On most Android sites, when you read or hear someone referring to "stock" Android, it's usually with Google's idea of Android in mind: clean home screen, light color scheme, and the bare minimum of accoutrements. Stock Android is also considered by many in the know to be the Platonic ideal of what Android should be, and it's the standard bearer for all comparisons to Android skins from third-party manufacturers. In recent years, whether through an overt campaign by Google itself or just a flattening and maturing of Material Design guidelines, most manufacturers have come to terms with differentiation as a selling point; from Samsung to Huawei, distinctiveness is looking considerably more familiar these days. Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines

That being said, when I and many of my colleagues review a device, such as the upcoming Galaxy Note 8, we often talk about how, while the default launcher is tolerable, it's easy to change. And if you don't like the keyboard, here's an alternative. The default messaging app? It sucks, here's another one. These tend to be throwaway comments from people who don't tend to consider the other side of the coin — again, myself included — that the vast majority of Android phone buyers (the vast majority of whom are Samsung phone buyers) don't change any of these settings. Given that it's the waning days of summer, I've been attending baseball games, fairs, and plenty of other gatherings where it's easy to glance at a person's phone and the way he or she uses it. When I see an Android user, I try to make time to ask what goes into that setup process; Android is, after all, a supremely customizable operating system. Almost all of them say a variation of the same thing: "I don't touch it." That's the real "stock" Android; if you're looking at it from the perspective of the most common shared experience, we should be referring to stock Android as that of the default Samsung experience which, while it changes from year to year and generation to generation, is generally quite different from what you'd find on the Google Pixel or devices whose skins try to mimic it.

Samsung and many other companies have tried really hard to get on the right side of Android design. When I received my demo Note 8, I decided to follow this idea to its logical conclusion. I resisted changing the launcher to my go-to alternative, Nova Launcher, and did not download Gboard as my keyboard or Android Messages as my SMS client. In other words, I kept Google's influence over my Samsung experience as far away as possible while trying to respect and appreciate Samsung's decisions as much as possible. I don't purport to think this is any sort of drastic action, but it has helped, over the last few days, understand some of the ongoing criticisms and compliments Samsung has received on its way to the most successful and influential smartphone brand in the Android space.

What's remarkable about Samsung in 2017 is the effort it has undertaken to simplify the user experience for even the most novice of users. From the first boot to the clear and concise explanations of how its launcher and various native apps work, Samsung has done a better job than perhaps any other company, even Google, in creating a consistent experience in its apps. Everything is swipeable, from contacts within the Phone and Messages apps to tabs within the Gallery and Internet apps. The camera app, even on the Note 8 with its second lens and its varied abilities, has stayed relatively simple, with swipe-friendly gestures between front and back cameras and the various modes. Even the Note 8's settings menu, while deep, is fairly easy to navigate.