Google Play Services Can Kill an Any Android Device

If you see this message on an Android device and do a factory reset,  your device is toast.

If your Android device is giving you the message "Unfortunately, Google Play services has stopped." do NOT perform a factory reset.  Play services are apparently essential to the Google account login process required to restore your phone to normal operation.  If Play services are not running, the login attempt will abort, and the phone will no longer function normally; only emergency calls are permitted, and there is no access to apps, the camera, etc.

This problem can potentially kill any make, model, or flavor of Android device in existence.  After application of an Android 5.1 Lollipop update from Verizon on my Moto X 2nd Gen. phone, I started getting the "unfortunate" message above.  The pop-ups occurred without end, so I ultimately performed a "wipe data/factory reset" operation in an attempt to remedy the issue, which led to me being locked out of the device entirely.

Account authentication after reset is used to thwart crime so a thief can't simply wipe your phone and then sell it.  After a factory reset, the owner has to complete an authenticated login to a Google account to allow the phone to be enabled.  If your Play services are stopped however, immediately upon password submission a Play services error occurs and the login attempt starts over again from the beginning.  Login attempts still generate email notices to the associated Google account for successful authentications, and bad passwords are rejected, so the device is obviously functioning.  However the stopped service always aborts the login attempt, and the authentication process continues in an endless loop.  Without an extended warranty Verizon doesn't care, an expensive smartphone can become an extremely dumb phone, and best practices for updating devices become the worst ideas ever.