I would hazard that there is a chance that they're not compiling the source code themselves but rather either grabbing a generic image and slapping whatever fir

I would hazard that there is a chance that they're not compiling the source code themselves but rather either grabbing a generic image and slapping whatever firmware and drivers they have to use for their specific hardware onto the image, flashing and shipping. I would rank the android issue as more likely a few bad actors behind the scene being amplified by the manufacturer's incompetence and/or negligence than any evil dpc shenanigans. If you want to get a cheap android box, go for it, but plan on wiping the system and reinstalling it from scratch on your own before you connect it to a network. You should probably do the same by default with any prebuilt windows PC. not necessarily because of spyware/viruses/botnets but just to get rid of bloatware and the like.