Android Store: Speculation: US GSM Galaxy Nexus could be first device to get Jelly Bean

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Speculation: US GSM Galaxy Nexus could be first device to get Jelly Bean

Could the newly released US GSM variant of the Galaxy Nexus be the first device on the block to receive Jelly Bean once it rolls out this year? If you believe a crash log that popped up online last week, then there's good reason to think it will be.

Last week, on April 14, an automatic crash report from developer Yuku Sugianto (an engineer at Found and well established developer in the Google Play store) was posted to Google+ that showed a device touted as the Galaxy Nexus running "JellyBean" (no version number) in the wild. This should come as no surprise. Of course Google is testing the latest version of Android to get the update running as bug-free as possible. The real interesting thing about the crash report was the "product" Jelly Bean is supposedly running on.

According to the report, the device running Jelly Bean is a Galaxy Nexus with the product name takju. Until today we had no idea what device takju might refer to. It just so happens to be the US variant of the GSM Galaxy Nexus that Google is now selling from the Play store. Which got me to thinking.

Now that the US variant of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has gone on sale, you have to wonder where it fits in with the rest of the Galaxy Nexus family. Is it carrier controlled like the "fake" CDMA variants? A regional variant that won't be updated directly by Google like the "yakjusc" and "yakjuxw" GSM Nexuses? Or could it finally be one of the one true Nexuses? Updated directly by Google, with no carrier or manufacturer input, and able to flash AOSP builds without any modification. The very first device to receive the latest versions of Android. A developer's developer phone, if you will.

Considering the fact that it's being sold by Google, with support handled by Google, and it's being used internally to test Jelly Bean, this could be the Nexus we always talk about. All Google, all the time. No interference from anyone.

I know I've badmouthed Google's ability to update their Nexus devices in the past, but this still may be my next personal device. I have hope that Google can still get things down, and either way, this device is guaranteed a boat load of third-party developer support.

Come I/O, if Jelly Bean were to get announced and pushed out to any device that day, my money is on it being the US GSM Nexus.