'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."

Comments

Buy better

[tom229]

Guess that'll teach ya to buy GSM only and direct from the manufacturer.

I'm Confused...

[RobotRunAmok]

I thought android was the "Open" one...

Re:I'm Confused...

[nine-times]

Funniest thing is that people have said that to me, and they weren't joking. Part of the reason I got an HTC Incredible is that everyone kept talking about how open Android phones are. Then I was like, "Ok, now how do I get WiFi tethering on this bad-boy?"

The response was, "Oh, it's easy. You just have to root it."

"So you're saying I have to hack it. Same way I can do whatever I want with my iPhone, but I have to hack it first."

"No, no. It's totally different. Android is open."

"But you have to hack it in order to be able to do what you want?"

"Yes."

*sigh* "Ok, so how do I root an Incredible?"

"Oh, you can't. Someone will probably figure it out sooner or later, but for now you're just stuck with what you have."

"But I could jailbreak an iPhone now and do whatever I want with it. People already figured it out."

"Yeah, I guess."

"How is this more open again?"

"Because with Android, you can do whatever you want! It's Linux, after all."

The Great Thing About Android

[eldavojohn]

Is that phone makers can do anything they want with it.

The horrible thing about Android is that phone makers can do anything they want with it.

“It’s different from phone to phone and operator to operator,” says Keith Nowak, spokesman for HTC. “But in general, the apps are put there to meet the operator’s business and revenue needs.”

Nowak must be new to PR. He was supposed to spin it as "free apps, everybody wins!" But instead he handed out a healthy dosage of the truth. Enjoy it, it rarely happens.

Re:Can we say, Sprint NASCAR?!?

[iluvcapra]

The bloatware on the HTC EVO is all Sprint Apps not an android issue

It's not an issue with the OS, certainly, but the Android platform in particular and the OHA in general was founded with the intention of putting the carriers back in the drivers seat and give them back the control over the phones that they were beginning to lose to RIM, Danger and Apple. Get it? It's OPEN, thus the user can do whatever it wants with it... Of course the end user is a user, unless they're buying a heavily subsidized and locked phone, in which case they're merely a partner with the real user, the carrier.