Lenovo has confirmed that it"s abandoning the Vibe Pure UI that currently ships on its Android handsets. Like many manufacturers, Lenovo developed its own user experience on top of Android in an effort to differentiate its devices at the software level, but that"s about to change.
The K8 Note will soon launch with Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and it will be the first new Lenovo handset to ship with "stock" Android onboard. "There"s no more Vibe UI going forward and we are moving to complete stock Android for all our future Lenovo phones," Lenovo"s Anuj Sharma told Gadgets 360. "This is a huge transition for our business perspective."
Sharma explained:
What we have done in [the] last 11 months is we looked at what we had in terms of software perspective. We have been close to the consumers and we saw what they were asking for. There was a certain trend and we have now decided to cut the Vibe Pure UI off from our phones. So you will now get the stock Android which consumers have been asking for.
Lenovo will continue to release devices with some custom software enhancements - including Dolby Atmos and TheaterMax - but the company has no interest in stuffing its products with bloatware. Indeed, removing bloatware is a big part of Lenovo"s decision to switch to the standard Android experience, in response to customer feedback.
Sharma also pointed out that the move will make updating devices a much smoother process. "The stock Android will also mean that it will be more efficiently updated to [the] next Android OS," he said. "It also makes it easier to support for extended period of time."
Lenovo will be updating all of its K-series handsets launched this year to Android O, the next major version of the OS, which is expected to be released in the next few weeks.
Source: Gadgets 360