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Comment by jmull | Hacker News Reader

> they are so crippled by unnecessary restrictions imposed on them by Google that they aren't serious options

What are these restrictions? I've heard this mentioned before, but I'm not finding information on what the restrictions are.

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The user has to enable a setting buried deep in the menus -- easy for someone tech savvy, but not for the typical user. They need to do that before they can even install the alternative app store, since you cannot distribute an alternative app store via the play store. Even once you've done all that, every app install through the alt app store must be confirmed by the user through an interstitial dialog, which also means the alt app store cannot auto-update apps. It all makes for an awful experience that even those who know how to do it don't want to deal with.

No auto-updates. Having multiple settings to even enable custom APKs. Having no interface to allow alternative appstores.

I believe that the "unreasonable restrictions" are that the user needs to click "I accept" when they enable sideloading and see a scary warning.

No warning just pops up, usually they have to redirect the user to manually open settings, or at least open settings for them. It's not a simple dialog, they have to remember instructions and then apply them within the separate settings application. And then no auto updates on top of that.

By crippling non-root features on the phone would be my main "restriction". I should be able to do anything with my own hardware.

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