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Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

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Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#111

Post by jackewiehose »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #110
farisjarrah wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, Google and Motorola branded phones most certainly DO come with bloatware. The Google app is not necessary for the phone's functionality(this is, if you don't use google assistant) and I can not uninstall it from my Pixel 2. This is true for many Google apps that Google would have you believe is necessary for the functionality of the phone. These are all the google apps that came preinstalled on my phone t…

You can disable them, which is the same thing as far as the user is concerned. Uninstalling from a read-only partition doesn't make sense.

Then installing/deploying these apps on a read-only partition doesn't make much sense in the first place.

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#112

Post by lern_too_spel »

jackewiehose wrote: post #111
lern_too_spel wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can disable them, which is the same thing as far as the user is concerned. Uninstalling from a read-only partition doesn't make sense.

Then installing/deploying these apps on a read-only partition doesn't make much sense in the first place.

Why? As far as the user is concerned, the end result is the same. The app doesn't appear in the app drawer, and none of its entry points are exposed to the OS. The user who just bought a phone gets a fully functional phone right out of the box instead of having to wait for downloads. A factory reset to get back to the initial state is as simple as wiping all writable partitions.

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#113

Post by randyrand »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #110
farisjarrah wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, Google and Motorola branded phones most certainly DO come with bloatware. The Google app is not necessary for the phone's functionality(this is, if you don't use google assistant) and I can not uninstall it from my Pixel 2. This is true for many Google apps that Google would have you believe is necessary for the functionality of the phone. These are all the google apps that came preinstalled on my phone t…

You can disable them, which is the same thing as far as the user is concerned. Uninstalling from a read-only partition doesn't make sense.

Does that mean these apps can't be updated? Or are only updated when the OEM updates android? That's a crazy design deciscion, especially for Chrome!

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#114

Post by thiagomgd »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #99
dna_polymerase wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a testament to how messed up Android is these days. Have a look at iOS. The minimal set of Apps they ship their phones with aren't bloated or anything besides useful. Guaranteeing updates if the vendor decides to ship them? It's basically an example of how Apples strategy with tight grip on their platform makes so much sense. iPhone owners don't have to worry about any of that. Generally phones are supported…

> Have a look at iOS. The minimal set of Apps they ship their phones with aren't bloated or anything besides useful Not sure about yours but mine spams me to sign up for Apple Music every month, came bundled with GarageBand etc and bugs me about creating a Memoji, spams up my messaging app/emoji tray with animojis etc. The days of iOS being the restrained stoic only what you need OS are over because marketing needs t…

Agree! Also, what's the definition of "anything besides useful"? That really depends on what you use. What if you only use the browser (Chrome) and camera? Can you get rid of Safari? And what about all other apple trash?

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#115

Post by thiagomgd »

gruez wrote: post #78
pier25 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that you pay a hefty price for that privilege. In my country people live an entire month for less than what an iPhone costs. I'd probably buy an iPhone if it cost like $300 and didn't have all the bells and whistles. Not because I can't afford one. I just can't see myself spending $1000 on a device where the main use case is communication via WhatsApp.

>I'd probably buy an iPhone if it cost like $300 and didn't have all the bells and whistles. The iPhone SE came out at $400, and dropped to less than $200 (locked) a couple of years ago.

You assuming US, right? In Brazil it can be 2 months salary if you are starting your career, more if you earn minimum wage.

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#116

Post by wpietri »

Does anybody understand the economic point of making apps nonremovable? From the point of view of a vendor paying for access, presumably their goal is to spark interest and shift default choices. So I get why LinkedIn would pay to be on the phone when it leaves the factory. But if somebody doesn't want it, what do they gain by preventing removal?

To me it seems kinda like DRM: I'm sure some executives get woodies at the thought of having power over users. But I really doubt that it's an economically rational activity.

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#117

Post by vorpalhex »

wpietri wrote: post #116

Does anybody understand the economic point of making apps nonremovable? From the point of view of a vendor paying for access, presumably their goal is to spark interest and shift default choices. So I get why LinkedIn would pay to be on the phone when it leaves the factory. But if somebody doesn't want it, what do they gain by preventing removal? To me it seems kinda like DRM: I'm sure some executives get woodies at…

"So, you can pay us $20,000 to have your app preinstalled, or you can pay us $40,000 to have your app preinstalled and the end user can't remove it"

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#118

Post by jandrese »

Arnt wrote: post #69
kop316 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you unlock the bootloadr and load your own ROMs for Android one phones?

That's an orthogonal question. AIUI. Android One phones have to follow certain rules, but bootloader locking isn't on the list (or if it is I haven't noticed). That said, what do you prefer: The ability to install a ROM of your choice, or a guarantee that what you boot is what you bought?

Isn't it way way past time for smartphones to standardize the booting process the way PCs did back in the 80s? The old excuses of "we couldn't fit a generic kernel on our tiny built-in storage" rings hollow in these days of 16GB storage in the base model phones.

This isn't a hard problem. We solved it decades ago. There should be an "Smartphone Kernel" that gets updated like the Linux kernel with drivers for all variety of hardware that you can install on most every phone as is. Vendors could cut out drivers for hardware they aren't using, but a random person should be able to install a generic kernel and boot the phone. Android would be the userland installed on top of that kernel. But it seems like vendors are more interested in maintaining lock-in instead of simplifying their maintenance and update tasks.

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#119

Post by izacus »

randyrand wrote: post #113
lern_too_spel wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can disable them, which is the same thing as far as the user is concerned. Uninstalling from a read-only partition doesn't make sense.

Does that mean these apps can't be updated? Or are only updated when the OEM updates android? That's a crazy design deciscion, especially for Chrome!

No, it means nothing of the sort. They're updated as usual from Play Store.

Re: Google pushed to take action against Android bloatware

#120

Post by Barrin92 »

ahartmetz wrote: post #24

Motorola (edit: and Google, Nokia, probably other) phones come without bloatware - vote with your wallets. (The preinstalled Moto apps are very small and actually quite useful, like accelerometer-based gestures for quick acces to camera or flashlight) I buy phones as a platform for software, so it makes sense to pay attention to more than the hardware.

>Motorola (edit: and Google, Nokia, probably other) phones come without bloatware - vote with your wallets.

Yes, vote with your wallet, but also vote with your actual votes. I'd very much like to see a decision from the EU or FCC to finally stop this practice of making it impossible for people to remove the software from the phones they own.

Consumer rights when it comes to mobile devices which are arguably already the primary platform for end users need to be extended. The extent to which businesses are able to lock down devices is just a disaster.

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