After unboxing and setting up your new Samsung phone, the first step, perhaps, is to delete all unnecessary preinstalled apps so that you don’t have to juggle between a lot of apps later on to quickly find your favorite ones. This also saves some storage space and CPU resources. Carriers may also contribute to bloatware on Samsung phones, but most of them can be removed, fortunately.

While One UI is still one of the most popular Android skins, bloatware is still a problem that’s been around for years. But, in 2021, Samsung made a significant step in that direction. It made Google Messages the default messaging app on all phones launched since 2021, but only for specific regions. Samsung phones still come with Samsung Messages, though.

Here, we’ve prepared a list of apps that Samsung should stop preinstalling on Galaxy phones, which will not only improve its reputation in bloatware but also the user experience.

1. Microsoft Office apps

Microsoft’s partnership with Samsung extends beyond Link to Windows, as Galaxy phones also come with a suite of Microsoft Office apps, such as Microsoft 365 and Outlook. While the auto-installation can be prevented when setting up your Samsung Galaxy, it’s easy to miss out when quickly setting things up.

Microsoft Office apps are useful, but they do not work on mobile phones as good as they do on computers. And the presence of Google alternatives, such as Google Drive and Gmail, further reduces the incentive.

2. Microsoft OneDrive and LinkedIn

Besides Microsoft Office apps, Samsung shouldn’t preinstall OneDrive and Linked as well. Samsung Galaxy phones already have Google Drive with 3x more free storage than OneDrive and better compatibility with most Android apps for backups.

LinkedIn isn’t for the general public but for professionals and businesses. The primary reason for preinstalling apps should be to target the majority, not a specific segment. Hence, LinkedIn shouldn’t be preinstalled on our phones.

3. Samsung Kids

Samsung Kids app helps parents create a safe and engaging digital environment for their children by allowing them to modify the app’s access, monitor app usage, add screen time limits, and restrict access to specific websites. However, more than being a useful app, it feels like bloatware, as the majority of Samsung users are adults.

Instead of preinstalling Samsung Kids, Samsung should make it available on the Google Play Store so that users searching for it can install it easily while reducing one bloatware for millions of Galaxy owners.

4. Samsung Calendar

Samsung Calendar is a useful app, but its non-compatibility with other devices always frustrates me. The app only works with Samsung devices, unfortunately.

I used the app for a few weeks only to get frustrated because of a lack of PC support. Every time I had to look at the calendar to see my upcoming meetings or set a task/reminder while using the PC, I had to grab my phone. I strongly felt the need for PC compatibility. Eventually, I switched to Google Calendar that works with any device and has an excellent integration with Gmail. Since then, I didn’t feel the need to make another switch.

Samsung should allow users to access Samsung Calendar through any other device or not install this app at all. That’s my strong advice to Samsung.

5. Samsung Keyboard

Samsung Keyboard works well with Samsung phones, but there are many great keyboard apps with extra features. Gboard is one of them, featuring better word prediction capabilities, more accurate glide typing, undo backspace feature, and a wide range of themes and customizations. Integrated Google Translate makes texting easier.

6. Samsung Free

Samsung Free lets users watch channels (limited), read news, and play games. It’s a completely free service but is limited to certain regions, including India.

In a world with so much free content on YouTube and premium services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, Samsung Free offers less incentive to drive people to the platform. For news, you can use the Google app, and the Play Store has an extensive collection of engaging games (free and paid).

There are better alternatives to Samsung Free. Therefore, Samsung shouldn’t preinstall this app on its phones, in my strongest opinion.

Did we miss something on the list? If so, mention them in the comments below.

Also Read:
1. How Samsung is Ahead of Other Android Ecosystems
2. Top features of Samsung’s One UI 7

The post Samsung should stop preinstalling these 8 unnecessary apps appeared first on Gizmochina.

While bloatware is a common occurrence in many custom skins of Android, OnePlus had always refrained from cluttering the user experience from the get go. The company was highly praised for its clean UI and lack of a dozen unwanted pre-installed apps that cannot be removed. However, this might all be changing as the Chinese smartphone maker is shipping smartphones with Facebook pre-installed, which can’t be removed.

I hate this so much pic.twitter.com/0cViyKaMGV

— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) August 1, 2020

The OnePlus 8 series was the first lineup from the company to arrive with Facebook pre-installed. However, this more or less went under the radar for the most part. Although, Max Weinbach’s recent tweet seems to give a spotlight on the frustration people might face regarding this. Furthermore, Android Police reached out to OnePlus, who confirmed that it had struck a deal to add Facebook App installer, Facebook Services, and Facebook App Manager as a part of its system apps.

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While this doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t uninstall apps like Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram, the underlying services and App installers will remain in the system and can only be disabled and not removed. The company plans on continuing this for the foreseeable future as well in regions like North America, India, and Europe. So what are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments down below.

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OnePlus is well-known for OxygenOS. The brand’s close to stock Android mobile software is favoured by users around the world. But a user on Reddit pointed something that no one thought of broadly. The brand has been long promoting its OS to be bloat-free but its devices do come with certain third-party applications pre-installed.

OnePlus has tweeted multiple times advertising its OxygenOS Android Skin to be free of bloatware. However, its smartphones do feature some third-party applications like Netlfix and Facebook out of the box.

OnePlus recently ended its OnePlus IDEAS beta program which allowed users to share new feature ideas. The company revealed 5 features that will be implemented in OxygenOS, one of them being AOD.

The brand received over 5,000 ideas and one of the popular ones was allowing users to choose the apps they want to install while setting up the phone. This idea was suggested to further enhance the bloat-free experience.

However, OnePlus denied this idea by saying users expect certain applications like clock, calculator, and gallery out of the box. It also mentioned the inclusion of Netflix and Facebook is to enhance HDR playback (seriously?).

We all know these two apps can be installed from the Play Store. It is true that most people indeed use them. Hence, it is beneficial for those set of users to get them out of the box. On the other hand, this experience surely can’t be called bloat-free as these apps cannot be uninstalled.

Moreover, this is a serious issue on carrier versions of OnePlus smartphones. These handsets come with more pre-installed apps that nobody ever uses.

This bloatware problem can be easily fixed by the idea suggested by that user but OnePlus is not interested in the feature, at least for now.

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(Via)

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