Sprint's prepaid subsidiary, Virgin Mobile, prefers its Android phones to remain ... virgin.

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that Virgin's new smartphone runs a relatively stock version of Android 2.2, while Motorola's new and phones for the main Sprint brand use Motorola's Blur software extensions.

This, it turns out, is on purpose.

"Virgin Mobile USA aims to make available devices that allow the end user to have the freedom to customize the device to their liking. We like to take a consistent approach with our Android portfolio and so we prefer to have the true Android experience loaded on all our Android phones," a Virgin spokesperson said in an email to PCMag.com.

If the "true Android experience" means no manufacturer skinwhich it seems to mean at this pointthis is a big deal. Most Android phones in the U.S. have software that's considerably altered by the manufacturer, whether it be Motorola's Blur, Samsung's TouchWiz, or HTC's Sense UI. Folks who dislike the manufacturer skins say they make phones slower or even unstable, and render the Android experience inconsistent; folks who like them say they add missing features or polish to the Android OS.

It'll be interesting to see if Virgin's take leads to more hacker-friendly approaches such as a policy on "unlocked bootloaders," which allow advanced users to install customized versions of the Android OS.

Virgin's largesse has limits, though. You'll find some Virgin bloatware icons preloaded on the phone, including Virgin Mobile Live and My Account. So it's not the absolute stock Android build.