Actions against. Custom UI Android Phones: What’s the Difference?

Longtime Android nerds who remember the versions that dessert-based codenames represented know that the mobile operating system of 2008 isn’t the same one we see today, gracing our phones, tablets, smartwatches, and all sorts of other screens in our lives. Crude technical aspects aside, it’s just a visually different beast: Since its launch, Google has undertaken four major overhauls of the platform. At the time of writing, the latest is the third iteration of Material Design launching with Android 12 in 2021.

Material Design, however, is not the only camp on the ground: Samsung’s One UI and a number of interfaces from Chinese brands can be loosely grouped into a different, glass-based collective. Why then? And what happened to the idea of ​​“stock Android” anyway? The answers to these questions are, as always, complicated. They mostly revolve around Android’s reputation for customization in the face of Apple’s more iPhone-heavy approach during a period of rapid growth. There’s no such thing as a “standard” Android experience like you think.

Since its inception, Android has allowed users to customize large parts of the experience. This could involve extensive automations so that your phone switches to a different theme when you get home, or something as simple as changing the font your system uses to display text. This built-in functionality doesn’t change with a different user interface, but you can access this functionality in different ways, thanks to additional tricks that some OEMs have built into the software.

When it comes to the look and feel of Material Design 3, Google designers took version 1’s core concept of resizable digital paper maps and evolved it by creating curved shapes, advancing physics-based motion logic, and adding dynamism to color schemes and font weights. The resulting template exudes a bold attitude with text and pictograms leading an information-driven approach. Samsung’s One UI – and software skins from Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Oppo and OnePlus – aim for a more naturalistic vibe. These designs are brought to life by clear, translucent glass panes surrounded by neutral colors and accented by a more refined palette. These companies aren’t afraid to take inspiration either, as is the case with Samsung’s selfie camera-based Now Bar that resembles the iPhone’s Dynamic Island.

Each company is sure to point to its own ecosystem of services when creating search flows in the UI, and some of them take advantage of hardware like Google’s Pixel 2 and 3 lines with Active Edge, a feature that lets users trigger a shortcut by tapping on their phone. But ultimately, you should be able to access the same granular notification settings, default app settings, and account management settings as any other Android phone.

Google initially distributed Android to phone makers on the assumption that they needed to build access to Google services as part of the operating system. The 2010s saw brands sell hundreds of millions of units, with manufacturers offering devices tailored to different regions and price points, something Apple couldn’t do. Strong phone sales led people to see ads when they used Google search or watched YouTube, and generated massive revenue for Google. Some aspects of this licensing agreement have been criticized by antitrust authorities in recent years, but that’s another story.

At the same time, app developers’ needs for reference hardware have been met by the Nexus series of phones and tablets commissioned by Google, as well as Google Play editions of popular releases from Samsung, HTC and other brands. The unlocked nature of these devices (as opposed to locked devices sold by the carrier) allowed coders to run their apps on software versions from the Google-run Android Open Source Project. AOSP creates basic functionality with many features disabled by default, without links to commercial services, including those from Google.

In 2016, Google ended the Nexus line and launched the Pixel series, taking on more production responsibilities from its partner companies. Pixels were still the go-to device for testing until 2025, when Android Authority reported that major behind-the-scenes changes meant AOSP was no longer being developed with Pixel phones in mind. Developers were encouraged to use a virtual testbed instead.

If we’re strict with the definition of “stock,” the truth is that original Android phones were never sold as a consumer product. Out of the box, these devices came with Google’s version of Android. But when we talk about keeping the basic Google-designed look and feel for Android, it just becomes a matter of distinction and taste.