My Message to Android Device Makers

[AJerman]

Sorry, I had a typo in there.  It is the carrier approval process, not the OEM.  You caught me editing ;)

 

In regards to the skins, they can take some time if it is a new (major change such as 4.0 to 4.1) version of Android because they have to tie it into the stock framework, usually.  It depends on how many changes were made to Android between releases.  I'd like to think that they can just drop their source in and compile, but I think that might be a little too optimistic.

Skins I assume are negligible when considering other things. Like articuno said earlier, there is still a lot of code that has to be ported to an updated kernel and OS when updating the OS. That's what takes the most time. Proprietary drivers have to have code written to hook into them since they aren't open source. Even the open source drivers have to be updated and recompiled to work on the new kernel. That's the advantage and disadvantage of Android. It allows anyone to make a phone with whatever parts they want, but Google can't just push out a broad OS update that works on everything unless they were at least going to lock down the kernel to one version and just update the system files on top, and even then you'd have a lot of limitations on innovation from version to version without breaking that compatibility with easy updates.

 

I can only assume that on top of the fact that Android used to be pretty plain without skins back in the early days, they probably have the time while the kernel and drivers are being worked into the new OS update to have some people work on some stuff on top like skins and apps as well, but that's probably rarely a hold up.

[Anibal P]

:D

 

I have to admit, ever since I converted my One to Google Edition with it's mostly AOSP set up and OTA updates I kind of forgot about updating to other ROMs. The quick OTAs are nice.

 

Been meaning to throw a GPE ROM on my One, I kinda sorta like Blinkfeed, but it's not a deal breaker for me, been researching which one to use on my T-Mobile One lately

[HoochieMamma]

Buy only Nexus, Play Editions, Moto X, and the new line of Motorola Droids. They all have vanilla, or close to it, OS installs and will always get updates faster than any other OEM.

This ^

 

Also, never get a phone through a telco, they will block updates and load it with crap! If you're forced to then flash the stock ROM from the manufacturer.