Can someone explain what makes stock android better than skins?

[delta7]

I have a m9, thinking about getting something else, preferably stock android and the 5x.

I always hear stock android is better but never figured out why exactly. Can someone explain the reason so many prefer stock? Better battery? Faster? Less lag? Updates?

My phone is carrier locked.

 

[Laura Knotek]

It's all a matter of user preferences. However, in the case of the Nexus 5X, updates will be available much more quickly. The updates will come directly from Google, not from any carrier.

Sent from my rooted Nexus 7 (2013) running Stock/AOSP (Android 6.0 Marshmallow) ElementalX N7-5.00 using Tapatalk

 

[Crashdamage]

Stock, plain vanilla Android vs Skinned...

Faster? Yes, it is.
Less lag? Yes, less lag.
Updates? Yes, faster updates, and possibly suoported longer.
Better? Yes, in every way.

Android since v1.0. Linux since 2001

 

[LeoRex]

This is MY personal feelings on the matter:

First, Nexus phones don't, technically, come with 'stock' Android. Stock Android is something you can find if you install a bare-bones custom ROM built from Android Open Source Project source code. There are some differences between Nexus builds and AOSP builds (outside of the obvious Google stuff they include). BUT... that being said.... There is virtually no functional or visual difference between a pure 100% 'Google-free' build of AOSP and what you get on a Nexus phone... apps and Google Services framework aside, of course. But take a stock build of Android, flash the latest Google apps package on it and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

OK...

I've used several phones over the years from a few different OEMs and the closer they are to basic, unaltered Android, the more I like them. I prefer the clean notification shade, the straightforward layout of the Quick Tiles and Settings windows. Inter-app linking pop ups, etc. They all just seem to look more polished or OS like on these.

And they seem to run better. The more the OS has been fussed with, the more things suffer. Stutters and hiccups... clunky animations of occasional frame drops. The two best phones I've owned have been the Nexus 5 and (after 5.1.1) my Nexus 6. Even the humble little first gen Moto G that I have runs well for its extremely meager specs. Using anything from LG or Samsung (even the latest ones), you can almost physically feel it struggle under the weight of far too much overworked code. And Google sprinkled some additional magic pixie dust into 6.0... I can dual-boot my Nexus 6 and there's even an noticeable improvement bettwen that and the latest 5.1.1 stuff.

 

[delta7]

Battery life may be worse, no power saving mode and skins depending on the manufacturer can save battery.

Phone will probably be a bit faster stock Android, updated still go through carrier I think. I think some nexus 6 phones running on carrier still don't have the 6.0 update.

I don't know I never had a stock Android, I think sense is pretty close but battery life isn't great either.

Don't see much advantages but it's good to really know.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[delta7]

This is MY personal feelings on the matter:

First, Nexus phones don't, technically, come with 'stock' Android. Stock Android is something you can find if you install a bare-bones custom ROM built from Android Open Source Project source code. There are some differences between Nexus builds and AOSP builds (outside of the obvious Google stuff they include). BUT... that being said.... There is virtually no functional or visual difference between a pure 100% 'Google-free' build of AOSP and what you get on a Nexus phone... apps and Google Services framework aside, of course. But take a stock build of Android, flash the latest Google apps package on it and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

OK...

I've used several phones over the years from a few different OEMs and the closer they are to basic, unaltered Android, the more I like them. I prefer the clean notification shade, the straightforward layout of the Quick Tiles and Settings windows. Inter-app linking pop ups, etc. They all just seem to look more polished or OS like on these.

And they seem to run better. The more the OS has been fussed with, the more things suffer. Stutters and hiccups... clunky animations of occasional frame drops. The two best phones I've owned have been the Nexus 5 and (after 5.1.1) my Nexus 6. Even the humble little first gen Moto G that I have runs well for its extremely meager specs. Using anything from LG or Samsung (even the latest ones), you can almost physically feel it struggle under the weight of far too much overworked code. And Google sprinkled some additional magic pixie dust into 6.0... I can dual-boot my Nexus 6 and there's even an noticeable improvement bettwen that and the latest 5.1.1 stuff.

I'll test it out, I can see the reason, less resources, less lag, cleaner and so forth.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Golfdriver97]

The more an OEM shoves under the hood, the more you can see stutters and lag. My LG G4 needs to be restarted about once every 10 days, just to clear some of the issues.

 

[bnice]

I have a m9, thinking about getting something else, preferably stock android and the 5x.

I always hear stock android is better but never figured out why exactly. Can someone explain the reason so many prefer stock? Better battery? Faster? Less lag? Updates?

My phone is carrier locked.

This is the beauty of Android, it is flexible. Some don't want what the OEM put on or in the device and on top of that the phone carrier add their skin to the phone as well. It's all comes down to your preference, the individual choice to decide if he or she wants this or that on their phone. Most importantly get what makes you happy.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[delta7]

Honestly I wouldn't touch Samsung or LG, the lag is a hinderance and over time it just gets worse.

But I like how Samsung made android pretty my m9 looks pretty bland in terms of TouchWiz and ux.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[JackNL]

I really like themes. Stock android is just boring.