Why Google needs a bigger Nexus phone and phablet-optimized Android L

The point of the Nexus line is ambiguous now. Is it a developer line? Does it showcase what Google wants in an Android phone? Does it showcase the cutting edge of Android? Maybe in the beginning the purpose was clear, but now I don’t think even Google knows. The one thing I am certain of is that the forthcoming Nexus phone will not be just another phone.

The Nexus line so far has helped to give developers a pure experience of Android to work on. One where the OS followed and fostered an environment that placed emphasis on the guidelines set forth by Google, such as on-screen buttons and leveraging full screen mode. A developer using a Nexus would get a very different impression of Android than one using Samsung's TouchWiz on a Galaxy phone -- which would reflect in the app produced.

Now, bigger phones are becoming increasingly popular, and more accepted. So if a developer wants to test an application for these new phablets the most obvious choice is the Samsung Note series. And Samsung has its own software additions to Android on its phones. The ideal app for phablets on Android would include S Pen and Samsung Multi-Window support, and be optimized for Samsung -- not Android at large.

So why is this a problem for Google?

Without optimizations such as multi-window and pen support, 6+ inch stock Android phones are inherently inferior to Samsung Note devices. Couple that with marketing and mind share and you have a future where Samsung will dominate the Android phablet market with a tweaked version of Android. To compete, other OEMs like LG will have to include their own implementations of multi-window and pen support.

Google lost the chance to optimize Android for larger phones before Samsung, but if it does not act now, each OEM could have their own optimizations and their own device-specific APIs. The fragmentation situation everyone likes to talk about could become a very real problem.

The alternatives of a phablet optimized Android are 6+inch phones running specific OEM-flavored versions of Android or an iOS-like Android which lacks optimization on bigger phones. The worry is a Nexus phone without multi-window or pen support that is inferior to Samsung's Note, and hence, useless as a consumer or developer device.

With all that said, the ideal situation would be two Nexus devices: one optimized phablet phone and a Nexus 5 sized phone. We will know the choices Google made soon enough.