Android phones, apps and tablets

been happy with mine since upgrading from the 6.
the slightly smaller dimensions were a big plus for me - not sure how it compares to the 4a?

My Pixel 5 just died. Really can't be arsed watching videos and reading articles about phones. How are they asking £800 for a Pixel 9 now? Not keen on Samsung bloatware, not keen on Chinese spyware, Apple are all-round awful - I guess a Pixel 8 or 8a is what I'm forced into?

The value proposition seems so much worse than 5 years ago

You're not really forced into anything.

Just like when the original Nexus phones doubled in price, I went away and started using other brand's devices. I came back Google when the Pixel became cheaper than they alternatives. I paid ~£400 for my 6a and maybe half that for my partner's one.

Would sir consider reconditioned?

£150 - £200 for a Pixel 5. I've had my Pixel 4a from BackMarket for 18 months now and it's been great. Less waste, cheaper, what's not to like?

Samsung bloatware

I keep seeing this on the thread, and yet I keep not seeing it on my Samsung phones. I haven't even tried to uninstall anything, because none of this so-called bloatware has ever been a problem.

The thing I never see mentioned on this thread is HMD. Is there a reason for that? Their Skyline seems like something people would at least look at if they're in the Pixel 8/Galaxy A55 market.

I've just got a512GB Samsung S24+ from their rewards/employee portal or whatever it's called (firms are members plus blue light, students, etc) at a bit of a reduced price.

On top of that though you get £300 off for trading in any Galaxy S series (I bought an S3 mini off eBay for £15 which worked) and a free Chromebook which I'll flog. I'll sell my old pixel 6 too which should probably get it down to around £300 all in.

"Bloatware" in this case could be considered their OS skin. OneUI or Bixby or whatever it is.

For me, anything above stock Android is bloatware. Sometimes it might be useful, often it's not.

There's a stock Android calc, why is there a Samsung one? There's Google appstore, why do I want a Samsung appstore too? Basically there was lots of shit on Samsung XCovers I had that I never used and just took up space and/or memory.

https://www.minitool.com/news/list-of-samsung-bloatware-safe-to-remove.html

You could argue that some of the stuff on Android is bloatware I guess but that's a harder sell when you're relying on them for the OS. Samsung and Google are both annoying when it comes to restricting what users can and can't remove which is why nerds will root phones and use custom ROMs and shit. I don't have time for that these days.

Bixby is always up on my face.

OneUI or Bixby or whatever it is.

Those are two different things. To me, OneUI doesn't seem materially different from Android One or any other launcher including iOs and the late lamented Windows Metro.

Bixby I've never even touched, so I don't know what it does.

On my Samsung tablet I use Niagra Launcher just to hide all the Samsung bloat

The UI on Samsung devices is different because it's running some kind of Samsung interface. I don't know what it's called, hence me saying "OneUI or Bixby or whatever it is."

Browse the list of Samsung bloatware I linked and tell me there's no Samsung bloatware.

Hiding isn't removing.

It's less of an issue now, with storage on phones pretty high but back in the day, having a bunch of shit on your phone from the factory that you couldn't remove posed problems for phones low on storage and or RAM.

How much of this stuff can be uninstalled by a luddite without doing android tech nerd stuff?

There's a stock Android calc, why is there a Samsung one

European competition law. It's a thing.

I think the bloatware concern is historic from the days where overlays and background apps took up the much more limited processing capability of mobile phones.

These days most phones have more power than is needed for your average YouTube viewing and web browsing. Plus overlays and background processes are better coded.

As much as you can click Uninstall on in the Apps menu.

European competition law. It's a thing.

What does that mean? Google aren't allowed to bundle a Calc app because it's anti-competitive? I remember all that shit with Windows. Total waste of time.

I don't really care if Samsung have one, it just seems a bit dumb to rewrite a basic app that already exists within Android. Of more concern to me is the reskinned UI (fine if you like it) and all the other shit that is either not necessary or downright invasive.

Happily, that is within my capabilities.

Browse the list of Samsung bloatware I linked and tell me there's no Samsung bloatware.

I know it exists, it's just invisible for all practical purposes. It's shit I never use and therefore don't need, but it doesn't affect how I use my devices so I don't see it as an impediment. The question is not "is there bloatware", because there is on everything, it's whether the bloatware is a consideration when choosing hardware.

it just seems a bit dumb to rewrite a basic app that already exists

Texas Instruments and Casio competed for decades over feature sets and ease of use (and also hardware qualities, but that's moot if you're going to run whatever calculator you choose on the same device). Why buy Photoshop when MSPaint comes bundled with the OS? You can change the value of a pixel in a raster graphics file to any arbitrary value in either 🙂

I mean, it's literally the UI. It changes behaviour compared to stock Android so I had to spend time adjusting it to stop it doing dumb shit so for me, it's definitely annoying bloatware that needed time to tame.

I look forward to you highlighting which functionality in Samsung's Calculator is worth installing it over Google's.

https://www.hmd.com/en_gb/hmd-barbie-phone?sku=1GF030APC1L04

Sorted

It has a unit converter built in and looks slightly nicer to me.
My work Samsung came sans calculator, I asked IT to allow it in on Google play, but whilst waiting installed the Samsung one from the Samsung app store, then pointed out I can install anything from the Samsung app store, and apparently still can. The Samsung is fine and lacking much bloat, the buttons at the bottom are the wrong way round, Which I guess was the right way round when I used to have an S3 or something, but am 2 pixels deep now and they're wrong again. I don't use the stock launcher on the pixel anyway but Samsung's seems pretty similar to when I have.

Just fixed my Samsung button order.

So most androids are customisable enough that they will work how you want without too much effort no matter what they are, with a few minor differences in the notification bar or whatever.