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wait, that Android phone i got for free with a Happy meal is filled with cr*p malware and spam?? how... surprising....

Man that's bad. And who actually pays attention to ads? Not me.

People just need to understand you get what you pay for and nothing is completely free.

If you don't want to pay for something then you gotta put up with what it takes to get it free like a bunch of trialware installed or ads running in the apps.

The only time people have a right to complain is when you pay full price for a product and it still has trialware or ads in it.

Also understandable when free products are no longer supported but these developers who make products that cost money then a month later take the money and leave their product for dead is an issue. You pay money in hopes they continue developing and improving the product not taking the money and run.

honkj, on 04 December 2011 - 08:44 PM, said:

Actually even the high end Android phones have trialware loaded into it. These companies get greedy. No true advantage to having the newest phone unless you just want the best technology available because you're getting trialware regardless if you pay or not.

NewTeKnology, on 04 December 2011 - 09:54 PM, said:

Verizon and I think T-Mobile are the only two carriers that are still adding un-removeable trialware to their devices. On Sprint and AT&T's newer phones you can remove most of them (though some of the stuff is useful).

ArmandoRodriguez, on 04 December 2011 - 10:44 PM, said:

Sprint added all kinds of crapware to their EVO-4G phone that couldn't be removed without rooting the phone. That 'NASCAR' app was among the things that could NEVER be removed, because it was so vitally important to every user to have it for... whatever it did. Mostly fulfill a contractual obligation Sprint made to NASCAR for a bushel of money, I suspect.

Of course that was ON TOP OF the crapware HTC stuck on it, too.

Informative

Don't think of it as annoying ads, Android Users, think of it as the price of freedom.

Us iOS users envy you.

Don't worry...someone will come up with the push-ad blocker.

JakeB, on 05 December 2011 - 05:51 AM, said:

I do not envy Android users or iOS users... both are just as gullible. You get spam etc with Android, \

1. Apple refusing to allow you to sync your songs with nothing else but their itunes,
2. and you have to enter a credit card to download free apps.
3. rather than make the 4s with a micro usb port, they created their proprietary adapter with a micro usb port on the opposite end and market it in the US for $8
4. rather than tell us each new version with the S is really the finished version before they release another beta version 12 months later.
5. Deliberately hold out by building ipods and iphones with sealed batteries and slow processors so that they can get people to replace their devices annually.

I saw many wireless customers return their iphone 4 phones they purchase weeks or months earlier to return to pay restocking fees of $35 for the 4S and in ALL cases they had to open a 2nd line at $10/mth and pay $200 for the phone and another
$30/mth on a data contract for 2 years just for SIRI and the 8MB camera they use on an irregular basis. So complain about spam... I think going to this extreme for a phone that is updated annually is absurd... especially in this economy.

I think after watching the 1st gen iphone followed by the 2s, 3s and now 4s... and the time of roll outs of each, and still waste thousands and brag about how many apple devices you own and the amount of money on accessories you bought, makes me happy I had bought a stack of shares in Apple before the ipod's first release in 2001. These folks made me money hand over fist and pay for my $700/night stay at the Hilton Conrad in Hong Kong and relax comfortably in the Executive lounge on the 59th floor.

This post has been edited by darwin2000: 05 December 2011 - 12:09 PM

Now as then, you have the option. Stick with crap, or go with great.

ArmandoRodriguez, on 04 December 2011 - 10:44 PM, said:

I didn't get anything on my Verizon Wireless iPhone 4 that I couldn't remove. I honestly can't remember if I got any apps pre-installed by Verizon at all. Overall, I have had no negative experiences with the iPhone 4 that I can recall, though I understand that there are quite a few Android users who have had the same positive experiences.

You neglected to mention that one of these ad removers that block the ads have to have a rooted device. Of course, you could just buy the ad free version of some of the adwared apps.

After having read your article, there are a few comments we would like to make in response.

StartApp was the first to provide a search monetization solution for Android developers that enables them to finally make money from their free apps. We have had a zero churn rate from the developers using our platform which shows how satisfied they are with our system.

In a review that we conducted of the first 2 million downloads that we received, we found that only a very minor percentage of those people were surprised to see the search icon. Also, we have seen only a very limited number of unhappy reviews as we insist that our developers disclose the fact that they are providing search monetization to their users. This is all done to make sure that everything we do is as clear cut and transparent as possible.

We believe that our solution offers a great opportunity for users to receive high quality apps at no cost. Furthermore, we think our system is not only non-obtrusive to users, but actively provides them with another search option that they can enjoy.

Thank you,

Itay Rokni

StartApp VP Marketing

Let users decide if the ads are too much. If an app gets terrible reviews then the developer will have to decide what they want to do..Disclose, get rid of intrusive ads, have a paid app with no ads etc...

After all we are the ones who decide what apps we want and if we like it enough and the ads are not that intrusive it's up to consumers. Of course there are always ways to stop ads completely on your phone if you're rooted, so root your phone and let the manufacturers know that we don't want our phones locked down. The cell carriers are the ones who want locked bootloaders but if we stop buying subsidized phones through them they will have no choice. Cheers.

startappdotcom, on 06 December 2011 - 12:43 AM, said:

If your types of companies are so legit, then why don't you tell me how to remove the icon ad from my screen? Are you the company that put an unremoveable search icon on my screen and took over my browser when I downloaded Brightest Flashlight Free? I bet you are. You and Airpush and all the adware companies could care less about consumers so stop lying on message boards.

To everyone else: If anyone has any idea how to remove the infospace search icon ad and/or clean my browser so the homepage isn't always set at infospace.com please let me know. I have tried everything including trying to find the file with androzip. No success.

This post has been edited by MattRushmore: 15 December 2011 - 11:18 PM

This is called 'online reputation management'.
http://en.wikipedia....tion_management
http://www.google.co...tion+management

They have paid trolls search for negative forum comments about their sinister, phone-crippling garbage, and then try to discredit you, or push your comment off to unread pages.

This probably isn't a 'VP' of anything. Just somebody paid to post online comments.

startappdotcom, on 06 December 2011 - 12:43 AM, said:

Dear Mr. Rokni:

You are full of excrement. You pretend to be a valid business, but you are nothing but a cheap hijacker. Like Matt Rushmore, I installed Brightest Flashlight Free and my phone got infected with your StartApp code. Removing the blue magnifying glass icon was easy, but nothing has worked so far in trying to get my Internet browser setting back to my previous home page. I have tried everything, including deleting all bookmarks and changing the home page - nothing works. Your crap start.infospace.com URL has hijacked my browser. If Google supports scum like you, then it may well be time to move to the iPhone.

Cell phone users should advise advertisers that they need to cease this practice or face a nationwide boycott of their respective companies. I should not have to take action to prevent ads on a service that I pay dearly to receive.