I have no idea how Samsung phones are so popular. They are aesthetically pleasing I guess, but their insistence on bloat ware has driven me away since day 1. I almost got the 1 bloat free phone they ever made which was the S4 Google Play edition, but opted for the HTC One Google Play edition instead. Since then, every phone has been loaded with unremovable garbage apps that you can’t get rid of without rooting. I refuse to buy a phone with garbage apps that no one uses with the sole purpose of data collection. Say what you will about Google (I know) but at least their apps are helpful.
My mom has a Samsung Smart TV that recently kept turning on by itself to play their shitty TV+app which was pre installed on the TV, and never once opened (not on purpose at least) by anyone in the household. Apparently this is a common issue. I had to disconnect it completely from the internet, perform a factory reset, sign her Samsung account out, and plug in a Chromecast to replace the UI of the TV just to get everything working for her, and not waste electricity by having the TV randomly turn on every 30 minutes. It’s one thing if they were bloating their UI with good apps, but forcing a bunch of absolutely useless apps onto us is ridiculous.
I don’t have a particular liking for Samsung, but I’ve been using their devices for many years since their features best match my needs.
I never got any bloat, quite the contrary, I go out of my way to install some of their apps because they provide android functionality that is rare to find otherwise (e.g. audio multi-app sound, sound output to different devices, individual app volume control, etc.).
There are no preinstalled games, 3rd party apps or anything really other than the basic Google & default apps like a browser.
From reading online, it seems to be a feature of some segments of the US market.
I’m currently using my first Samsung device in a while (handed down by someone who didn’t like it) and it’s just like any other phone.
I’m not in the US though.
What I could hold against them is how some of their devices have extra features enabled within the brand’s ecosystem. I understand it’s a basic way to keep users with the brand without being too harsh (everything still works with another appliance after all), but it’s still a bit crummy.
