to be on the horizon as far back as July.

As I’ve argued many times, this would be an absolute nightmare for the Nexus brand, well, that is if Google decides to ever launch a Nexus smartphone on an American carrier again.

Read: Slow Verizon Galaxy Nexus Jelly Bean Update Frustrates.

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The Galaxy S III could beat the Verizon Galaxy Nexus to Jelly Bean.

At this point, if I were Google, I’d be weary. It’s clear that American carriers still have deep rooted issues trying to get devices updated with major Android updates.

As an example, the Nexus S 4G still is without Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, weeks after other Nexus S devices around the world got their Jelly Bean update.

And now, it looks like two more Nexus devices, which were already embarrassed by the Asus Transformer Pad 300 Jelly Bean roll out, will get embarrassed once more, this time by a non-Nexus smartphone.

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It has truly been a miserable wait for Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners in particular. These are the same owners that had to put up with Verizon’s antics with the bug fix update, an update that came out five months too late, and now they are having to put up with silence and uncertainty regarding an update that makes Android 4.0 look like small time.

Read: Verizon Galaxy Nexus Jelly Bean Update Hopefully Coming This Month.

It’s not exactly the experience that Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners bought into when the phone launched in December of 2011 and in my opinion, it could be enough to dissuade many from purchasing a Nexus phone, at least on Verizon, ever again.

Yes, it’s still possible that the Galaxy Nexus could get Jelly Bean in the next seven days, between now and the Samsung event, but will only heal the wounds a little bit.

I think for many Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners, the damage has already been done.

29 Comments

29 Comments

  1. Brian James

    08/22/2012 at 10:57 am

    I’ve soured to Verizon due to their inability to provide software updates. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve been lied to. Verizon sold me a Nexus phone, a phone marketed to be unobstructed by this ineptitude of American carriers. My contract is up in a few months. I’ll be switching to a Nexus phone on a GSM carrier.

    • Jose

      08/24/2012 at 1:18 am

      I highly recommend the GSM Galaxy Nexus. Once you get the phone, then you’ll get Jelly Bean in minutes. It ships with Ice Cream Sandwich, but after you turn it on and register the phone, then you’ll get the system update notification within 10 minutes.

  2. noway

    08/22/2012 at 12:11 pm

    There is one, and only one, reason I can think of for this debacle. Verizon wants to load up the 4.1 update with bloat and there is a big fight going on behind the scenes. This smacks of a lawyer vs lawyer or beancounter vs beancounter fight. FU Verizon. I wish all your suits would die.

  3. Kevin

    08/22/2012 at 12:25 pm

    Face it. The Nexus brand is dead. Sooner you come to terms with that, the easier it’ll be.

    I’m starting to seriously doubt that GN will EVER get the JB update.

    Think about it, they can’t even get the thing to work as a phone properly thanks to the voice drop-out bug. They’ve slashed the price several times and it’s not been selling well. Many Nexus users have already given up and moved to other devices (at least in my area)….in fact VZN reps in my area openly advocate exactly that. Not to mention that many of the last holdouts of the “unlimited data” plan on VZN are hibernating on the GN. It’s almost in VZN’s best interest to convince them to move to other devices and jettison their unlimited plan along the way.

    The more this goes on, it looks less and less like technical incompetence (of which VZN has mastered) and more of a deliberate move to pad the bottom line. Granted they’re doing it by pissing off their own customers, but then VZN has never shied from that tactic before.

    • Lee Cameron

      08/23/2012 at 1:55 pm

      Nexus FAR from dead. Its just that you buy a global unlocked device and get updates direct from google. Buying phones directly from U.S. carriers is the problem.

  4. Ron

    08/22/2012 at 12:26 pm

    Just a comment on a similar subject but for Sprint, Please have a read, it’s quite interesting:

    https://community.sprint.com/baw/message/464011?tstart=0#464011

  5. jayson

    08/22/2012 at 12:27 pm

    Adam:
    While I agree that Verizon has truly screwed up the Nexus experience, isn’t one of the main reasons you buy a phone like this to root it and throw on one of the amazing custom ROMS? Do yourself a favor. Take a deep breath. Stop worrying about the way Verizon is treating Nexus owners. Don’t let them get to you man! If you do the following two things, you’ll have the best phone on the market. Promise.
    1) Root and install custom ROM. 2) Buy a $20 extended battery from Amazon. I’ve been running Jellybean for a month now. It is buttery smooth, and with the extended battery (which I think actually makes the phone feel better in my hand) I make it through the day with over 50% battery left. I am a phone slut, and I haven’t even thought about my next phone with this bad boy rooted.

    • matt

      08/22/2012 at 12:34 pm

      Exactly… dont see a need for extended battery tho i can make it thru the day with the orignal

    • sd

      08/22/2012 at 1:37 pm

      Easy to say, Jayson, but most people aren’t comfortable with the idea of rooting (which I’ve yet to find an easy solution that actually works), then uploading one of about 50 ROMS that may or may not be tweaked to some developer’s particular taste and may contain bugs, stuff that doesn’t work or require constant updates. Some of us just want to use the phone with the latest software as it was designed by the manufacturer / carrier. If there is a ROM that is EXACTLY like what should be coming out, and I don’t have to continuously screw with the phone, I’d even be willing to pay for it.

      • KJ

        08/22/2012 at 1:51 pm

        I unlocked and rooted my Verizon galaxy nexus in less than 10 minutes with NO prior experience with this: https://www.wugfresh.com/dev/nexus-root-toolkit/

        From there, using CWM to flash new roms takes just a couple minutes.

        • sd

          08/22/2012 at 1:53 pm

          So which ROM is closest to a factory experience? How do you tell the difference?

          • griff

            08/22/2012 at 2:26 pm

            Look up bug less beast. Pete’s ROM are basically stock. Stable as hell. I dont know why people moan about nexus devices not getting official updates quickly. JB has been out for ages in the Dev community.

      • spotmark

        08/23/2012 at 6:53 am

        If people aren’t comfortable rooting, and roming, then they shouldn’t be buying a Nexus, in the first place. They’re called a “developer’s phone” for a reason.

        • Peggy Coffey

          08/23/2012 at 6:19 pm

          I bought a GN, not for rooting and roming, but because it was the most comfortable phone for me I will not root the phone, not because I can’t, I’ve done it before with no problems, it’s a matter of principal. Verizon should be the one to give me the all the updates this phone can handle. Why should I spend my time doing their job. I love the phone just like it is but I know I’ll love it even more with JB.

        • Scott

          08/25/2012 at 3:40 pm

          We newbies have to start somewhere. Nobody comes out of the womb knowing how to root. LOL I rooted my VZW GALAXY NEXUS with lots of trial and error but finally rooted it. Now running jelly belly ROM and loving it. Learned a lot about rooting through this experience.

  6. Jack

    08/22/2012 at 1:34 pm

    Sprint is giving away an extended battery with back cover (2100 mAh I believe) for free to their Nexus customers. I only had to pay for overnight UPS shipping. It’s out for delivery right now. Pretty sweet deal, and totally unexpected.

    • jayson

      08/22/2012 at 1:35 pm

      Cool. I was referring to the 3850 mAh from QCell on Amazon. Best $20 I ever spent, although I also used to get through the day fine on the old battery with a custom ROM/Kernel.

    • Ron

      08/22/2012 at 1:51 pm

      Jack,

      Mind providing the steps required to get said extended battery ?

  7. Michael Carrion

    08/22/2012 at 2:09 pm

    just root the damn thing and be done with it. anyone who waits on a carrier to give them timely updates is a fool. The GN is a developers phone. So why dont more people go and see what developers have been putting out for the GN since Jellybean was announced at Google I/O. SMH!!

  8. Jason

    08/22/2012 at 3:28 pm

    You people (yeah, I said you people) complaining about the Nexus as if it is a bad device are ridiculous. Yeah, it had a few problems in the beginning but they’ve been remedied on the latest stock Verizon build. I don’t like the fact that VZW drags their feet either and I will likely switch carriers because of them…but that has nothing to do with the phone. If you are that disgruntled about it, root the thing and throw on a custom rom….it’s not hard especially with utilities like Wug’s toolkit out there. Shadddup already!

    • Kevin

      08/22/2012 at 5:34 pm

      Problem is that even for people that were swapping in custom ROMs are having HUGE problems with this device in many areas. The voice drop-out bug is still present and custom ROMs don’t help that problem because you’re still using the same shitty radios that Samsung gave you to work with.

  9. Free

    08/22/2012 at 5:46 pm

    What are the Nexus owners bitching about? A stock Nexus LTE runs just fine IMO. LTE switches over seamlessly when available and multitasking works flawlessly. Just because Google rolled out an update or JellyBean doesn’t mean that you have to have it or that you really need it. Sure, I’d love to have the Brains blown on my Volkswagen 1.8T so I can get another 50 horsepower out of it, do I really need it? I’m not willing to pay the $500 so, I’m going to do without it. The Nexus is Root and Flash friendly Carriers be damned! If you don’t have the “Testicular Fortitude” to do it Stfu and use the phone like it was intended to be used which is quite frankly a great experience compared to the No Multitasking HTC X or S or the poor selection of apps available for Windows Phone 7. The GS3 and “Touch Wiz” is a nice piece of kit, but I prefer no overlays and my Nexus delivers that.

    • Danny

      08/22/2012 at 6:40 pm

      There are so many things wrong with this post Its laughable. Go back and reread the other comments and then reply with something that has to do with the discussion please

  10. Chris

    08/22/2012 at 6:41 pm

    My nexus is bone stock from Verizon and while I enjoy it, I bought it for the rapid update factor (or so i thought). This is just a matter of principle. There is no way a non nexus device (s3) should beat the current years nexus to an update! Why build a nexus device if this is going to be the case? Its really quite infuriating!

  11. Jayson

    08/22/2012 at 8:29 pm

    You shouldn’t have to root your device to get the updates, fixes, tweaks that you want, but Verizon is obviously not going to do you any favors. They might argue that, when you bought your phone, there was no written guarantee that the Nexus would be the first to receive updates. Just because that was the case in the past doesn’t mean it is going to be true going forward. There are just too many unknowns when it comes to corporate politics and policies. Google might not be as focused on the Nexus brand given its current projects, and Verizon might have other reasons to prioritize other partners. But that’s why the Nexus is such a great phone. It allows you to bypass all the corporate BS.

    I find Adam’s constant posts about delays in ICS and Jellybean updates to be ridiculous. Sure, it would be nice if the updates and fixes came faster. But do we have a ‘right’ to these things? In the absence of a written public statement by Verizon confirming that the Nexus will always be first to all updates, the premise of Adam’s posts (that Nexus should be first to the punch) is simply flawed, and the angst he displays with this phone is risible. If it means that much to him, he should just root (10 minutes) and put a stock Jellybean ROM over the phone (5 minutes). I had never rooted a phone before this one, but thankfully (and this is why I–and many more folk–bought the Nexus) it is very easy to do. I have never come across the problems with radios that Kevin mentions. And, as I mentioned above, any concern that owners have with battery life is easily remedied by grabbing the extended battery. Rather than fill the blogosphere with endless lines about whether or not the phone is going to be updated before the S3, why not help some of your readers out by discussing how easy it is to root and ROM this phone? Why not review some of the different ROMs out there, and discuss the amazing benefits of free wireless tethering, etc. etc. etc. Let’s stop being the victims of endlessly stupid corporate politics and, instead, discuss the ways we can take matters into our own hands and really enjoy this superb phone.

  12. Some Dude

    08/23/2012 at 2:07 am

    Verizon has not ruined the nexus experience. The sole purpose of the nexus device is to be a developer phone. The galaxy nexus has an unlockable bootloader, and currently has great support in aosp were jelly bean can currently quite easily be built. This is truly what makes a nexus device. Google nor verizon ever said the nexus device is supposed to get updates quicker than other phones. It simply usualy does just because no further modifications such as custom skins, which costs companies a lot of time and money, is added:-) I love my galaxy nexus, and if verizon offered another nexus device on there network, then it would be my next phone.

  13. aware74

    08/23/2012 at 11:06 am

    I just talked to a Verizon Customer service representative on the phone. She said that not only could she not give an exact deadline for when the GNEX will be upgraded to JB, she said that should could not even definitively say that it would happen in 2012.

    I’ll probably just be unlocking, rooting and ROM’ing my phone, and moving on with my life.

  14. Dug

    08/25/2012 at 10:40 am

    I am also disappointed that the Verizon G Nex is getting passed up getting JB by non Nexus devices. What a fool I was bragging that it would get preferred treatment to the latest updates in that regard when I finally got my hands on it December 15. As much as I like Verizon in many ways, it leaves me feeling they are control hungry like Apple. If I had a second LTE device, I would root, but can’t risk screwing things up because switching back and forth with phones on Verizon is a pain. My other VZ phone is 3G. And I risked loosing unlimited when I had to use it for a backup while waiting for the replacement to my crushed first G Nex to arrive.

    The replacement also has microphone issues where sometimes I can hear them but they can’t hear me. That said, I really do like the phone and its vanilla ways. My Nexus 7 has Jellybean but it won’t support Flash, so there have been several occasions that require dropping back to ICS to read flash content such as a local menu listing. I realize that in the future having the ability to read flash content will not matter much, but right now it is still a very valuable tool. For that reason I’m not pissed off about the lag in getting upgraded to Jellybean, but have lost some faith in Verizon all the same.

  15. Mark A

    08/25/2012 at 2:36 pm

    With respect to all the Jelly Bean fans, I’m content to wait a bit. I have 4.1 on my Nexus tablets and can’t use some of my favorite apps (eg HBO Go) due to incompatibility with Jelly Bean

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