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The Galaxy Nexus was the a big leap forward for Google, it was the first smartphone to run Ice Cream Sandwich, a big leap forward from the current leader Gingerbread 2.3.6. Google had made the device to show off the capabilities of Android and many developers and fans bought into the smartphone.
After the Nexus 4 came on the scene, the Galaxy Nexus was quickly shipped away into the bin but Google supported it on the Jelly Bean launch with the Nexus 4. It is just up until the recent Android KitKat 4.4 update that Google has thrown away support for the device.
This may not be down to Google, who the petition want answers from, especially Sundar Pichai, the leader of Android and Chrome. Texas Instruments developed the processor for the Galaxy Nexus and since they have stepped out of the mobile processor business they have not issued new drivers for the device.
Without this key element, Google cannot add the Galaxy Nexus Android KitKat 4.4 support. The petition may show the vast amount of Galaxy Nexus members wanting the upgrade, but unless Google can send this to TI and get them to build the drivers, the update is unlikely to happen.
In the harsh world of chucking out a device after two years, the Galaxy Nexus is a sore burn. It is odd to think that only next year Google may make the Nexus 4 obsolete, a device that is still powerful and capable of running almost all applications fast.
This comes back to the old argument about support vs device capabilities – in some cases, a device can run on the newest software five years after its launch, but smartphones, especially Androids, seem to have a very low support lifespan, either due to carriers and manufacturers not bothering to update the device or the lack of core capabilities to run the newest update.
