I think it is an obvious combination of proper specs combined with optimized operating system. Almost always, it is the custom skin a manufacturer puts onto the android device that cause most of the issues. Vanilla Android should be left that way, and any customization should be done by the end user. I do wish Google would force manufacturers hand more in this area. As far as hardware specs - it still matters. As pointed out, display differences for example can be a BIG difference in how a phone looks and works. Battery size. The ability of the processor to throttle or ramp up as necessary. Lack of enough RAM. These are several areas where hardware specs are very important. I upgrade every year for a reason - the hardware specs have always been worth the upgrade IMHO. Although I think my N3 is more than fine for another year, I will still likely be getting the N4 unless something very unexpectedly negative is discovered with it. Like poor battery life, or very weak radios. I don't see those things getting worse though, the one knock on the N3 is the weakish radios. In any case, both hardware and software matter, especially custom factory skins and bloat. Lastly, the ability to Root should not be left off the list - I absolutely need root priveledges for several reasons. If the N4 or future android devices lock root out, it will be a huge negative against them for many of us.