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Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

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Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#31

Post by spondylosaurus »

sphars wrote: post #5

Honestly, the Pixel phones are probably the best compromise between your requirements. While Samsung gets slightly longer support, the bloatware, IMO, is just too much (depends on your definition of bloatware though). Plus the Pixels are first for latest Android and are generally well-supported with third-party ROMs (Lineage, Graphene, AOSP, etc). So my suggestion is the Pixels, (the "a" series for a less expensive c…

This may just be the Stockholm Syndrome talking as a longtime Samsung Galaxy user, but I've found it relatively easy to disable most of Samsung's bloatware (and to simply ignore whatever I can't disable). Nova Launcher + Gboard + re-mapping the Bixby button makes a huge difference right off the bat.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#32

Post by troupo »

Daegalus wrote: post #10

The Pixel is the closest. The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs. Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips. It's all money.…

> Apple can do it because they lock you into their walled garden where they can double and triple dip on getting your money.

What does this even mean?

If you're so concerned about not paying for anything, all you need is buy the phone from Apple. You don't have to pay for anything else.

The reason Apple can support their phones for longer is because they control most of the stack: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/09/owning-the-stack...

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#33

Post by troupo »

cwalv wrote: post #26
echelon wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awful perverse incentives, vendor lock in, and control everywhere you look. I hate mobile computing. It's a pale shadow of what I imagine it could have been.

I'm optimistic that "what it could have been" is what it will eventually be. Originally there was just Apple, and their lock-in driven business model. Competitors could emulate them and still get away with it for a while, but it will get commoditized to the same level PCs are at some point.

Funnily enough, originally people thought it was Apple who commoditized mobile computing and software development by getting it from the clutches of telecom providers

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#34

Post by iExploder »

scscsc wrote: post #17
stuckinadrawer wrote: post #13

If you are in Europe you could take a look at the Fairphone 4. It's designed to last long and it's repairable as well.

I have just seen someone using such a phone. It looks good, just a tiny bit bulky. Not sure on how it will do long term. My OnePlus has been serving me well for more than 3 years now.

some people dont mind a tiny bit of bulk, some people dont mind kids mining cobalt barehanded and getting cancer in the process

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#35

Post by Twisell »

miki_tyler wrote: post #6
mikece wrote: post #4

Google Pixel: what you’re wanting is exactly why it was made. (Added bonus: you can shed even more bloat by installing Graphene OS, something that requires a Pixel at the moment.)

From what I know, Google typically provides support for Pixel phones for about 3 years, which is relatively shorter compared to the 5-year support period offered by Apple for iPhones. I wonder if there are better alternatives available.

The actual support for iPhone is actually more like 7 years BUT you should expect no more OS major update after 5 years (only security updates and hardware pieces).

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#36

Post by SCdF »

Daegalus wrote: post #10

The Pixel is the closest. The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs. Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips. It's all money.…

Are you saying that Pixel's abysmal long term support record is because Google can't afford to hire kernel and hardware devs? Or does Qualcomm lock them out even with those people after some number of years?

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#37

Post by deng »

bboygravity wrote: post #27
tinytuna wrote: post #2

Why not simply installing lineageos or AOSP instead?

Because it is a lot of work, not all phones support/allow rooting, you need to hide root for apps manually for them to work and there's no way to take full backups on Android phone, rooted or not (adb backup is deprecated and never actually worked at all anyway). Meaning: every time you screw up (or get a new phone) you have to start all over, without the ability to restore a backup. This can easily take many days wo…

A default LineageOS installation will not be rooted. There are really less and less reasons why you'd even want a rooted phone. The killer feature used to be ad-blocking, but most ad-blockers can work without root nowadays.

The backup problem is a notorious problem with any Android phone, I don't understand what it has to do with custom ROMs.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#38

Post by masklinn »

SCdF wrote: post #36
Daegalus wrote: post #10

The Pixel is the closest. The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs. Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips. It's all money.…

Are you saying that Pixel's abysmal long term support record is because Google can't afford to hire kernel and hardware devs? Or does Qualcomm lock them out even with those people after some number of years?

> Are you saying that Pixel's abysmal long term support record is because Google can't afford to hire kernel and hardware devs?

Not can’t, don’t want to.

If it‘s not going to save or make money, company isn’t going to bother. And Google is on a cost-cutting crusade right now so absent an external motivation it’s going to happen even less.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#39

Post by deng »

I always get a used phone (2-3 years old) that is officially supported by LineageOS. I've made good experiences with Motorola Moto G phones. A good alternative are Pixels or OnePlus. My current phone is a Motorola Moto G6 Plus, which was released in 2018, now running LineageOS 20 (Android 13) just fine.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#40

Post by neilv »

At this time, I'd get a device on which I can install GrapheneOS:

https://grapheneos.org/faq#recommended-devices

Note that the particular device unit (not model) must have an unlockable bootloader (so, probably not a unit that was solid by a carrier that disables this):

https://grapheneos.org/install/web#enabling-oem-unlocking

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