[innino]

my impression of nexus devices is that you are tied to the package of google services. is this so, or can a nexus-user break free from google's domain and enjoy the benefits of a quality low-cost device without being beholden to the google ecosystem?

[gbl08ma]

From what I know, for the 2012 Nexus 7 at least, there are lots of custom ROMs, some of them without Google Apps. There are even alternative operating systems like Ubuntu Touch. I don't know if other emerging mobile OS such as Firefox OS and Sailfish have been ported already or not, but if not, I'm sure they will, given the market share of the device and the amount of people interested. Ultimately, you can also run GNU/Linux with the usual light desktop environments.