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Smartphones: the New Home of Crapware

Posted by Soulskill on from the time-to-flush-your-system dept.

Barence writes "Smartphones are replacing PCs as the new breeding ground for pre-installed crapware, argues Mike Jennings. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro, for example, comes pre-loaded with McAfee security software and other associated apps, four different app stores, and a selection of games and other media management tools. 'And it's not like you can just get rid of this software, either — most of it's there to stay, with hard-coded blocks in place to ensure you don't uninstall any of the tat you don't want,' he adds."

11 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. Welcome to the Jungle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    We've got fun and games!*

    (*walled garden may contain advertising, crapware, traitorware, behavioral tracking, and all around pointless crap)

  2. Not news by petteyg359 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even my regular old clamshell has pre-installed non-removable games and applications.

    1. Re:Not news by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sure, but how much of it was slowing down your phone? How much of it was running in the background?

      With an old clamshell, chances are those applications really aren't doing much to slow down your phone. With smartphones though, they are because they all run in the background even if you don't use them.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    2. Re:Not news by bonch · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is news. The news is that this only affects Android. Android has become the new Windows, home of viruses, malware, and pre-installed junk you can't remove. It's even worse than PCs due to fragmentation--the article mentions that the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro (what a name) has four different app stores. When Linux fans cheer about some perceived victory through Android, they're really cheering the fact that carriers throw Android onto their cheap, flimsy phones and load it with a bunch of branded crap. That's not the victory we wanted.

  3. 2 Words by clarkn0va · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Cyanogenmod.

    --
    I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
  4. Solution: go Apple by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whether computer, tablet, or phone, Apple don't do this. It's *one* of the reasons I like them.

    Simon.

    (haters in 3,... 2,... 1,...)

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:Solution: go Apple by Animats · · Score: 1, Insightful

      ITunes? AppStore? Apple has preloaded marketing-oriented apps; they're just all Apple's.

    2. Re:Solution: go Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Whether computer, tablet, or phone, Apple don't do this. It's *one* of the reasons I like them.

      Yeah, Apple's not a solution. iOS 5 is bundling a Twitter app with it, which is bloatware I don't need. Likewise for some of the other crap that comes with it like the stock ticker I'd never use or the horrible weather app that I'd replace with a third party app... except that "duplicates functionality" so by Apple's rules there shouldn't be any. (But there are, so, yay consistency.)

      On the Mac side, there's iLife which gets bundled with new Macs whether you want it or not.

      (haters in 3,... 2,... 1,...)

      I'd rather be a "hater" than a blind fanboi suckered by Apple's marketing into overpaying for crap hardware.

  5. Re:Apple by Nova+Express · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ditto. Complain all you want about Apple's "Walled Garden," but I bet 95% of consumers would prefer not having that shovelware foisted upon them (especially the crap they can't remove) over the ability to play Ogg Vorbis or install a different operating system on their phone.

    --
    Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)

    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

  6. Re:Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    What? No, it just means they're stuck with Apple's crap, whatever that may be

  7. Re:Really? by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, it's still worth complaining about, because there's a definite network effect here. While there are things Apple won't let me do with the iPhone that I want to do, the fact is, the more people use iOS, the more software development jobs are for iOS, and the more apps are for iOS -- and the more likely it is for a larger portion of these to be iOS-exclusive, and for at least one of them to be something I need...

    This is exactly what happens with Windows. The more people use other platforms like cell phones or even Macs, the more companies are forced to migrate to something at least semi-portable, like the Web -- and the more I get to use stuff I want, like Android or outright Linux on the desktop. Or, failing that, at least we get the stuff that needs to be native on Android, too.

    Except this would be worse than Windows. Apple is already going this direction on the desktop, and it really seems like too many people are moving in the direction of making iOS-like machines the norm... meaning the days when I can expect to buy a typical desktop computer and hack together some software to share with my friends may be numbered. The days a child can take the computer they have for other purposes and just use it to pick up software development may also be numbered.

    So, complaining loudly about it, if it convinces anyone to avoid iOS and adopt anything moderately open, is still valid.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!