Someone please explain this "pure Android experience" I keep hearing about...

[Jmoore1701]

My first android phone was the Droid X; I still have it, and plan to upgrade to either the Galaxy SIII or the still-mythical Droid Razr HD.
But I keep hearing reviewers and posters on this board talk about the "pure Android experience" or "pure Google experience" of the Nexus or of some rooted phone. and in the same breath, these folk invariably snark on MotoBlur or TouchWiz.
Since Motoblur is all I've ever known, could someone explain why "pure Android" is so much better?
I've never had a problem with Motoblur: I can get to my apps, make my calls, send texts, check the weather and news, play games, watch videos, and listen to music--and it's never seemed cumbersome or impure or clumsy or whatever. So what am I missing?
Please feel free to post photos, videos, or links to help me understand. If it's that compelling, maybe I'll try to root my Droid X before upgrading.
Thanks in advance... :happy3:

 

[zomnomnombie]

Generally speaking pure Android phones have less app incompatibilities and force closes due to less running software.

MOTOBLUR and such also incorporate UI changes that limit customization of certain elements. Screens, dock apps, etc.

 

[pc747]

To give you some background:

WHen the og droid (first motorola droid) came on the scene it was basically bare bones and the user had to add what they wanted as far as facebook, twitter, widgets, and other apps from the market. SO basically you build your phone from scratch. And the other major thing about the og droid was the bootloader was unlocked so it was easier to root, rom, theme, and recover a bricked device.
Well themes got big with android and you had those who were new to android (the regular guy/gal) who would see the device and want a little different look and wanted some of those things added in. Flash forward to the dx. Well motorola tried to copy what sense did in giving users that different look and they did that through motoblur. The problem with blur was is lagged because it had too much "junk" in the system and it was weighing down the phone. SO a 1ghz phone did not feel like 1 ghz plus you had apps that you could not uninstall and if you did (through rooting) you could not get an ota. Couple all that together and you have a rebellion from those who had and loved the original droid.
To be honest blur has come a long way and ics blur for the razr finally got it right. If you not big in roms, themes, etc I higly recommend the razr/razr maxx, or razr hd (rumored). Because motorola just have better radios and more accessories for the average use to get behind. Plus a lot of these "pure" android people don't even run a stock looking device.... a lot of them are running a rom, theme, or rom/theme combo.

 

[94lt1]

I'm no expert, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that vanilla android is BETTER. Better is always a subjective opinion.

Blur is what I'm familiar with too. What it is is an overlay on top of android, they add certain features to make it their version. Social networking is a big one for vzw, it integrates twitter, Facebook and others into your device.

An easy way of thinking along similar lines is bloatware from vzw, only vzw devices have this in them, and it makes the device uniquely vzw.

As I said I'm nice expert, but hope this helps?
DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

 

[brad92]

Root and install a rom like CM7 and compare it on your X. Its a major difference. The older phones like the X don't handle memory hogging UI's as well as the newer dual core 1 gig ram ones.

Blur ICS isn't actually bad at all and I kinda like it. Its more subtle. But Blur on the Droid X was terrible. The only reason I stayed with it for awhile was because AOSP roms didn't have HDMI out for awhile

 

[add119]

Like everyone here explain pure google or vanilla phone is and will be clean slate to your phone without verizon or carrier apps . Same with Htc, Samsung and motorola preinstalled apps. Google experience isnt the phone that ui is clean if you clear your cache on your device u can keep it smooth and running i never had issue with my droid razr and i have 200 apps and movies download.

 

[HarvesterX™]

Jmoore, it very well could be possible that you just aren't realizing how third party skins do slow and bog down the OS to some degree (arguably though newer blur and sense versions aren't as bad but I haven't used them so can't comment) due to the fact that you started life out with MotoBlur so as far as you're concerned it does work fine because you haven't had the chance for a side by side comparison. The pure Google experience you get with the Nexus is (IMO at least) is the smoothest UI available. With the device being completely open you can pretty much take whatever you don't care for off and mod whatever it is you like on.

You can do this as well with the MotoBlur (or "NON Blur lol") phones but the most locked bootloader means that any serious modding requires the use of a safestrap to bypass the stock recovery for installation of roms. Also if you happen to brick your device your options are severely limited before having to ship it to Assurion.

I'd suggest just going to the closest store that has a Nexus (usable one not display unit obviously) and play around on it for a while. Yeah they probably won't like you bringing in a laptop and unlocking the bootloader and flashing a custom recovery and having a go at it but that's not what your asking about I don't think. Have your X out next to the Nexus carry out all your usual stuff you do and you will notice the difference. Sure Blur might add I am some features that you won't find offhand in vanilla ICS, but I assure you any Vanilla ICS phone has the capacity to bring any capability you want. You might have to install an app off the market or flash a mod or custom rom or even flash a custom kernel but the possibilities are endless.

And all at the same time you will feel the difference in the fluidity of the UI of the OS and everything will seem snappier and happier. Hell that's the first (and last) time those words are coming out of my mouth again like that lol. But it's very possible that you might actually still prefer the Blur (especially if you also test out a Maxx at the same time there) because of the lighter load of the newer skins and the fact that that's what you've been used to. My first smartphone was the OG Droid so having the stock vanilla UI always was my preference. Maybe because I was so used to it, but but probably because other phones with skinned UIs seemed very sluggish to me and cumbersome. Let us know ^_

Edit: I was going to edit the small typos in this post here and there but thought I'd leave them there since I'm using the SwiftKey 3 beta and that's a very common problem. It likes to predict what I'm going to type a little too well lmao. All girl lineup when I use alluring angel instead of corrupted mime. That's what I get when I just hit enter to accept the next predicted word. :-D But even so, it's still the best keyboard I've used on ICS so far so I won't complain too much. I'll be back up in the morning and peer into your eyes. Lol did it again. At least that sentence was a little poetic. I I JUsT asked him to bring you the best way to get the finest quality artifacts from the list of things and he complied. Hell I'm gonna just let SwiftKey 3 write my sentences. These are far better than what I wrote above lmao hahaha. Ok back on topic sorry.

 

[huskerkate]

pc747 is pretty on point. at the beginning, the objection to Blur (as well as the other OEM's individual skins/UI's) was that they bogged down the phones. nowadays, with increased ram, dual cores, and more improved skins/UI's, it isn't so noticeable. i haven't played around much with the latest Blur, but from everything i've read, it seems that it is much improved, and people generally like it.

that being said, the continued objection to the OEM skins goes hand in hand with the fact that the bootloaders are locked, and you can't change the skin, even if you want to. with a "vanilla Google device" (like the GNex), you can pick whatever skin you want to run, or customize the phone such that you have essentially "skinned" it yourself. for some/many (such as myself), that is a big attraction. for others, it isn't that big of a deal.

as with everything on these forums, ymmv because of personal tastes, uses, etc.

 

[Jmoore1701]

Great! I'm getting some very, very good responses here...and I believe I'm getting a very good picture of what "pure Android" is about. And HarvesterX, your response was MOST entertaining, as well as informative!
Thanks, all! I'll continue to monitor this thread, but many thanks to those who have responded so far.

 

[HarvesterX™]

Well I'm glad you were able to grab some insight from that post instead of being distracted by what SwiftKey wanted to type. I ended up just switching back from rapid typing mode to precise. This way it stops tossing in what IT thinks I should say if I inadvertently hit the space bar and not notice until after posting.

Seems like everybody has had good info to throw in on the topic here without it dissolving into a flame war among the different phones. Droid Forums has it's share but let me tell ya. Go over and try to have this conversation on Droid Life and you will be stabbing yourself in the eyes. Great website... Just stay clear of taking anything in the comments seriously lol.

But I'm most interested in finding out what YOU think in your own words after having the chance to use stock ICS (could also go with an older version of Android as well, but trust me, once you go ICS you don't go Gingerbread)

 

[Jmoore1701]

Thanks, HarvesterX...but it's looking like I won't be able to root my DroidX... I checked, and I'm running build 4.5.621.MB810, which apparently can't be rooted.

 

[Natey2]

I got one of those $99 ICS 4.0.3 tablets and rooted it. It's nicer in many ways, even before rooting.

Not going to root my DroidX anytime soon.

Sent from my unrooted DroidX using Tapatalk

 

[JeffDenver]

Since Motoblur is all I've ever known, could someone explain why "pure Android" is so much better?

A pure Android experience is basically starting with a blank slate, and adding the stuff you want, as opposed to a vendor trying to predict what you want and imposing it on you with a custom skin like Motoblur.

The main reason everyone hates custom skins like Motoblur or touchwiz or even Sense is because you are not allowed to turn them off. You cannot opt out. The Vendors do this on purpose...the point of the skins is to make their phone look different from the competition, and if everyone started uninstalling them (and believe me, they would) it would undermine what the vendor is trying to accomplish with them.

These skins will always run, even if you install a custom launcher or lock screen. You may not see them, but they are lurking in the background and eating up system resources as if they were being used. You cannot remove them, and you cannot stop them from running. That is why they are hated by the mainstream Android community. If you could turn them off, there would be a lot less hate for them.

Fortunately, the newest version of Android allows you an option to "disable" any app...including the apps that make up these skins. So you can effectively opt-out of them now if you want to. ICS will remove them from your app drawer and forbid them to run in the background. You still can't uninstall them, but you can make them invisible and pretend they are not there.

 

[Jmoore1701]

Hmmm. this is interesting, JeffDenver... I didn't know that about ICS.
Do you think this will lead to less rooting of android phones?

 

[JeffDenver]

I can only speak for myself. I no longer have a huge desire to root anymore.

But there are reasons to root besides this.