[russellbeattie]

That "bloatware" is just alternatives to Google's software and systems, and much of it isn't bad, if not better.

I prefer the Gallery app over Google Photos, the Samsung My Files app is cleaner than Google Files, Studio is a decent video editor, Samsung Notes is a capable rich text editor with pen support, Dex is a usable desktop shell, and more. Anything I don't like - like Bixby, Store, Keyboard, Wallet, Pass and Internet - I can easily replace and even hide them in the Settings. Combined they take up minimal storage.

I'm not sure what people expect Samsung to do, just use whatever Google says to use and not try to innovate?

[aucisson_masque]

No I think when people speak of bloatware, they think more about, for instance, the 3 preinstalled Facebook app. Of which 2 of them are systemized, effectively hidden and can’t be uninstalled.

[russellbeattie]

Huh! I had no idea about those services. I just checked my S21 Ultra and yep, they were there. It took like 20 seconds to force stop and disable them, though I'm sure they'll be re-enabled during the next update.

Honestly, I'm not sure I care enough to worry about it. If I've never noticed in the past 5 years, then they weren't adding much "bloat".

When I think of that sort of useless software, I imagine all the OEM crap that Windows laptops come with that usually cause instability and hog resources.

[NoboruWataya]

> I'm not sure what people expect Samsung to do, just use whatever Google says to use and not try to innovate?

To me, the benefit of the S series was "Android on decent hardware". I would have preferred as close to stock Android as possible. I mostly use F-Droid stuff anyway, though of course that means I am far from the average consumer.

They are primarily a hardware company - it seems reasonable to expect them to innovate there, and leave innovation in software to the software companies.

[russellbeattie]

Can you really be "just" a hardware company and still compete with Apple, which is both a software and hardware company? Samsung has its own ecosystem of products and services to manage and unify.

If I'm Samsung and I'm trying to compete in the market against Apple, I want to provide as much as possible to my customers, without needing to rely completely on a third party.

Also, when the OS or app on a Samsung has problems, customers don't blame Google, they blame the company that sold them the phone. If I worked there as a product manager, I'd make the same choices to help the company maintain as much control as possible.