Stock Android - have the tables finally turned?

The first Android phone was made by HTC. The HTC Dream - or G1 as it was called in some markets - was all Google in terms of software. It would be apt to call it the first phone running 'stock' Android, mainly because there was nothing else out there. The phone set the ball rolling and when the other manufacturers joined in, the open-source underpinnings of Android enabled them to change the way their Android-based phones looked and functioned.

The manufacturers saw customising Android as a way of differentiating themselves from their competitors who were also building phones based on the same 'stock' Android. With little to differentiate in terms of specifications, there's only so much that they could've done with the hardware to stand out from the crowd. In the sense, innovating on the software front was an obvious, and some might say cheaper, options compared to dabbling with the physicality of the device.

Another reason why manufacturers were modifying or building upon Android was to plug the gaps that initial versions of the OS had, though you would find that hard to believe if you believed the 'experts'. Up until recently, reading almost every review of an Android phone other than the Nexus series, you'd find the reviewer criticising the UI overlay as one of the phone's drawbacks. There are many reasons for the dislike towards third-party skins like Samsung's TouchWIZ or HTC's Sense UI. For some it may be too cluttered, unintuitive, maybe even ugly.

But the biggest reason Android purists always preferred stock Android-laden Nexus phones is that you get updated to the latest and greatest Android version as soon as it is released. Well, maybe not greatest in recent times.

It seemed that our wildest dreams came true when Google released the 'Google Play Edition' of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One - best-in-class hardware with the goodness of stock Android. But everything's not 'A-OK' when you're running stock Android. For example, when pitted against siblings featuring software enhancements from their respective manufacturers, both these phones showed mediocrity in the camera software, resulting in worse quality images.

On the other hand, things are looking brighter with manufacturer customisations. Just look at the Moto X and all things that make it special -- the always-on notification lock screen, the ability to wake the phone up without touching, the gesture to fire up the camera; all these are software additions not present in stock Android. Take all of them away and what are you left with? A phone that lets lost in the crowd of Android devices out there. Even the LG G2 comes with a 'Guest mode' that finally works the way it should; something many people will appreciate to have out of the box. Even sifting through the truckload of features the Samsung puts into their Android phones these days, features like Group Play seem interesting.

It seems manufacturers have started focusing on thoughtful additions instead of just differentiating for the sake of it with little regard for value added to the customer. With the last two 'major' Android updates turning out to be rather minor ones, there's not much of an incentive to be on, say, Android 4.3, compared to the difference between Android 4.1 and Android 4.0.

Now, more than ever, saying that a 'Nexus' or 'Google Play' phone offers the best Android experience may not hold true anymore.

Rohan Naravane manages the content for PriceBaba.com. He is usually found rambling tech on Twitter @r0han.