[Steko]

It's easy in July 2012 for Linus (or whoever) to say "why mess with stock android" as if it's always been as good as 4.1. These layers were built not just for differentiation but for base functionality/gloss that stock eclair/froyo/gingerbread lacked. And try not to be shocked but many users preferred those ui layers and those phones way outsold the stock phones head to head. Also it's vaguely relevant to remember that users are not the primary customer, carriers are and if Verizon couldn't slap their bloatware all over the original droids they might not have pushed it so hard.

[potatolicious]

This is a nonsensical analysis - there was a single stock phone on the market at any one time, which was always sold unlocked at full-price directly from Google, with little to no marketing.

Compared with the "customized" Android phones which were the subject of international marketing campaigns, deeply discounted with contracts, etc etc.

The notion that customized-UI phones outsold the stock, barely public-knowledge Nexus phones does not in any way imply consumer preference.

[Steko]

I'm primarily thinking of Galaxy nexus vs Galaxy S II for head to head as that's been the first one that's been pushed by carriers.

I suppose the Xoom qualifies here as well though or did you miss the international marketing campaign, massive coverage and then how it sold less units then tabs running gingerbread.

The bottom line is in any of these had really caught fire with real consumers as opposed to the hacker commentariat we'd see a lot more of them.

[lukeschlather]

The Droid 1 was stock, and it was a great phone. I'm sorry Motorola started skinning it.

[generalk]

  > These layers were built not just for differentiation but for   
  > base functionality/gloss that stock eclair/froyo/gingerbread lacked.

Certainly!

But then Android got awesome. 4.0 is good, and 4.1 is great. But manufacturers like Samsung and HTC continue to ship their phones with 4.0 upgrades that aren't upgrades! For example: my brother's Galaxy Note. He recently got the 4.0 upgrade from Samsung, which required him to download software (Kies) from Samsung and leash his phone to his laptop to upgrade. I have no idea why.

Then, we did the upgrade, but he's missing features: the 4.0 panoramic camera comes quickly to mind. The stock dialer and people apps, which are amazing, aren't there. The new in-call UI I believe also isn't there. Seriously, they're shipping 4.0 but holding some of the better UX upgrades back.

He even asked me what the hell was new about his phone. I said I didn't know. The menus look different, some of the UI controls are new, Face Unlock is a cool showoff feature, but besides that he's still running Samsung's diminished-experience crap.

[ZeroGravitas]

I'm planning to stick CyanogenMod 10 on my Note, so I agree to a degree but I'll point out that I got the ICS update over-the-air despite hearing lots of complaints about needing to use keis (a uk vs us thing?)I also wonder if "normal" people really want the UI of their phone to change radically after an update. I get the feeling that is part of the reason that iPhone remains superficially similar over multiple upgrades.