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"Pure Android"

T

t147

Newbie
**embarrassing newbie question alert**

Can someone explain to me exactly what this means? I've only ever had 2 Android phones (HTC Desire and One X) so have no experience of any other UI than Sense, so don't really 'get' what it means and what the benefits are. if someone could be kind enough to explain why the 'pure android' experience is so great, I'd appreciate it.

If reports are correct, should be back in stock in the UK store at 3pm today. credit card in its holster, ready for a quick draw
 
Pure Android is the OS you will find on a Nexus device. Nexus is a Google Brand(?) and as such manufactures build Nexus devices to certain specifications for Google to run their OS. It's untouched and pure, and as Google intended it to be. You might hear people talking about the Vanilla Android experience..... Its the same thing.

Anyone can build an Android phone. But what happens is the manufactures will take the pure Android OS and cover it in their UI and add lots of different features. This can be a good and a bad thing depending on your taste.

I have an 18 month old Galaxy S2 and I thought it was amazing. Until I got my Nexus 4........ And now that I have experienced Vanilla Android I won't buy a non Nexus device. It's slick and looks better than TouchWiz (Samsung's UI tweaks).

And because it's a Nexus you will get updates before anyone else. And it should be good for at least 2 years.
 
I had a Desire - really liked it and really liked Sense.

Sense provides a few nice widgets that aren't standard Android - e.g. the clock/weather thing - and it also has a nice (IMHO) bottom bar for the 'static' phone, menu etc icons. Tools like contacts, calendar, messaging, e-mail, media player etc are also HTC's own versions. The later versions of Sense also have some really nice features like a phone locator / remote disable (I think) and phone-based maps.

The upside of these overlays is that the manufacturer can provide tools that are either better than Google's (arguable) or that Google doesn't do (e.g. the location stuff and phone-based maps). They can also - depending on your taste - make the interface look prettier.

The downside is that these overlays have to be kept up-to-date separately from Android. This means that when Google releases a new version of Android, there's a delay before it gets onto these phones while the manufacturer re-engineers their overlay to work with the new Android features.

The overlays can also use additional memory which may slow the phone down or mean that the phone cannot be upgraded (as was the case with Sense on the Desire) and they may cause some comptability issues (rare - most of these come from the tweaks the networks apply and which you will also avoid buying direct from Play).

Pure Android means you use Google's own versions of everything (you can always download replacement tools from the app store if you don't like Google's). You don't get the extra features the overlays provide, but what you do get tends to be pretty slick and it fits well with Google's other services.

The main advantage though, is that you get the latest version of Android the moment it's released.

Not having had the later versions of Sense, there's actually very little I miss. I'm really pleased with my Nexus 4 and would highly recommend it. Good luck at 15:00!
 
Great, thanks to you both for your replies. I have a bit of a better idea now, but I guess until I use it I won't know for sure.

Plenty of nice little bits on the Play Store as you mentioned though, as I also really like the clock/weather widget and the static icon bar at the bottom that Sense provide
 
t147 said:
Great, thanks to you both for your replies. I have a bit of a better idea now, but I guess until I use it I won't know for sure.

Plenty of nice little bits on the Play Store as you mentioned though, as I also really like the clock/weather widget and the static icon bar at the bottom that Sense provide
Click to expand...

If you get a Launcher for the Nexus 4 you will be able to customise the dock to look like Sense should you wish.

I use Nova Launcher and keep it stock/vanilla looking but means I can customise icons and so on easily. But I believe Go Launcher or Launcher Pro will give you the ability to do this too.
 
I believe Sense is the best custom UI from a manufacturer. At least until Sense 3.0/3.5 (not a big change) that's the last one I used. I've heard Touchwiz has made their homework lately but I've never owned a Samsung device.

But as many say and as I've said before, once you taste "pure Android" (Vanilla UI) you can't go back. Custom UI from manufacturers may have special features, but the smoothness from Vanilla cannot be compared.
 
Both models are still on 'Ships Soon' and are showing as shipping in 1-2 weeks, so yeah: you can still order.

Have to say, I'm a little surprised: either interest has flat-lined or they had a much bigger stock allocation this time around. When I ordered last time, they were on 6-8 week delivery within about 20 minutes.
 
SiempreTuna said:
Both models are still on 'Ships Soon' and are showing as shipping in 1-2 weeks, so yeah: you can still order.

Have to say, I'm a little surprised: either interest has flat-lined or they had a much bigger stock allocation this time around. When I ordered last time, they were on 6-8 week delivery within about 20 minutes.
Click to expand...

thanks for the reply im in southern ireland on holiday so couldn't view the page, so had to get y brother to order back in the uk for me.
cheers again
 
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