> The differentiation between UI on Android phones is a pretty strong indication that competing on hardware isn't enough - vendors need to compete on the software as well.
IMHO the differentiation is more due to managers ordering their software teams to differentiate (for no practical reason whatsoever) than anything else.
Every Android phone review I read on the internet seems to revolve on how much the 'differentiation' broke Google's vanilla experience.
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I recently discovered that many family members bought some Motorola Android devices which were on sale. The devices were so bad that the that that entire family group now has a deep and real aversion to any and all things Motorola/Android.
Having low-end Android phones that people could trust to recommend and buy would go a long from the current state of affairs.