I echo the sentiment but think Android doesn't go far enough; especially as apps migrate to relying on the closed/proprietary Google Play Services framework rather than vanilla Android.
I'm anxiously awaiting the https://neo900.org/
I'm anxiously awaiting the https://neo900.org/
There seems to be a fair amount of money and attention being invested in secure messaging, Mark Cuban's Cyber Dust, Blackphone, the various things by Moxie's Open Whisper Systems, etc. However the Neo900 as far as I know is the only solution offering a sandboxed baseband which is critical.
Also it'll probably be awkward for phone calls without some sort of headset (or just putting up with speakerphone all the time), but I hardly ever make calls anyway and it'll more than make up for that by being awesome at texting.
Blame the manufacturers, Google started moving more and more functionality into the services instead of the base OS partially because manufacturers were being so horrible about updating their phones. With functionality in the Services instead of the base OS they can update functions without manufactures deciding that it's not worth their time and holding things back.