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Can the Nexus 6 save Google’s Android ambitions?

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With the arrival of the Nexus 6, Google has some control over the Android platform and almost none of its revenue. Like a runaway train which can no longer be fully controlled by its conductor, Android keeps getting bigger and more profitable even as Google does most of the developmental dirty work and its partners cash nearly all of the checks. The Nexus has long been one of the best smartphones on the Android market, yet most casual buyers haven’t even known it existed. The Nexus 6 has an opportunity to change all that. Here are three reasons why.

Android 5.0: Google’s ace in the hole over third party Android hardware vendors is that it controls the system software. And while it’s never attempted to use that position to shut vendors out, it has had to sit back while most of those vendors have done too little to make their phones forward compatible with future Android software releases. Android 5.0 is debuting with the Nexus 6, and as users focus ever more on the fact that most Android devices aren’t particularly compatible with software updates, the new Nexus is set to become the beneficiary of that shift in public perception.

Samsung: Simply put, Samsung’s reign atop the Android marketshare stacks is coming to an end. That levels out the playing field for the others, and while various Asian hardware vendors have stepped in to scoop up marketshare with cheap Android phones, Google and its Nexus 6 now have an opportunity to make a major move in the high end of the lineup.

Andy Rubin: On the surface it can be difficult to make a case for why the creator of the Android platform leaving Google could somehow be a good thing for Android or Google. But Rubin was a rebel who initially created the platform for the philosophical reasons of “openness” and an aversion to the kind of cohesiveness which can only be achieved by streamlining various aspects of the platform. Rubin’s departure means he was likely hands-off for much of the Nexus 6 development cycle, and its shows, as this is the most tightly integrated hardware-software Android product to date.

Android creator Andy Rubin quits Google, and no, not for Samsung

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Andy Rubin, the creator of the Android software platform, has quit Google - but those who have been trying to spin the move as a shift of power within the Android platform will have to shelve such theories, at least for now. Even as Google and Samsung continue to redefine the word “frenemies” within the tech industry space, both vying for sole control of the Android space while still continuing to work together to try to boost the platform’s horizons, Rubin’s exit is about something else altogether.

Officially, Andy Rubin is headed to work at a tech incubator with ties to Google itself. Behind the scenes, that could mean a number of things. Rubin may have become bored with working on a platform he created a decade ago, which has gradually evolved from an open source experiment on his part into a major mobile software project in which numerous billion dollar tech companies are involved. It could be that Google decided it no longer wanted Rubin so closely involved with Android development. Neither theory is likely to be confirmed by either party any time soon.

With Google developing the Android system software its own cost and giving it away to hardware vendors who have been cashing in left and right, the industry has been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Would it be Google trying to find a way to force the hardware companies to either fork over a share of the money, or trying to force them off the platform entirely? Would it be leading vendor Samsung attempting to develop its own Android variant in-house so it would have total control over its own hardware products? Idle chatter had Samsung trying to pick off a key Android developer from Google. But if that is to happen, it’ll have to be someone else, as Andy Rubin’s departure from Google appears to be less about hijinks than merely about the continued evolution of the platform from where it was a decade ago.

Google 3D: Project Tango key to Android tablet initiative

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One of Google’s mad-scientist experimental technologies is about to descend from the laboratory and land on the mainstream. Project Tango, a three dimensional space sensor, is about to find its way into the company’s tablet lineup. The 3D technology expands on Google’s ongoing ideas about loading up a mobile device with external sensors so it can interact with its user and surroundings more intuitively and efficiently. The Moto X phone was touted as being heavy on sensor technology, but mostly turned out to be just another Android phone. However, even as Google has parted ways with the Motorola brand, it’s retained the technology. And now Google is ready to Tango - but is this part of the Android Silver initiative?

Just how Project Tango will translate to real world features is anyone’s guess. Smartphones currently use rudimentary sensors to detect whether they’ve been placed up against a user’s ear, for instance, and turn off the screen accordingly in order to save battery life and prevent accidental face-dialing. But more sophisticated sensors could go more in depth. Samsung has experimented with sensors which determine whether a user’s eyes are looking at the screen while a video is playing, so it can auto-pause if needed. But more advanced uses of the technology on the next Google Nexus tablet could go a long way toward transforming tablets into true computing devices of the future and not merely oversized smartphones that don’t make phone calls. That’s if Google doesn’t kill off the Nexus first in favor of a new brand name.

Rumors have Google ditching the entire Nexus brand in favor of shifting toward a new “Android Silver” platform going forward. Project Tango, or whatever its commercial brand name ends up being, sounds like the kind of technology that could become a core feature in the upcoming Silver platform.