Hey manufacturers, leave Android alone!
To quote what a great American once said, 
and by great American I mean clinically insane: “ALL YOU PEOPLE CARE ABOUT IS REDO AND MAKING MONEY OFF IT. IT’S A ROBOT! WHAT YOU DON’T REALIZE IS ANDROID IS MAKING YOU ALL THIS MONEY AND ALL YOU DO IS PUT A BUNCH OF CRAP ON TOP OF IT. LEAVE ANDROID ALONE!” Okay that’s enough crazy talk for one article, let’s move on.
Last week Google put the kibosh on the Nexus One, they’re basically selling the last batch of them. If you’re looking for an Android phone and don’t mind T-Mobile I can’t recommend the Nexus One enough. Why? Because it might be the last of its kind. You need more convincing? Read Justin’s article on why the Nexus One is still the bestest, most awesomest, Android phone.
The list of Android phones with stock Android is rapidly shrinking everyday, and it’s not a coincidence. Only the original Droid, Samsung Intercept, Samsung Moment, myTouch 3G, and G1 have vanilla Android. What do all these phones have in common? They’re all on their way out — except for the Intercept. All of them are being replaced by phones with custom skins , the myTouch 3G and G1 are making room for the myTouch Slide (Sense UI), the Droid 2 (Ninjablur?) will replace the Droid and lastly the Intercept – which has stock Android with Cupcake’s app drawer for some reason - will substitute the Moment. So basically, pretty soon your only choice will be the Samsung Intercept if you want vanilla Android. YIKES. To be clear, we’re not completely sure if the Droid 2 will launch with stock Android or Ninjablur , so there might still be hope. In the mean time, all the popular Android phone out there are running some kind of customized Android. Nonetheless, they’re all selling like hotcakes — Verizon couldn’t keep an Android phone on stock if their lives depended on it. So what’s wrong with OEMs using a custom skin? You might ask yourself, well, keep on reading.
Most custom skins suck
What first comes to mind when you think about custom versions of Android? If you said HTC’s Sense UI, you’re correct. The reason for that is that it is simply the best one out there. HTC has done a rather good job with Sense UI. You get the sense (pun so intended) that the people at HTC really took the time to understand what works and what doesn’t — and improved Android on key places. Put simply, Android is where it is today partly thanks to HTC’s work on Sense UI. And that’s about it, as far as successful custom Android stories go. It seems that when building a UX for Android, you either get it extremely right or terribly wrong. On one hand you have Sense, and on the other one you have everybody else. Stuff like TouchWiz on the Samsung Behold 2, whatever LG did to the Ally’s UI and MOTOBLUR. All of them are sure to bring a look of hellish horror to Android enthusiasts’ faces. I mean, just look at them. It’s like a bunch of kindergarteners got together and decided to draw something out of the brightest Crayola crayons they could get their hands on.
Customized versions of Android were nice on top of Cupcake and Donut. However, for Froyo and beyond, custom skins create more problems than they fix. Back in ancient times when we were proudly rocking Android 1.5 on our phones, HTC’s Sense UI was a nice improvement over vanilla Android. HTC added a lot of polish to Android’s hard-on-the-eyes stock look and feel. Sense also improved the overall experience of Android with things like pinch-to-zoom and an easier way to copy and paste. But those days are gone, with Froyo Google has now quickly closed the gap between Sense and stock Android — and it will blow right past it with Gingerbread. Basically, custom skins no longer add killer features or fill in the holes that Android once had. We have no use for them now.
Gingerbread and software updates
The obvious and most known drawback from custom skins is longer waiting periods to get software updates. Two things are undeniably true in the mobile tech world; Apple will never apologize for their mistakes and custom versions of Android will take longer to get updates. That’s just the way it is and will always be. Basically, the more you change Android, the longer it will take you to get everything working when Google releases the source code. Eight months ago, whenever anybody bought an Android phone they were making a choice — knowingly or not. Do I want a more polished version of Android or quicker software updates? Today it’s different, the more Google improves Android the more that question becomes: Do I care about quicker software updates or not? And that brings us to the next version of Android: Gingerbread.
We’re – according to rumors – about three months away from the release of Gingerbread. Gingerbread as I told you right after Google I/O will be all about the user experience. An Android UI overhaul is long overdue and Gingerbread might be the one to finally bring it to us. A truly beautiful stock Android UI will hopefully discourage OEMs and carriers from hiding it underneath a sea of rainbow-colored madness. If that works, it might fix the custom skins issue three months down the road. But what about the millions of people that buy an Android phone before then? They’re pretty much playing Russian Roulette. You might buy a vanilla Android phone like the Samsung Intercept but never get Gingerbread. Or you might get a customized Android phone, but then OEMs usually stick to the same UI when they release a software update. So you may actually get Gingerbread on your brand new Droid X but you won’t get the eye candy the stock version brings, you’ll be stuck with Ninjablur — the same goes for every other phone with custom Android.
Moreover, if Google makes some pretty deep changes with Gingerbread – 
like the way Notifications or multitasking works – it will be much harder for OEMs to throw their UI versions on top of it. If that happens, I’m not holding my breath on any currently being sold Android phone ever having Gingerbread. One thing’s for sure, Google’s very own baby – the Nexus One – will be the first one to get Gingerbread’s over-the-air update. If you care about getting software updates, I can’t recommend any other phone right now. If you’re buying an Android phone in the next three months you have a choice to make. Would you rather have a slightly more polished Android 2.1/2.2 or stock Android 3.0?
UPDATE: That was quick, the Nexus One is no longer available from Google’s online store. It will be missed.
Stock Android. Home replacement apps (and other apps / widgets) are awesome for making a customized experience imo, but keep them as normal apps instead of forcing them down users throats.
Good post. One of the main reasons I got the Nexus One was so I didn’t have to put up with a customised UI. Sooooo glad I did now.
Great Article! I still love my Nexus! Hope Google comes out with a newer version in the next 6 months or so to keep up with technology.
Vanilla all the way. Even the Sense Ui is sluggish compared toit rooted with vanilla running on my incredible.
i like the reviews
yeah they are the only ones with stock android but isn't gingerbread suppose rid the android world of custom ui's it kind of make sense why most new android phones all say with Google now because Google is planning on just making most if not all android phone with stock.
Punctuation is your friend.
O man you guys are really bringing the heat this week so many people don’t realize what they are getting in to when they buy a phone with a custom skin. They will talk crap about how they have a superior phone but the phone with the newest update is the best (Nexus One) and no matter how much they whine about it they aren’t going to be the first to get the newest updates. Look at the Motorola Droid it has vanilla Android but thanks to Motorola and Verizon it took 3 months to get 2.1 update 1 and that was a very small update. I love how everyone blames Google for not sending them updates but it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with the choice they made when buying their phone. Also people in Europe who bought a Nexus One from Vodafone got partly screwed because they made Google take 2 apps off the Nexus One or so they say and the users had to wait almost another month to get Froyo. Good thing about Google is that if you read the Nexus One Support Forums you would know that as long as you bought the phone from them people from around the whole world were getting 2.2 at the same and it didn’t matter if you were on 1G, 2G, 3G, or WiFi (No Middle Man).
I picked up the Sammy Vibrant opening day enticed by the Super Screen (oh so super) and the bird that hums (and does it hum). That said I did make this purchase with the knowledge that touch wiz would be the dialect on the device (many sleepless nights considering I purchased unsubsidized). I must admit; all be it reluctantly…it’s not that bad. I really like what they did with the notification bar, it it the place to go to get to stuff (settings)with out dealing with menus. That said, the rest of it sucks. I believe Google should make it mandatory (in the spirit of the whole open concept that is Andy) that OEMs can skin as they please, however, the user should have the option to say no to a skin and opt for the vanilla flavored desert of the season if they so choose to (get it, open, choice). Nothing personal, just a preference. What do you guys think? Can someone (meaning not a meaningless consumer like myself) suggest this to the Rubinator?
Amen. Stock Android performs much better than those phones with custom UIs.
I thought that's was the selling point of Android.. that it could be fully customizable.. witch includes new User interfaces.. right? I thought that's what made the OS so great.
Yes, that it's one of the great things about Android. But it should be the user's choice to customize it, not the OEM's. Even if you switch back to the stock UI – like you can do with Sense UI and the LG Ally I believe also – you still have to wait for OEMs to build the custom version — which defeats the purpose of having stock Android.
In an ideal world, every phone would come with stock Android, and OEMs would either include in the phone or sell through the Market an optional customized theme. That way, only those people that like the custom skin have to wait for an updated version that works with the latest Android version.
Let me give you an example. Imagine the EVO 4G comes with stock Android 2.1. Because you bought it from HTC, you can get Sense UI free from the Android Market — or you can buy it if you have let's say the Droid X. This way, you have the option of customizing your phone with Sense UI, but everybody else running stock Android on their EVO doesn't have to wait for a Sense UI update.
good thing I have the droid… – even if I run a custom rom
You speak the veritable truth my friend. But sadly so :(
This was absolutely the worst article I’ve read from DroidDog. I used to have the Hero and then the Nexus one. I didn’t find pure bliss until i got a Samsung Vibrant, the UI is beautiful and the hardware is perfect. This is completely an article written with inexperience and one the yeilds tunnel vision. I expect better.
i thought long and hard when i bought the vibrant about this. I read dozens of forums about the ease of rooting and flashing of the phone before i finalized my decision. I love the hardware of the vibrant, but after my current non-upgrade issues of my Cliq (which is an exellent phone, just needs the darn 2.1 update!) i am very aware of updates. I personally dont care THAT much about how fast it gets updates, just that its easily flashable. Vanilla android is great, and I'd prefer that, but whats even better is the mod community. The cyanogens, the handlers, the barackinfl, and the rest of em make a great system even better. Concidering the vibrant is the galaxyS and is on every carrier and is basically the same on each, i expect the mod community will keep the phone more up to date than Samsung could ever hope to try. And concidering Sammys horrible track record of updates, thats a good thing.
The manufacturers put it together, google gets it working, the mods turn them into superphones.
Personally, I love the Droid X. I thought I would miss the vanilla android from my old Nexus, but the more I use it, the more I like NinjaBlur. It's not a huge change like you would think. They took some things and fixed them up the way they should be. They added a few things that are very cool as well (such as printing directly to the computer from my phone via blutooth). If it wasn't for ninjablur I would not have been able to deal with a phone without a trackball; for selecting text the droid x has a cool little thing that makes it much easier. Overall I would prefer stock android 2.2 over ninjablur 2.1; but once the 2.2 update comes in August I will like ninjablur 2.2 over stock 2.1. I don't know about 3.0; that's three months away and we'll see how that goes. I doubt Motorola would keep any of their stuff that is better in android 3.0, but we'll see.
I completely agree. Let the user either decide to buy between two different options of the same phone (one with and without the custom ui), or add a setting to uninstall the ui and make it vanilla android (but with an option to reinstall the custom ui).
@Minusworld1 You sound like the inexperienced one buddy, your first phone was the hero, you haven't even an Android phone for one year lol. Until the Droid X or the Samsung Galaxy phones get 2.2 no one can claim their phone is better than the Nexus One. I've had the G1, Google Ion and the Nexus and I've been with Android since October 2008 thats 21 months to your 9 months. Leave Alberto alone ****** ***. What a noob comment you made LMFAO.
I agree completely. We need to let device manufacturers know that we are willing to buy devices that don't have all of their eye-candyish UI customizations. Join me in signing a petition to let HTC, Samsung, and Motorola know that there is a demand for Android devices with the Stock Android User Interface. Here's the petition: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/NoCustomA…
I agree completely. We need to let device manufacturers know that we are willing to buy devices that don't have all of their eye-candyish UI customizations. Join me in signing a petition to let HTC, Samsung, and Motorola know that there is a demand for Android devices with the Stock Android User Interface. Here's the petition: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/NoCustomAndroidUI/
I was looking about “android bloatware”, and ended up in this article. It’s interesting, however, I only partially agree. The manufacturer takes the android platform, and modifies it to offer to the customer an unique experience. If the UI on top of android is good or not.. well, thats another story, but they offer a unique solution, that won’t be find in other phone from another company.. and that’s from their perspective, the selling point over other android handsets. What really needs to change, is the option to remove bloatware. Even stock android, has the “amazon mp3 store”, that is a process that is always running, and not everybody uses or wants it. Users should be able to remove the unwanted applications on their android phones (amazon mp3 store on stock android; “footprints”, “peep”, “news and weather” on HTC sense) without the need of rooting. Besides that, I don’t think it would be mandatory for manufacturers to offer a stock android option, because that would remove their selling point. Think about the Sony Xperia X10 mini.. The sony skin on that android handset it’s what actually makes that phone usable (sure, that phone is not for everybody, but is just an example), if you were to remove that skin, you may end up with a very difficult to use phone and a very frustrating experience.