Google says no to Android 3.0 custom UIs

Google has said that it will not allow custom UIs, such as HTC’s Sense UI and Samsung’s TouchWiz, onto Android 3.0 for the time being

Published on Mar 24, 2011

Google, for the first time in Android’s history, has prohibited the use of custom OEM UIs on its tablet-centric Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.

The news comes via the Driodcon Conference in Berlin where an LG spokesperson claimed that for the time being Google is prohibiting adjustments and changes of the Android 3.0 GUI, according to The Unwired.

Having said that, Google has confirmed that these custom UIs will be allowed access in later versions of Android 3.0 – just not in the release iteration.

This is certainly bad news for HTC and Samsung – both companies love their custom UI overlays for Android.

Could this be why HTC declined to release the HTC Flyer on Android 3.0? It’d certainly make sense, as this means it could launch the Flyer on Android 2.3, complete with HTC Sense UI, and wait for the custom UI-friendly version of Android 3.0 to be released by Google.

Quite what Samsung will do if it’s not allowed to include its TouchWiz UI on its new range of Galaxy Tab products remains to be seen. Either way, it’s not looking good. Could this be why Samsung re-announced its Galaxy Tab range recently?

We’re not sure, but this is certainly a very interesting development within the Android platform – and one we'll be keeping a close eye on.

Is Google beginning to take lessons from Apple and take more control of its operating system? It's certainly beginning to look that way.