Yeah that’s fair. I sidestepped the google issue by creating a new account not used for anything else but the box but that’s not a perfect solution either.

I have the $20 Walmart one, no need for flashing anything, it let’s you install 3rd party apps out of the box. I googled guides online for recommended apps and it took all of 20 minutes to get my own loader, etc set up with just the apps I want installed.