For years, Samsung (and other Android manufacturers) have been crapping all over Google’s simple software design with layers of gratuitous bloatware. So, in the proud American tradition, a Chinese consumer protection group is suing Samsung and Oppo for ruining everyone’s lives.
As the Shanghai Daily reports, the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission has filed two cases, one against Samsung and one against Chinese manufacturer Oppo, alleging that the companies sell smartphones with pre-installed apps (true) that are difficult or impossible to uninstall (very true), and typically annoy consumers (yup).
Bloatware isn’t a problem unique to Samsung or Oppo — far from it, sadly — but the commission chose those two following a study of 20 smartphones, which found that Samsung and Oppo were the worst offenders. They found the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 had 44 apps installed prior to purchase, while the Oppo X9007 had 71.
The commission’s end goal is reasonably modest: to make smartphone manufacturers disclose on the packaging what apps are preinstalled, and provide information on how to remove them. With any luck, this would have the same effect as adding images of diseased lungs to cigarette packaging: shaming people into stopping this horrific blight on humanity.
[Shanghai Daily via BBC]
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