*When the vendor decides to make new versions available...

Can you unlock the bootloadr and load your own ROMs for Android one phones?

That's an orthogonal question. AIUI. Android One phones have to follow certain rules, but bootloader locking isn't on the list (or if it is I haven't noticed).

That said, what do you prefer: The ability to install a ROM of your choice, or a guarantee that what you boot is what you bought?

Isn't it way way past time for smartphones to standardize the booting process the way PCs did back in the 80s? The old excuses of "we couldn't fit a generic kernel on our tiny built-in storage" rings hollow in these days of 16GB storage in the base model phones.

This isn't a hard problem. We solved it decades ago. There should be an "Smartphone Kernel" that gets updated like the Linux kernel with drivers for all variety of hardware that you can install on most every phone as is. Vendors could cut out drivers for hardware they aren't using, but a random person should be able to install a generic kernel and boot the phone. Android would be the userland installed on top of that kernel. But it seems like vendors are more interested in maintaining lock-in instead of simplifying their maintenance and update tasks.

For PCs there was a very clear reason. IBM was in the lead and everyone else wanted to have a clone that worked with the software for IBMs.

Right now Samsung seems to be number one in android phones. what benefit would they get from doing this? Making it easier to update their old products? They don’t care. All that does is make people buy fewer new phones.

Across all the vendors they could save time… but I kind of doubt they’ll ever do it. I don’t think that motivation is strong enough for them to change the way they do things.

This isn't that easy, you'd need support from SOC manufacturers, board manufacturers, also I believe ARM chips don't have feature enumeration as x86 chips do. Not to mention that your kernel would need to embed a whole lot of binary blobs since many things like modems are not open at all.

I'd like that as well of course but vendors don't seem very interested in cooperating with each other right now.

Frankly, I would prefer the ability to install what I want. Just because what is on the phone boots what I bought doesn't mean I want it on there. I think the objective of Project Treble was also to allow that to be much easier as well.

Having a locked bootloader means I an unable to truly install what I want.

Why not both?

To cut off anyone claiming this is a dichotomy - on LG phones, you already get both. They come locked, but if you root them, you get a warning saying it's rooted during every boot.

Yeah, Sony, Xiaomi and IIRC Google does that too. It's not both, it's either. Each individual customer of these companies gets to choose X or Y.

The Xiaomi A3 is an Android One phone and comes with Aliexpress and the Xiaomi store pre-installed.

From the product images, it looks like Android One devices come with Duo, Gmail, Google, Chrome, Google Photos, YouTube, Google Drive and I'm guessing the rest of the Google suite preinstalled.

I don't know about your definition of bloatware but that stuff is definitely included in mine.

I mean, the way iOS comes with iMessage, Mail, Siri, Safari, Photos, the iTunes Store, iCloud, and a suite of apps including Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iMovie and GarageBand?*

Yet that isn't commonly called "bloatware"... because, of course, it isn't.

Bloatware is commonly understood to be third-party software, often of questionable utility and quality. Not first-party.

(*The suite is only preinstalled on 32GB+ devices.)

Shipping the basic software that customers expect on a computer is not bloatware. People expect you should be able to send text messages, receive email, and browse the web from a computer without having to install anything extra.

This is a testament to how messed up Android is these days. Have a look at iOS. The minimal set of Apps they ship their phones with aren't bloated or anything besides useful. Guaranteeing updates if the vendor decides to ship them?

It's basically an example of how Apples strategy with tight grip on their platform makes so much sense. iPhone owners don't have to worry about any of that. Generally phones are supported way longer and updates available even for older phones.

>> aren’t bloated or anything besides useful.

Really? I have a folder on my iPhone three pages deep called “apple junk” which is nothing but all the apple pre installed bloat apps that I never use.

Do some people find a use case for them? Sure. But there they are on my phone. Pre installed and just taking up space..

Why keep them in a folder? Uninstall them? 3 Pages Deep? That's 27 icons. I don't think a default iPhone comes with 27 pre-installed apps.

It’s only been recently that you could uninstall them, and even then it just removes the icon but keeps the data for a lot of these pre-packaged apps.

It keeps the system frameworks they rely on. The app itself does go away.

Except that you pay a hefty price for that privilege. In my country people live an entire month for less than what an iPhone costs.

I'd probably buy an iPhone if it cost like $300 and didn't have all the bells and whistles. Not because I can't afford one. I just can't see myself spending $1000 on a device where the main use case is communication via WhatsApp.

>I'd probably buy an iPhone if it cost like $300 and didn't have all the bells and whistles.

The iPhone SE came out at $400, and dropped to less than $200 (locked) a couple of years ago.

You assuming US, right? In Brazil it can be 2 months salary if you are starting your career, more if you earn minimum wage.

I doubt it was as cheap here in Mexico.

Currently the cheapest iPhone here is the iPhone 8 4.7'' and it costs about $550 USD.

> Have a look at iOS. The minimal set of Apps they ship their phones with aren't bloated or anything besides useful

Not sure about yours but mine spams me to sign up for Apple Music every month, came bundled with GarageBand etc and bugs me about creating a Memoji, spams up my messaging app/emoji tray with animojis etc.

The days of iOS being the restrained stoic only what you need OS are over because marketing needs to push features to sell handsets and services.

Agree! Also, what's the definition of "anything besides useful"? That really depends on what you use. What if you only use the browser (Chrome) and camera? Can you get rid of Safari? And what about all other apple trash?

Does Apple allow you to make your own ringtone for your own phone yet? Or copy your own songs to your own phone for your own listening?