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Pre-installed bloat on smartphones and tablets. Which manufacturer is the worst?

pythonmegapixel

I thought this might be an interesting topic for a thread.

 

My first instinct would be to say that Apple is the best here, because they do not preload any third-party applications.

But then it occurred to me that Apple Music, Apple News, the iCloud storage facilities etc. could all be considered bloatware, since they could just as easily be distributed through the app store, and not everyone uses them.

However, the vast majority of these also have an analogous app on the Android side, so they're not any worse. So overall, I would say Apple are the best.

 

Second, I would say, comes Google. Android is very bloated when all of Google's apps are installed (there is no reason why Duo or even YouTube needs to be preinstalled), but at least the Pixel series doesn't, I believe, come with third party software preloaded.

 

But then come the various other OEMs of Android hardware. I'm not really sure what order to put those in, as it's been a long time since I saw an Android device from anyone other than Motorola... all of my family have Moto devices now.

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pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

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Bloat is a very relative term. Some people find the features useful, some do not want the deal with finding all the apps they need and prefer to have them all there, others will prefer a completely clean Android and install only these apps they need and like. Some might even consider stock camera app bloat, delete it and install GCam or similar app.

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26 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

But then it occurred to me that Apple Music, Apple News, the iCloud storage facilities etc. could all be considered bloatware, since they could just as easily be distributed through the app store, and not everyone uses them.

Even if you consider those apps bloat ware, at least you can uninstall them. I had a few Verizon android phones in the past that came with a butt load of bloat ware I would never use like an NFL app, and there’s no way to uninstall them. The best you could do is disable some apps in settings, but that doesn’t remove the app from the phone. So while not a phone manufacturer my answer for most egregious bloat ware, from my limited experience at least, would be android Verizon phones. 
 

Edit: And I had that experience with Verizon phones from multiple different phone manufacturers, which is why I just said android phones without specifying one.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Mi. 100%. And those gorgeous ads. At least in Chinese editions.

Reminder 

The IIA rule applies here:

I'm mostly speaking from experience so what I say may not work

I may be a complete asshole in some threads but I swear that I won't lie

Anyways, I am always glad to help

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SAMSUNG 

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Probably a toss-up between Samsung and Xiaomi. Samsung might be the worst simply because its phones cost more. If I'm going to drop $850-plus on a flagship, I shouldn't see ads... full stop.

 

Frankly, I'm half-surprised anyone tolerates ads and carrier bloat. I know why (it can be expensive to get phones otherwise), but I don't like that many people are pushed into compromising their app experience to save a few bucks.

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