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Comment by bad_user | Hacker News Reader

Cyanogenmod ROMs aren't distributed with Google's apps anymore. If you want Google's Play store and Gmail, one needs to download and install a separate archive (I just did that yesterday :))

Of course, the distribution of that archive is still suspect. The licensing of those apps is the only leverage Google has for controlling the companies that distribute Android, like Samsung. It is meant for the likes of Samsung and HTC, not Cyanogenmod, which is why I think Google lets it be for now.

On the other hand if you want to use bare-bones Android, the biggest pain one experiences is the lack of Google Play. I can live without Gmail, I can live without Google Maps, but unfortunately most apps are only on Google Play, which is awkward, given that as a publisher with Android it isn't a big effort to publish apps on your own website, in addition to Google Play.

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Unfortunately, bare-bones Android may get barer and more awkward over time, if they migrate more services from the core OS into "Google Play Services". As an example, the new geofencing APIs that they announced at the last Google I/O (intended to replace the buggy core "proximity alerts") are part of "Google Play Services", not the core OS --- and therefore not available on devices which aren't part of the Play borg.

(To be fair, their announced reason for this is that it gives them a way to make these APIs available on devices that aren't getting regular manufacturer updates. That said, I'm sure it hasn't escaped their attention that it also adds a point of differentiation between Play-enabled devices and, say, the Kindle Fire...)

cite: http://developer.android.com/training/location/geofencing.ht... (Note that step one in using this API is verifying that Play Services is installed.)

> As an example, the new geofencing APIs that they announced at the last Google I/O (intended to replace the buggy core "proximity alerts") are part of "Google Play Services", not the core OS --- and therefore not available on devices which aren't part of the Play borg.

The location services framework in Android is deliberately tied to Google APIs for using address and location resolution, while gathering location sensor data is not. Wouldn't it make sense further evolutions of that API also only work with Google APIs?

Meh. Don't know how much this really sucks the usability out of things. On my Android, I confess I'm already so bought in to the Amazon ecosystem that I almost resent the room that Play and the likes are taking up. Is particularly obnoxious when the phone complains that I need to make room, and the only crap I can't move to an SD card is the Google stuff.

The real issue there is that Android partitions its internal storage into System and "Internal SD" space.

So your 8GB phone will only have 2GB that can hold apps. It's awful.

(Apparently this depends on the phone and OS version to a degree. It's true on GT-i9100s running Android 4.0 at least, and true on all 2.x OSes)

Nexus devices use one big data partition for everything, so you won't have that problem.

Downside is, no more offline backups or increasing the storage capacity by a quick swap of the card.

Awesome. Thanks for clarifying that! :)

I just find it sad that I could live with this restriction if I could remove the Google apps I do not plan on ever making use of.

You can, depending on a few factors. Applications like Titanium Backup should point you in the right direction. :)

There's f-droid [1], "app store" or rather an actual FOSS repository with Android apps. It doesn't have all the apps play store has, of course, but lot of interesting apps can be found there. (I'm currently addicted to Frozen Bubble)

[1]: https://f-droid.org/

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