[VelesDude]

Donald Rumsfeld — 'You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.'

In that context; Android is mediocre but I don't mean that in a nasty way. It might not be the best design or the most dynamic but it is the one that we have today that is powerful and easy enough to do what is needed.

If I was to build a portable, whatever, as much as I would love to start from a blank slate, that alone could mean being years behind just to get off the ground floor. Building a base OS isn't easy even if you know what you are doing, having something that is 100% free to launch off is wonderful.

[_mlbt]

Most people don't realize that Android was originally intended to be a BlackberryOS clone, but was pivoted to compete with iOS at the last minute instead. Once you understand that, a lot of the design decisions start making a lot more sense.