7 ms·

Exactly. This issue is being discussed a lot and nothing is being done to fight it. Microsoft and Google with Android - where the same issue can be seen - sho

Exactly. This issue is being discussed a lot and nothing is being done to fight it. Microsoft and Google with Android - where the same issue can be seen - should step in with more proactive approach to solve this problem. I don't have a solution but they should probably use some business incentives and possibly something directly from OS like built in benchmark scores/graphs, ideally compared to bare bones for the device so everybody can see how much performance you loose by getting all those "features" preinstalled.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago
>Google with Android A lot of the bloat on Android phones I see is from Google, apps you can't uninstall without hacking. My Huawei had a few apps from the manufacturer, but they were removable - there's just under 20 Google Apps that came preinstalled many [most?] of which can't be removed.
- jchw 9y ago
  In what sense are the Google apps bloated? When not running, many of them don't do anything.
  - user5994461 9y ago
    A lot of google apps are running on startup. They backup your files, contacts and profiles with the cloud periodically and wait for messages/emails.
    - vetinari 9y ago
      They are not running, only Play Services is and you need that anyway. It is event based, the app is only launched and notified, when the push notification comes. And even that may be delayed, because the push notifications might be delayed to get the radio the chance to sleep and save battery.
      - bigbugbag 9y ago
        They are running on my two android phones (4.2, 4.4 and 6.0). Android tries to scare me off stopping them will not allow me to disable most of them. I do not need play services, why would I need it for ? I'm not even sure what this does apart from insta-gobbling my 50Mo monthly data plan downloading updates I don't want and cannot cancel of applications I do not use.
        vetinari 9y ago
        Play Services is a framework, used by other apps, includes handling Google Accounts and push notifications (and this is only the top of the iceberg). Without it, your device would become Kindle-like, and all the apps that do not run on Kindle (or other, Google-less Android versions) would not run on yours too. On my personal phone (Sony), I have only Play Services, Play Store, Gmail, Hangouts, Maps and Youtube enabled. All the other are disabled, including the 'Google' app.
        vageli 9y ago
        > Without it, your device would become Kindle-like, and all the apps that do not run on Kindle (or other, Google-less Android versions) would not run on yours too. I take issue with this statement. Many apps which "depend" on play services work fine on my Google-free android. Some examples are tutanota, duo lingo, and some games. Though it's not an easy path, I wouldn't consider my cellphone experience "kindle-like".
  - xigency 9y ago
    When not running they take up space on the device and also request updates.
    - navjack27 9y ago
      Oh Yeah, forced updates are bad for everyone. Nothing good ever comes of that.
      - saagarjha 9y ago
        Bug fixes and security updates?
        colejohnson66 9y ago
        I think that was sarcasm
    - vetinari 9y ago
      If you do not want to use them, disable them. If you disable them, no updates will be done (and existing ones will be deleted). You cannot delete them, physically, because they are on /system partition, which is read only. That means, even if you would delete them as root, you would not get more space for another apps or your data. However, the read-only /system has more functions, that you would lose: it has known file layout (so you can image-update your phone, if you ever get an update), it is signed (so you can know your phone has not been tampered with, as it is not going re-sign itself once modified), it is also for factory-reset/sofware recovery purposes, so once you wipe /data, your phone will be in factory-mint condition (software-wise, of course).
      - bigbugbag 9y ago
        Most of the time the disable button is greyed out and cannot be clicked. I'm not familiar with the /system partition but it seems logical that if I can delete them as root, it means I can also install something else in its place or put some of my data there, which would help me a lot as my phone does not allow for an additional SD card.
  - bigbugbag 9y ago
    they occupy limited storage space and I have yet to find one that is not running on boot.
- CydeWeys 9y ago
  I use all of the heavyweight Google apps that my phone shipped with, though, so I don't consider them "bloat". Maps, Gmail, Chrome, Play store, Drive, Hangouts, Photos, Wallet, and YouTube all get plenty of use. I will grant you it's weird that I can't uninstall most of them though.
  - bigbugbag 9y ago
    I use none of the google apps and they occupy disk space, run on start and can't be disabled or uninstalled while taking much screen space and cluttering my icons of installed apps with stuff I don't need, don't want and don't use but cannot remove.
proactivesvcs 9y ago
Microsoft did actually introduce a certification programme, as well as start to sell their own systems (other than Surface). I can't recall the brand they used but it seemed like a great idea. Seemed like. Whenever I quoted one to a customer they always turned their nose down at the price, then paid me several hours to debloat the thing, fix a driver that was shipped faulty, then a year later pay me again to upgrade it! Oh and replace the useless battery. The list goes on!
- NickNameNick 9y ago
  I think you're looking for "Signature Edition" - eg devices sold by microsoft with a clean (ish?) windows install.
fiiv 9y ago
> Google with Android Case in point: Sony. The amount of CRAP that comes with the Xperia is insane. There was an uninstallable "What's New" app that would notify incessantly when it wanted to push some new app that Sony probably made money on shilling. And never mind the Google crap. The day I dumped it an installed LineageOS made my phone usable again.
- brokenmachine 9y ago
  Samsung has the same garbage. Stupid apps on their own pseudo-appstore that update all the time.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago

>Google with Android A lot of the bloat on Android phones I see is from Google, apps you can't uninstall without hacking. My Huawei had a few apps from the manufacturer, but they were removable - there's just under 20 Google Apps that came preinstalled many [most?] of which can't be removed.

jchw 9y ago
In what sense are the Google apps bloated? When not running, many of them don't do anything.
- user5994461 9y ago
  A lot of google apps are running on startup. They backup your files, contacts and profiles with the cloud periodically and wait for messages/emails.
  - vetinari 9y ago
    They are not running, only Play Services is and you need that anyway. It is event based, the app is only launched and notified, when the push notification comes. And even that may be delayed, because the push notifications might be delayed to get the radio the chance to sleep and save battery.
    - bigbugbag 9y ago
      They are running on my two android phones (4.2, 4.4 and 6.0). Android tries to scare me off stopping them will not allow me to disable most of them. I do not need play services, why would I need it for ? I'm not even sure what this does apart from insta-gobbling my 50Mo monthly data plan downloading updates I don't want and cannot cancel of applications I do not use.
      - vetinari 9y ago
        Play Services is a framework, used by other apps, includes handling Google Accounts and push notifications (and this is only the top of the iceberg). Without it, your device would become Kindle-like, and all the apps that do not run on Kindle (or other, Google-less Android versions) would not run on yours too. On my personal phone (Sony), I have only Play Services, Play Store, Gmail, Hangouts, Maps and Youtube enabled. All the other are disabled, including the 'Google' app.
        vageli 9y ago
        > Without it, your device would become Kindle-like, and all the apps that do not run on Kindle (or other, Google-less Android versions) would not run on yours too. I take issue with this statement. Many apps which "depend" on play services work fine on my Google-free android. Some examples are tutanota, duo lingo, and some games. Though it's not an easy path, I wouldn't consider my cellphone experience "kindle-like".
- xigency 9y ago
  When not running they take up space on the device and also request updates.
  - navjack27 9y ago
    Oh Yeah, forced updates are bad for everyone. Nothing good ever comes of that.
    - saagarjha 9y ago
      Bug fixes and security updates?
      - colejohnson66 9y ago
        I think that was sarcasm
  - vetinari 9y ago
    If you do not want to use them, disable them. If you disable them, no updates will be done (and existing ones will be deleted). You cannot delete them, physically, because they are on /system partition, which is read only. That means, even if you would delete them as root, you would not get more space for another apps or your data. However, the read-only /system has more functions, that you would lose: it has known file layout (so you can image-update your phone, if you ever get an update), it is signed (so you can know your phone has not been tampered with, as it is not going re-sign itself once modified), it is also for factory-reset/sofware recovery purposes, so once you wipe /data, your phone will be in factory-mint condition (software-wise, of course).
    - bigbugbag 9y ago
      Most of the time the disable button is greyed out and cannot be clicked. I'm not familiar with the /system partition but it seems logical that if I can delete them as root, it means I can also install something else in its place or put some of my data there, which would help me a lot as my phone does not allow for an additional SD card.
- bigbugbag 9y ago
  they occupy limited storage space and I have yet to find one that is not running on boot.
CydeWeys 9y ago
I use all of the heavyweight Google apps that my phone shipped with, though, so I don't consider them "bloat". Maps, Gmail, Chrome, Play store, Drive, Hangouts, Photos, Wallet, and YouTube all get plenty of use. I will grant you it's weird that I can't uninstall most of them though.
- bigbugbag 9y ago
  I use none of the google apps and they occupy disk space, run on start and can't be disabled or uninstalled while taking much screen space and cluttering my icons of installed apps with stuff I don't need, don't want and don't use but cannot remove.

proactivesvcs 9y ago

Microsoft did actually introduce a certification programme, as well as start to sell their own systems (other than Surface). I can't recall the brand they used but it seemed like a great idea. Seemed like. Whenever I quoted one to a customer they always turned their nose down at the price, then paid me several hours to debloat the thing, fix a driver that was shipped faulty, then a year later pay me again to upgrade it! Oh and replace the useless battery. The list goes on!

NickNameNick 9y ago
I think you're looking for "Signature Edition" - eg devices sold by microsoft with a clean (ish?) windows install.

fiiv 9y ago

> Google with Android Case in point: Sony. The amount of CRAP that comes with the Xperia is insane. There was an uninstallable "What's New" app that would notify incessantly when it wanted to push some new app that Sony probably made money on shilling. And never mind the Google crap. The day I dumped it an installed LineageOS made my phone usable again.

brokenmachine 9y ago
Samsung has the same garbage. Stupid apps on their own pseudo-appstore that update all the time.