Is bloatware bad?

[Zac_AUS]

Bloatware

Hello,

I'm seriously considering buying the Samsung S4. Everything looks good except for the software.

Is the bloatware as bad as I've been reading? I say this because I'm concerned about battery life

Is there anything to get rid of the bloatware? (Like putting a new operating system on or "stock" android?)

Can you change how Touch Wiz looks?

 

[Rukbat]

Re: Bloatware

Whether you can flash a new ROM depends on the carrier. Samsung phones for AT&T and Verizon have locked bootloaders, so you can only flash versions of the stock ROM (some of which have all the bloat removed).

You can't change how TouchWiz looks much, but you can just replace it. TouchWiz is an app - your launcher app. Any launcher app will work. I put Nova launcher on my Samsungs almost as the first thing I do - I can't stand to look at TouchWiz. (OTOH, my wife's been using it for years and won't use anything else. Which is why our computers are located in different rooms - we were both computer and cellphone professionals, and we each do things almost completely differently. [She calls me "DOS-man". It took a few years to drag me, kicking and screaming, from DOS to Windows,])

 

[alexcolka]

Re: Bloatware

If you want to keep stock, bloatware can be disabled as well and won't be visible in the app drawer, however not sure if that speeds up the phone.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

 

[oraix]

Re: Bloatware

Bloatware isn't that bad and I've had no issues with battery life. Also the S4 has a short charge time. Nova is a good launcher if you don't like touch wiz, it gives the phone a stock android look. All in all I've been extremely happy with my S4.