6 ms·

A good first step. The next one I’d like to see is a one-tap toggle that disables the bulk of Samsung OS customizations and “me too” apps/ecosystem cruft, as so

A good first step. The next one I’d like to see is a one-tap toggle that disables the bulk of Samsung OS customizations and “me too” apps/ecosystem cruft, as some other vendors have. Yes it can be removed manually, but with one of Android’s chief selling points being the choice it affords users, I shouldn’t need to do that, particularly on expensive flagship devices.

diffeomorphism 3y ago
No, the whole point of the "me too" apps is that Google forbids choice. The device has to have the Google apps pre installed and the only way vendors can attack this monopoly is by putting their apps in addition ("instead" is forbidden). Sure, the vendor apps often suck, but that is no reason to support monopolies.
- kosmozaut 3y ago
  Not exactly what you asked for, but there is https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater
amadeuspagel 3y ago
> A good first step. The next one I’d like to see is a one-tap toggle that disables the bulk of Samsung OS customizations and “me too” apps/ecosystem cruft, as some other vendors have. What other vendors have that? The fundamental problem in the android world is that OEMs have no market power, and that makes it impossible for them to do longterm investments like research and security updates. What you see here is that using these "me too" apps, Samsung managed to acquire some market power, and so is able to do some of these longterm investments now.
rchaud 3y ago
Seems like you just want a Pixel phone with all-Google apps. Samsung's built in apps are not "cruft" by any means. The Notes app has pen support for sketching and PDF import/annotate, which lets me use a printable calendar digitally. The Browser app has dark mode and adblock; good luck with that on Google Chrome. The Music app doesn't try to upsell me to a YouTube Music plan. I also use Bixby routines to quickly set custom timers for exercise, cooking etc.
- PawgerZ 3y ago
  Samsung Notes is the only thing that I miss after switching to Pixel. It was everything I needed in a notes app with seemingly no bloat.
- anbotero 3y ago
  Concur with Notes and Bixby Routines. Discovered and tinkered with them three months ago. I was missing a lot, actually. Given I’m more Power User than average user, I’m also in favor of vanilla as possible, but it’s not like an extra icon away from home and Edge Panels is really uncomfortable for me, I don’t even feel the presence of a lot of those extra applications I don’t use.
RadiozRadioz 3y ago
I don't think customization is a chief selling point, not for 99% of people. It's only a selling point for the types of people who talk about the selling points of operating systems.
gHA5 3y ago
Who are the other vendors that have such a toggle?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- NathanCollins 3y ago
  It's not a toggle, but Google Pixel phones (or at least the one I owned a few years ago) come with very few if any bloatware type apps, since the default Android apps are the Google apps anyway. Contrast with Samsung that duplicates a bunch of core apps/functionality.
  - MikusR 3y ago
    Pixels come only with bloatware.
  - matheusmoreira 3y ago
    In my experience Samsung's flagship phones are top notch hardware with superb build quality. According to user reports on the internet the latest Google Pixel can't even manage to connect to the cellular networks reliably and without overheating. I wish Samsung would step their security game up to GrapheneOS standards because I just can't trust Google not to fuck the phones up.
  - hexagonwin 3y ago
    Not sure what you mean by default Android apps but Google Pixel apps != AOSP's stock apps. AFAIK most apps can now be disabled in Settings on recent Samsung phones, I'm not a fan but I don't think they're that worse compared to Pixels, especially on the flagship devices.
    - hedora 3y ago
      Switching from stock to grapheneos more than doubled the battery life of my pixel 6 pro. They install plenty of bloatware on google devices, but since it’s all background surveillance stuff, it doesn’t clutter the UI.
Steltek 3y ago
You don't think people are naturally choosing "Samsung Internet" as their favorite browser?
- xnyanta 3y ago
  Samsung Internet is a really good browser though, definitely my favorite on Android
- hulium 3y ago
  Why not, it supports ad blockers so at least it is better than Chrome. Also it can put the URL bar at the bottom which makes much more sense on a phone.
  - btreecat 3y ago
    Because mobile Firefox exists?
  - adonese 3y ago
    I don't really like samsung internet, it totally sucks. The half-assed adblocker is okayish, and the picture in picture is somewhat better than edge (stopped chrome long ago and edge is my main desktop browser). Tried Firefox mobile, while I love the ublock origin, it kept constantly crashing that I eventually had to let go off. But yeah I'd definitely love to have a minimal android
  - tortoise_in 3y ago
    Wait you on hacker news and don't use Firefox?
    - hulium 3y ago
      I do use Firefox. I defended Samsung against Chrome in the category of preinstalled browsers, Firefox plays in a different league of course.
  - sundvor 3y ago
    Yup. I use the Samsung browser as my primary - thanks to the adblockers.
wilsonnb3 3y ago
Samsung's OS customizations and a lot of their apps are quite nice these days, I don't think there would be much of a point in such a toggle. Especially considering you can already change to a different launcher if you want.
- Kuinox 3y ago
  Since 7 years I hear that Samsung apps are "quite nice theses days". I never found it to be true. I owned a Samsung S7, it was atrocious, people said it was great, the bloatware was painful, the gesture to open the apps drawer was conflicted with the gesture to open Samsung pay (which didn't worked with my bank), you can't disable Samsung pay, if you switch the launcher, it's still there. Searching the settings took literally 10 seconds. It's default behavior is to stay on while charging, the whole screen have the lock screen burned in now. My mom own a Samsung 10e, people also said "Samsung software isn't ad now", they rewrote their own clock app. It doesn't support having multiple timers?!? Worse, asking Google assistant to add a timer, reset the previous one. This is due to Samsung bloatware, the stock android clock doesn't have this issue.
  - grumpyprole 3y ago
    While I might one day leave Samsung for the lack of Bluetooth codecs, in 2024 the UI is really very nice and I would miss it on many other "more stock" Android devices.
    - Kuinox 3y ago
      What would you miss in the "more stock" android devices ?
      - grumpyprole 3y ago
        Too many to list, but it's small things such as seeing how long a charge will take. Stock Android is certainly less refined.
techwizrd 3y ago
I would applaud a toggle or install screen to give people a choice. But many, myself included, find the Samsung OS customizations an improvement over stock Android.
farhanhubble 3y ago
Google is terrible at doing UX and Samsung has had a chance to actually built a quality alternative app store. However all they have managed to do is to churn out unusable bloated apps like SHealth, SmartThings and Samsung Note.
- dotnet00 3y ago
  What alternatives do you prefer to Samsung Notes? I think it's by far the best note taking app I've used. OneNote is close but is less reliable.
  - farhanhubble 3y ago
    I use Samsung note because majority of my notes are Screen Of Memos. I just don't like how they bring features and deprecate them or hide them somewhere undiscoverable. In the most recent instance of UX bug, the convert to text option for handwritten notes is gone!
    - dotnet00 3y ago
      Ah, slightly different use case then. I mainly use it to note down random ideas/do math in (where I'd like the benefits of handwriting without dealing with paper), so not doing much annotation and I don't use the convert to text feature so I didn't even notice that being removed.
- Zuiii 3y ago
  The funny thing is that even with all the bloat, these apps always fail short in subtle ways. Samsung notes still can't rotate drawn lines.
m463 3y ago
> A good first step. it is the other way around. They are not trying to do the right thing, they are maintaining a data stream, and the updates will continue to update that equation to their benefit. I think of this like vizio, which makes more collecting data from your television than selling you the hardware.

diffeomorphism 3y ago

No, the whole point of the "me too" apps is that Google forbids choice. The device has to have the Google apps pre installed and the only way vendors can attack this monopoly is by putting their apps in addition ("instead" is forbidden). Sure, the vendor apps often suck, but that is no reason to support monopolies.

kosmozaut 3y ago
Not exactly what you asked for, but there is https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater

amadeuspagel 3y ago

> A good first step. The next one I’d like to see is a one-tap toggle that disables the bulk of Samsung OS customizations and “me too” apps/ecosystem cruft, as some other vendors have. What other vendors have that? The fundamental problem in the android world is that OEMs have no market power, and that makes it impossible for them to do longterm investments like research and security updates. What you see here is that using these "me too" apps, Samsung managed to acquire some market power, and so is able to do some of these longterm investments now.

rchaud 3y ago

Seems like you just want a Pixel phone with all-Google apps. Samsung's built in apps are not "cruft" by any means. The Notes app has pen support for sketching and PDF import/annotate, which lets me use a printable calendar digitally. The Browser app has dark mode and adblock; good luck with that on Google Chrome. The Music app doesn't try to upsell me to a YouTube Music plan. I also use Bixby routines to quickly set custom timers for exercise, cooking etc.

PawgerZ 3y ago
Samsung Notes is the only thing that I miss after switching to Pixel. It was everything I needed in a notes app with seemingly no bloat.
anbotero 3y ago
Concur with Notes and Bixby Routines. Discovered and tinkered with them three months ago. I was missing a lot, actually. Given I’m more Power User than average user, I’m also in favor of vanilla as possible, but it’s not like an extra icon away from home and Edge Panels is really uncomfortable for me, I don’t even feel the presence of a lot of those extra applications I don’t use.

RadiozRadioz 3y ago

I don't think customization is a chief selling point, not for 99% of people. It's only a selling point for the types of people who talk about the selling points of operating systems.

gHA5 3y ago

Who are the other vendors that have such a toggle?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
NathanCollins 3y ago
It's not a toggle, but Google Pixel phones (or at least the one I owned a few years ago) come with very few if any bloatware type apps, since the default Android apps are the Google apps anyway. Contrast with Samsung that duplicates a bunch of core apps/functionality.
- MikusR 3y ago
  Pixels come only with bloatware.
- matheusmoreira 3y ago
  In my experience Samsung's flagship phones are top notch hardware with superb build quality. According to user reports on the internet the latest Google Pixel can't even manage to connect to the cellular networks reliably and without overheating. I wish Samsung would step their security game up to GrapheneOS standards because I just can't trust Google not to fuck the phones up.
- hexagonwin 3y ago
  Not sure what you mean by default Android apps but Google Pixel apps != AOSP's stock apps. AFAIK most apps can now be disabled in Settings on recent Samsung phones, I'm not a fan but I don't think they're that worse compared to Pixels, especially on the flagship devices.
  - hedora 3y ago
    Switching from stock to grapheneos more than doubled the battery life of my pixel 6 pro. They install plenty of bloatware on google devices, but since it’s all background surveillance stuff, it doesn’t clutter the UI.

Steltek 3y ago

You don't think people are naturally choosing "Samsung Internet" as their favorite browser?

xnyanta 3y ago
Samsung Internet is a really good browser though, definitely my favorite on Android
hulium 3y ago
Why not, it supports ad blockers so at least it is better than Chrome. Also it can put the URL bar at the bottom which makes much more sense on a phone.
- btreecat 3y ago
  Because mobile Firefox exists?
- adonese 3y ago
  I don't really like samsung internet, it totally sucks. The half-assed adblocker is okayish, and the picture in picture is somewhat better than edge (stopped chrome long ago and edge is my main desktop browser). Tried Firefox mobile, while I love the ublock origin, it kept constantly crashing that I eventually had to let go off. But yeah I'd definitely love to have a minimal android
- tortoise_in 3y ago
  Wait you on hacker news and don't use Firefox?
  - hulium 3y ago
    I do use Firefox. I defended Samsung against Chrome in the category of preinstalled browsers, Firefox plays in a different league of course.
- sundvor 3y ago
  Yup. I use the Samsung browser as my primary - thanks to the adblockers.

wilsonnb3 3y ago

Samsung's OS customizations and a lot of their apps are quite nice these days, I don't think there would be much of a point in such a toggle. Especially considering you can already change to a different launcher if you want.

Kuinox 3y ago
Since 7 years I hear that Samsung apps are "quite nice theses days". I never found it to be true. I owned a Samsung S7, it was atrocious, people said it was great, the bloatware was painful, the gesture to open the apps drawer was conflicted with the gesture to open Samsung pay (which didn't worked with my bank), you can't disable Samsung pay, if you switch the launcher, it's still there. Searching the settings took literally 10 seconds. It's default behavior is to stay on while charging, the whole screen have the lock screen burned in now. My mom own a Samsung 10e, people also said "Samsung software isn't ad now", they rewrote their own clock app. It doesn't support having multiple timers?!? Worse, asking Google assistant to add a timer, reset the previous one. This is due to Samsung bloatware, the stock android clock doesn't have this issue.
- grumpyprole 3y ago
  While I might one day leave Samsung for the lack of Bluetooth codecs, in 2024 the UI is really very nice and I would miss it on many other "more stock" Android devices.
  - Kuinox 3y ago
    What would you miss in the "more stock" android devices ?
    - grumpyprole 3y ago
      Too many to list, but it's small things such as seeing how long a charge will take. Stock Android is certainly less refined.

techwizrd 3y ago

I would applaud a toggle or install screen to give people a choice. But many, myself included, find the Samsung OS customizations an improvement over stock Android.

farhanhubble 3y ago

Google is terrible at doing UX and Samsung has had a chance to actually built a quality alternative app store. However all they have managed to do is to churn out unusable bloated apps like SHealth, SmartThings and Samsung Note.

dotnet00 3y ago
What alternatives do you prefer to Samsung Notes? I think it's by far the best note taking app I've used. OneNote is close but is less reliable.
- farhanhubble 3y ago
  I use Samsung note because majority of my notes are Screen Of Memos. I just don't like how they bring features and deprecate them or hide them somewhere undiscoverable. In the most recent instance of UX bug, the convert to text option for handwritten notes is gone!
  - dotnet00 3y ago
    Ah, slightly different use case then. I mainly use it to note down random ideas/do math in (where I'd like the benefits of handwriting without dealing with paper), so not doing much annotation and I don't use the convert to text feature so I didn't even notice that being removed.
Zuiii 3y ago
The funny thing is that even with all the bloat, these apps always fail short in subtle ways. Samsung notes still can't rotate drawn lines.

m463 3y ago

> A good first step. it is the other way around. They are not trying to do the right thing, they are maintaining a data stream, and the updates will continue to update that equation to their benefit. I think of this like vizio, which makes more collecting data from your television than selling you the hardware.