U2 and Bloatware: Get off my phone!

by: COMMANDER ENTERPRISE


Pre-installed apps, bloatware and uh, U2

It’s always an exciting time when one gets a new smartphone, phablet or tablet, because aside from being a great looking, personally picked gadget, it promises better quality calls, messaging, online browsing, exclusive features, photos and videos and of course an almost endless selection of awesome apps that we know we’ll get addicted to. Apps and exclusive content make the android and apple gadget world go round, well, at least in that small window of compact mobile gadget technology we use every day.

But too much of a good thing can also be very annoying and space consuming, especially for stuff that we didn’t ask for. Not all of this instant stuff is welcome to most users. Pre-installed apps, bloatware (apps that eat away at storage space and RAM) and even free albums mandatorily shoved in the gadget’s memory (we’re looking at you, U2) are oftentimes a hassle and take time and effort to get rid off.

While there are ways to annihilate this sort of forced content, not all of it works. It also seems a little disconcerting to find pre-installed stuff that we didn’t ask for, don’t need and take up a lot of space and memory.

What is Bloatware? Why?

Bloatware is any unwanted app or software already included in an operating system or new phone. It is preinstalled and you don’t have a choice when you get a phone or maybe another software update. It is just extra space that bloats your overall data storage. You can delete most of it though, but some may be useful such as generic apps like calculators, weather apps, sound recordings, etc.

Some bloatware may be to force branding or the company’s own apps on users. But in general most of it you can do without, really, just like that U2 album, Sounds of Innocence. Do you really need a new later era U2 album? Even for FREE?

Boomeranging Bloatware Blues

Pre-installed apps usually come from OEM’s, or Original Equipment Manufacturers. One case is what happened with Google and Android phones, when Google decided it was a nice idea to put in a bunch of apps, pre-loaded and pre-installed on their phones, so that the Google brand will be present on the phone or device, whether the buyer likes it or not.

This method of forced “branding” for Android users either gets an OK, or a mad response from different users. Google seems to have made a condition for all OEM’s that in order to use their Android OS versions on their products, a compromise has to be made, by putting the name on all the devices through instantly loaded stuff that a lot of people just end up not using. The same can be said about some of the pre-loaded content from Apple in their latest iOS.

It takes some time and effort to get rid of them, and not all of it gets deleted, which has infuriated many owners. It’s like going home one day to discover the house is suddenly filled with unwanted equipment, with no room left and all power sockets using energy. And they can’t move out either.

Bloatware is technically what we’d call these pre-installed apps and content become when they’re not needed, are forced upon the device and eat away at the storage space, RAM and also drain the battery – all at the same time.

While there seem to be no workarounds for most Android and Apple apps, Windows phone users have an upper hand on the issue since most of these unwanted content can easily be deleted. For many others, a term called rooting, which is a process of taking over control of the Android OS in order to get rid of unwanted stuff, can generally delete most, if not all of the bloatware.

As for U2, well, while the Joshua Tree and a bunch of 80’s and 90’s albums by U2 were really cool, Bono and his mates seem to have pissed off more people than actually get them excited over a free album forcedly placed on many iPhones everywhere. More people actually hated it, which was indication enough (i.e. the music and cover art sucks) and Apple was forced to create a workaround specifically for this content.

Bono has since issued an apology, while claiming that it was actually a proud moment for the band when their music was released around the world for all to hear.