• The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      1 month ago

      and the most delicious kind of money of all: dark money! ooooh it’s so good because the sources of the dark money offer you a lot of it, and they specifically ask you not to ask questions, which is so good for you because these bloatware programs make your device sell worse and provides no value as a sales platform because it turns out that billboards and radio spots are, surprisingly, the most effective form of advertising.

      but! you have a sense of solidarity. you have faith that by never offering a phone without bloatware, your entire industry will ensure that all phones won’t have bloatware. you rest easy at night knowing your phone won’t sell poorly, at the end of the day, because every phone is like this. your contributions to a surveillance and propaganda machine that should punish you in the market because won’t because all your peers are your allies in this.

      and it gets better! every time someone else’s phone gets more bloatware and more dark money attached, then everyone else appears comparatively better, allowing them to get worse. ooooh you love it so much when you get to take more dark money. and all it costs you are several thousand lives far away from your big mansion. you don’t even have to see the suffering

          • Sanctus@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 month ago

            The big one that matters is Verizon Software Manager. Used to be DT Ignite or something. They try to disguise that garbage forced installer as something genuine. I forget what it is on AT&T but I think it still has DT in the package name. The Verizon one is like some crazy package name thats not the name of the software at all. Must be the name of the company that makes it.

  • PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    53
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    For the same reason we have every fucking other problem in the world right now.

    Capitalism.

    You cannot align incentives towards growing the wealth of a microscopic yet astronomically lecherous group of monsters and expect society to not just crumble under the weight.

    • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 month ago

      If you’re still in 2024, you’re already behind. Get on with the times and start grinding. DM for a link to my weebinar and 5% discount on my eebook.

  • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    ·
    1 month ago

    Because people keep buying Xiaomi and Samsung shit that’s loaded with crap (at least over here, I understand this varies massively by region).

    • Something Burger 🍔@jlai.lu
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Base Android is also loaded with crap, directly from Google. Android is the worst mobile operating system, with the exception of all the others.

      • 0xD@infosec.pub
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 month ago

        Base Android (AOSP) is not, what you probably mean is Google Android.

        Look at GrapheneOS, that is a usable, privacy-focused Android without bloat.

        • ElectroLisa
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          Almost none of the devices are shipped with anything but Google’s Android, and manufacturers don’t provide you alternative versions of Android

    • woelkchen@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      I mind the Google crap more than I mind the Samsung stuff. At least Samsung’s browser supports ad blockers since ages. That Chrome POS is just useless.

    • Mwa@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      i buy samsung cause parts aka easier to source parts.

      • Infomatics90@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        fixing phones is the biggest scam ever. once you open the phone you are always going to have problems with the phone. they are not made to be opened and repaired.

        • RaccoonBall@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 month ago

          As much as I hate this saying, it sounds like a skill issue

          I’ve done repairs on all my phones. New buttons, screens, batteries, ports, etc. I’ve never caused an unforeseen new issue by doing so.

          • Infomatics90@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 month ago

            Its not so much a skill issue, more so phone repair stores are the scams. they break stuff that wasn’t broken in the first place and get you to come back with the that issue or say it was also broken. Source: used to work in the phone repair industry and knew people who did this on the regular and is a standard.

            • RaccoonBall@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 month ago

              What you describe is literally a skill issue though, if they’re breaking unrelated components.

        • VeganCheesecake
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          Depends on the model, and the manufacturers would certainly prefer you replaced it, but I’ve privately fixed a few phones for friends/family. Fucked up and broke the first one, but the ones after are pretty much all still running without issue.

    • Infomatics90@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      you can argue that iphones and pixel phones etc… have bloatware/spyware/malware as well.

  • Cris@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Because it’s profitable to include.

    Why would companies care as much about the minor brand value decrease in the eyes of more technical users when they can make more money right now by making things shittier?

  • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    1 month ago

    Basically, because we don’t own our devices. We are allowed to use our devices by the good graces of the manufacturers that charge a premium for them.

    This really needs to change. I remember the preinstalled app antitrust suit(s) in the early 00s. Those need to happen again, but likely the EU will have to as the US is entering a dark age, and the US will continue to have inferior everything to the rest of the world for the foreseeable future.

    • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 month ago

      Is it really enshitification if it was like this from essentially the start?

      Outside of like literally the very first few android phones when there wasn’t even apps for the platform, they came bundled with all sorts of shit. I remember my HTC from 2010 drove me insane with the junkware bundled in, and that was about 2 years post Android’s first phone. We’re at like more or less steady state shitification. (varies by phone/brand)

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 month ago

        I used to buy my phones with a specific eye towards avoiding bloat. It was still possible to avoid most of it 8-10 years ago, but not anymore.

        • DaGeek247@fedia.io
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          This is a wild take for me. I had bloatware on my dumbphone. Hell, the old nokia phones had app/ringtone dlc bullshit in them too. My old palm pilot had bloatware. Where did you get a phone without it?

          • Tinidril@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 month ago

            Not without it, just a lot less. 1plus used to be not too bad. Not like today where dozens of apps come with everything.

    • BossDj@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      What’s sad is how true this is. Companies enshitify once they have a solid hold on the market. But if they start to slip in numbers, do they ever deshitify to regain trust and users? Fuck no, they triple down on the enshitification to make one last cash grab as they prepare to abandon ship with life preservers full of bonuses for themselves

  • Infomatics90@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    1 month ago

    The problem is that most phones don’t support ROM’s like Graphene or Linage, as people installing custom roms is a relic of years past. Next time you get a phone, think about if you want this option for yourself. Also, do keep in mind that some phones have HW backdoors on them, so even installing a stock rom/graphene does not save you from privacy.

    • kirk781@discuss.tchncs.deOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      That’s true. Graphene is majorly Pixel limited, I guess. And even Lineage has a small set of devices when one considers the nos of OEMs and variants they manufacture per year.

    • Rykzon@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      Even pixel or Fairphone is fairly free of bloatware compared to Samsung and shitty Chinese brands as long as you are not privacy paranoid about Google services.

        • Rykzon@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          And that’s fine, but first people like you (and me to some extent) are in the vast minority and that’s also not an issue of bloatware per se.

          • Infomatics90@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 month ago

            yeah the only problem is that i have to participate in this hellhole capitalist society. Im trying to figure out what the best VPN is to use, along side if tor is worth using.

  • LostXOR@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 month ago

    Companies want to spy on you and make money, it’s no secret. Just install stock Android or your favorite fork; it quite literally takes 5 minutes with a WebUSB installer.

    • Virkkunen@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 month ago

      it quite literally takes 5 minutes with a WebUSB installer.

      With a supported phone, on a Chromium browser on Windows. It takes much more than that usually, depending on device, to unlock the bootloader and install a custom ROM

      • LostXOR@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 month ago

        I guess I only have one data point from installing Graphene on my phone. I can see why it would be harder on other devices. Though I was using Linux, and Windows is absolutely not required for WebUSB.

      • LostXOR@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 month ago

        Yep, Graphene only runs on Pixels but (IIRC) Lineage runs on most mainstream devices. Otherwise stock Android should work fine.

    • noughtnaut@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 month ago

      …and then you’re locked out of using your phone to pay for things, can’t install banking apps and marginal ID apps, et cetera. 😢

      • Infomatics90@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 month ago
        1. do you really need to pay with your phone?
        2. do you need to use a banking app and not call the automated system to check?
        3. What ID apps would you used on a phone? Having digital ID’s is in it’s own a huge breach of privacy and i would never consent to such a system
    • lnxtx (xe/xem/xyr)@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Unlocking bootloader took me few hours.
      I must register new account, install Windows application (Linux not supported, but Windows Server evaluation is free and works as a VM),
      have valid SIM card with Internet access.

      But worth it, much better experience.

      Unfortunately, average person won’t do all this things.

      • Markaos@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 month ago

        That sounds like Xiaomi. The best price to performance ratio of any OEM, but at the cost of terrible software and this… experience… when you want to get rid of it.

        Worth noting that not all OEMs are like this.