Samsung phones are about 50% bloatware and 50% bad Android Software nowadays.
Had Samsungs for 10 years watching them slowly get worse and worse. Switched to a Pixel last year and couldn’t be happier.
Same, cant stand Samsung’s bloated software not that pixel is perfect in this regard but miles better.
Just wondering because I don’t buy hardware I don’t need so I’m still using a Note 10+. Not defending a corporation at all here just genuinely want to better my choices as a consumer:
Besides the removable Samsung branded apps that I was able to just remove, have they started adding addtional bloatware with messures to restrict removal in the more recent device categories?
See a lot of bloatware being mentioned, but noones pointing to specifics. Sorry to pick your comment to reply to, seeing theres plenty. Hoping other people can chime in as well.
Here I am, on my first Samsung ever, being happy that stuff just works again. (like it did on my Huawei, long, long ago)
Ymmv.
The rule of thumb for comments like OP’s is that either they’ve last used a Samsung phone back in TouchWiz days and still think that the software and hardware are the same, or they’ve never used a Samsung phone and just hopped on the Samsung-hating bandwagon for internet points.
Either way screams of Pixel fanboyism and gatekeeping
Agree I have a Samsung phone and hate the damn intrusive Samsung bloatware. I’m just going to buy a Google phone next time to get Android unadulterated. Though people still have their complaints with those Pixel phones and they’re more expensive. Well at least maybe then I can tolerate my phone instead of downright loathe it.
Motorola makes unbloated android phones with stock android and their gestures are really good. But they lack in the updating department.
Hey thanks for that. Did some reading and even Pixel uses a “skin” so it’s not a perfectly stock Android system. But the main thing is I want to avoid third party bloatware. Looks like Motorola does pretty well there, also inexpensive.
I tried switching to Pixel 7 Pro last fall, and I’m ready to go back to Samsung or try an iPhone next. The stupid thing loses GPS accuracy to outside of a block radius every other day. Also, every once in a while the app switcher just breaks because a Pixel service gets stuck. And the phone tends to crash every week or so if I don’t reboot it.
I’ve been meaning to try graphene os, but haven’t found the time to make that switch yet.
Thanks for the feedback. Those Pixel phones are on the expensive side. Unlike most I’m not willing to drop big money on a phone. I was looking at the Motorola line-up after someone mentioned they use a fairly bloatware free installation of Android. Their phones are inexpensive.
Haven’t looked into Graphene OS, seen it mentioned. When you say open source it usually means you have to dive into the nuts and bolts of things, not sure I want to do that. I should probably look into it more. Really don’t have any positive feeling toward either Android or iOS, giant douche or turd sandwich as the old South Park episode goes.
I had the Samsung Note 2 back in the day. I installed a custom bootloader and OS that worked fantastically. I had GPS issues, and all the guides I read said I have to reinstall Samsung’s OS, get a GPS fix, then reinstall my custom OS.
I made the mistake of installing a newer version of the Samsung OS which installed Knox and locked down my bootloader. I was now locked into an old, insecure Android version with no possibility of ever upgrading because Samsung abandoned it.
From that day on, I vowed never to buy another Samsung product again. Screw them and their anti-choice bullshit.
I’ve always been a Stock Android fanboi, but I really wanted to buy a foldable, so got myself a Galaxy Fold 4 last year. This is the first Samsung I’ve owned after decades - my last one being a Galaxy S2. I removed all bloat (including crap like Bixby) using Universal Android Debloater, and using a custom launcher, OneUI stays out of the way for the most part. I don’t really miss stock Android. With my current setup, there’s no performance issues, no TouchWiz bugs/annoyances like in the old days, everything’s running pretty smoothly.
In saying that, ideally I’d love to unlock the bootloader and run LineageOS on it, but there’s no build out for it yet (and unlikely there will be one for a long time), also, I’m not sure if I want to play the whole SafteyNet cat-and-mouse game again. Shizuku works great for apps that need higher privileges, I use Droidify and open-source apps where possible, life is good.
Maybe mine have less bloat because I’m in Australia, maybe I don’t consider some of the apps to be bloat, not sure - but I’ve had Samsung’s since the S2 and I’ve always been content with my phones.
I have definitely found the software to be improved over the years, and I love that I can customise the colours of every element down to hyperlinks in my text messages, all using their Theme Park app from their funny little app store. They also have a few other decent apps to change around the notification bar icons and things like that.
I’ll definitely be sticking with Samsung as long as all of these things keep going in a happy direction.
I mean, phones hand so much space now. Does it matter?
I know I can root and get rid of stupid apps, but like I just downloaded sent movie or Playlist I needed for a two week trip without any issue on space on my fold 4. So… why does the extra crap layer these days.
Early days, I’d root as my phone degraded over time. Now… why bother
Look at the size the 10% bar is in the 40-49 graph. Then the 6% bars in the 50-59 graph. Then look at the size of the 9% bar in the 60-69 graph. And then the Other bar (8%) in the 70+ graph.
Then go backup and look at the LG and Other bars (8% total) in the top graph. Whoever made this graphic is either intentionally misleading or just plain dumb.
Edit: The 78%, 80%, an 85% bars are also all exactly the same size. It just gets worse the longer you look at it.
Young Koreans favor whatever is new and cool from year to year. One year I was there everyone had iDevices, a couple years later it was Samsungs. Trendiness with electronics is a big thing.
Personally I don’t think I could handle the device whiplash that much. I use my phones and laptops until they break or become unbearable. This year, I finally bought a new MSI laptop to replace my 2013 MacBook Pro which, other than battery issues, was still going strong.
I own a lot of different kinds of devices, sure, but I spend a long time getting my phones and PCs set up just right after I get them. Going through that on a yearly basis just seems needlessly stressful, to be honest.
Yeah, although to some extent stuff like app-store lock-in does restrict easily jumping from one ecosphere to another.
If one is an Android user, there is at least some flexibility in switching between different phone vendors and styles, but in many places Samsung is pretty dominant, while others like LG have dropped out of the game entirely.
My first thought was this was a punk thing, like, if you want to think of yourself as a bit rebellious you can buy the American phone instead of the phone made by the company that owns your nation.
I’ve used samsung for all of my smartphones until my latest (when I switched to oneplus), but it’s still an android phone. No way would I switch to ultra-locked-down apple.
Yeah I have some serious ethical issues with Apple. I’ve never bought any of their products and never will. Aside from the anti-competitive walled garden of their tech and exorbitant cost of their products, their labor practices violate human rights in low cost labor markets. However Google and their partners such as Samsung are not free from guilt either. Unfortunately there’s little choice in phone products, Android or iOS, pick your poison.
The major brands selling Android phones also lock things down, but at least I can do things like install apps outside the app store. I can also do Android development without having to buy a Mac and pay a license fee.
