Android bloatware
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Bought a new Android phone (Sony Xperia Z3 Compact).
1 minute later: Wow, how smooth! How fancy!
5 minutes later: OK, this is getting annoying. With all these antiviruses and bloat, it's like a branded Windows XP PC. Time for a cleanup.
10 minutes later: Hmm, I removed all I could, and I still get Hungarian Telecom icons and Sony Store crap. Maybe I missed something...
15 minutes later: Sigh... *googling for "root xperia z3" and "xperia z3 roms clean"...
This is why people buy Apple.
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Or HTC; IIRC, they bundle very little crapware
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Supposedly true for Xperia too. Lies.
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Did you get it via contract? Networks love to bundle shit the manufacturers don't.
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Second hand, originally bought from a store. Still has some telecom crap I can't remove.
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Yeah, sounds like it was a contract phone originally; in fact, looking at what you can't get rid of, that does seem to be the case (the Hungarian Telecom crap that is; the Sony Store stuff will be from Sony (obviously!)).
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My friend routinely switches any phone he buys to cyanogenmod, because then you get something both consistent and good.
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Yeah, sounds like it was a
contract phonephone bought from a carrier originally; in fact, looking at what you can't get rid of, that does seem to be the case (the Hungarian Telecom crap that is; the Sony Store stuff will be from Sony (obviously!)).Seeing as contract is not the only way to buy a phone from a carrier.
Sony seem just as bad as everyone else.
8GB Xperia M4 Aqua has just 1.26GB of free space thanks to Sony bloatware
8GB Xperia M4 Aqua has just 1.26GB of free space thanks to Sony bloatware
The Xperia M4 Aqua has recently gone on sale - but while Sony claims that the 8GB handset has 3GB of storage available for users, it actually only has 1.26GB free, thanks to Sony's pre-installed apps.
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Huh. My z3c has very little junk, and all of it is Sony. The only thing I want to remove that I haven't been able to disable is the original alarm clock.
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My friend routinely switches any phone he buys to cyanogenmod, because then you get something both consistent and good.
Problem with full replacement ROM is
- there are always problems and bugs (think linux desktop)
- you lose some of the hardware specific apps (eg FM radio)
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Have you tried XDA Developers for a ROM where it's based on the stock ROM with the crap removed?
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One nice thing about Windows Phone is that carrier apps can only not be uninstalled if they're put in Settings. (And they probably still can be, somehow. I just have no idea how, and the only one left is a cloud backup, which I don;t mid having a second one of, assuming it doesn't scream about how it failed every day (which mine does, in fact))
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I should be able to clean up this crap once I root the phone.
Which is, BTW going swimmingly. I'm already downloading magnet links and and clicking on Uploaded.to links on iffy Japanese sites.
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Have you tried XDA Developers for a ROM where it's based on the stock ROM with the crap removed?
I had that kind of ROM on my old S2, but couldn't find anything decent looking for Sony. I'll go root first and proceed from there.
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Fair enough.
While I couldn't remove a lot of it from my S5, I could at least disable it.
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Which is, BTW going swimmingly. I'm already downloading magnet links and and clicking on Uploaded.to links on iffy Japanese sites.
BTW how screwed up is that I feel safer running those files than something called "PC Companion" from Sony's official site?
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Just had to disable Windows Driver Signing Enforcement, so I could install xperia drivers, so I could unlock bootloader so... I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING, OK?
Chances that both my PC and phone will survive this operation in an unbricked state don't seem all that great right about now.
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Wha? "Get Unlock Code" button doesn't work. WHERE DO I GET THIS!?
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Apparently, Sony will give you bootloader unlock code if your operator locked it up.
But but... Sony allowed these people to lock the devices...
What a strange world this Android mobile market is.
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That's a WTF.
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At least they give you unlock codes
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This is why you should buy a Nexus (or a Moto)
FTFY.You want Android, buy one from the people who make Android. You want Windows Phone, same thing.
And never ever let a telecom touch anything that you use. It'll probably give you HIV somehow.
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you lose some of the hardware specific apps (eg FM radio)
The thing that annoyed me most about modding my HTC phone...
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This is why people buy Apple.
this is why smart people buy AOSP phones. (seems the nexus 6 is all google offers at the moment but google play store editions are also cool and show up regularly)
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+1!
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Having just bought one of those, I'd like to state I like the Nexus 6. A lot. Even the size isn't that terrible... (for people who like sane, non-phablet sizes...)
The non-nexus Moto phones are pretty close to AOSP too. The Moto G has almost no bloatware and the X... well, depends on the carrier. It's much better than pretty much all the phones out there though.
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Unlock Code
Hey, I remember doing that on my Nokia 3510i.
Good luck, you might need it. My S3 just barely survived a custom ROM install.
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The Moto G has almost no bloatware
And all of the bloatware it does have (3 or 4 Motorola apps) can be disabled.
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It's all about those two checkboxes... carriers and OEMs can be silly about that kind of stuff.
And all of the bloatware it does have (3 or 4 Motorola apps) can be disabled.
And that's arguably not even bloatware because... shockingly... they're actually kinda useful!
Filed Under: I want the Zappos app on my phone!!!!!!!! said nobody sane, ever
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And that's arguably not even bloatware because... shockingly... they're actually kinda useful!
Yeah, they all sounded kinda useful, especially Motorola Assist (provided it works as advertised), but I figured I didn't actually need any of them and disabled them on day one, together with half of the Google apps. No need to let unnecessary apps drain my battery.
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Yeah, Assist and the other Moto apps are nice, even more so on the X where you've got the custom hardware to back it up. But the fact that you can disable them if you want to is the big win there...
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The problem with the Moto G, at least the first gen one, is that the 5.0 upgrade completely ruined the experience. It mostly works acceptably, but there are semi-random massive slowdowns, the whole phone sometimes freezes, and it reboots itself whenever it feels like it, including while I was on the phone to my mother.
I'm probably going to root mine soon and either find a 5.1 ROM or go back to KitKat
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first gen one
I have a 2nd gen one, not affected. Battery life is slightly worse, but it still lasts 2.5 days.
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Taking mental note not to buy Sony stuff⌠mental note already exists (after the fuck-ups with PS, I just don't think I want to trust that company).
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FTFY.
You want Android, buy one from the people who make Android. You want Windows Phone, same thing.
And never ever let a telecom touch anything that you use. It'll probably give you HIV somehow.
this is why smart people buy AOSP phones. (seems the nexus 6 is all google offers at the moment but google play store editions are also cool and show up regularly)
Google Pixel Phones
Shop the latest Google Pixel smartphones, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 7a. The only phones engineered by Google. Get more done throughout your day and enjoy new features every few months.
The whole point of buying xperia z3 compact is that I want a nicely-sized phone I can use in one hand and fit in the pocket. Nexus and most other top-tier phones are fucking huge. Xperia is basically the only game in town if you want something reasonable.
I hate this modern trend of making larger and larger phones. It might be nice for tweeting on a shitter, but then you look like one of those asshole boombox people from the 80-ies when you try to make a phonecall.
I guess that's the idea behind Apple watch and wearables. Since you're forced to carry an impractical borderline-unusable phablet (probably shoved in a purse or small backpack), they make you buy a companion device you can actually use on the go. Figures it would be Apple to figure out how to sell you two devices when you only used to need one.
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Xperia is basically the only game in town if you want something reasonable
I was going to link you to the Moto G, but it seems the 2014 one has also succumbed to the phablet craze. If only they'd upped the memory instead
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this is why smart people buy AOSP phones
I swapped from an AOSP phone (Nexus 5) to the Galaxy S5 because the Nexus got on the whole "no replaceable battery and no SD card slot" bandwagon early. It's kinda
now that Samsung and co have caught up to that.
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Figures it would be Apple to figure out how to sell you two devices when you only used to need one.
It wasn't Apple that figured it out though this time.
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It wasn't Apple that figured it out though this time.
No, but as usual, they were the first ones to get it right.
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Is exactly why I love my OnePlus. Comes with a modified CyanogenMOD and can take a stock image as well.
Not even GApps (GMail, Google Store, ...) installed by default (at least on mine, they might have changed it since).As clean as Android can get without building it yourself, I suppose.
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Not having the Play Store seems like more of an inconvenience than having it.
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as usual, they were the first ones to get it right
Have they got it right, or is this more of the Apple reality distortion field? As soon ass the first Android based watches came out, it seemed like every tech blog immediately started on the "this market will only explode when Apple gets into it, because gadgets aren't legitimate until Apple has their own version". From what I've seen of the Apple Watch it's not as good as Android Wear (and AW is missing anything approaching a killer app)
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AW is missing anything approaching a killer app
remember cookie clicker?
That is the killer app for AW. you can click the cookie from your WATCH.
drops mic
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Any good game could be a watch killer ... but yes they need a game to break through.
And maybe some porn too ...
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It is optional. On first boot it asks something along the lines of: "Do you want Google (Services, store, maps, etc..) stuff?" and the recommended 'Yes' option is selected by default.
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Oh, that's quite sensible then.
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Have they got it right, or is this more of the Apple reality distortion field? As soon ass the first Android based watches came out, it seemed like every tech blog immediately started on the "this market will only explode when Apple gets into it, because gadgets aren't legitimate until Apple has their own version". From what I've seen of the Apple Watch it's not as good as Android Wear (and AW is missing anything approaching a killer app)
It seems they hit nail on the head with reducing feature set to mostly just information display, with very limited interaction.
Either way, no one's even heard of android wear until Apple announced their own version. Getting people to buy and use a device is just as important as making it. Victors will write the history, as usual.
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Yeah, Apple does not make better products, but they are better at creating hype.
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In the case of the Apple Watch, they managed it a year or so before even announcing the product, with apparently no effort. Their fans now create hype based on what they think might be coming eventually
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Any good game could be a watch killer ... but yes they need a game to break through.
And maybe some porn too ...
Idea: use accelerometer data to do screen stabilization.
To the patent office!
