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I disagree with the negative opinion on 'fragmentation'. The whole fragmentation is why I love Android. IF every device had the same UX, it'd be an even more boring world. Whatever happened to that old motto 'Be different not the same'?

As for the stats, I can easily see why Android 11 is the most popular of the Android versions. Android 12 (on Pixel and stock) looks like hideous 1970s crap. Android 11 was the only version that offered smart home controls from the power menu as well, talk about a short-lived feature.
 
The drawback with fragmentation is when you get some devices able to run apps but not others, or when you have a large pool of devices with vulnerabilities that haven't been patched because the OS is too old (you could of course argue that Google+manufacturers should provide at least security support for longer, but we know that android's "do what you like" model means that will never happen).

What you are talking about is largely UI appearance, which at least as far as home screens are concerned can be managed to a large extent using launchers, icon packs and the rest. The system menus are a different matter, but we know that manufacturers can change these things or even provide theming options, so that's not really an argument for fragmentation of the OS version (though you could critique manufacturers for not providing options or even just lazily using Google's defaults).

Specific features will come and go (though again, because manufacturers customise Android for their devices they are not obliged to follow Google - that would also be different from the OS fragmentation discussed here). The trouble with specific features is always that one person's "essential" is another person's "clutter". For example the current trend is for ambient/always-on displays, but I personally have no use for them whatsoever. Lockscreen widgets have disappeared, but while I used them occasionally 10 years ago these days I unlock with a fingerprint and never see the lockscreen at all, so their loss is irrelevant to me. How big an issue the loss of a feature is doesn't really depend on whether you or I use it but whether a significant number of people use it. So my guess is that the removal of notification LEDs (as phones have pushed to having essentially no bezels) is more objectionable than the loss of smart home controls from the power menu, because I've seen no end of people who disliked the former and for whom the little AOD icons are no substitute, but your post here is the first time I can recall anyone mentioning the loss of the smart home controls. But if you want any feature, tool, app or system to have longevity, the best bet is not to rely on Google for that... ;)
 
Some people consider the ability of OEMs to skin Android part of the fragmentation issue. That's why I don't agree. I like how each device has its own identity (although that's not as obvious now as it was in the Android 2.3 era, regrettably). I love that Android 12/13 on Samsung devices isn't that hideous mess that the Pixels got (especially the wifi/data toggle in one button called 'internet' I mean what nut dreamed that one up?!) and what keeps me in the Samsung side is that Samsung has better apps (IMO) with more features, and therefore I'm not stuck with one set of defaults from one developer (Google in this case).

And there ain't nothing wrong with that.

Also, the fact Google does kill so much is why I want to avoid their defaults, their apps and use the Samsung options instead. I don't want Android to be another iOS in the future. As for lockscreen widgets, I only remember those on the Galaxy SIII and S4, back when they had Jelly Bean. But my Z Flip 4 has a modern alternative, the cover screen has widgets, and if you install an app such as Coverscreen OS, you get even more options.
 
OEM skins are only cosmetic, they don't affect security or app compatibility and can be largely ignored (you can't do anything about e.g. Samsung hiding menu items in different places from Google, but since Settings has a search function that's not the usability problem it once was). Hence I don't see them as a fragmentation issue.

The combined WiFi/Data toggle is just another example of Google being rubbish at UI design. Sadly they always have been. That is one respect in which others not being bound to using their decisions is an advantage for Android.

I'm brand agnostic myself. I've never actually found adjusting to different UIs terribly difficult, so changes of version or brand don't really bother me, and I use very few pre-installed apps regardless of which brand of phone I'm using. So swapping brand actually has very little effect on me. That's partly because I can almost always find an app I prefer to the manufacturer's version (I don't rate either Google's and Samsung's apps), perhaps partly because I used to change ROMs every month and so built-in apps were never a thing for me, and partly because it's a personal policy never to become tied-in to a particular manufacturer and hence I prefer not to use proprietary apps or features. I'd say the only Samsung feature I used on my s21 is the "side apps", where there are 2 3rd party widgets I use, and the only Samsung apps I use are the dialer and contacts apps, which were also the only Google apps I used on my previous Pixel. Given that I also use a 3rd party launcher, really the only difference changing brands makes to me is the layout of the system Settings and the options for the notification slide.
 
There's the loss of fun features like lock screen effects. I like the look of Samsung UI pre One UI. The bigger issue since Lollipop Samsung killing off album art on the S6 and Note 5 while older Samsung devices updated to Lollipop Samsung kept that feature although if you update any 2014 Samsung phone to 5.1.1 Samsung killed off album art on the lockscreen.
 
I personally hated my beautiful lockscreen wallpapers replaced with pixelated music album art back in the kitkat days and certainly don't miss it today

I can, however, get back the water effect lockscreen like the Galaxy SIII had with a third party option like X locker though. But I am happy with the dynamic lock screen option in One UI where it shows a different animal or nature landscape with each screen wake. Satisfies that classic Nature UX itch.

I do miss TouchWiz though. I can't get back my droplet touch sound, or the full skeuomorphic UI just with themes, old apps and widgets. It will never be complete. But I do get more options for look than I would get with stock android. But I want my notification ticker text back, my green battery icon and wifi bars back, and my button shapes in pop-ups over coloured text on a rounded corner white box...Oh, and I want my phone dialer to have glossy buttons again instead of borderless numbers on white. There are third party dialer apps that offer it, but all of them instantly end the call soon as you try to dial. Only the flat UI crap apps work
 
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