Upon hearing that Google’s latest flagship phone would be named the Galaxy Nexus, I concluded that the name was the result of mashing up Samsung’s flagship mobile brand and Google’s flagship Android brand together; a sort of bureaucratic or corporate decision rather than the result of a thought out process or adherence to some semblance of a naming convention.

Reading In the Plex, I’ve now realized it’s entirely possible Andy Rubin and the Android team actually believe Galaxy Nexus to be the perfect name. Here’s an excerpt from the the book, regarding the origin of the Nexus One’s name.

The phone itself would be called Nexus One. “Nexus,” explained Queiroz, “is a convergence of connections.” But the real origin of the name was Andy Rubin’s robot fixation: in the movie Blade Runner, the model name of one of the humanlike robots was Nexus 6.

Extrapolating from this excerpt, it’s easy to see why a “galactic” Nexus would tickle Rubin’s fancy.

The Galaxy Nexus: The ultimate epic Android.

I can believe that is how Rubin interprets the name. Maybe even tech enthusiasts can connect the dots leading to that name. Too anyone else however, what does the name evoke? The convergence of galactic connections? How many of you could even define a Nexus before I gave you the definition? (StarCraft references aren’t allowed.)

Add this to the evidence of Android’s overall philosophy and design being driven by the preferences and tastes of Google employees, rather than those of it’s customers.

Aside: Speaking of conventions, what is the Nexus’ ? So far, Google’s flaship devices have been named the Nexus One, the Nexus S and now the Galaxy Nexus.

• Name + Noun
• Name + Letter
• Noun + Name

As a person who enjoys consistency, this is unnecessarily confusing and overwrought.