Manufacturer Android UI skins have failed

Samsung's TouchWiz UI Skin for Android

The open source nature of Android has many potential advantages. It allows absolutely anyone to create a device which will have a good amount of functionality, well thought out software, availability of a large number of apps for the platform, etc. Ideally, this should mean that hardware manufacturers can concentrate on one thing - the hardware. They can build devices with beautiful looking and well built body, which have good screens, great battery life, fast performance, different form factors etc. Or they can offer cheap phones which have never before heard features for their price.

But, for some reason, the manufacturers have decided to devote much of their attention on improving the software instead. The software, which is already being worked on by over 100 brilliant engineers and great UI designers, is where they feel there is real need for work. This has created the famous problem of fragmentation, where users don't have access to latest android features because the manufacturers/carriers don't update the software for their phones after Google has released a new version of android, and where developers have to work harder so that their apps can run on as many devices as possible.

My question is: has there been a positive, for consumers, for all the work manufacturers have put on customizing android? I can think of few niche features, like "unlock to an app" in HTC Sense or improved cut/copy/paste in Samsung's TouchWiz. On the other hand, they add a bucket full of bloatware - for e.g., Samsung has its own book reader, its own Social feed app, even their own app store on their Android phones. They are much worse than their main competitors, like Kindle for Android app or Android Market. Their Samsung Galaxy S2 has been creating a lot of buzz in the smartphone market last few months, but I can't think of a single way how their customized software has contributed to that buzz. It is popular because of its fantastic hardware - fast performance, beautiful screen, brilliant camera, exceptionally thin design and better than average battery life. It should really serve the lesson that I gave in the beginning of this post: concentrate on hardware!

Screenshots from the latest Android version, Ice Cream Sandwich

I bought Samsung Galaxy S2 a couple of months back because its hardware had smitten me and it looked like a big upgrade from my Nexus S. It runs gingerbread, and being their current flagship, I am very sure they will update it to the newly released Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) in some reasonable amount of time (otherwise, their reputation will be forever damaged). This got me thinking: what part of their TouchWiz Android skin, if retained, would be an useful addition over ICS? The answer: I can come up with absolutely nothing! TouchWiz fixed a few issues here and there over Gingerbread (like using page thumbnails while switching tabs in browser), but now the new vanilla android release fixes them (and does much more!) in a much better way. If the manufacturers have any sense (pun intended), they will start using vanilla ICS build, with probably a few additions in the form of apps. At some point they should realize that they cannot, and should not, compete with Google in terms of UI design and software features. For their own good.