iPhone 16e or a S/H 14/15 - what does it matter you don't have other apple devices?

openmedia:

 

My daughter had a bunch of basic Samsung phones with the same issues and the awful Samsung UI.

 

Interested to know how old these phones were, as your attitude towards Samsung seems to be based on a very outdated experience of Samsung devices (as I’m positive many of us have noted in response to earlier posts!). The Samsung UI hasn’t been ‘awful’ for quite some time - and I’m somebody who went away from Samsung for this reason (TouchWiz anyone?!) but have now had three Samsungs in a row, back to an S9+. Perhaps this time it’s worth checking the brand out?!

openmedia:

 

KiwiSurfer:

 

Perhaps go into a store and have a play with an actual device and you'll see what we mean. Samsung in the last 5 or so years is nothing like it was in the early days of Android.

 

 

I'll try to take another look at my next refresh. My old Samsung Tab S3 is still great for adhoc browsing and for Libby, but there are 10-15 Samsung apps I can't remove or even disable.

 

My daughter had a bunch of basic Samsung phones with the same issues and the awful Samsung UI, whist my Motorola and Nokia devices were generally excellent and had almost no manufacturer specific apps compared with generic Android.

 

I had a Galaxy Tab S3 and for the life of me I cannot think of one app that needed to be disabled or removed. There might have been some apps I didn't use, but none that got on the way when using the tablet.

Samsung handsets don't really have bloatware

Linux:

 

Samsung handsets don't really have bloatware

 

I'll bite now.

Why do I need a Samsung photos app when I have Google Photos?

Why do I have bloody Bixby when I have Google Assistant?

Why in the F is Linkedin and Facebook and OneDrive installed??

Why are there two messaging apps for SMS? Why do I have Samsung Internet and Google Chrome???

All of these were pre-installed, handset from One NZ retail when I got my handset in 2023 on launch.

Nowhere near as bad as my Oneplus 12... or the Xiaomi Poco F3. Worst offenders (booking bloody dot com!) but it was bad to make me scoff.

Openmedia is basically looking at a Pixel which is the exact need and want (as Nokia/HMD is very stock Android) and it's going to be the best choice if they really don't want an iPhone (also the newly launched 16e is a bad value proposition).

MaxineN:

 

I'll bite now.

 

Why do I need a Samsung photos app when I have Google Photos?

 

Why do I have bloody Bixby when I have Google Assistant?

 

Why in the F is Linkedin and Facebook and OneDrive installed??

 

Why are there two messaging apps for SMS? Why do I have Samsung Internet and Google Chrome???

 

All of these were pre-installed, handset from One NZ retail when I got my handset in 2023 on launch.

 

 

 

Nowhere near as bad as my Oneplus 12... or the Xiaomi Poco F3. Worst offenders (booking bloody dot com!) but it was bad to make me scoff.

 

Openmedia is basically looking at a Pixel which is the exact need and want (as Nokia/HMD is very stock Android) and it's going to be the best choice if they really don't want an iPhone (also the newly launched 16e is a bad value proposition).

 

Thank you - I couldn't have said it better myself. 

Sadly the Pixel's aren't officially sold/supported in NZ these days which is a secondary concern.

openmedia:

 

Thank you - I couldn't have said it better myself. 

 

Sadly the Pixel's aren't officially sold/supported in NZ these days which is a secondary concern.

 

Not quite true!

From Spark.

I am on 2degrees with my 7A and have VoLTE, VoWiFi and 5G working.

And I can say with some authority that the 7A also works fine on One NZ for VoLTE, VoWiFi and 5G.

 It's not officially sold, that part is true. Supported? Ehh wouldn't say it's outright not supported.

I could be tempted to part ways with my 7A if you want it ;). Oneplus 12 needs to sell first though.

MaxineN:

 

Why do I need a Samsung photos app when I have Google Photos?

 

Why do I have bloody Bixby when I have Google Assistant?

 

Why in the F is Linkedin and Facebook and OneDrive installed??

 

Why are there two messaging apps for SMS? Why do I have Samsung Internet and Google Chrome???

 

All of these were pre-installed, handset from One NZ retail when I got my handset in 2023 on launch.

 

Most of these examples can easily be removed -- most of these applications are present on either my personal S21 nor my work A73 both stock Samsung purchased from NZ carriers.

I agree the duplicates are annoying -- however I would also argue this is partly a Google issue as they mandate their apps be installed even if a manufacturer provides a equivalent application. And sometimes Google even goes to the point of making it impossible to disable their own apps.

For example I don't want Chrome, but it's installed by default as per Google. That gets disabled (but not possible to remove) in favor of Firefox.

Likewise Gmail -- that is installed by default on all Android phones, but I remove that in favor of Fastmail.

Likewise Google Calendar gets removed in favor of Fastmail's builtin Calendar function.

Weather gets removed in favor of Metservice which I prefer for their more accurate forecasts.

Whatever the name of their chat/videochat/etc app is these days (it was Meet last time I checked) gets removed in favor of Signal/Whatsapp/Messenger which my friends/family actually use.

Whatever the name of Google's health app is removed in favor of Samsung Health (probably the only Samsung app I use regularly to be fair).

I tolerate Google Maps, Photos and Wallet but that is more or less the only Google apps I use regularly. I also have some alternatives e.g. Organic Maps for offline mapping. I leave Google Drive/Sheets for the odd times I use it.

When I was on Apple it was no difference.

Weather --> Metservice

Email/Calendar/etc --> Fastmail

And a couple of other examples I can't recall.

I removed quite a lot of the stock Apple apps -- e.g. I don't need the Stocks app as I'm not a stockbroker. I don't need the voice memo app. I don't need <insert useless app>, etc.

The reality is regardless of what phone you get you'll need to customize the apps to suit your preferences -- including removing/disabling default apps. I've had to do this on Apple, Xiaomi, HTC, Samsung, Nokia, etc. It's just part and parcel of moving to a new ecosystem.

MaxineN:

 

Linux:

 

Samsung handsets don't really have bloatware

 

 

 

 

I'll bite now.

 

Why do I need a Samsung photos app when I have Google Photos?

 

Why do I have bloody Bixby when I have Google Assistant?

 

Why in the F is Linkedin and Facebook and OneDrive installed??

 

Why are there two messaging apps for SMS? Why do I have Samsung Internet and Google Chrome???

 

All of these were pre-installed, handset from One NZ retail when I got my handset in 2023 on launch.

 

 

 

Nowhere near as bad as my Oneplus 12... or the Xiaomi Poco F3. Worst offenders (booking bloody dot com!) but it was bad to make me scoff.

 

Openmedia is basically looking at a Pixel which is the exact need and want (as Nokia/HMD is very stock Android) and it's going to be the best choice if they really don't want an iPhone (also the newly launched 16e is a bad value proposition).

 

 

 

I'll bite too.

I guess horses for courses. I have apps I use in preference to the standard pre-installed apps.

Why do I have to have Chrome, never use it. If I was on iOS I wouldn't use Safari either.

Don't use Google Maps and wouldn't use Apple Maps either.

Don't use Bixby or Google Assistant and likewise wouldn't use Siri.

Don't use Google Calendar, don't use Google Photos, don't use GMail, in fact use very little from the Google brand as I find Google apps quite intrusive.

I like the Samsung Calendar and Email apps. They work well and are not at all intrusive.

Strangely a lot of people use LinkedIn, Facebook and One Drive and other similar social media/cloud services. It makes senses that some of these might be pre-installed.

For the apps I don't want/use I either un-install them or ignore them, I don't let them get in the way of my day to use of the device. No matter which ecosystem you use there is going to be some stuff that isn't useful to you. 

openmedia:

 

Wouldn't consider a Pixel mid-range

 

why not?
You're not going to get a better mid range phone than the pixel "a" series and they are fully supported on all three NZ networks.

Not sold in NZ by Google but still very easy to get your hands on.