If you are planning to buy a new Android device, you can wait for a few months as Google has recently announced that they will be certifying the Android devices for security depending on how they have installed the Google apps, how they have implemented the app permissions and whether they have installed the latest versions of Google Play store and other apps.
The way it will work is that the device manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Lenovo etc., will cooperate with Google and after proper inspection, Google will issue the certification for their devices. Once a device has received the certification, the manufacturer will be allowed to print the Google Play Protect logo on the devices and the boxes in which devices are shipped. Google Play Protect is a new security feature that regularly monitors and verifies the apps installed on your phone to make sure that your apps are safe and are not malicious in nature.
This will make the customers quickly choose the Android devices just by looking at the box and finding a Google Play Protect logo. This way you can easily avoid buying cheap smart phones manufactured in China that do not offer full Google Play store functionality. Some of these cheap phones do not even have Play store installed and offer some third party app to download the apps which is a very risky thing to do. This is because when you are downloading apps from third party sources, they could be infected with malware and can steal your personal or financial information.
One of our staff members quickly pointed out about the knock off device manufacturers that can copy the Google Play Protect logo and have it printed on their boxes or devices to fool the customer. But such devices won’t have Google Play Protect feature that you can easily find by launching the Play store. Google also has a list of all the device manufacturers and brands that are cooperating with them for the certification.
You can find more about Google certified Android devices at https://www.android.com/certified/.