[Android General] Panos_dm:
I bought my first android, a galaxy 3, about a year and a half ago... I was so excited I had a "mobile Linux" in my hand... Being a Linux user for some time I thought that I would have (almost) the same capabilities with my mobile....

After a one week I came down to earth. The only thing in common with Linux in android, is the Linux kernel. Let me explain:

In my pc, I can compile any Linux distro, or kernel, from the source, install it on my hardware, reboot, and have it working just as I want, with all the features I enabled/disabled during the build. When I started thinking of buying an adroid phone, I thought I could do exactly the same. Well, I was mistaken.

It's ok with me now. I discovered how android and Google works. But still something is not right.

The biggest "advantages" android has to offer were, and still are, that it is free (as in free speech, not free beer - thank you Mr. Stallman) and open.

Well IS it?

Google is giving away the source code, thus making it available for anyone to build it. Ok. The real problem is what you can do with the resulting build. In theory, if you flash a generic build to a phone, it should boot up and make calls. And that's it. Forget about GPS, wifi, Bluetooth. If you want to use them, you have to build a kernel with the source code provided by the OEMs and the best part is that the source has to be for the same version you are building. Thus it is almost impossible for an average user to build android for their device, if the OEM won't provide an official update to the version they want to build.

You'll say that the drivers are proprietary and OEMs don't give them. I can understand that, but what I really can't understand is why proprietary blobs for 2.3 won't work with android 4. I mean drivers are the same, aren't they? Yes, the kernels are different BUT hardware remains the same...

You'll say "get a Nexus". Yes, you as right it seems to be the best solution, but nexus one has the same fate as other phones.

A new android build only works in an emulator. I just wish it could work the same on every model. The OEMs don't have to open source drivers, just give us blobs that work with every android version. One other problem with some OEMs is the locked bootloader. I build android for a device, but due to locked bootloader I can't flash it....wait what? It is MY phone you piece of ****!!

So imo android is neither "free", nor "open". Where is freedom and openess when I can't flash any given device with any given android version? Sorry, but customisability and theming are just not enough.

Google also claims that android comes free of charge. Well, the source is, but the source alone, without being able to use it on a device, is useless. So, in order to have the latest android I have to pay roughly €500-€600 each year... (maybe once in two years if I choose nexus). Only I see a rip-off here? Google should work with OEMs and make generic builds to run on every device, just like Linux. Android is capable of this for sure.

I still like android, and continue to use it. It can't be compared to wp or ios. But I strongly believe that since we paid our devices we should be able to do whatever we want with it.

Thanks for reading guys and girls. These thoughts wee in my head for some time and I wanted to let them out...

Sent from my amazing 10.1 galaxy tab :)