An open letter to all Android device manufacturers.

[drone46]

This is directed at all of the manufacturers who are developing products that use the Android platform. Do you guys want to beat Apple once and for all? You are poised to do it, there are only a few simple things that you all have to do;

Stop F*cking up Android with your crappy crippled interpretations of the OS. Lets face it, Google is making a badass system. If you guys want to toss a skin/launcher (whatever you want to call it) on top of Android and load it up with bloatware, go for it! But like any desktop PC, allow the end users to get rid of ALL of it if they want to! Stop locking yourselves into boxes and thinking of these devices as phones. They are not just phones any more. They are computers that have phone function. Treat them like it.

If I buy a brand name computer at any retailer it will come with a base of the current incarnation of Windows with the manufacturers skin on it and loaded to the gills with bloatware, advertising, trial versions, etc. This is perfect for the less advanced newbie uses who want to just plug it in and see all nifty stuff it does. But me? The minute I take that computer out of the box, I format it with a fresh install of the OS without all of the crap in it and I suddenly have a great computer that is what *I* want it to be. Why cant our Android devices be just like this? Get your new Droid X home, dont like Blur with all the bloatware? Format that sucker with a fresh install of Froyo directly from Google and you are off to the races. Stop screwing around locking bootloaders and adding efuses! Encourage people to develop new roms for your devices, learn from what they change and make your next device better! Then when Google releases an Android update, we dont have to wait for months for you to lock it down, add your skin and bloatware that we dont want anyway, etc. You are freed up to develop new HARDWARE and your users are freed up to use their device how they want to. Embrace the open nature of Linux that Android is built around, release your customers to do what they want and as a result, crush your competition.

I am using Moto as an example here, but I am talking to ALL of you (HTC, Samsung, Dell, etc). By all means, sell us your devices loaded up with all of the crap you want us to have. All of the stuff your advertisers are paying you to add. But let us get rid of it if we dont want it! Let us upgrade our OS when Google has an update! We are buying these devices, let us use them how we want. If your skin is so amazing, put it up in the app market and let us decide if we want it or not.

This model works well for Desktop PCs, why shouldn't it work for our handheld devices just as well?

While I hate Microsoft for many of their practices, their recent Windows 7 ad campaign is genius. Telling users that they listened to suggestions and made the OS the users wanted. Take a tip from the old boys on the block, give us the hardware we want, let Google give us the software we want. Throw that in Apples face and let them try and compete with ALL of you rather than you competing with each other.



/end soapbox rant

 

[mrspeedmaster]

Throw that in Apples face and let them try and compete with ALL of you rather than you competing with each other.

Problem is. Mfgrs don't work as a team or an alliance. Motorola is competing with HTC as much as against Samsung. HTC may not have the economy of scale as Samsung. HTC may not have the pool of licenses for codecs as Samsung so they counter-offer with Sense on their devices to differentiate.

So in a ring, they're all competing with each other one a one-to-one basis.

And what this means is there is a race-to-the-bottom. You can get a Galaxy S for $0.01 via Amazon. Imagine how that will hurt resale. Heck, I got a Captivate, non-contract for less than $300. I wonder how much I can get rid of it in a year?

Whereas, I know people who sold 1 year old unlocked/jailbroken 3GS for $450 (just browse ebay and craigslist).

 

[AndroidSPCS]

I agree OP. If I want a skin, let me download one of my choice.

The the bigger issue is to let users root and custom load any ROMs of their choice. Moto really sucks in this regard with the eFuze chip and encrypted boot loader.

The other issue is the carriers want control over the app store, music store, etc etc. So that puts pressure on the manufacturers as well. It's a bit complicated.

 

[AH1z]

If you're sending this to a real company, edit all the cuss words so you'll be taken more seriously.

Having said that you're 110% correct on all area's of the letter. These phones are the epitome of bloat... No one wants it. I'd say the privet rom, and rooting devs are more cunning, and on edge that the multi-million dollar corporations. We know what we want, they know what we want, but Google, htc, among others don't care or just don't know.

These phones barely do basic computing operations that PC's have been doing for over 20 years. Too much time has been spent on glamor and pazaz with basic function lagging way behind. Heck the HTC mail client can't even make an extra folder to help organize mail... Fail. The app market is unregulated and infested with complete garbage. Fail. The Android system doesn't have any scrip extensions or support to allow separate apps to talk between each other. Fail.

Over the past 25+ years we have leaned how a human interacts with a computer, or device. Like the OP said, take what we already know and go with it.

 

[clobber]

You make some valid points, but I think it goes farther than that. The problem for me is with us consumers end and not the manufacturer/operator. We are not demanding what we should. Well - maybe the vendors have pulled one over us, but we can't see it.

For example, why are we so willing to go out and purchase a $1000-$2000 laptop that is instantly ours? We can load whatever software we want on it and we can hook it up to any ISP. However, when it comes to phones we (Americans) will almost never pay $500-$700 dollars up front so that we can put it on any network and have a completely unlocked phone. No - instead we want that free-$100 phone that locks us into a 2 year contract and winds up being way more expensive than the unlocked price.

Recently, consumers had exactly the choice you call out. They could buy the Nexus One straight from Google with stock android and also get Android updates faster than anyone else. That apparently flopped miserably as google have already closed up shop.

I happen to agree with you.........

 

[takeshi]

Do you guys want to beat Apple once and for all?

Enthusiasts on forum sites like this make up a tiny, tiny fraction of a percent of the total marketplace. While I agree with most of your major points, the majority of consumers don't care about such things (or else they wouldn't have bought so many iPhones to begin with). The numbers and the money that follow are all that matters to these companies. Good luck with your rant but it doesn't do much good to preach to the choir.

 

[qwertyaas]

If I buy a brand name computer at any retailer it will come with a base of the current incarnation of Windows with the manufacturers skin on it and loaded to the gills with bloatware, advertising, trial versions, etc. This is perfect for the less advanced newbie uses who want to just plug it in and see all nifty stuff it does. But me? The minute I take that computer out of the box, I format it with a fresh install of the OS without all of the crap in it and I suddenly have a great computer that is what *I* want it to be.

You might as well just build your own PC then. That way you know exactly what's in there and installed on there

But good points. For instance with AT&T, the only way to get rid of the AT&T is to root the phone and get rid of it. Not such an issue but it shouldn't be a necessary step.

 

[Little Green Robot]

That's why Gingerbread is doing away with all the manufacturer UI's.

 

[Thefoodman52]

That's why Gingerbread is doing away with all the manufacturer UI's.

Hopefully still allowing third party homes like GDE, sweeter home, etc.

 

[Niir]

i like the idea of manufacturer UIs in the market place (give them pride of place or what ever) or make a home replacement section and let people pick (although they would be spanked senseless by LP/other launchers

maybe it would motivate the manufacturers to make their skins good for once.

 

[bbrosen]

You may also want to write to the carriers as well, they love to get into the mix with their crapware too. All it does is add more crap, less memory and more junk....and confusion...

here is the deal, all companies want their brand and identity out there, same with the carriers, lest they become just a pipeline for our phones....they all feel they need an edge or something to differentiate them from the others, their competition...same with handset makers, no one wants to be a nameless faceless piece of hardware and be an anonymous repository for the anonymous pipeline...thats what we are up against...