We’ve all been there, you get a new phone, turn it on, and whats the first thing you notice in the application drawer? A lot of useless applications that you will never use, also known as bloatware.
You’ve also probably noticed that these applications cannot be removed without rooting the phone. This makes it difficult for the normal smartphone user to be able to enjoy their Android experience, though, this also happens to Windows Mobile users as well.
Sprint recently pushed out an update for the HTC EVO. Inside of this update, came a few applications that some users just don’t want. One of which is N.O.V.A, which is a First Person Shooter designed by Gameloft.
What a lot of users do not know is this particular application comes with a list of permissions, that would worry the average user.
Permissions:
- Edit SMS or MMS, read SMS or MMS, Receive SMS
- Full Internet Access
- Modify/Delete SD Card Contents
- Read phone state and identity
- Send SMS
- Change network connectivity, change Wi-Fi state, prevent phone from sleeping.
To those of us who let our children play games on their phones, such as Rovio’s smash hit Angry Birds, or the newly ported game from Tapulous, Tap Tap Revenge 4, having a what some call a violent game like N.O.V.A that you can’t remove, and runs in the background without you ever starting the game, is very alarming.
Another issue with this is the 30 day trial applications, such as Tele-NAV or even TMobileTV. We should be allowed to uninstall these applications, without having to void our warranty by rooting our phones just to be free of this bloatware.
So, my question is, when are carriers going to realize, a lot of users just want the basic phone applications on the phone, and not have to worry about applications pretty much using the phone when the user themselves are not.
What I feel should happen is have an option to install these applications. One way I can see allowing this is when a firmware update is ready, have it be just the basic software, then once installed, send a message to the user asking if they would like to install certain carrier based applications, then direct them to a carrier site, and select which applications they would like sent to their phone. This would make it a custom OTA package, fitted for the user, by the user. If they choose to not install any apps, then that is their choice; they shouldn’t have this choice made for them.
According to CNET, and their talks with Sprint, Sprint, in conjunction with Google, are working on a solution that will allow users to uninstall certain system applications without having to void the warranty by rooting the phone. Lets just hope this solution comes sooner than later.
Source: CNET
About the Author
Ur articles are crap and very Vibrant related. U suck cock when writing this shit head articles. Go kill yourself
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you liked it.
~ @krylon360:twitter
Once tiered data sets in the lawsuits will fly over unremoveable forced apps that use even a byte of data. If I can track usage and see this forced crapware do a single thing that costs me money I will sue VZW.
I agree, having apps that use data when the phone is not in use is unacceptable, now I would understand if you had these applications set up to sync, but just normal apps, that don’t have any sync options, this type of behavior is unacceptable.
Good article. I hate this crap on my phone.
You must be one messed up kid .. get help. Seriously.
Carriers: Here’s a simple solution, DON’T MAKE THEM SYSTEM APPS. Just install them like any other app, and we can uninstall them like any other app.
i’d like to ask a question. if someone is lucky enough to get a phone without that carrier-related things … and decides to update the os, stays the os the same or does it get the bloat-crap too?
well if they did a carrier OTA update, it would install the unwanted applications.
that’s the question then … the carrier is t-mobile/in eu, the update is over kies and … yeh, no bloody idea at all. i still have eclair, coz i’m not that eager to get those unwanted things.
Well if youre talking TMO and you still have Eclair I’d recommend updating, on TMO theres not a lot of bloatware install on update, just if you buy a new handset. (I’ve been with TMO for 10 years, I just know this so you should be good) Good luck, enjoy your update!
What does this article have to do with the Vibrant again? Some people are just weird. Must be the mold in moms basement. You try the sun out, it does wonders for the mind and body.
I agree, I hate bloatware. The thing i hate is most of the bloatware sucks. Why the hell couldnt they atleast pick some real popular apps? They choose junk to put on your phone. All the great apps out there & the give you garbge. I hope they do fix this. Take up to much space on my phone. Good article, Thanks
This is a fantastic article and I hope carriers read and HEED to this warning. TRUE ANDROID USERS WILL NOT STAND FOR CRAPPY BLOATWARE AND DATA RESTRICTIONS ANYMORE!!! (sorry, I had to throw in the data throtling in there for me) It’s true, I’ve NEVER seen a bloatware app I LIKED so all they do is take up our already low memory space and in general…they just piss me off everytime I open my app drawer!!!