Tag: Bloatware

Motorola Ditches Some of its Bloatware with the Latest Android Upgrade
Motorola is removing bloatware in a big way, keeping its current lineup of smartphones something special for Android enthusiasts. The company plans to keep the phones light and clean without stuffing them with their own software and application. In an attempt to make the phones more Android pure, Motorola has announced which of its devices will be getting the Marshmallow upgrade and also announced that it would be deleting a few of its own software.

Specifically, Motorola will be removing in-house apps and services like Moto Assist, Motorola Migrate and the Motorola Connect (Chrome extension) and won’t preload them onto devices anymore.

Here’s why this is a good thing – Bloatware takes up a lot of storage space and resources. The extra weight causes slower upgrade process. Many OEMs have taken advantage of Android’s wide scope of applications and have generally stuffed their phones with applications that not only take up space but also don’t particularly enhance user experience since most of the apps are hardly ever used.

Motorola senior VP of software engineering Seang Chau understands why the company doesn’t need to add bloatware to its phone – because if users want an extra application, they can download it from the Google Play, that likely does better than what OEMs offer.

“The release of a new Android version is a great time to take a fresh look at our signature Moto Enhancements to ensure we’re complementing Android (not competing with it),” Motorola explains. “Both of these products were valuable in their time but the world has moved on and they no longer add enough value to justify taking up space in your device.”

This is how Motorola is finding acceptance among Android fans. Not many companies out there would accept that their own services don’t actually improve the overall user experience. Motorola has come to stand out as one of the very best Android OEMs when it comes to not taking up storage space and resources with its own applications.

For existing Motorola users, here’s a full list of devices that will be getting the upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the deleted bloatware:
- 2015 Moto X Pure Edition (3rd gen)
- 2015 Moto X Style (3rd gen)
- 2015 Moto X Play
- 2015 Moto G (3rd gen)
- 2014 Moto X Pure Edition in the US (2nd gen)
- 2014 Moto X in Latin America, Europe and Asia² (2nd gen)
- 2014 Moto G and Moto G with 4G LTE² (2nd gen)
- DROID Turbo
- 2014 Moto MAXX
- 2014 Moto Turbo
- Nexus 6
The company will be releasing more information on the timing of these phone upgrades in the coming weeks.
October 3, 2015
Apple May Give Us an Option to Delete Built-in iPhone Apps

Starting the day off with some good news – the current Apple Inc. CEO, Tim Cook, in a conversation with Buzzfeed News commented that a few in-house Apple apps may become optional. He didn’t indicate exactly when we should expect this change, but agreed that he understood that a majority of users wanted out. His comments suggested that the company was working towards making a bloatware-free iPhone a reality.

However, Tim Cook also said that we won’t be able to do away with all of the apps. Some of more important stock iOS apps such as Mail, Messages or Safari are interlinked with other functions of the phone and removing them may affect the phone’s performance, if removed.

We’ll figure out a way [for you to remove them]. It’s not that we want to suck up your real estate, we’re not motivated to do that. We want you to be happy. So I recognize that some people want to do this, and it’s something we’re looking at. – Tim Cook

Some of the apps we will be able delete are Tips, Podcasts, Compass, Stocks and iBooks. This would mean good news for people who have opted for the lower storage space iPhones. Considering the amount a 128GB iPhone costs, this is an excellent development.

Source : [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnpaczkowski/twenty-minutes-with-tim-cook#.dxoNYbbmA”]Buzzfeed [/tw-button]

September 16, 2015
Upcoming Android Devices Will Come With Less Google Bloatware

We had earlier reported about how Samsung was planning to introduce apps to delete bloatware in China. It has now been reported that Android users all around the world will soon be getting less bloatware on their phones. Therefore apps like – Google+, Google Play Games, Google Play Books and Google Newsstand will not come pre-installed.

Some new devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 already doesn’t have Google+ pre-installed. The problem of bloatware did upset many customers and perhaps even companies that decided to use Android as their operating system. Hence, if a company wanted to make an Android handset with the Gmail app, it would also necessarily have to pre-install Google+ and Google Newsstand on it.

However, this new report does not mean that the pre-installed apps are soon to become redundant; they will be available on Google Play Store for those who want them and will be regularly updated too. This new move seems to give users a chance to choose what they do with their storage and companies a chance to provide more storage space and memory to the users.

Source

August 22, 2015
Samsung Introduces Apps to Delete Bloatware in China

Samsung Electronics, was sued in Shanghai, China over its alleged involvement in blocking Galaxy users in China from deleting applications. Samsung has been asked to address the issue of less storage space due to pre-installed apps otherwise known as bloatware. The particular device in question is the “N9008S” model, called the Galaxy Note 3 in Korea.

The Chinese version of the Note 3 is said to come with 44 pre-installed apps, which reduces its storage by a fair amount. Therefore, Samsung is now distributing apps that allow consumers to delete pre-installed apps in all Galaxy devices.

However, this change is specifically caters to Chinese consumers and does not affect the rest of the world. Would you like Samsung to introduce bloatware deleting apps in India too? Let us know.

Source:[tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2015/07/133_183780.html”] Korea Times[/tw-button]

August 1, 2015