Android-based smartphones are falling victim to something that has plagued PC users for years: bloatware.
Android phones are being pre-loaded with trial software and apps that can't be deleted off the device by the user. These apps touting mobile TV, football games, location-based search and games are the new face of bloatware, also known as crapware or craplets in the PC world. The term is shorthand for non-essential software or media files bundled with a device in a bid to boost revenue and ostensibly give consumers a chance to try new services.
Samsung's Vibrant phone that launched last week on T-Mobile is a good example. The device includes apps such as Mobi TV, GoGo Flight internet and Electronic Arts' The Sims 3 game. Both Mobi TV and GoGo are applications that require users to pay a fee beyond the trial period. Motorola's Backflip phone, introduced on AT&T a few months ago, includes Where, a location-based service app, and YPMobile, a Yellow Pages app. Even the HTC Evo is packed with programs such as Sprint's Nascar app, Sprint Football and Sprint TV, among others.
"It's different from phone to phone and operator to operator," says Keith Nowak, spokesman for HTC. "But in general, the apps are put there to meet the operator's business and revenue needs."
Nowak's comment is a surprising admission in an industry that otherwise prefers to call the idea of pre-loading trial apps and other non-essential software as a deal designed to help the consumer.
Handset makers have always added skins and custom widgets to Android phones, some of which can affect performance and battery life. But these widgets are usually basic apps such as calendar, e-mail or integrated social-networking feeds. Now phone makers are going a step further to load apps from other companies in a way that prevents users from deleting it completely off their phone without rooting the device -- the Android version of jailbreaking a phone in order to gain complete control over it.
The preloaded apps "highlight the key features and performance" of the Vibrant, says a Samsung representative.They are there are to showcase the phone's processor and display, a T-Mobile spokesperson told Wired.com.
But not all Android users are buying it. Some have taken to online forums to vent or find out ways to remove the pre-loaded apps from their phones. In May, The Consumerist published an e-mail from a Verizon subscriber complaining about non-essential software loaded on his device.
"It's a throwback to the days of the feature phones," says Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "Handset makers and carriers would bundle messaging and music clients with feature phones hoping to provide some differentiation. They are now trying that with smartphones."
As far as the inability to delete these pre-loaded apps, Golvin says, "I suspect that a lot of operators think consumers won't notice or get to a point where they would want to get rid of them."
Computer makers started the trend of pre-loading software apps, such as anti-virus software, search toolbars, games and internet-access services from companies like AOL. It seemed innocent enough at first: Consumers would get to try new software when they bought their machines, software makers would get a chance to reach new users and PC makers would make some money on the side through deals inked with the software companies to promote their products on the devices.
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