Google doesn't make better phones, they were just less hostile to the consumer. That seems to be going away :(
Leaving Google for Apple, and expecting a more open app store, is going to be disappointing. I’m not a Google fanboy by any means, just pointing out the landscape out there
It wasn’t guise, it actually increased the battery life quite much. People complained about the battery of old phones. The problem was that users did not have choice to opt-out.