Stock Android phones
Android One's initial lineup was pretty obscure – low-end phones from brands you haven’t heard of. But a couple of recent phones are filling the gap left by the discontinued Nexus line, namely affordable but capable phones with software controlled by Google.
We just finished reviewing the Xiaomi Mi A1and we came away impressed. For around €250 give or take you can have a 5.5” 1080p screen, dual 12MP camera and long battery life (S625 chipset + 3,080mAh battery, 80h Endurance).You can get a similar Redmi phone with MIUI for a bit less but Xiaomi’s software is a “love it or hate it” kind of thing.
Motorola has a similar phone – the Moto X4. It’s smaller with its 5.2” 1080p screen, but has a newer Snapdragon 630 chipset (and a similar 3,000mAh battery). The 12MP dual pixel camera has a slight advantage in pixel size – the main sensor has 1.4µm pixels (vs. 1.25µm on the A1).
Both phones currently run Android v7.1 Nougat, but v8.0 Oreo will arrive in due time. It remains to be seen if the Android One team or other pure Androids like the Nokias will get updated first.
The Pixels already got the promotion, so One isn’t as fast as Pixel. And some key Google apps are missing, like the excellent Pixel camera app.
But it doesn’t cost as much as a Pixel either – certainly the Xiaomi Mi A1, the Moto X4 is a tad pricey. It’s also nice to see official presence in Europe, the Mi A1 can be had from multiple local retailers – no more gray imports!
So, do you think that Android One has successfully replaced the Nexus phones?
“These are the phones to get if you want to experience Android in its purest form”
It is not surprising that Google’s Android now has over 90 percent market share of the active smartphone user base. One of the main reasons behind its success is that the mobile OS is open source, which means manufacturers can tweak it to best suit the hardware offered by their smartphones. This is how brands can offer phones with their own customised Android builds. While most of these skins and builds come with a ton of features, they often tend to be resource hungry and lag behind in getting updates.
However, there are phones which offer Android in its vanilla avatar too. While the Pixel series of devices from Google are known to offer the same, they are surely not the only options you have, especially after brands like Lenovo, HMD Global, Moto and even Xiaomi have joined the herd. Here is a list of top smartphones which boot stock Android out of the box.
We just finished reviewing the Xiaomi Mi A1and we came away impressed. For around €250 give or take you can have a 5.5” 1080p screen, dual 12MP camera and long battery life (S625 chipset + 3,080mAh battery, 80h Endurance).You can get a similar Redmi phone with MIUI for a bit less but Xiaomi’s software is a “love it or hate it” kind of thing.
Motorola has a similar phone – the Moto X4. It’s smaller with its 5.2” 1080p screen, but has a newer Snapdragon 630 chipset (and a similar 3,000mAh battery). The 12MP dual pixel camera has a slight advantage in pixel size – the main sensor has 1.4µm pixels (vs. 1.25µm on the A1).
Both phones currently run Android v7.1 Nougat, but v8.0 Oreo will arrive in due time. It remains to be seen if the Android One team or other pure Androids like the Nokias will get updated first.
The Pixels already got the promotion, so One isn’t as fast as Pixel. And some key Google apps are missing, like the excellent Pixel camera app.
But it doesn’t cost as much as a Pixel either – certainly the Xiaomi Mi A1, the Moto X4 is a tad pricey. It’s also nice to see official presence in Europe, the Mi A1 can be had from multiple local retailers – no more gray imports!
So, do you think that Android One has successfully replaced the Nexus phones?
“These are the phones to get if you want to experience Android in its purest form”
However, there are phones which offer Android in its vanilla avatar too. While the Pixel series of devices from Google are known to offer the same, they are surely not the only options you have, especially after brands like Lenovo, HMD Global, Moto and even Xiaomi have joined the herd. Here is a list of top smartphones which boot stock Android out of the box.
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