[PCWorld]

Post your comments for The Most Annoying Android Apps here

[Mattvm8v]

Almost all of the reasons I will never buy another Android device have been listed in this article.

I'd rather pay for an app than have my battery drain by half. I'd also be willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that can cut down the battery consumption of free games as well.

I'd also rather pay more for mobile operating system than risk malware and data spikes.

I'd also rather pay more for a mobile operating system than have to deal with all that pre-installed crapware.

And since I love having the best apps/games. I'm willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that has best apps/games as well as the best version of the apps/games.

[ReasTech]

as much as I love android and dislike the IOS I have to agree with some of what Matt said

[zeth006]

Flashing a ROM solves the problems of bloatware and has become quite easy to do. I've had FB crash on me a couple of times, but it's never a bother.

I use Easy Task Killer every so often, bu from what I can see, it's more so useful for freeing up memory and reducing lag when too many apps are running in the background. Personally I wish Google would create an option to completely close/kill an app when it's not needed. This is probably my one and only gripe.


Battery life is common with most smartphones, yes, including the oh-so-venerable iPhone. But as manufacturers up battery sizes and make their CPUs more power-efficient, I see this becoming less of a problem.

[xyberviri]

I would imagine that " Path, Instagram, Foodspotting, and Yelp " need access to contacts because there is probably a "share" button in those apps.

Angry Birds needs access to your phone's network so it can stream ads to you.

Personally i hate the amount of Free apps on the Android market, i really wish people would just charge 99c and be dont with it. however it would mean that developers couldn't make a half decent game and then charge for the other half.

[MichaelHelsing]

Mattvm8v, on 18 April 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

Almost all of the reasons I will never buy another Android device have been listed in this article.

I'd rather pay for an app than have my battery drain by half. I'd also be willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that can cut down the battery consumption of free games as well.

I'd also rather pay more for mobile operating system than risk malware and data spikes.

I'd also rather pay more for a mobile operating system than have to deal with all that pre-installed crapware.

And since I love having the best apps/games. I'm willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that has best apps/games as well as the best version of the apps/games.

Another secret Apple fan-boy/girl.

[Sarah Jacobsson Purewal]

xyberviri, on 19 April 2012 - 05:15 AM, said:

I would imagine that " Path, Instagram, Foodspotting, and Yelp " need access to contacts because there is probably a "share" button in those apps.

Angry Birds needs access to your phone's network so it can stream ads to you.

Personally i hate the amount of Free apps on the Android market, i really wish people would just charge 99c and be dont with it. however it would mean that developers couldn't make a half decent game and then charge for the other half.

Oh, I agree they need access to your contacts -- just not *constant* access. You don't need to access contacts to share in those apps -- you share on their social networks. But the apps need access so they can pick through your address book and let you know which of your friends are on their network. But sometimes you don't....really...want that.

[BobPenrod]

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, on 19 April 2012 - 06:27 AM, said:

xyberviri, on 19 April 2012 - 05:15 AM, said:

I would imagine that " Path, Instagram, Foodspotting, and Yelp " need access to contacts because there is probably a "share" button in those apps.

Angry Birds needs access to your phone's network so it can stream ads to you.

Personally i hate the amount of Free apps on the Android market, i really wish people would just charge 99c and be dont with it. however it would mean that developers couldn't make a half decent game and then charge for the other half.

Oh, I agree they need access to your contacts -- just not *constant* access. You don't need to access contacts to share in those apps -- you share on their social networks. But the apps need access so they can pick through your address book and let you know which of your friends are on their network. But sometimes you don't....really...want that.

Foodspotting for Android does _not_ access your contacts and obviously doesn't ask for the permission because it doesn't use it.

Unfortunately Android's permissions system is not set up so that a developer can ask for and be granted one-time access to a feature. It would be great if Google would add that.

[lamorpa]

Mattvm8v, on 18 April 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

Almost all of the reasons I will never buy another Android device have been listed in this article.

I'd rather pay for an app than have my battery drain by half. I'd also be willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that can cut down the battery consumption of free games as well.

I'd also rather pay more for mobile operating system than risk malware and data spikes.

I'd also rather pay more for a mobile operating system than have to deal with all that pre-installed crapware.

And since I love having the best apps/games. I'm willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that has best apps/games as well as the best version of the apps/games.

And someday when you can choose your mobile operating system independent of the hardware and/or cost, you will have a point. Right now you don't.

[BlueCollarCritic]

"Privacy INvaders" FARRRRR too many Apps for the Android want every permission possible on your phone and its outrageous that Google has not done something about this. Do what exactly? How about requring every app to justify why it needs permission for something that falls outside the apps general permissions?

EXAMPLE 1 - FLASHLIGHT APPS - An app that does nothing more then let you use your phone like a flashlight does NOT need access to your contacts list in any way.

EXAMPLE #2 - ANY GAME APP - Unless the game actually makes use of the camera there is no reason the game needs permission access to your camera or your contacts list.


Someone with the skills to create Android apps should start a revolution of providing minimal permissions apps. Perhaps it could be a subscription service wehere you get access to/use of any apps the app developer puts out for a monthly fee and in exchange for paying you get apps that never ask for any permission that is not really necessary for the app to work.

[spaul40]

Spoken like the true appleholic you are. Sick!

Mattvm8v, on 18 April 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

Almost all of the reasons I will never buy another Android device have been listed in this article.

I'd rather pay for an app than have my battery drain by half. I'd also be willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that can cut down the battery consumption of free games as well.

I'd also rather pay more for mobile operating system than risk malware and data spikes.

I'd also rather pay more for a mobile operating system than have to deal with all that pre-installed crapware.

And since I love having the best apps/games. I'm willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that has best apps/games as well as the best version of the apps/games.

[JoshuaPease]

I haven't had Facebook crash on me yet....nor do I use Netflix so it's not worth to have it on my phone. I don't take anything PC World says seriously anymore. Half the time they are putting Android down and amping up Apple. Sorry I am not buying it.

[MichaelRousseau]

JoshuaPease, on 19 April 2012 - 04:44 PM, said:

I haven't had Facebook crash on me yet....nor do I use Netflix so it's not worth to have it on my phone. I don't take anything PC World says seriously anymore. Half the time they are putting Android down and amping up Apple. Sorry I am not buying it.

I use FB for Android and it has never crashed either. As far as the claims on the Google play page go you will never please all the people all the time either. It even has over 1.25 million 5 star ratings out of a total of almost 3 million.

[UnPerroDeSuerte]

fb crashes on ICS frequently. It used to frustrate me, but now I enjoy reporting their crash with the some snarky comment.

[artzy65]

MichaelHelsing, on 19 April 2012 - 06:08 AM, said:

Mattvm8v, on 18 April 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

Almost all of the reasons I will never buy another Android device have been listed in this article.

I'd rather pay for an app than have my battery drain by half. I'd also be willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that can cut down the battery consumption of free games as well.

I'd also rather pay more for mobile operating system than risk malware and data spikes.

I'd also rather pay more for a mobile operating system than have to deal with all that pre-installed crapware.

And since I love having the best apps/games. I'm willing to pay more for a mobile operating system that has best apps/games as well as the best version of the apps/games.

Another secret Apple fan-boy/girl.

And you're an Android fanboy. So, what's your point?

[LiveBrianD]

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, on 19 April 2012 - 06:27 AM, said:

Oh, I agree they need access to your contacts -- just not *constant* access. You don't need to access contacts to share in those apps -- you share on their social networks. But the apps need access so they can pick through your address book and let you know which of your friends are on their network. But sometimes you don't....really...want that.

I wish that it didn't ask for that, and then if I used the share button in it then it asked for permission to access it.

[13xploited]

It's not Android's fault that you don't know how to do basic tasks.
Luckily, the iOS 4x4 icon grid is uber intuitive and you just can't do no wrong.

On Android, crapware can be easily deleted (though it shouldn't be installed in the first place), ads can be blocked, app permissions can be limited, and take killers are just unnecessary.

Android is about customization. Anything you want done, can be done. You only have to google for 5 minutes to find the answer to your concerns.

[KennethUrbach]

All this informnation is good to know but at what cost did they get it. did they make money by toughting the negative for someone else. I see Android mentioned and Verizon, but not AT&T or Apple. I know they have thier problems but were never mentioned

[PCCoder]

I really hope that Motorola (Google) will offer a vanilla android phone so that at least bloatware will be gone as well as never have to have FB or other 'crucial'(lol) apps that just sit there and take up processing even when I never use them and can't uninstall. That and paying $.99 would take care of most of these issues as a lot functionality like, task killer, that are now part of ICS.
I can hope anyway....

[KLanD]

Considering you can disable notifications on most apps and if you actually pay the ~$.99 for the paid no-ad version of most apps I don't really get what the problem is.

Oh.. and why use a FB app on android when you can just go to FB?