The list of carriers who could possibly support a release of either the Nexus 4 or the Nexus 7 3G is rapidly dwindling with Virgin Mobile now confirming that they will not be stocking either device. In regards to the Nexus 4 they advised :
We can confirm that Virgin Mobile has no plans at this stage to stock the LG Nexus 4.
When asked about the Nexus 7 3G they responded with :
At this stage we don’t have any plans to stock any tablets, including the Nexus 7, but we do have mobile broadband tablet plans which can be viewed here – http://www.virginmobile.com.au/tablet-plans/
Telco is a pretty past paced industry and as you can imagine we are always in talks with a number of different manufacturers at any one time, so if this changes I’ll be sure to let you know.
Optus, who owns Virgin Mobile have also been approached with regards to the possibility of them carrying the 3G enabled Nexus devices on their network and they advised :
We don’t have any details to confirm around the Nexus devices at the moment.
So whilst Optus has not outright stated that they will not be ranging the devices it is looking increasingly bleak that either of the 3G enabled Nexus devices will receive carrier support here in Australia, but with such excellent pricing coming for the Nexus 4 as an outright and what appears to be quite a good price for the 3G enabled Nexus 7, is carrier support really required and was that Googles intention?
Virgin Mobile guy at the shops told me they will be getting in the Nexus 4…?
He was very vague and spoke very quickly about many new phones in the next 2 months…
Carriers would just screw it up anyway. Look how long it took Vodafone to get 4.1 out on the Galaxy Nexus…..oh wait, I’m still waiting for the 4.1 release…..
If the Nexus had 4G, it would have been the perfect phone for me.
Surely like almost everyone else you’ve put the phone back on a stock google firmware image so you get the updates within two weeks of google releasing them?
I got my note 2 from kogan recently and am waiting to sign up for liveconnected. so glad this carrier nonsense makes no sense anymore. But seriously, this is googles flagship new phone and no one wants to carry it? what the?
Because they know what majority of their customer want. I can tell u for Telstra alone, more then 80% of call related to buy new mobile service is buying an iPhone.
Whern does the 32GB Nexus 7 go on sale in Australia?
It is on sale now. https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_32gb
In stores?
It’s the telcos’ loss. It will just mean more people joining TPG Mobile, Amaysim and LiveConnected. Optus get a cut of all those but surely nothing like the profits they get off their own customers.
Nearly all plans come with a handset. Sell that on ebay/gumtree and get the Nexus or whatever you like.
I usually do this myself. you arnt forced to use the phone the carrier supplies (although its often cheaper). Last few times ive gone to get a phone from Telstra under a plan there hasnt been anything interesting. I got an iphone 4S last time and sold it for near full retail price on gumtree the next day and got what I wanted online.
I’m slowly removing my family from Optus. As plans end, they go Amaysim, and off to Kogan… or now Google Play… for a good cheap handset.
This news lets me breath a huge sigh of relief! Telstra and Samsung, and their handling of the GNex, have managed to put me off getting a bundled phone ever again. And the lower price of the Nexus 4 makes carrier subsidised handsets much less appealing.
If your like me and are waiting on Samsung/Google to update the Galaxy Nexus to Jelly Bean, I think the idea of a no carrier phone is extremely appealing!
Surely there can’t be too many people like you who have a device with a Google-approved unlocking mechanism, complete Google firmware images, and are still waiting?
Hang on, you can unlock the phone and get updates from Google? Is this without rooting it? If so, link please!
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
I flashed the standard Google image on mine, and my wifes phones before even doing the initial setup. Instructions are on the official google site and is pretty straight forward.
Only thing is when you flash them this way rather than getting the OTA update it wipes all the data, but once on there future updates from google don’t
I follow this link months ago.
http://webtrickz.com/easiest-way-to-change-galaxy-nexus-from-yakjuxw-non-yakju-to-android-4-0-4-yakjutakju/
The more I think about the more I think google left the carrier partnerships to the manufactures… So I’m wondering if this means they’ll stock the Optimus G instead?