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'Bloatware' Becoming a Problem On Android Phones
elrous0 writes "According to a recent article in Wired, consumers of many new Android devices (including Samsung's Vibrant and HTC's EVO) are complaining about the increasing presence of something that has plagued consumer PC's for years: Bloatware (or, to use the more kind euphemism, 'Pre-installed software' that the computer manufacturer gets paid to include on a new PC). Unfortunately the bloatware (aka 'crapware') that comes with these phones has a nasty quality not found on even the most bloated PC: it can't be removed. Many angry consumers have begun to complain openly about this disturbing trend."
Economists:
Is this an issue that the free market should settle (i.e. If you don't want bloatware, research your phone and reward another company with your funds)?
Is this an issue that regulation should settle (something about property rights? selling what some would call a defective product? fraud?)
Discuss.
Of course it's "open," you just have to jailbreak it first!
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Shovelware, Bloatware, Crapware, pre-installed software, Windows Vista,
they're all interchangable really.
Im giving away free chocolate bars!
Did I mention they are at the bottom of the ocean?
Bloatware is when the user bought a fart app, which also queefs.
It's open, just not to you. But doesn't feel so much better to be fucked over by a corporation that uses Open Source software ?
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
But since rooting it I love it so much I think I could almost match the toolerosity of apple fanboi.
I remember the good old days when Android fans made fun of the iPhone because some people did a jailbreak to install software, now those same people have to jailbreak their phones to be able to uninstall some software. Oh the irony.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
> That is becoming harder and harder every new model.
Not really. It's just Motorola phones that are crippled by design. With HTC and Samsung phones, at least, rooting is more like climbing over a low, wide wall that's lightly textured to make the experience a little bit unpleasant. Truth be told, I'll bet there are more than a few employees at HTC, Samsung, and probably Sprint & T-Mobile who'd LOVE to be running ads right now comparing Verizon and/or Motorola to Soviet Russia and East Berlin, but can't get management to sign off on them ;-)
Fantasy Sprint/T-Mobile commercial:
Cute Google Android strapped face-down onto table that looks like a steampunk cross between a horizontal electric chair and a guillotine. Evil guy wearing military-looking uniform (with stylized 'V' logo) pulls out DroidX and cackles (screen wallpaper depicts Berlin Wall), grabs a thick cable with mean-looking plug on the end (like the ones used in the US for 3-phase 480v AC) and says, 'Vee have vays of dealing mit rootuzerz...' while plugging the cable into the Android's ass. Cut to hand grabbing Frankenstein-style knife switch, engaging the power, and a buzzing, high-voltage type noise that just happens to resonate in a way that sounds like the word "Droid!" at the end of a Verizon commercial being yelped in pain.
My friend got an iPhones, and it had some stupid application for making phone calls! Phone calls! How 20th century! Who the heck does that anymore? Sheesh, I tells ya, sheesh!
I'd call it "bundleware," which is relatively precise without being a loaded term.
It's a pre-loaded term.