We all know Google isn't too happy with the modifications Samsung has been doing to Android, and rumors of talks where they've reached an agreement where both "had to give" abound. For Google that might have forced them to get out of the smartphone hardware market and sell Motorola and maybe even end the Nexus series of devices. But for Samsung... there wasn't any visible effect... until now.
Reworking their entire interface isn't something they could have done in time for the Galaxy S5, which keeps the usual TouchWiz look and feel - but if you take a closer look during the boot screen, you'll notice something different: for the first time Samsung shows a "Powered by ANDROID" message.
It may be just a tiny detail, but I don't think that happened by accident at this very moment, after dozens of Samsung models hitting the market over the years.
What does this mean? It means that Google wants to make it very clear that Samsung devices are Android devices. That's something you and I know, but I'm sure there are still hundreds of millions of people out there that buy a "Samsung phone" just because it's a Samsung, and have no idea (or don't even care) about what Android is or is not. That simple message will be enough to make everyone, technological savvy or not, associate Samsung's Galaxy S5 flagship with Android - and make people more aware that there are other Android devices out there.
We'll have to wait a few more months to see if Samsung will indeed begin to tone down their Android modifications and get closer to Google's "vision" for the platform - or if their agreement has been limited to this boot up message - but until then, there will be no way for anyone not to notice Samsung's latest Galaxy S5 is "powered by Android".
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