All manufacturers when they launch a smartphone install factory applications in this, which then we cannot even uninstall in many cases when we have the smartphone. In case of Samsung it is just one example of everything others do. However, it has been the case that Strategy Analytics has studied, with some really relevant results.
Pre-installed applications, what are they?
When we buy an Android smartphone, they usually have applications already installed. They are the calculator, the calendar, the messaging application, the email application, and other applications that come pre-installed on our smartphone, and that have always been there. However, over time, manufacturers have installed more applications. The camera app, for example, is one of the apps they have added. But there are also applications such as S Voice, in the case of Samsung, such as Motorola Assist, in the case of the American company, or such as ChatOn, the messaging application carried by the smartphones of the South Korean company, to speak of them. These are the applications that are installed by the factory manufacturers, which cannot be uninstalled in many cases.
What is the problem?
In principle, it might seem to one that the fact that the manufacturer already installs applications is a good thing, because it provides the user with tools that would also cost money in other cases. We just have to stop and think about the price that an application like S Voice could have in case we had to pay the price set by a company that has had an entire team working on said application and continues to improve it. And it's just one example, the same goes for all the others. Many of us may prefer Gmail, but the cost of developing an email application is undeniable. From that point of view, it is a good and positive thing. However, the problems come when these applications take up space and we do not use them. It makes no sense that 10 GB of memory is taken away from us to have applications twice. This is the example of Gmail and the email application. If I don't want to use the email application, because I want to use Gmail, why do I want to have it installed?
It is the same that happens with S Voice, the voice recognition system that allows us to control our smartphone. It is a system that occupies memory, but in many cases it is not even used. Or the camera, with many options, and that perhaps in many cases could be dispensable, either because those who just want to capture photos prefer a simpler camera, or because those who want to capture and edit photos have better applications.
Are they really not used?
But that would only be a problem in one case, if really those apps weren't used. Strategy Analyst has been analyzing a group of users with Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy S4, to determine the use they make of what is known as bloatware, the applications that are installed at the factory by the different companies. Comparing, they have been able to determine that these Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy S4 users have spent 11 hours a month using Facebook on average. If we compare this with the use they have made of S Voice, the results are surprising, since they have only spent about three minutes on average using the voice recognition system. But it is that, even worse are the numbers of ChatOn, because users have only dedicated an average of six seconds of use per month. Which means that the only thing that has happened is that they have run the application by mistake. S Memo has also been used for just over three minutes on average per month. Samsung Apps is used one minute per month.
Should they add less bloatware?
What companies should ask is whether they really should remove bloatware. It is not that they are bad applications, which they are not in any case, but they can be useless for those who do not use them. Perhaps a good decision would be to allow users to uninstall these applications. In this way, those who want to use them will use them as the first option, but can uninstall them if they don't want them.
You can remove them. But for that you have to be root