Yeah, this seems crazy to me. This is a big differentiator. I still hate apple’s ui and several other things but now I can see myself being convinced to get an iPhone. There was zero chance before this decision. If apple ever allows real third party launchers and browsers that aren’t just safari skins (or if android ever disallows launchers and makes all browsers chrome skins), I’d be pretty close to 50-50.
If you can’t do that, that’s a manufacturer restriction. I’ve never had a phone that couldn’t do that and my current one is only last year’s model. I plug it in, it gives me a few options: charge, usb storage, i think something else also, and it works like it always has. I assume the OS files and some app files are protected but everything else is drag and drop as if it was any other storage device like it has been since my first Android in 2010.
That’s not a bad idea.
Why not completely divorce your phone from your portable computing device?
Before smartphones, they were getting pretty small. You could probably make a phone that was just a voice activated earbud now. Then have a device that was everything but the “phone” bits. You wouldn’t have to accept the locked down aspects that the cell providers demand, you could have all the variety and functionality of your home computer or laptop.