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Google To Require As Many As 20 of Its Apps Preinstalled On Android Devices
schwit1 writes Google is looking to exert more pressure on device OEMs that wish to continue using the Android mobile operating system. Among the new requirements for many partners: increasing the number of Google apps that must be pre-installed on the device to as many as 20, placing more Google apps on the home screen or in a prominent icon folder and making Google Search more prominent. Earlier this year, Google laid its vision to reduce fragmentation by forcing OEMs to ship new devices with more recent version of Android. Those OEMs that choose not to comply lose access to Google Mobile Services (GMS) apps like Gmail, Google Play, and YouTube.
> it's usually not a good sign.
Apple does it a lot, which was ok in some cases.
They are known for pushing their in-house apps above Google's or the handset manufacturer's. They also had that deal with Microsoft that made Bing the default search engine on all their phones ("Droid" branded ones excluded, the rest of their Android phones did have it).
Just about any app on an Android device can be set to "Disabled" in Settings, including Google's own apps. Then you're out only the megabytes it takes up on the system partition.
They can be removed if you have unlocked the bootloader and flashed an OS image that contains su. Then you can become root, remount the OS partition read-write, and remove the apps completely.
The alternative is a phone filled with either the OEM's additions, or the carrier's crappy branded apps.
The cleanest phone you can buy is probably the Nexus 5.
Those of us who want more control will be smart buyers and purchase hardware that is easy to load with custom ROMs, then we can decide exactly how much of gapps we want.
The 2013 MotoX is probably the closest second. I haven't had a look at the 2014 MotoX, but I certainly hope they carried on the tradition.
Hangouts is not just IM. It is also a fully functioning VOIP client, especially if you use gVoice. Really handy when you don't want to give out your Cell number, but want them to be able to call you. Don't dismiss it, if you don't use it. The fact it also does IM, and Video IM (similar to Skype/GotoMeeting) is also nice. And the ability to do desktop sharing has caused me to almost stop using TeamViewer.
It has finally become a very useful application.
I find it funny that a number of people who "don't want to be tracked" are using Smartphones at all. The only way to "not be tracked" is go all Unibomber and live off the grid.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
You can disable pretty much all Google services and they won't occupy any RAM (System Memory) when you do so. I thought that was like Android 101. Just because those apps are stored on the Flash doesn't mean they have to be running. You also don't need to update them if you don't use them - go to Settings, Apps, go through all Google apps that you don't use and [Uninstall Updates] followed by [Disable] on each one of them. You need to disable automatic app updates as well, otherwise the apps will get updated and will occupy the Internal Memory (FLASH).
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
This.
The LG G3 I got is preloaded with AT&T bloatware, LG bloatware, and the Google apps. 3 maps programs. One is useful. I see this more as a whipping tool to all the manufacturer and carrier garbage hard baked in the latest ROMS.
Microsoft was busted for abusing their monopoly power to engage in unlawful, anti-competitive practices.
For example, in Microsoft internal emails, executives discussed the fact that they understood they were hurting their own company, in order to hurt the competitor more. It's okay to try to make your product better than the other guy - that's competition. Intentionally making your product worse, in order to cause compatibility problems for the other guy, is not okay.
99.99% of the time that's self-regulating - most companies can't go around intentionally harming their own company and products or they'll go out of business. A monopoly is a special case. In 1996 Microsoft had 99% share of the desktop market. Therefore they could intentionally damage the computer industry, costing themselves $4 billion, if by doing so they'd cost Netscape $3 billion and put Netscape out of business. Any ordinary company purposely costing themselves $3 billion would be committing suicide, but for a monopolist losing $4 billion in order to make your much smaller competitor go out of business is a "smart" move. That kind of thing is why there are laws about what a monopoly power can do and not do.
Android has 51% of the market. They aren't a monopoly. If Google purposely creates a problem that makes Android worse, in order to also cause a problem for iOS, Microsoft would be jumping for joy. Microsoft only has 3.5% of the market, but they also have $380 billion to spend taking advantage of anything stupid Google might do.
So Google isn't a monopoly, and their actions are competitive, not anti-competitive (in the legal sense).
Do you also wonder about the difference between what Hans Rieser did and what Miley Cyrus did at the MTV awards?
but 20 different applications sounds awfully overbearing.
The reason this sounds overbearing is that not all apps are immediately customer visible. Consider looking up the Play Store and search by the vendor Google Inc. and you'll get a lot of things that your phone already has by default without you realising:
Search
Text-To-Speech Engine
Chrome
Youtube
Play
Maps
Drive
Keyboard
Voice Search
Google Now
Google Cloud Print
These apps are already part of nearly every Android install as it is. Some of the rest of the 20 can be due to Google's (IMO silly) decision to split Play store content by type:
Play Newsstand
Play Books
Play Movies
Play Games
Play Music
So what is really left? 4 apps? I probably won't notice or care if 4 additional apps are installed on my phone, especially if it eliminates some of the crapware that already comes with it.
Not all "crapware" is "crapware" when you realise that they are functions of a system that you already use. i.e. do you consider the Windows Print Spooler crapware too? As usual the article is sensationalist and people are freaking out.
In current Android builds, you can disable virtually all pre-installed apps. They can not be "removed" because the APK files are embedded in a single ROM partition, not the same storage location as downloaded apps. Disabling them is good enough though. They cannot run. They're out of the way. They're removed from any app lists. They're effectively gone, with only their package remaining on the static file system.