#Android is not open source.
Nothing new to that. It's like that for a long time and everyone knows it
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What exactly was removed from AOSP? The sample apps have never been part of the base OS and have lots of alternatives available. It hasn't been getting more barebones but rather Google has made a lot of apps, libraries and services outside the scope of AOSP that many are using.
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Well, what I mean is that AOSP has gotten better and hasn't really lost anything. Rather, apps and users have become increasingly dependent on Google services that are quickly improving. It never existed in AOSP and it's set up to support building alternatives to those services.
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They've abandoned assorted sample apps, but they were just that, samples. No one should want things like the terrible AOSP Calendar, Email and Music apps. There are far better alternatives including better open source options. The reference apps aren't nearly as useful as before.
They're only even included at all because they provide standard Android functionality needed to pass the Compatibility Test Suite. The expectation is that they're replaced by apps aimed at human use. Even things like VR and assistant functionality are fully open for other apps.
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It's definitely true that there are often no decent source apps available, and that can make it disappointing that Google isn't actively developing an AOSP reference app anymore. For example, there's no decent open source camera or keyboard app. There are options, but they suck.
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Yes, those are built on open source AOSP components and APIs like the sophisticated usage stats APIs. Other apps can and do offer the same things. That applies to VR, assistants, location services, geocoding, VR, AR, and so on. I'm not sure how AOSP without Play is unusable.