Motorola says Carriers Do Not Want Stock Android Phones

[Vakharn]

The problem is that, in the end, most people don't give a **** about tech. They get what's cool, what their friends have, what they've seen on the idiot box. People are stupid. Making better products only sells to people who care enough to know the difference.

 

[jerkwad]

...These aren't desktops/laptops. Stores couldn't sell these phones near as easily if they were all identical, with a different shell and some differing specs.

last time I checked, that is EXACTLY what OEMS do with laptops. Stores DO sell laptops with different shiny colors and metals with the SAME OS (windows 7). Someone else pointed this out already - i'm not sure how you can argue against this.
last time I checked, this is BASICALLY what OEMS do with TVs too. Stores sell TONS of TVs and besides a few features (built-in Netflix, etc) the TV's provide the same function with different bezels, colors, sizes. There is nothing magical about the underlying operating system for these TVs for the average consumer - it's about the LOOK of the TV and for the smart consumer it is about the quality of the underlying hardware.

As to the iPhone being able to maintain it's "vanilla" status... well it's still the iPhone. The carriers want it, people want it...

last time I checked, that is EXACTLY what Apple does - don't use the excuse "because it is an iPhone" - that's a cop-out and has no supporting facts to say why it just "works" for Apple.

...These devices that live/breathe/sleep with us need to have features/looks/"bling" that differentiate them from others.

for many, computers also have a "close relationship" with the consumer...Allowing the consumer to put "bling" on a phone or a computer or anything else should be left up to the consumer (unless you like apple products, as those are typically more reserved when it comes to aesthetics)

I just don't see how people are arguing FOR this stuff. If manufacturers want to add "bling" for the AVERAGE consumer they could easily do that with providing the consumer with different case colors (instead of just two, which seems to work just fine for the iPhone crowd). BUT if they want to really separate themselves from the rest of the pack there are only a few places to really do it and that is with A) The quality of the Screen, B) Battery life, C) Hardware feature sets (cameras!!!,bluetooth,nfc,storage,etc) D) Current OS/updates.

The rest of their [OEMS] arguments are simply baseless. If we, as a small sample on this site, despise the performance of these UIs - you KNOW the average consumer hates it too. If we can find some tweaks to make them better (reduce animations, live wallpapers, etc) imagine the average user who doesn't realize to do this and their frustration when it takes 2 seconds for the screen to stagger to the left as you swipe - pure crap.

The bootloaders aren't even in this discussion, as far as I am concerned. That's way beyond even mentioning the average consumer when discussing such things.

The bottom line is this: The OEMs realize that the CHEAPEST way to entice the average consumer is by eye-candy and after 14 days you are screwed (no returns) and stuck with that phone for 2 years. Game-set-match OEMS.

 

[B-Unit]

The problem is that, in the end, most people don't give a **** about tech. They get what's cool, what their friends have, what they've seen on the idiot box. People are stupid. Making better products only sells to people who care enough to know the difference.

Exactly. I refuse to believe that Joe Average who doesn't care about storage or processors gets geeked for software features. Hes just as clueless about those.

 

[tjk629]

He claims they said, If that is true, then why do they slobber all over themselves to get the iPhone, which has zero differentiation at all?

WP7 would be a better argument. Since multiple manufactures do WP7 devices, so you have a more diverse handset selection. Compared to the 3 (3GS, 4, 4S) that apple has you picking from.

 

[B-Unit]

WP7 would be a better argument. Since multiple manufactures do WP7 devices, so you have a more diverse handset selection. Compared to the 3 (3GS, 4, 4S) that apple has you picking from.

And even then, its not so much Apple offering 'different models' its just still selling the old model. Not saying its not a smart way to position yourself across the range of smartphones (entry level, mainstream, high end), but lets not act like Apple is really working to offer multiple devices.

 

[alienware777]

I love skins. Personally I would rather have a phone without them, but they're great for android. I have some friends who hate how my phone (galaxy nexus) functions and much rather would have a razr. They deserve a phone they like. The only thing I would rather have is more than 1 stock phone a year. Have like 2-3 a year. That way everyone is happy.

 

[1linuxfreak]

Consumers do not want bloated phones , if we stop buying them who wins ?

 

[jerkwad]

Consumers do not want bloated phones , if we stop buying them who wins ?

Unfortunately the average consumer doesn't even know what this means lol until they spend some time with the phone which is usually to late to make a decision to return the phone.

There are not many choices left. Not sure how the masses could NOT buy a bloated phone at this point.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[pc747]

Personally I like the skins. Blur, touchwiz, sense actually adds that element. Heck they actually did that because they followed the theming crowd some what. The issue is not the skins. The issue is the baggage that comes with the skins they could easily make the skins less intrusive and rid us of the bloat that weigh down the system. I mean what is the purpose of more cores and more ram if you just gonna add more junk.

People want stock android and unlocked bootloaders so that they can install custom ROMs that work nowhere near as good as a stock OS or even the stock skinned UIs. Gotta love hypocrisy

Yes there are roms that have bugs. But their are some roms that run better than stock. I am currently running one and I love it much better than I do stock because it fixed all the stuff that the oems failed to fix. And My other issue with locking bootloaders and phones is that oems are releasing phones with bugs and taking their sweet time rationing out the fixes (system updates). You know how long it took the tbolt to see a fix from the oem compared to when the devs fixed it. When take more time to push out a quality product and fixes instead of rushing out a new device then maybe ill stop rooting and buy a locked device. Until then ill take my chances with either rooting because if I didn't I would get so fed up with android oem's stringing us along with fixes that I would give up and go back to the fruit.

 

[Dave12308]

I'll accept that reasoning... but if that is the case it should be dead simple for them to provide a supported stock ROM that customers can have installed or install themselves.

And who is going to support that ROM? Motorola isn't in the end-user support game when it comes to phones, and furthermore shouldn't have to be. And Verizon isn't going to support a ROM that specifically gets around the restrictions and bloatware they specifically added.

 

[tjk629]

And who is going to support that ROM? Motorola isn't in the end-user support game when it comes to phones, and furthermore shouldn't have to be. And Verizon isn't going to support a ROM that specifically gets around the restrictions and bloatware they specifically added.

Could Google offer a stock ROM option?
Like with computers. You can get somethings with a bunch of bloat and theme from a company or store. But if you have the bare bone windows install disc (not the recovery disc from the company) you can install unbloated stuff and run out of the box clean.

Probably not the best example.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[captdroid]

I don't care what Moto has to say about this... I went with a Nexus pure Google experience... my choice Samsung... not Motorola Moto puts out crap phones right now.

 

[pc747]

Could Google offer a stock ROM option?
Like with computers. You can get somethings with a bunch of bloat and theme from a company or store. But if you have the bare bone windows install disc (not the recovery disc from the company) you can install unbloated stuff and run out of the box clean.

Probably not the best example.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

They do that is why they offer the nexus. The nexus is the only device where google has complete control (well except for the vzw nexus where vzw still has complete control :frown

 

[Losman]

Wish I owned a stock ICS device. The battery life would be incredible. Granted I understand the profit scenario for any company. Buying a stock phone and choosing your carrier in addition to keeping and choosing any app from the carrier would be a great way to promote user specific devices.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[pc747]

Wish I owned a stock ICS device. The battery life would be incredible. Granted I understand the profit scenario for any company. Buying a stock phone and choosing your carrier in addition to keeping and choosing any app from the carrier would be a great way to promote user specific devices.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

It potentially would be better but LTE tends to eat batteries.