Is any company allowed to use stock Android?

[wes008]

Lately I've been thinking, "If stock Android is such a big selling point for phones like the G2 and Nexuses, why don't other companies use it?" Then, the question struck me: Do companies have to customize their Android phone's OS unless they have some special permission from Google? So what gives?

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

Lately I've been thinking, "If stock Android is such a big selling point for phones like the G2 and Nexuses, why don't other companies use it?" Then, the question struck me: Do companies have to customize their Android phone's OS unless they have some special permission from Google? So what gives?

I don't believe companies have to customize. If that were true then only the nexus would be stock.

Companies want to make a profit customization and bloatware help with that goal.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Nope, Google released Android under an Apache license and you are free to put it on whatever you like, and do whatever you want to it. Case-in-point the original Motorola Droid, completely stock Android there.

 

[anon(21022)]

Nope, Google released Android under an Apache license and you are free to put it on whatever you like, and do whatever you want to it. Case-in-point the original Motorola Droid, completely stock Android there.

case in point, the AOSP ROMs (stock android mostly), the android tablets (stock android), etc. Android emulator in the SDK? Stock Android.

etc etc.

 

[wes008]

Ok, thanks. With the exception of HTC and Samsung (I like sense and touchwiz you can pick your favs), why do companies try to build their own UIs when they know stock is what people want (well at least power users. average consumer could care less)? You could use stock, but still have all of your carrier bloat.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Ok, thanks. With the exception of HTC and Samsung (I like sense and touchwiz you can pick your favs), why do companies try to build their own UIs when they know stock is what people want (well at least power users. average consumer could care less)? You could use stock, but still have all of your carrier bloat.

I think you just answered your own question. Average users won't give a rats behind, and there are far more average consumers out there than Android junkies. These companies know that the people who are the power users are more than likely going to mod the hell out of their devices, root, and flash a custom ROM.

 

[dragon718]

They also do it to separate their device from the competition. Since android software is the same on each device. So someone who likes sense over touch wiz, or motoblur over stock, etc. is going to choose the device that had their desired skinned.

 

[DroidXcon]

They also do it to separate their device from the competition. Since android software is the same on each device. So someone who likes sense over touch wiz, or motoblur over stock, etc. is going to choose the device that had their desired skinned.

Agreed, and since the average consumer doesnt know how to customize, they look at the different phones and interfaces and they pick which one they like the best.

Please always keep in mind that those of us on Android central or any android forums in general represent a super tiny amount of people who actually own Android devices. The average user takes what they are given for face value. Ex. a person looks at the DX and they see a widget that looks like a window that will play their videos and display their pictures.... then he sees the incredible that has a widget that will allow them to update all their social network sites at once. Depending on what they see they will make their decision on what they want.

We walk in there and look at a phone and think,,,man i like this hardware, this pesky UI, ill just flash a new rom when i get home.

They are not customizing for us, they are customizing for the people who dont know anything else then the UI they are presented

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Exactly right. While I?m not going to sit here and say that manufacturers don?t adhere to small group of people like us, on the flip side they?re not going to change things up because a group of us wants something change. Even if everyone here on Android Central wanted let?s say HTC to start putting stock Android on it?s devices rather than Sense, that still represents what?104,000 people out of millions of people who have already bought into and continue to buy into the Android platform.

Fortunately, we?re seeing less and less garbage UI overlays and a lot of really unique and for the most part solid customizations. Take for example the quick access buttons in the notification drop-down. (I can?t remember exactly who started that). But that was a really innovative and convenient customization. Things like that are helpful to Android, and while there are some things that make you want to jab your eyeballs out, I think in the long run it?s only going to be more beneficial.

 

[Raptor]

Since stock Android permits the wifi hotspot and most carriers want to charge for it the carriers will not permit a phone with stock Android to be sold for use on there network. Let's face it, the carriers do not want a profit center to be denied them so stock Android will not happen in most cases.


Brian

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Since stock Android permits the wifi hotspot and most carriers want to charge for it the carriers will not permit a phone with stock Android to be sold for use on there network. Let's face it, the carriers do not want a profit center to be denied them so stock Android will not happen in most cases.


Brian

Well, there are ways to have ?stock? Android and limit that feature. I guess if you want to get technical about it, removing or blocking that feature would not truly be stock Android, but the OS itself would be pure Android, no UI alterations or anything. I think Verizon did this with FroYo on the original Droid. It?s stock, but I do believe the Hotspot feature is limited to using Verizon?s 3G Mobile Hotspot service only.