has turned up the heat on its Android partners by controlling every aspect of software hardware for its xel line. ile it doesn’t have every single feature you’d find in comparably-priced phones from , Samsung, HTC, or Sony, it does so many things right that it’s currently the phone to beat.

Here are some of the things we like about the xel that we hope to see in future premium phones.

Eliminating the app drawer button is a tad confusing at first, but then you realize that you can quickly access your apps with just a swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

In exchange for giving up a dedicated button to open the app drawer, you gain an extra app in the bottom dock.

I’ll take five apps in the dock over four any day of the week. It’s just as fast, just as simple, visually cleaner more appealing. But it doesn’t give up an ounce of functionality.

Instead of forcing users to use some proprietary maintenance app to manage storage space, leave the Smart Storage feature in the Settings app. This is a feature debuting in Android 7.1, we’d hate to see custom manufacturer Android builds eliminate it, hide it, or replace it with some proprietary nonsense.

Using Smart Storage, you can clear out old apps you no longer use, photos videos that are backed up no longer need to be stored locally, as well as clear out the downloads folder of old items.

thout a retail footprint like Apple has, getting support for a problematic device is a hassle. Even then, visiting an Apple store without a Genius Bar appointment is one of the most frustrating experiences ever.

is giving xel users access to support representatives 24/7 directly in the Settings app via text or phone calls. Those who call in to support can share the screen of his or her device for advanced troubleshooting; no appointment required.

Samsung already has its Samsung+ app to accomplish this, but more vendors need to make this a reality. And Samsung would do well to simply bake this into the Settings, rather than require yet another installed app.

finally convinced Verizon reless (of all companies!) to limit the number of Verizon-bred apps on phones sold through its stores. Nothing is preinstalled, only three Verizon apps are downloaded from the ay Store when you first activate a SIM on the network.

Better yet, you can delete the apps instead of just disabling them.

Samsung—the biggest smartphone maker in the world—seems to not have the same influence over carriers to limit bloatware. Or maybe it doesn’t feel pressure, because everyone does it, the carriers will kick over a few bucks? 

It’s time to follow ’s lead. It’s not just Samsung, all the usual Android players bend to the will of the carriers.

en carriers aren’t bloating up phones with their own apps, the manufactuerers are. The saddle us with third-party apps like Amazon, Facebook, Evernote, okout Antivirus. Then there’s the manufacturer apps services that duplicate ‘s own, only are never as good. You know, like fitness apps or S-Voice. 

If we want this stuff, we’ll get it ourselves. Come on, let’s put an end to bloatware. etty please?

Android 7.1 introduces a new Setting called Moves. For Nexus owners, Moves adds a central place to control features like twist the camera to switch to selfie mode, or double-press the power button to open the camera.

xel users gain an added option of using the fingerprint reader as a sort of limited trackpad. Right now it’s limited to swiping down across the reader to show the notification shade—again making single-hed use easier—but hopefully this is something we see implemented in things like Twitter apps or Chrome for scrolling through timelines webpages.

Android makers will need to implement Android 7.1 supporting hardware in order to take advantage of the feature, but since they’re all taking our advice moving finger print readers to the back of the phone, that shouldn’t add too much more work.

And while we’re at it, they should follow ‘s lead by putting all “gesture” controls under a single menu in Settings, with clear explanations. No more spreading this all over the Settings, or in separate apps.

en there’s an Android operating system update, or even just a security patch, it gets released by . Then the phone makers build their version of Android for their phones. Then the carriers get it they test it out, then finally push it out to the phones on their network. The whole process takes ages, with users on one carrier getting important updates weeks or month ahead of those on another.

Somehow, Apple gets to release major updates to all its phones on all carriers it’s not the end of the world. In fact, carriers are thrilled to sell you an ione.

At least found a way to persuade Verizon to commit to releasing software updates at the same time releases one for unlocked devices.

Instead of reading news that the AT&T Galaxy S7 ge is getting Nougat, leaving users on a different carrier asking “at about me?” phone makers need to work with the carriers to streamline the update process. 

If an update is released for a device, it needs to be released across all carriers at the same time. And updates need to l much sooner after issues an Android update. ‘re not saying anything new, but perhaps has got the ball rolling on this for all Android partners.

Forget special promotions adding 100GB of space to my Drive account (that eventually expire). Forget Dropbox adding bonus storage for uploading photos from a phone, or some third-party photo service no one has ever heard of.

otos is where it’s at.

’s unlimited photo video storage at full resolution for the xel line is something all device makers should implement ASA , HTC, Samsung, Moto: Make a deal with to bring this feature to all devices.

Apple, if you happen to stumble upon this, you need to copy this feature too. Give ione users unlimited iCloud oto Storage.

ok, the inspired bouncing balls that move when you tap on the home button isn’t a ground-breaking feature. It’s not even something that serves a real purpose other than adding to the user experience. The same goes for the little sound waves emenating from the hset icon in the status bar when you’re on a call. 

But you know what? Those small thoughtful additions to the overall experience add a playfulness that makes using the xel fun, it’s integrated across various apps aspects of the device starting the moment you turn on your new phone.

This doesn’t apply to Samsung, who has had to trim down on the amount of playfulness in its devices over the past couple of years, but Moto offer up what I think is a rather bl take on Android.

at we want to see from Android makers is mindfulness. Show that you care enough to make the experience better without slowing anything down. Sometimes, polishing the basic stuff is worth more than piling on new features.

As phones get bigger, thus taller, one-hed use becomes more difficult. Holding a phone with one h while trying to stretch your thumb down to the bottom of the display to register a fingerprint is often a balancing act, with potentially disastrous results.

acing the fingerprint reader on the back of the phone means you can hold it naturally, still have access to the reader.

It’s quick, painless, something all Android manufacturers should do.

I still don’t quite underst the trend of adding a camera bump to the back of a smartphone. It’s ugly.

It also limits the ways you can use your device. You can’t place it flat on a desk without it wobbling.

uldn’t you rather have a device sans camera bump that’s a tiny bit thicker, but with a bigger battery no bump? I sure would. You can sculpt the edges to make it feel thinner in the h if you have to.

The xel performs just fine in benchmarks. It doesn’t score higher than every other Android phone, but it’s in the ballpark of where we expect high-end phones to be.

And yet, when you actually use it, it certainly feels so much faster than every other Android phone you’ve ever used. 

can’t explain exactly why, except to say that has probably spent a lot of time optimizing all parts of the xel’s software stack. From touch latency to device drivers, cache sizes to polling rates, tweaked it all.

Android manufacturers, go do likewise. Don’t be satisfied with whatever libraries drivers your SoC vendor (like Qualcomm), camera vendor (like Sony), or storage vendor gives you. rk with the OS, the firmware, the drivers, everything. Compile, test, measure, re-compile. 

Ultimately, we don’t care that the phone we buy has the longest bar on a benchmark chart. care that when we ask it to do something, it does it right away. That we can instantly switch apps, scroll smoothly through any page, that all of our swipes, taps, pinches, slides are met with instantaneous feedback.

Combined with a simple elegant interface design, this is what makes the xel feel good. It’s not the kind of “checkbox feature” you can easily market, but believe me, reviewers will take notice, word-of-mouth from customers will be worth it.