HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDROID:

STORMS:

Probably the biggest news from that set of announcements, though, is the release of a brand-new Nexus phone -- from LG, no less, a company not noted for its Android updating prowess. The Nexus 4 is a hugely impressive phone, and would have quickly become a new standard for top-end Android devices, but for one major flaw -- it doesn't support 4G/LTE, and you can't use it on Sprint or Verizon. Given the amount of flak Android fans aimed at for not introducing 4G until this fall's 5, this retrograde step is a serious embarrassment.

Yes, it's incredibly difficult to negotiate the carrier minefield. Yes, Google's had huge issues getting Verizon to update its phones as quickly as it should. But to simply step back and say "screw it, we're not even going to try" seems like an admission that the Nexus program isn't a serious attempt to showcase the virtues of Android as a platform.

Of course, the argument could be made that Google doesn't really need to sell anybody on pure Android anymore, given its enormous market share in the smartphone sector. And with the increasing omnipresence of Wi-Fi, it's debatable how much is actually lost by not including 4G. Even so, this doesn't feel like a great step forward for Android.