The biggest problem is that Samsung and LG think they need to customize & brand the phone to be recognizable as their own product. They're spitting in the face

The biggest problem is that Samsung and LG think they need to customize & brand the phone to be recognizable as their own product. They're spitting in the face of OSS when they go and half-ass their own versions of standard components. Things are even worse when you get carriers into the mix trying to provide their own unique user experience. A great example of how this can blow up in their face is a recent T-Mobile visual voicemail app. Not only is it slow, buggy & constantly crashing but they had the audacity to place advertisements in it. For some reason, customers didn't like being forced to use their time & metered bandwidth to view shitty ads (the "Click here to upgrade your memory!" sort) while using a service that they had already paid for. If you look at the Play Store, you'll see brazillions of 1-star reviews complaining about this. Fortunately, T-Mo listened & removed the ads. The app is still slow & buggy. I still can't uninstall the Slacker app or remove the Fox News bookmark from the browser but at least I don't have to stare at advertisements while waiting for my voicemail to crash. Manufacturers & Carriers need to recognize that the value they bring to the table with Android is by providing good hardware, low prices & good service, not crapping up an awesome phone with reminders that Samsung & Verizon are the Best Thing Ever.