In 2010, a Forrester Research analyst named Charles Golvin spoke with Wired‘s online Gadget Lab on the subject of the then emerging problem of bloatware on Android phones. Times were somewhat simpler back then, and Golvin believed that the problem of Android bloatware was not likely to become a major issue in the future. Well, we are now living in that future and the sad truth is, the bloatware problem has not only become real for most everyone who owns an Android device, but it has also become worse than it has ever been before. In other words, it is now, without a doubt, a major problem that needs to be addressed, and quickly.
How it all began
It started with the seemingly harmless bundling of third-party apps and services, mostly from carriers. Then the carriers as well as the OEMs themselves moved on to including “value-adding” applications to new units that they were shipping out to customers. Only yesterday, we told you about the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S4 apparently had 45% of its internal storage dedicated to default apps and therefore can’t be used by users for actual storage. That leaves users with less than 9GB of space for storage, which is ridiculous considering that the device is being advertised as a “16GB model.”
How exactly did it even get to that point? Well, in the case of Samsung, the primary cause of the problem is the TouchWiz UI and the many exclusive apps or features that come along with it. In case you’ve forgotten, the Samsung Galaxy S4 comes bundled with a long list of extra software features. Some of these features are interesting and might actually be useful, however many of them just duplicate some of the functionality that is already present in Android.
In short, certain extra features were added even though they were completely unnecessary. Users may or may not end up using them. But all of the precious storage will still be taken up by these things regardless.
For perspective on just how much extra space is being taken up by these manufacturer- and carrier-added apps and features, consider this: the size of the stock Android 4.2.2 system image as seen in the Google/LG Nexus 4 is 328MB. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S4, which uses the same version of Android as the default operating system, has a system image that’s a bit over 1.5GB in size. As you can see, the numbers pretty much speak for themselves.
The Bloatware Club
Although we have used Samsung and its Galaxy S4 as an example of how bad the Android bloatware problem has become, they are in no way the sole perpetrators of this absurd practice. Other companies such as HTC, LG, and Motorola are also guilty of adding mostly unnecessary, space-taking applications and features. Most notably, it is present in the flagship HTC One in the form of “BlinkFeed” — pictured above — where a good portion of the screen is turned into a clock widget, when you can clearly see the time right there on the top right corner as well.
The issue of Android bloatware is very clearly not just a creeping problem for users anymore. We think it’s quite safe to say that it has now creeped all the way through to the point that something needs to be done to end it once and for all. Surely, no one deserves to get just about half of the advertised amount of internal storage space on a brand new mobile computing device that they paid full price for.
More than just a storage issue
And it’s not just a storage problem. As a 2011 report on InformationWeek states, “some Android smartphones are more vulnerable to attacks than others, thanks to add-on software and skins” from the phone makers themselves. So not only are they causing users grief through severely limiting the internal storage space that’s available on devices, but they’re also opening users up to the possibility of becoming target to malicious attacks.
Is there an end to all of this? The manufacturers and the carriers must know that all these extra apps and services are just doing more harm than good, right? It’s honestly hard to tell at this point. Although it will always be possible to root, flash, and do a bunch of other stuff to eliminate the bloat-y apps and get the stock Android experience, those would only mask the problem.
How do you feel about this issue? Does this affect you personally? What would you like to be done about it? Let us know in the comments.
