Foreign media comment: Native Android is dead

Android M made its debut, and many developers witnessed a large number of new features in Los Angeles: application permission control, charging and battery life optimization, memory usage optimization, seamless integration of apps and networks, mobile payments, fingerprint recognition, Google photo applications, offline maps... Very exciting, right? Wrong! These features will sooner or later become popular on Android phones, but definitely not in the way Google envisions. In fact, it doesn't matter how Google plans Android M, because native Android M will never appear on popular devices, whether it is Samsung Galaxy, HTC One, Xiaomi, or Huawei.

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Android M's key improvements will still make their way to these phones eventually, but definitely much later than the third quarter of 2015 that Google has scheduled.

It's time to face reality: How many smartphones have you seen running stock Android? Which phones are running Android according to Google's ideas?

Maybe, only the Nexus series.

However, the Nexus 6 is just too big, and the Nexus 5 was a dream phone but has been pulled from the shelves.

If you know the Android platform well, you might say that some devices have almost native systems, such as Motorola Moto X 2014 and Sony Xperia Z series. That's right, but the problem is that they are not truly native after all, especially lacking the most critical point: the fluency of Nexus devices.

As we enter 2015, the hardware arms race is still going on, with octa-core processors and 4GB of memory appearing frequently. However, lag is still a major problem even for Android flagship phones. For example, even an excellent phone like the Galaxy S6 will lag, and the Galaxy Note 4 is even worse. The vast majority of Android phones cannot escape this curse.

If you compare it with the Nexus 5 from 2013 in terms of actual performance, you will be surprised and wonder why the old device is smoother, faster and better?

And the lag is only one aspect, there are more troubles. In order to highlight their individuality, third-party manufacturers have changed the Android interface beyond recognition: completely different icons, applications, animations, styles, and even no application drawer. In fact, if you are a very ordinary user, you may not even know that your system is Android.

Excellent third-party ROMs such as Cyanogen were once very loyal to the native style, but times are changing, and the temptation of change is too great, so they are all trying to make users forget that this is Google's Android.

Oh, and there is Android One. Google hopes to provide system updates to users in developing markets on time within two years. However, Android One is not the best way to promote the native system. After all, it is just a cheap phone with its own user base, but it compromises too much for cost and price and cannot be compared with flagship phones at all.

It seems that we have to admit a simple fact: native Android, the most advanced Android that Google has spent countless efforts and carefully polished, is out of reach for most people and most mobile phones.

Unless there is another Nexus 5, stock Android, or Android M, will remain a castle in the air. Something must change.