Related
The marketing VP of Viewsonic posts on this board and basically confirms that they are working on new Android versions for the G:
"Adobe and Google do not support Tegra II with Froyo"
"We are working on other OS versions, hint hint" The VP wrote the "hint hint", not me.
I know Roebeet has been busy with a big work project, but surprised the post did not ignite discussion. Does EVERYBODY have a big project with a short deadline?
added:
I think 2.3 is coming soon, due to the support issues. JMO.
Hmmm
rushless said:
"Adobe and Google do not support Tegra II with Froyo"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Support from adobe and google will happen for the Tegra II(TABLETS) when the new OS hits. IMO it will be when Honeycomb hits not gingerbread, but who knows....
rushless said:
The marketing VP of Viewsonic posts on this board and basically confirms that they are working on new Android versions for the G:
"Adobe and Google do not support Tegra II with Froyo"
"We are working on other OS versions, hint hint" The VP wrote the "hint hint", not me.
I know Roebeet has been busy with a big work project, but surprised the post did not ignite discussion. Does EVERYBODY have a big project with a short deadline?
added:
I think 2.3 is coming soon, due to the support issues. JMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could mean so much, I was actually trying NOT to think about or discuss it.
It could mean:
They're working on a port of the ZPad UI for the G Tablet. We know the G Tablet and ZPad are identical internally (and even externally, lol), so it wouldn't be far fetched to think VS has licensed (or whatever) the Zpad software from Malata and has it in their hands, working with it more directly - or maybe hired programmers to work on it on an official basis.
I no longer think of TnT as horrible, but I still think the dashboard section is unnecessarily bloated and way too static and rigid for an android homescreen environment. Feels more like a picture frame UI or a bedside device UI than part of an Android device and the 2.2 dock sort of takes care of those needs. XDA devs have done an exemplary and extremely commendable job with the ROM but after everything, people still have trouble with it from what I've read, so perhaps an official port by VS would work out for all the non-techies and typical users. Not to mention, you'd be able to get official OTAs as required/needed.
Security or not, I prefer the official OTAs than having to reflash the device through clockwork....the main reason I have remained on stock despite accolades given to TnT 4.1
They're working on/with 2.3 for the G Tablet. God, that'd be nice.
They're giving us something more standard/generic/closer to vanilla 2.2/2.3 and removing TnT completely. We know for the most part, that Froyo in it's more pure form, isn't tasty on the G Tablet MOSTLY because the hardware keys aren't backlit. I've always thought of TnT to be thoughtful because everything you can do from the hardware button(s) you can do from the toolbar. If they removed TnT and just wrote a new toolbar in, this would give us a more standard experience - paired with a newer kernel and newer tegra drivers, we'd have a more or less 2.2/2.3 with benefits experience.
So yeah, I don't like having low expectations but they keep me from hoping too hard/high and that way I won't be TOO disappointed if it really means a different version of the very same TnT with a few 'bug fixes', aka TnT 3452/3453.
Gingerbread is here....cm7 beta is available
http://vegantab.gojimi.com/download/update-cm-7.0.0-Beta1-Harmony-signed.zip
thebadfrog said:
Gingerbread is here....cm7 beta is available
http://vegantab.gojimi.com/download/update-cm-7.0.0-Beta1-Harmony-signed.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but at the cost of correct sdcard & sdcard2 mapping for the Gtablet? I loved CM roms on my G1, but hardware is too splintered now to cover all the hardware bases.
Not mention other hardware issues that CM is too general to make work correctly.
CM7 is using the correct Gingerbread mapping of sdcards.
Viewsonic release
What I was getting at was the fact that Viewsonic has yet to release an OFFICIAL gingerbread release. I still think that Adobe and Google will not give support to our tablets until they have an OS designed for them.
I know we have hacked ROMs that are based on Gingerbread, but I want to see VS take the next logical step and get us a real OEM OS..
Well hopefully then Viewsonic is SKIPPING Gingerbread because that is not a tablet supported OS just like Froyo.
We need Honeycomb to be the OS they are working on. Motorola is rumored to release the Xoom (Android 3.0 "Honeycomb") in late February.
Agreed
I agree, Honeycomb would be best... I don't think Motorola will get it all together and released by the end of February. I would love it if they did, then at least we could get a good source code!
Hopefully OfficialVS will come back and update us like he promised...
Gingerbread eh! Honeycomb would definitely be sweet. Now I'm in no way a techie, I am good at following instructions, with that said Notion Ink ships today would it be hard to port the eden UI over to the G-Tab? I'm curious what all the hype is about with it being that they both run the tegra chipset.
I saw that honeycomb is being ported to the N1, any ideas on when/if it will be ported to the NS?
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
1) Wrong section
2) all the Honeycomb port are coming from a crappy SDK emulator
3) all the Honeycomb port are just showcase and are not usuable for a daily use
4) You can ask this question once Honeycomb will be official and source downloadable from Google.
I thought the source was available for honeycomb.
Might be mistaken.
profete162 said:
4) You can ask this question once Honeycomb will be official and source downloadable from Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we allready have honeycomb . . . its been on some tabs for a while we just need a system dump from someone with it.
hutzdani said:
we allready have honeycomb . . . its been on some tabs for a while we just need a system dump from someone with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Moto Xoom will only be available this week.
All the previous tablet and demo you have seen were beta Honeycomb.
So, no, final honeycomb is not yet available. (if I am wrong, please correct me, as I live in Europe I have not all the US news.)
profete162 said:
The Moto Xoom will only be available this week.
All the previous tablet and demo you have seen were beta Honeycomb.
So, no, final honeycomb is not yet available. (if I am wrong, please correct me, as I live in Europe I have not all the US news.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not beta honeycomb.. they're honeycomb ported from the SDK.
you got it right before about it not being a daily driver. whats the point into putting so much effort into a SDK port when the actual source will come out later?
ehh you already have an NS that receives priority updates why would you want a sketchy port of an OS when honeycomb isnt even meant to run on a phone?
just wait till 2.4 or w.e is next because it should be including the honeycomb features that we all want
slowz3r said:
ehh you already have an NS that receives priority updates why would you want a sketchy port of an OS when honeycomb isnt even meant to run on a phone?
just wait till 2.4 or w.e is next because it should be including the honeycomb features that we all want
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh what? Where did you get any of that information? 2.4 is still gingerbread, Google has said that. The "I" iteration (currently colloquially called Ice Cream) is the one that will merge a lot of the functionality of honeycomb and previous iterations. Also (I'm looking for the link now) Adobe made some comments that make it pretty clear that honeycomb will be coming to phones and there has never been an official statement ever, ever, ever calling Honeycomb a "tablet only" OS. What El Goog has said is that previous versions of Android were not designed for tablets however Honeycomb would allow optimization for larger resolutions.
Regardless of any of that, what is the point of having a powerful phone that can be easily hacked if you're not going to experiment with it. I have no intention of waiting and I'll flash the first damn build of hacked honeycomb regardless of the risks. I bought this this phone because I wanted to try things and do interesting things with my phone.
I'm just curious but since ICS is coming, what does that mean for us? All I've heard is another UI overhaul for phones to give them more honeycomb, but what do we get? If Hardware Acceleration is in then I would be happy, but there doesn't seem to be anything in it for us tablet users.
Unless I'm missing something.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393797,00.asp#fbid=eHhpmAndRdICant really say kinda early..heres something I found but still unsure
I hope it means an update and AOSP!!
Not sure what the link was for...... Didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Sorry. But I'm just not sure if I would be excited about ics on my Xoom.
Imma say that it will be on the original Xoom's without a doubt. I read in an article that ICS will be able to run on older devices, thus it's almost a guarantee the Xoom will see it officially. Annnnd for some reason it does not... have no fear, as the devs will be here to solve that problem! The OG Droid was left out of the update loop awhile back because newer models replaced it, but we still have the most current updates on it thanks to the brilliant devs. Just gotta have some faith in your XDA community, and they will figure something out.
But again, I think the OP wants to know (...like I also do) what's the big improvement gonna be?
As I stated on another recent post, the big deal for me as I see it is that (presumably) the SC for HC will be released and then the ROM goodness will follow. But if it's anything like what happened with Froyo, etc, the Honeycomb custom ROMs will kick the stock Icecream Sandwichs' ass.
-No?
Psychokitty said:
But again, I think the OP wants to know (...like I also do) what's the big improvement gonna be?
As I stated on another recent post, the big deal for me as I see it is that (presumably) the SC for HC will be released and then the ROM goodness will follow. But if it's anything like what happened with Froyo, etc, the Honeycomb custom ROMs will kick the stock Icecream Sandwichs' ass.
-No?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for being the only reply actually related to my post, but Google had stated a long time ago that the SC for hc will never be released as the SC for ics will be released instead. But since phones will get more hc goodness, what do we get?(which is the main question in the topic)
I think at this point, it's a wait-and-see kind of thing.
But I think finally having the source code is the biggest news here. I think it will be the dawning of a golden age for the XOOM, so to speak.
Also, one advantage to the phone side getting lumped in to the same OS is that we will see a boost in apps that are tablet optimized since the devs will be able to work all of it into one .apk instead of focusing on two separate projects.
These are the two things I'm personally looking forward to the most as far as the tablet side goes.
Of course, it would be nice to be surprised, too.
kenfly said:
Thanks for being the only reply actually related to my post, but Google had stated a long time ago that the SC for hc will never be released as the SC for ics will be released instead. But since phones will get more hc goodness, what do we get?(which is the main question in the topic)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I think, since ICS will be open source, we will get additional development for the Xoom, beyond the wonderful feature additions and enhancements we have gotten with the limited HC.
Don't you think so?
From my understanding, Ice Cream Sandwich is an over haul for phones to bring out an honeycomb interface while allowing for tablet support as well and it will be more controlled by the king them self, Google.
What this means? All android devices will now be updated at the same time as it'll be more tightly integrated which means developers will need to start just making widgets for there own devices instead of a completely different interfaces like they do today. In a way, it'll be exactly what Honeycomb tablets are today (if you look at all the honeycomb tablets that's out, the interface is the same, only differences is that others will have widgets and/or wallpapers designed just for there tablets (i.e., samsung has the touchwiz) but can be upgraded all the same).
This is supposed to be more more uniform support and faster updates.
Will this go into effect right away? Probably not since the manufacturers will still need to make to update go through but we should also expect to see faster updates as well (there's still a lot of users out there still waiting on Gingerbread releases for there devices so with this making it more uniformed should allow for faster releases).
This is only from what I've heard, though.
This is from a PC World article this morning:
Although Google has kept its cards close to its vest about ICS, a number of things have been reported about it.
Widgets will be richer and resizable, as they are in the tablet version of Android.
More multitasking will be added to the system and the OS will be open source.
The system will be tailored to take advantage of devices that use the Texas Instrument's OMAP chip.
As with any Android upgrade, what Android devices will be eligible for the new system will remain with the manufacturers, but two good bets for the upgraded OS are the Samsung Nexus S and the Motorola Xoom.
---
I think it is important to understand one thing about ICS. It is intended to reunify the OS on all device types (like iOS). What this means for tablet (and conversely smartphone) users is that app development will improve and we will get better apps. These apps will make it easier to share functions between your tablet and your smartphone.
We would have found out more next Tuesday, but the announcements for ICS have been postponed. The postponement was for a good reason though. We still don't know what the reschedule date will be, other than sometime this month.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/android-building/T4XZJCZnqF8/WkWhGUYb4MAJ
Hi! We just released a bit of code we thought this group might be interested in.
Over at our Android Open-Source Project git servers, the source code
for Android version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is now available.
Here's how to get it:Follow the instructions at
http://source.android.com/source/downloading.htmlCheck out the
'ics-release' branch:repo init -u
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b android-4.0.1_r1
That's it! However since this is a large push, please be aware that it
will take some time to complete. If you sync before it's done, you'll
get an incomplete copy that you won't be able to use, so please wait
for us to give the all-clear before you sync.
This is actually the source code for version 4.0.1 of Android, which
is the specific version that will ship on the Galaxy Nexus, the first
Android 4.0 device. In the source tree, you will find a device build
target named "full_maguro" that you can use to build a system image
for Galaxy Nexus. Build configurations for other devices will come
later.
Unfortunately we still don't have our Gerrit code review servers back
online. That remains our top priority though, and we hope to have them
back soon.
This release includes the full history of the Android source code
tree, which naturally includes all the source code for the Honeycomb
releases. However, since Honeycomb was a little incomplete, we want
everyone to focus on Ice Cream Sandwich. So, we haven't created any
tags that correspond to the Honeycomb releases (even though the
changes are present in the history.)
JBQ, on behalf of the AOSP team.
--
Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru
Software Engineer, Android Open-Source Project, Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like the HoneyComb source was released also. Will this help any active HoneyComb ROMS?
Getting some real support for the Tegra in the Gtab is all I care. Might as well just skip HoneyComb and go straight to ICS.
I thought I had a much longer wait for this, can't wait for the CyanogenMod 9 builds.
Yes, it will help. I hope that people can post the rest of the ICS posts under this topic because with the release of the Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich source codes noobs are gonna go crazy.
Noob here and yes I am going crazy.
Woooooo!!!!
Sent from my Eris using XDA App
HwyXingFrog said:
Getting some real support for the Tegra in the Gtab is all I care. Might as well just skip HoneyComb and go straight to ICS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto on that. Honeycomb really is (was) the Vista of Android.
well
I hope we get a smooth running build of one of the two. I am currently running Vegantab and its pretty smooth but it might freeze here and there or hang on the browser, etc.. Its still my daily runner.... So again, I simplty hope we get a very stable ROM egardless of which. Plus, as HWYxingfrog said, some actual tegra support would be great...
Woot
Sent from my Epic 4G Touch
ICS source released. Will gtab be getting it?
I hope so and will support the devs who are!
please keep topics like this in this thread. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1346829
It will help....but keep in mind that there are still no hardware drivers/kernel for the Gtablet beyond Froyo (OS 2.2).
The same issues getting Honeycomb running will be present with ICS though more insight in to the OS will be available with the source. Still no Nvidia "Harmony" kernel or drivers though....
Y'all work on this...
I'll be in Skyrim!!!
I would be surprised if Nvidia released anything for the Harmony board. Considering they already have an HC 3.2 image for Ventana, my guess is this is were all their efforts will go. Afraid we will be stuck with ported versions with no supported drivers.
what happened with the .36 kernel and all the current development for gtab?? are the devs going to have to start all over? why no update for gtabcomb? it ne'er came out of beta? hmmmm...why develop for transformer and galaxy tab if;they already have stable version of os?
jedibbq said:
what happened with the .36 kernel and all the current development for gtab?? are the devs going to have to start all over? why no update for gtabcomb? it ne'er came out of beta? hmmmm...why develop for transformer and galaxy tab if;they already have stable version of os?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still being worked on. IF you read my posts in this thread I've posted basically all the recent updates the devs have made with the .36 kernel.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1231577&page=10
jedibbq said:
what happened with the .36 kernel and all the current development for gtab?? are the devs going to have to start all over? why no update for gtabcomb? it ne'er came out of beta? hmmmm...why develop for transformer and galaxy tab if;they already have stable version of os?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Allow me to disavow this uninformed complaining. Thanks for all the hard work devs.
The HC roms run pretty smoothly for the most part, is the release of the source code going to help the development of ICS roms? I know itll help but I mean will it make it easier then it was trying to get HC on the G-Tab
I remember something about nvidia/vsonic (cant remember which one) saying they wouldnt release something for honeycomb since google didnt release the source code..
So i xpect they at least release driver specs or source this time
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
brettdwagner said:
Allow me to disavow this uninformed complaining. Thanks for all the hard work devs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not complaining just asking legitimate questions.. supposedly even though google sort of released the code for honeycomb its still up to nvidia to release drivers.without those no working ics rom for gtablet
jedibbq said:
not complaining just asking legitimate questions.. supposedly even though google sort of released the code for honeycomb its still up to nvidia to release drivers.without those no working ics rom for gtablet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Double question marks "??" and "hmmmmm..." don't typically accompany legitimate questions.
"Why isn't this out of beta? Why are they working on other devices and not mine?"
I really want some ICS love! Anyone know any thing about any ROMs based off of ICS or.... even better.... CM9? I am new to this rooting thing so...
Wow. Just search through all the topics in the skyrocket forum and you'll find your answer
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
This is like some kind of Platonic Ideal of a post here.
But, I'm pretty sure they're going to release ICS at the big Samsung/AT&T/Google event tomorrow.
Savitt said:
I really want some ICS love! Anyone know any thing about any ROMs based off of ICS or.... even better.... CM9? I am new to this rooting thing so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before you ask a question, please search the forum first, therefore other members will not give you harsh answers.
If you are looking for answers to rooting your device, please go here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1383464
If you are searching for rom developments, please go here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1383
If you are searching for information on Ice Cream Sandwich, best luck is to search google or in the general section. There is NO certain release date of when ICS will be available, but there are rumors and some information that states it will be in Q1 of 2012.
Good luck to you.
Please press "Thanks" if I have helped you in anyway.
What event? Do you have a link. ?
I think he's referring to the CES 2012 event on January 9th.
Oh thats not tomarrow lol tomarrow is the 5th . Darn i was hoping there was some att/sammy event tomarrow.
Phoneguy589 said:
I think he's referring to the CES 2012 event on January 9th.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. That is the only upcoming event that I am aware of.
I wasn't...LOL. I can't afford to buy another phone. I just pre-ordered the Transformer Prime so I'm out of money...so my wife says.
silver03wrx said:
Oh thats not tomarrow lol tomarrow is the 5th . Darn i was hoping there was some att/sammy event tomarrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha me too my friend l lol the hope jumped up through my body!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
No, I was being mean. There's not event tomorrow and ICS is but a distant dream. Enjoy your device now and don't sweat the OS version number. ICS is not going to give much more over what you have now.
I'm sort of with the OP in wanting to know about any rom based on ICS. I've searched the forums and google to no avail. I'm seeing other devices getting a version of CM9, but nothing for the Skyrocket yet.
So, my question is this: Is anyone working on an ICS rom for the Skyrocket such as CM9? If I had the know-how I'd be all over that since we have such a great and powerful phone. I know AT&T and Samsung will eventually release ICS, but it'll never compare to the likes of CyanogenMod.
No no ones working on it. Why make a hacked up version. Thats not very functional. When our update is just around the corner. We will see ics, and mabye cm9 but.not until theres a leak for the skyrocket or the actuall update.
silver03wrx said:
No no ones working on it. Why make a hacked up version. Thats not very functional. When our update is just around the corner. We will see ics, and mabye cm9 but.not until theres a leak for the skyrocket or the actuall update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Like some others I'm an impatient type...especially after using ICS on my HTC Incredible. Can hardly wait to have it on my Skyrocket, but will sit quietly (maybe) and wait.
Not saying this to start a flamewar or anything but why are so many people with talent focusing on old roms and tweaks and not ICS? IMO this is what is hurting Android with better development etc, it seems like iOS hacking and tweeking seems to be more tight-knit and innovative, where Android seems to just have (almost) the same thing over and over again.
Now, I am not saying it is the same, there are obviously very difficult functions and programming that needs to be done, but I don't get why all efforts by everyone wouldn't be focused on ICS since it is what Android needs, a fresh new OS that could change the game.
Turbojugend said:
Not saying this to start a flamewar or anything but why are so many people with talent focusing on old roms and tweaks and not ICS? IMO this is what is hurting Android with better development etc, it seems like iOS hacking and tweeking seems to be more tight-knit and innovative, where Android seems to just have (almost) the same thing over and over again.
Now, I am not saying it is the same, there are obviously very difficult functions and programming that needs to be done, but I don't get why all efforts by everyone wouldn't be focused on ICS since it is what Android needs, a fresh new OS that could change the game.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so you want us to randomly pull kernel source for ICS (linux kernel 3.0+) out of our ass?
samsung has not provided us with enough driver libraries/binary blobs that work properly with AOSP GB, let alone ICS.
the problem here is the manufacturers. they control the proprietary hardware/drivers we need to focus attention on something. we could hack something together, but it wouldnt be worth a crap, and by the time we got something working half decent, Official would be dropped on us with source and we would have to basically start fresh....
tl;dr: it is not worth the time it takes to try to hack something together until we have 'something' from samsung.
Pirateghost said:
so you want us to randomly pull kernel source for ICS (linux kernel 3.0+) out of our ass?
samsung has not provided us with enough driver libraries/binary blobs that work properly with AOSP GB, let alone ICS.
the problem here is the manufacturers. they control the proprietary hardware/drivers we need to focus attention on something. we could hack something together, but it wouldnt be worth a crap, and by the time we got something working half decent, Official would be dropped on us with source and we would have to basically start fresh....
tl;dr: it is not worth the time it takes to try to hack something together until we have 'something' from samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly its not as simple as ics source code being out, you also need proper drivers for the hardware
Pirateghost said:
so you want us to randomly pull kernel source for ICS (linux kernel 3.0+) out of our ass?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That answers a lot for me, like I said I am not too familiar coming from Iphone (day one, I just got a Samsung Galaxy S II LTE (Skyrocket))
So obviously you need the kernel to work with the OS, I didn't know they were not released.
draztikrhymez said:
....you also need proper drivers for the hardware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it harder for phone hardware? Seems to be a lot of open source, or scene made drivers for, say video cards.
Turbojugend said:
That answers a lot for me, like I said I am not too familiar coming from Iphone (day one, I just got a Samsung Galaxy S II LTE (Skyrocket))
So obviously you need the kernel to work with the OS, I didn't know they were not released.
So what exactly is open about Android then? If you are at the mercy of the manufacture's to release the kernel, how is that open?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android itself is OPEN. you can go and build your very own version of 4.0 ICS right now from source code. there are very few phones you can STABLY and RELIABLY run it on though.
The NEXUS line of phones exists for a reason. they are untouched by carriers (verizon teabagged the Galaxy Nexus a little), and do not have some stupid overlay on them. they are developer devices in that it is the first phone to get android updates straight from google (no manufacturer interference required).
every other phone is tainted with a manufacturer's UI. Touchwiz on Samsung phones (galaxy nexus is a samsung but they provided the hardware not the software), Sense on HTC, 'non-blur' on Motorola, whatever Sony calls theirs...lol, LG, etc
on top of that tainted Android interface is a carrier branding or lockdown (doesnt apply to the entire world, but im only referring to US here)
so google releases new version of Android
manufacturers build phone, and customize android to fit their model (this is where android almost stops being OPEN)
carriers get a hold of the manufacturers build of android and tweak and modify it themselves (more than likely they just tell the manufacturers what they want), as you know they love to include bloat and lock it down from the user
you receive your android phone after it has gone through all those steps....long process huh? we dont get updates to newer versions as quickly because of that long process...and they would rather us buy new phones instead of improving perfectly good hardware.
Android is open in the sense that manufacturers can use it however they wish, within reason. it is not necessarily meant to be 'open' to the average end user, and manufacturers dont want you messing with the phone they built. its the reason XDA is what it is today, albeit with roots deep in WinMo hacking.
Hey Pirateghost Really great in-depth info with your permission I would like to add this info for noobs here.
Pirateghost said:
Android itself is OPEN. you can go and build your very own version of 4.0 ICS right now from source code. there are very few phones you can STABLY and RELIABLY run it on though.
The NEXUS line of phones exists for a reason. they are untouched by carriers (verizon teabagged the Galaxy Nexus a little), and do not have some stupid overlay on them. they are developer devices in that it is the first phone to get android updates straight from google (no manufacturer interference required).
every other phone is tainted with a manufacturer's UI. Touchwiz on Samsung phones (galaxy nexus is a samsung but they provided the hardware not the software), Sense on HTC, 'non-blur' on Motorola, whatever Sony calls theirs...lol, LG, etc
on top of that tainted Android interface is a carrier branding or lockdown (doesnt apply to the entire world, but im only referring to US here)
so google releases new version of Android
manufacturers build phone, and customize android to fit their model (this is where android almost stops being OPEN)
carriers get a hold of the manufacturers build of android and tweak and modify it themselves (more than likely they just tell the manufacturers what they want), as you know they love to include bloat and lock it down from the user
you receive your android phone after it has gone through all those steps....long process huh? we dont get updates to newer versions as quickly because of that long process...and they would rather us buy new phones instead of improving perfectly good hardware.
Android is open in the sense that manufacturers can use it however they wish, within reason. it is not necessarily meant to be 'open' to the average end user, and manufacturers dont want you messing with the phone they built. its the reason XDA is what it is today, albeit with roots deep in WinMo hacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse