What is an Android One Smartphone ? Pros and Cons

Before Pixel Series Android Phones were introduced, Google used to launch Nexus series of Smartphones whenever a new major Android version came out. Nexus lineup of Android smartphones and tablets were often developed in collaboration with other OEM partners of Android. For eg, Galaxy Nexus was made by Samsung while Nexus 6P came from Huawei's factories. The software on these Nexus phones were maintained by Google and came with unaltered, vanilla Stock Android. 

A few years back, Google decided to kill of Nexus line of Android smartphones and launched Google Pixel series focusing on Computational Photography. Unlike Nexus devices, these were made by Google's hardware team. Prior to this, Google also launched Android One program. 

So what is Android One program?

Any phone with Android One branding runs on Stock Android like the good old Nexus phones. So, if you were to buy a Xiaomi device like Mi A3, you would get Stock Android UI instead of MIUI. There are a lot of benefits in having a stock android on your phone. There are a few cons as well. 

Pros 

• 2 Year Software Updates + 3 Year Security Updates promised
• Stock Android with No Bloatware - Fluid and Fast
• Simplistic and Easy to use UI

Cons

• Even though these phone get promised updates whenever a new version launches, companies often take some time to push updates to these phones. Expect at least 2 months delay after the Pixels get the new software.
• MIUI and other Custom UIs have a lot of added and useful features and tweaks which won't be available on the Android One device.
• Even though it's Stock Android, Google has now reserved some features for Pixel devices alone. For eg Google Camera app won't be available out of the box on Android One device.

Should i buy an Android One device ?

I would highly recommend you get one as it offers the best, unaltered Software experience. You can also get monthly security updates, which are often not send out by phone manufactures to every device they sell.