Would you prefer it if your device had stock Android instead of a manufacturer skin?

But while manufacturers skins do bring extra functionality to the table, there are inherent costs involved, as providing support and future updates for a large portfolio of devices, each running on custom code, can be expensive and quite time consuming. As a result, folks who want to have the very latest in Android usually stick to devices with stock or 'vanilla' Android, like the Google Nexus line or even Motorola's bare bones smartphones. A while back, you could still get Samsung, Sony, or HTC hardware with virgin Android running on them, courtesy of the Google Play Edition program, but that has died out and we haven't seen new phones join the ranks in a long while.

It's not just about the speed of the update process, though, as stability and performance are (typically) impacted negatively whenever a third-party builds on top of Android. Sure, there are (very rare) exceptions to this rule, but it's generally the way it is. With that, and the above, in mind, would you have preferred it if your smartphone came with stock Android instead of a manufacturer skin?