this post was submitted on 12 May 2024
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Privacy
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No they're not. Have you actually bought a newer Pixel and used it without a custom ROM? They are loaded with extra Google applications and features now. It's a very different experience to several years ago when everyone referred to Pixels as "stock" Android. Motorola phones have a more "stock" experience than Pixels now.
Motorola phones: asop + google + Motorola
Pixel phones: asop + google
Asop flashing pixel only: asop
How is the risk surface lower on a Motorola phone?
That's not true, though. Motorola phones do not contain all the same Google features and applications as Pixels and the way in which their first-party applications are embedded in the OS is less significant than the way in which Google embeds theirs.
EDIT: Your risk surface question is also a strawman and shifting the goalposts. Neither myself nor OP made was making an argument about risk surface.
I see we are talking about very different things when we talk about bloat.
If Google play has super control of the phone I consider that bloat and a huge risk surface.
You are describing basically all phones, including Pixels. If you want to flash AOSP or some custom ROM, fine, but that's not an "out of the box" experience as you originally claimed.
It's the least amount of trusted parties you can get on Android phone. Since every android sold outside of China has Google play as super root anyway, limiting the trusted parties to one is the least bloated you can get... And that's pixel. If you want AOSP. That's also pixel, the only phone with pure AOSP builds available
I guess the disagreement here is coming from how we define a "clean" experience. Based on my recent use of phones from both manufacturers, the Motorola phone allowed me to disable and uninstall more stuff without breaking the core UX, hence it was a cleaner experience. Motorola doesn't really impose itself on the user, in that sense.
Alternatively Pixels are really designed to be used by people fully integrated within Google's ecosystem. When you start attempting to escape that it becomes a pretty annoying experience and one that I would not define as "clean". It's increasingly akin to using a Samsung phone with OneUI, which is similarly insistent on you using all it's baked-in, exclusive first-party features (many of which requite an account or enable additional tracking).