Straight Android Phone...

ptkelly

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Sep 28, 2013
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Google Nexus phones were popular and the Pixel phones have their followers. I'm not at all technical and wonder if there is any reason that Samsung, HTC, LG, or any of the other phone manufacturers could not have one phone on sale that had only standard Android and could use the Google updates as soon as they hit the air?

Does Google somehow prevent others from producing a straight Android or are manufacturers driven by ego to make their phone "special"?
 

SactoKingsFan

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Nov 1, 2013
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They already tried that with Google Play edition version of Galaxy S4, HTC M8, Sony Z Ultra and Moto G which could be purchased through Google Play Store. All except the Moto G were expensive and didn't sell very well. I doubt most people even knew about GPe phones. Some were only offered for 6 months. Google isn't preventing other phones from using non skinned or near stock Android. I've had non Nexus/Pixel phones like Alcatel idol 3, Moto G and Moto X Pure Edition which were all running near stock Android. There's also been many phones from Sony, Moto/Lenovo and some Nokia's running near stock Android. Most manufacturers just want to differentiate their phones from others with unique UI and different features that they can market.
 

sulasno

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Aug 17, 2012
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Different segments of the market require different prices. Some times I wonder why people buy high end phones without using all the functionality of the phones. A high quality camera with phone capabilities with a mid range price would sell very well. You don't need a fast CPU and plenty of ram to take pics unless you are gaming
 

Rukbat

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As time goes on, the CPUs keep getting faster for the same price, and the SoCs keep getting more RAM for the same price. Those aren't the main cost increases between a cheap phone and a flagship phone. The screen size is a large part of it, so is the battery capacity. Do you want a 3" screen and a battery that needs charging ewvery 3 hours? If all you want is a camera and a phone, a feature phone will do that pretty cheaply. (But not with a 4k camera.)
 

L0n3N1nja

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Jan 11, 2014
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Can't speak for the companies, but my guess is they want their device to offer a unique experience that others can't match. Samsung makes a lot of software that they want their customers to use no different than Apple or Google.

Personally if every phone ran stock Android it would be near impossible to pick one phone over another. Flagships all have very similar specs, they are all rectangles with a screen, it's the unique software that sets them apart.

Samsung "bloat" as many call it, is something I enjoy and why I use their phones.
 

chanchan05

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Nov 22, 2014
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Android is open source and anybody can make alterations to it as they see fit for their own purposes.

Feature wise, the altered Android is much better than stock. Android 7.1 is just adding some features to stock Android that has been present in Samsung Android for over 3-4 years. For all the flak it gets, Samsung gets the job done feature wise.