There's no excuse: All Android phones (even Samsung's) should run stock Android
When [Google's Android One] platform was unveiled at I/O in 2014, it was squarely targeted at emerging markets. With a mission to "bring high-quality smartphones to as many people as possible," Android One was meant to bring a clean, unadulterated KitKit[sic] experience (the current version at the time), to handsets short on specs and storage.
Nokia has taken a different approach with Android One. Earlier this year parent company HMD made the bold decision to switch to Android One for its entire family of phones, from the budget-minded Nokia 3.1 to the Snapdragon 835-powered Nokia 8 Sirocco. That means when you buy a Nokia phone you're getting the peace of mind that you'll get updates, and timely ones at that, for at least two years, and security patches for three years.
Or, as Juho Sarvikas, chief product officer at parent company HMD Global puts it, "pure and secure and up to date." That's something that can't be said for for than 90 percent of Android phones, based on the latest Oreo adoption numbers. And it's time the leading Android phone makers start closing the gap.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @07:43PM
Wrong. The Nexus 4 shipped without the default browser and mail app. The Pixel devices went even further then that:
1. Mail -> Gmail
2. Browser -> Chrome
2. Dialer -> Pixel Dialer
4. Camera -> Google Camera
5. Launcher - Now / Pixel launcher
Oh, and there was a shit ton of bloatware in the Nexus with all the cloud storage apps, Google Play, Google Music, Notes, Maps, Earth, Sheets and whatnot... Sure, much of it is actually useful stuff that I do end up using and download if missing on new phones. But it's hardly just stock.