[kuschku]

> since Android is Open Source

You haven't used Android since 2010, have you?

In the latest versions, there is no more Open Source anything.

Calendar, Contacts, Home screen, Phone app, Search, are all closed source now.

(btw, all of them, including the Google app, used to be open in Gingerbread)

You can't do TLS without going through Google apps (or packaging spongycastle), you can't do OpenGL ES 3.2, you can't use location anymore, nor use WiFi for your own location implementation.

Since Marshmallow, you are also forced to use Google Cloud Messaging, or the device will just prevent your app from receiving notifications.

To "save battery power" and "improve usability", Google monopolized all of Android.

[kuschku]

To whomever downvoted the above post: Please clarify why you think it isn’t relevant to the discussion, or provide counterarguments. All the points I made can be easily sourced (if you wish, I can even post them in here), and are all verifiable.

[amelius]

It could also have been the tone of your first sentence.

Not that I mind personally.

[kuschku]

It wasn’t meant aggressively, just as a question. It’s quite possible that the author of the comment I answered to had not used Android for a few years, or had never cared – or had just missed the announcements of the official apps not being supported anymore.

Oh, wait, there were no announcements, they were dropped silently.