Yes. The Windows Media Player referenced is a perfect example, since it is basically just a shell app where all the UI functionality is pulled in from plugins

Yes. The Windows Media Player referenced is a perfect example, since it is basically just a shell app where all the UI functionality is pulled in from plugins and all of the codec support is handled through external codec libraries. There is definitely a bit of bloat when it comes to Android apps that use the support libraries, as the OP article mentions, but the benefit you get for that bloat is worth it if you're writing full featured real-world applications. (The support libs make it easy to support newer Android features backward compatibly to very old handsets).