The Essential Phone runs stock Android â the best version of Android
Andy Rubin
This is surprising. After all  the Essential Phone was the perfect opportunity to see what  Andy Rubin   the "Father of Android" and leader of Essential  had to say about the Android OS' direction since  he  left Google in 2014. Would  he  put  his  personal touch on the software  showing us what the OS might have looked like had  he  stayed at Google? As it turns out  it appears instead that  Rubin  had more to say about a smartphone's design than  he  did about the Android OS.
I suppose I was expecting something different from  Rubin .  He  did mention in May that the Essential Phone would run stock Android  but I wasn't expecting  him  to have such an extremely light touch and to barely alter anything about the OS.
 Rubin  created Android  so  he 's no stranger to developing mobile phone software. And given how much attention Essential paid to every little detail of the phone's hardware  it's a good bet that  Rubin  didn't just go with the plain version of Android out of sheer laziness.
The move suggests that  Rubin  believes stock Android is still the best Android compared to what you see on phones from Samsung  LG  and the numerous Chinese companies like Huawei. Stock Android means none of the duplicate apps from the smartphone maker and carrier cluttering things up. Android looks and works exactly the way Google intended it to.
To be clear  those companies make great phones  as their popularity shows. Yet  I've always believed that nothing beats stock Android. So  thanks Andy Rubin for backing me up. And if you haven't tried stock Android  I'd sincerely recommend doing so by trying out the Google Pixel  the OnePlus 5  and now the Essential Phone.
This is surprising. After all  the Essential Phone was the perfect opportunity to see what   [TGT]    the "Father of Android" and leader of Essential  had to say about the Android OS' direction since   [TGT]   left Google in 2014. Would   [TGT]   put   [TGT]   personal touch on the software  showing us what the OS might have looked like had   [TGT]   stayed at Google? As it turns out  it appears instead that  Rubin  had more to say about a smartphone's design than  he  did about the Android OS.
I suppose I was expecting something different from  Rubin .  He  did mention in May that the Essential Phone would run stock Android  but I wasn't expecting  him  to have such an extremely light touch and to barely alter anything about the OS.
 Rubin  created Android  so  he 's no stranger to developing mobile phone software. And given how much attention Essential paid to every little detail of the phone's hardware  it's a good bet that  Rubin  didn't just go with the plain version of Android out of sheer laziness.
The move suggests that  Rubin  believes stock Android is still the best Android compared to what you see on phones from Samsung  LG  and the numerous Chinese companies like Huawei. Stock Android means none of the duplicate apps from the smartphone maker and carrier cluttering things up. Android looks and works exactly the way Google intended it to.
To be clear  those companies make great phones  as their popularity shows. Yet  I've always believed that nothing beats stock Android. So  thanks Andy Rubin for backing me up. And if you haven't tried stock Android  I'd sincerely recommend doing so by trying out the Google Pixel  the OnePlus 5  and now the Essential Phone.