Without the Google Tools, the experience you would get on that device is subpar compared to what a device with the Google Tools would provide.
It's not the the (excellent) Gmail app we are talking about.
First and foremost, it's the Andorid Market.
I know that it's possible to install any .apk on a device, but you'd need to get them. As it stands now, most of the better-known Android applications are only available on the Android Marketplace.
So without the Google tools you don't just lose the few Google Apps (Google Talk, Gmail, Google Voice), but also most of the Android Apps currently available.
And it doesn't stop there. In Froyo, Google added the Cloud-to-Device API (that's the c2d I was referring to) which provides about the same functionality as Apples background notifications.
That, too, requires the Android Market, so a non-google-device loses that functionality as well.
This is just one feature, but it shows a trend of Google being willing to couple core API and system components to the availability of the Google tools, so you just plain don't know whether pure free Android will continue to be something you can put on a device you want to be competitive with (if any device without the Android Market can be called that nowadays even)
I think this is a very good point. While at some point in the future it will likely be possible to buy 'beige box' phone hardware and run a hand built version of Android on it, it will in actual usage be a very different beast to the devices being peddled by Motorola & HTC because of the missing access to the propriety Google apps and services.
So if the 'Google certified' version of Android wins, I'm not sure how that is good for anyone other than installing Google as the Microsoft of the mobile age. In that scenario, I'm not sure why I should be rooting for one dictator over another, other than that at least one has taste.
Without the Google Tools, the experience you would get on that device is subpar compared to what a device with the Google Tools would provide.
It's not the the (excellent) Gmail app we are talking about.
First and foremost, it's the Andorid Market.
I know that it's possible to install any .apk on a device, but you'd need to get them. As it stands now, most of the better-known Android applications are only available on the Android Marketplace.
So without the Google tools you don't just lose the few Google Apps (Google Talk, Gmail, Google Voice), but also most of the Android Apps currently available.
And it doesn't stop there. In Froyo, Google added the Cloud-to-Device API (that's the c2d I was referring to) which provides about the same functionality as Apples background notifications.
That, too, requires the Android Market, so a non-google-device loses that functionality as well.
This is just one feature, but it shows a trend of Google being willing to couple core API and system components to the availability of the Google tools, so you just plain don't know whether pure free Android will continue to be something you can put on a device you want to be competitive with (if any device without the Android Market can be called that nowadays even)