Just a quick reminder that as a consumer, you can choose to not support brands that fuck you over for corporate gain
this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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Android
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Not many Android options out there. Basically just pixel or oneplus. Oneplus is dead to me until they bring back wireless charging and pixel is a trash phone with endless bugs and garbage battery life. Samsung ruined excellent hardware with garbage software with ads and bloat ware.
So anyway, if OP bring wireless charging back in next generation, I'll tolerate a few non removable apps to use a phone that actually lasts all day and has working Bluetooth.
Nah, Samsung didn't ruin their phones, carriers in the US did. Don't have any of that bloatware or ads on em down here in Australia. That being said, there are other reasons to avoid Samsung...
They still do their bloated framework and launcher outside the US.
Not all of it is carrier related. I had an S21 unlocked (from US) and it still included Facebook and their garbage services, Netflix, OneDrive, etc. Also all of Samsung's first party bloatware and nonsense is prevalent regardless. Not to mention Samsung selling data and their tracking, crippling your phone if you root it or install a custom OS (and in the US outright preventing it entirely), etc. Can't recommend them or their phones at all, but its unfortunate because they have great hardware, just terrible software.
Yeah, that wasn't my experience in Australia. Every Samsung I ever had had google apps and Samsung apps preinstalled. None of the rest. And all those baked in apps were easily disabled if they couldn't be deleted (I couldn't delete YouTube, but I could disable it so I could run Vanced and not have the normal YouTube app be the default). I suspect that even though you bought a unlocked phone, it came with a bunch of shit baked in cos you are in the US. There's a lot of shit that is copacetic there (more generally speaking than just phone related) that doesn't fly in the rest of the world.
As I said, there are other reasons not to use Samsung devices, but all these stories I've gotten in this thread have not matched up with the experience I had in over 7yrs.
Samsung phones do have bloatware. These meta services are for one, appcloud. The galaxy store trying to push the deals and news consent wherever it gets launched. The lockscreen glance service. It can be worse. But samsung is not a saint you make it to be.
I literally said there were other reasons not to choose Samsung, I'm not making them out to be a saint. And I have literally had none of the issues you've described with the Samsung's I've had in Australia.
It depends on who you ask, to be honest. I'm a stock Android enjoyer, and using a Samsung device for 4 years felt like everything was bloatware. Not to mention that their software updates constantly break shit and never fix them, especially if your device is close to EoL
Fairphone got you.
For people in North American countries, Fairphone doesn't have support for a handful of bands like 13, 14, 25, 26, 30. The lack of low-band specifically will harm rural coverage. Much better than previous iterations though.
Haven't had any issues with GrapheneOS on Pixel
GOS cuts out the few reasons to even use pixel like call screening and Google camera. I hate Google as much as the next guy, but giving them money and then severely disabling your phone to avoid their services makes no sense to me.
God, I hate Facebook and Meta.
Their preinstalled & unremovable apps are why I refuse to buy a Samsung phone and now I guess I'll never buy a OnePlus.
Don't put garbage third-party apps on phones that people can't remove. It's infuriating
My GF bought Samsung phone couple of weeks ago and all the apps were removable (as in you could uninstall, not just hide). They have different version of the OS for different markets, right?
You can remove Facebook the app itself. But, you can not remove the services, installer app, or the manager app. 
And this is what does the tracking? Or just occupies space?
If it's Facebook, I'm afraid it does all of it.
Huh, I don't have that on my S22
+1
Samsungs unlocked non carrier devices don't come with these apps, FYI to those reading the thread.
Still can't unlock the bootloader on Samdung phones in North America even if carrier unlocked. So that is a non-starter for custom ROMs.
If not buying a phone that comes with these preinstalled wasn't the first option you picked, then ADB is your friend.
- Install Android Platform Tools on your PC
- Enable USB debugging in Androids' developer options
- Connect phone to PC via USB
- Open terminal, type
adb devices - Authorize the connection from your phone
- Type
adb shell, and now you can wreak havoc on your phone
so only continue if you know what the hell you're doing
To uninstall an app, type
pm uninstall --user 0 *package name*
For example,
pm uninstall --user 0 com.facebook.services
Should you uninstall something by accident, you can reinstall by using
cmd package install-existing *package name*
Note: if you somehow manage to uninstall system packages you can't reinstall those (afaik). At least i ended up having to reset the phone twice while setting up and trying to change the default camera app. Not the worst on a new phone i guess.
I guess I'll file this under only proceed if you know what you're doing
I removed a package that was needed for the sim card to function once. Didn't remember what that package was, because I just went to town without documenting what packages I uninstalled.
That's a learning experience right there
This only disables these packages. Any OTA update re-enables them, and you have to re-disable them again.
It does uninstall them completely.
However, the installation files are still there for the system to use. A factory reset for example wouldn't work the way it's intended to otherwise.
Though I don't know about how updates behave in that instance, so that sounds annoying if it's like this.
I'd also recommend the universal android debloater. makes the whole process quite easy.
True, I always forget that exists
makes sense. OnePlus has been going downhill for years now
If I may ask, what would you be running if you had to pick today?
Asus zenfone 9/10
i like the small form factor, 120hz refresh display, and most importantly h e a d p h o n e j a c k
10 doesn't allow bootloader unlocking so I'd have a hard time recommending that with only 2 years of OS updates. Probably would have bought one otherwise
Personally I've been happy with the Nokia branded phones (manufactured by HMD Global).