Some background information.andyO wrote:Android is an open-source system, meaning that it can be freely used and developed by anyone to create a modified mobile operating system (a so-called "Android fork"). However, if a manufacturer wishes to pre-install Google proprietary apps, including Google Play Store and Google Search, on any of its devices, Google requires it to enter into an "Anti-Fragmentation Agreement" that commits it not to sell devices running on Android forks..
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https://mobiforge.com/news-comment/andr ... sy-for-now (Android forks: Why Google can rest easy. For now , October 9, 2014, by Ruadhán O'Donoghue)The most obvious lock-in was the requirement for any manufacturer wanting to gain access to what used to be called the Android Market (now the Play Store) and to leverage the Android brand (trademarked by Google) to sign up to the OHA – and signing up to the OHA meant signing up to an anti-fragmentation agreement. This agreement is a non-disclosure one, but in practice, it means not releasing handsets that failed the compatibility test suite (CTS), and the CTS was and is controlled by Google.
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https://www.phonearena.com/news/Android ... an_id59003 (Android forks are now 20% of the ecosystem. What is Google's plan? Posted: 05 Aug 2014, 22:04 , posted by Michael H. )
https://www.zdnet.com/article/eelo-a-go ... e-emerges/ (Eelo: A Google-less Android alternative emerges; Linux pioneer Gaël Duval is working on an easy-to-use, Google-free, pro-privacy Android clone for your smartphone. By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for Linux and Open Source | January 2, 2018)