[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] he_stheone64:
Dear Google, dear Android OEM`s,

This is an open letter addressed directly to your development teams, which I hope will sooner or later arrive at the right places. I`m an avid Android user and fan since quite a while and was also an active part of the XDA development community (mainly Milestone, Desire HD). I really appreciate what you have done with the Android OS, especially now with the latest and greatest – ICS. Nevertheless with all the beauty and customization of Android, there is still a lot of room to improve, especially when it comes to user configurable customization. Following I want to illustrate, where I strongly believe, based on my experience in many threads here at XDA or my home forum, where there is a lot of room to improve.

@ GOOGLE - Users like new features, but not all users are equal.

Whether it`s widgets, shortcuts to settings or toggles, everyone has different preferences. So please add user selectable features to next ROM generations, that can be activated by users (say customers). If you follow XDA carefully, you will recognize some sort of consensus, which kind of customizations people would like to have in future stock ROM`s. The following features should all be user configurable to reflect the different tastes and user patterns. I will only post the Top features, but these would already add a lot and allow users to customize their experience.

1.	Battery icon option with 1% steps in statusbar

2.	Quick toggles to settings in statusbar

3.	Custom shortcuts for Lock Screen

4.	Reboot option in Power Menu

5.	Position of clock in status bar

6.	Customize Auto Brightness

7.	T9 dialer

8.	“Unread only” email tabs

9.	Home Screen animation

10.	Widget color and transparency

11.	Color Themes (see Windows Phone)

@ OEM`s - Some users like custom skins, other`s don’t

We all know that OEM´s need to differentiate their products by hardware and user experience, BUT…. There are many consumers who fall in love with a certain phone, but don`t buy it, since it is covered by a custom UI (say Sense or TouchWiz), which some not only don`t like, it also adds huge delays to updates and in some cases completely prevents these. Please understand that users love choices and also having the latest version of Android on their phones. Also note that with the arrival of ICS, for most users suddenly stock Android delivers a better visual experience, then current custom UI`s.

1.	Present your custom UI as add-ons, which allow the user to choose in settings, whether he really wants to use it.

2.	You can break down your custom UI in Theme and features. That way the user can both select the visual aspects and the features he needs.

3.	If you allow this freedom, you will sell more products and the result is win-win

Bottom line: If both Google and OEM`s understand and respect, we all have different preferences and like to have a choice, you will have even more loyal followers.

@ Community – it will be interesting to hear your opinion. Please don`t discuss details like more features you would like to see, it`s way more interesting whether you agree with the general approach or whether you are happy as it is.