Essential's VP: at Google, we were bummed that Android has to go 'through the Samsung lens'

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Rebecca Zavin, who is now a vice president of software engineering at Essential, but used to work in developing Android's hardware stacks for Google, recently sat down for an interview, and revealed some pretty interesting tidbits. Among the comment that they are working on getting Android 8.0 Oreo on the Essential Phone as soon as possible, and bringing the phone itself to more global markets in due course, was hidden this gem:


In a nutshell, it must be frustrating for Google's Android devs that the fast and efficient (albeit not that visually slick) mobile operating system they are constantly developing, is hidden underneath the Samsung Experience UI for a lot of users in the most globally visible markets. Granted, the new interface on Samsung's phones is a big improvement over previous editions, but it still brings with it a certain amount of overengineering that the lean Android team usually sniffs at.


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