Android has been totally ruined my oems. Install lineage os and you find out what android really is.

What do you use instead?

Google installs tons of crapware also. Its funny iOS you can uninstall more then google. However MacOS they push their crap on you.

I made the mistake of getting an S25 recently when I moved off iPhones for the first time in years. I love the look of Samsung hardware and I had one of their phones way back but I hadn't kept up to date enough on Android to know that flashing custom ROMs is practically dead which wrecked my plans.

Now I'm just waiting for this thing to be paid off and I'll get a Pixel (or preferably a Moto if possible by then) to install Graphnee on

At least it's android and better than xiaomi

Well you went from Samsung's budget model to a Google flagship. I'm sure Graphene felt nice, but it wasn't why the phone performed better lol

Go from an S series and it well beat the pixel. Software cannot fix the shit that google is doing with hardware.

I got a used Stylus 2024 and removed everything recommended on the debloat lists, using Shizuku and Canta, and now my battery lasts three days.

All of the (non-Verizon) Motos I've seen have unlockable bootloaders, too.

You can always ignore them and install your own apps. The problem is that it doesn't let you uninstall them and they take up space for no reason. For what it's worth, some of Samsung's default apps are better than Google's.

Yup, same, years ago I used all the google apps, chrome, gmail, pay, keep, contact, clock, etc then bought a Samsung phone so every apps were kind of duplicated with samsung pay, samsung internet, samsung agenda, samsung gallery, samsung clock etc. And if you use google clock for your morning alarms, samsung app killer will kill it during the night and BAM! no alarm the morning. I ditched it and bought a Pixel.

I've accidentally got the newest Xperia model instead of the previous one (still no LineageOS) and had to replace some core apps (like, phone, SMS) with foss alternatives, since they kept nagging me about the forcibly removed Play dependencies. To my complaint, Sony answered that "they sell it as a Google package and the Play framework is integral there". How this is GDPR compliant, can be sold here, is beyound me.

But the hardware is worth it, can even be used with one hand and no battery worries.

Btw, plastic body is superior; my screen and battery should've be at least 10x cracked now. Especially after a Oneplus, whose back is covered in glass, can't really be repaired.

It's a misleading headline. They aren't installing the app on your phone. They'll preinstall it on phones in the factory before they're sold.