Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#181

Post by adrianmonk » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:04 PM UTC

chrismorgan wrote: post #48

This is nothing new. Google especially has been in this position since the start of Android. I have quite a list of apps that I’ve disabled but can’t uninstall: Chrome, Drive, Galaxy Apps, Gmail, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, Google Text-to-speech engine, Hancom Office Viewer, Launcher3, Memo, Photo Screensavers, S Planner, Samsung Billing, Samsung Push Service, TalkBack, Weather, YouTube. I’m going to…

> This is nothing new. Google especially has been in this position since the start of Android.

Yes, my Nexus One phone from 2010 had Facebook pre-installed.

To add insult to injury, it had a ridiculously small amount of flash storage, so I had to choose between using precious space or foregoing any security updates that might be in newer versions.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#182

Post by ofcrpls » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:04 PM UTC

mariusmg wrote: post #144

AlexandrB wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. I'm old enough to remember when this was standard. Before smartphones almost all cellphones were bought through carriers and came pre-loaded with a bunch of carrier crapware (often unremovable). One of the best things about the first iPhone was t…

Windows Phones didn't had crap on them either. This is strictly a Android issue.

Before the program cancellation,there were talks on making this happen. They didn't do it, but considering it was preload apps or cancellation, that just goees to show how desperate of a move preloadsare in general.

Source : I was part of a team whose app was getting primed up for a preload on WP8.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#183

Post by higginsc » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:04 PM UTC

Bahamut wrote: post #132

While I like using FB, this is type of behavior by Android OEMs that largely drove me to the iPhone. The main reason I rooted my phone prior was to get rid of crappy apps I don't use from being on my screen. Around 4-5 years ago, Android phone manufacturers started locking down their phones more while not letting them be rooted. They didn't solve the problem of having undeleteable apps waste my time & space with clea…

I've been an iPhone user for a decade and am a huge Apple fanboy, but even with that bias, I have to say this is a load of crap. Apple has been adding loads of undeletable bloat since forever. they only really let you start deleting the Apple pre-installed apps very recently. I still have a folder on my devices called "iCrap."

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#184

Post by HillaryBriss » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:06 PM UTC

zeusk wrote: post #87

paulie_a wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it isnt pure Android, and ships with apps you can't uninstall through normal means, it is crapware. They shouldn't be installed in the first place. And LinkedIn isn't crapware, it's shitware

Google+ and ancillary Google spyware must be installed by default for playstore compatibility test suite to pass. Is that pure android? Bloat? Crapware? Or just plain shit?

I think this is a valid criticism of stock android phones -- even ones sold directly by Google. But it's a slightly different criticism than the main crapware criticism here because FB is really a 3rd party.

I really do agree with your criticism though. People worry about FB's privacy issues, but then totally overlook all of Google's builtin privacy issues.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#185

Post by timrichard » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:08 PM UTC

sergiosgc wrote: post #26

LeonM wrote: post #20

It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. When buying a new phone I always spend some time deleting all Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook and carrier related apps. Yes, you can delete 'undeletable' apps through ADB, without rooting the device. pm uninstall -k --user 0

I know I can clean up crapware, via adb, but on principle vote with my wallet. It's not acceptable to charge me something that rounds to a thousand euros and then fleece me for a few extra bucks. Right now, I restrict my selection to Android One [1] phones. The current one is a Nokia 8 Sirocco. [1] https://www.android.com/one/

I've had similar feelings... having finally ditched my Huawei Nexus 6P, which I came to loathe. This was after years of buying Google developer devices (going back to the G1). The 6P was the last straw, as I came to resent spending hundreds on something with a soldered-in battery that could be (and turned out to be) unusable after 24 months. The battery was a wreck.

I ended up getting an unlocked new LG V20 from eBay, which is a slightly older phone, but the most decent spec I could find with a replaceable battery. Been great so far, so it's been worth it for $190. Got a couple of spare LG batteries too, for $25 each.

Nice reminder about the ADB uninstall trick, as there's some AT&T stuff that would be nice to remove if possible. I'm also tempted by LineageOS, but need the core Google Android apps - so probably too suspicious to use a bundled install that someone else has put together.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#186

Post by HillaryBriss » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:08 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #84

LeonM wrote: post #20

It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. When buying a new phone I always spend some time deleting all Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook and carrier related apps. Yes, you can delete 'undeletable' apps through ADB, without rooting the device. pm uninstall -k --user 0

I had a friend with an undeletable Pizza Hut bookmark in the Samsung web browser. So much for Samsung making 'Premium' smartphones.

it's the Yahoo/SBC Global toolbar of mobile

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#187

Post by otikik » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:08 PM UTC

LeonM wrote: post #20

It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. When buying a new phone I always spend some time deleting all Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook and carrier related apps. Yes, you can delete 'undeletable' apps through ADB, without rooting the device. pm uninstall -k --user 0

I just make a folder called "poo emoji" and move all undeletable apps there.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#188

Post by reshie » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:10 PM UTC

AlexandrB wrote: post #116

LeonM wrote: post #20

It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. When buying a new phone I always spend some time deleting all Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook and carrier related apps. Yes, you can delete 'undeletable' apps through ADB, without rooting the device. pm uninstall -k --user 0

> It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. I'm old enough to remember when this was standard. Before smartphones almost all cellphones were bought through carriers and came pre-loaded with a bunch of carrier crapware (often unremovable). One of the best things about the first iPhone was t…

for the longest time ios would have facebook\twitter in settings even if you uninstall it(still residual but mostly deleted and took miniscule space) but at least you could get rid of it within a few taps.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#189

Post by aaaaaaaaaab » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:12 PM UTC

AlexandrB wrote: post #116

LeonM wrote: post #20

It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. When buying a new phone I always spend some time deleting all Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook and carrier related apps. Yes, you can delete 'undeletable' apps through ADB, without rooting the device. pm uninstall -k --user 0

> It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. I'm old enough to remember when this was standard. Before smartphones almost all cellphones were bought through carriers and came pre-loaded with a bunch of carrier crapware (often unremovable). One of the best things about the first iPhone was t…

Laptops with preinstalled Windows also have a tremendous amount of crapware from various vendors. Trial versions of antivirus software, system "optimizing" apps, sometimes outright spyware too.

Thankfully Mac users don't have to put up with this kind of consumer-hostile bullshit.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#190

Post by BeniBoy » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:12 PM UTC

Majestic121 wrote: post #91

StreamBright wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine the impact on energy consumption having to run these ad blockers + running the ad infrastructure. Global warming, is that you?

I looked for evidence for your claim as in my mind, energy consumption for the ad industry would not be that impressive. I found a paper written in 2010 for the Netherlands [1], claiming that : "Thus, web advertisements increase the total energy consumption of PCs by 3.4%." That's not counting the cost of running the infrastructure, and I suspect ads and tracking probably did not evolve in the right (i.e. less energy…

I found this recent study[1] very interesting as well. Their conclusion: 'In 2016 online advertising consumed 106 TWh of energy and the infrastructure 1059 TWh'. So around 10%.

My view is that adblocking is an environmental necessity. And paying business model should always be provided. As a footnote, they estimated that If Netflix switched to a video ad model, 42.02 TWh of added electricity would be consumed!

[1]:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019592551...