Help What smartphone has the least amount of or no bloatware?

[Faolan]

I'm in the market for a new phone, but I'm really concerned as to the amount of bloatware that comes preinstalled. It takes up so much room and battery power that I have practically no space to use the phone for what it's intended - to hold apps that I want to use (games or anything). I'm in Canada and I found a site that compares plans for you that give you a lot of phone options. Would there be someone that can look these phones over on the site I'll be listing below and let me know what my best options are, please? Apart from the bloatware, these are the specs I'm looking for in a phone:

Fast internet connection speed
Brilliant colours (I've had Samsung for a few years solely due to its phenomenal colours that it has on their phones)
User friendly
$0 phone

I can look the rest of the plans over in regards to price limit and stuff after. However, I really do want to stay away from Samsung, HTC and any other manufacturer that has a ton of bloatware on their phones as well as stay away from being forced to root a phone to try and get rid of it.

Thank you so much!

The link for the phone plans

https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones?utm_campaign=319683487&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google

 

[psionandy]

By Definition its any of the Google Nexus phones.

Problem solved

 

[mikedt]

Yeh, Google Nexus phones, because they just don't have any manufacturer's junk and/or carrier's subsidy or affiliate bloat. OnePlus phones are pretty lean and very much AOSP, although you might have to order online from Hong Kong.

BTW that Canadian website suggested an Apple iPhone 6.....

 

[Hadron]

Except for the "$0 phone" bit. The problem there is that you only get a phone for free if it is subsidised by the carrier, which generally means they have messed with the software (i.e. added their bloat). Here in the UK I'd say go to Carphonewarehouse, since they will sell you unbranded phones on contract (subsidised), but I don't know the Canadian options at all.

But if you can get the Nexus 6P in your price range then that should do what you want, and it also has an AMOLED screen (since you seem to like those ).

 

[Faolan]

Thanks very much everyone

 

[kate]

Moto G 3rd gen also has little to no bloat but it's a mid-range phone, not high end.

these are the specs I'm looking for in a phone:

Fast internet connection speed

Almost every new phone has 4G LTE, the speed depends on your carriers signal and how congested the tower is.

 

[Clementine_3]

Also the Moto X Pure/Play; it's really, really close to pure vanilla Android.

 

[Faolan]

Except for the "$0 phone" bit. The problem there is that you only get a phone for free if it is subsidised by the carrier, which generally means they have messed with the software (i.e. added their bloat). Here in the UK I'd say go to Carphonewarehouse, since they will sell you unbranded phones on contract (subsidised), but I don't know the Canadian options at all.

But if you can get the Nexus 6P in your price range then that should do what you want, and it also has an AMOLED screen (since you seem to like those ).

Would there be much difference between the Nexus 6P and the Nexus 5X would you know?

 

[James Byrne]

The best is Nexus devices, but also Motorola X devices aren't that bad, and only run there Moto voice over the top. Also Motorola phones are good value for specs.

 

[tendoboy1984]

I'm in the market for a new phone, but I'm really concerned as to the amount of bloatware that comes preinstalled. It takes up so much room and battery power that I have practically no space to use the phone for what it's intended - to hold apps that I want to use (games or anything). I'm in Canada and I found a site that compares plans for you that give you a lot of phone options. Would there be someone that can look these phones over on the site I'll be listing below and let me know what my best options are, please? Apart from the bloatware, these are the specs I'm looking for in a phone:

Fast internet connection speed
Brilliant colours (I've had Samsung for a few years solely due to its phenomenal colours that it has on their phones)
User friendly
$0 phone

I can look the rest of the plans over in regards to price limit and stuff after. However, I really do want to stay away from Samsung, HTC and any other manufacturer that has a ton of bloatware on their phones as well as stay away from being forced to root a phone to try and get rid of it.

Thank you so much!

The link for the phone plans

https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones?utm_campaign=319683487&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google

Google Nexus have zero bloatware and get updates straight from Google.

Another good option is Moto phones. Motorola is good with updates and they have very little bloatware.

 

[chanchan05]

If you are really adamant about $0, the best you can probably do is a 128GB s6 or an S7/G5/G4 where you activate adoptable storage via ADB and stick a 128-200GB SD in. At least that way, with the large storage, you offset the bloatwate. But yes, only Nexus has almost no bloatware.

 

[xyourxhighnessx]

Its nexus at the top of the list. You can get other phones with little bloat but nexus will have the least. All carrier sold phones will have carrier bloat. So buying a nexus or manufacturer unlocked version of a device would be your best bet to get rid of that unless you're willing to root your device and uninstall it yourself.

Motorola phones don't have much bloat. I hear BlackBerry doesn't either ( they make android devices).

You want to stay away from Samsung for certain.

 

[xyourxhighnessx]

Would there be much difference between the Nexus 6P and the Nexus 5X would you know?

The nexus 5x and 6p are very different in some ways and very similar in others.

Heres a full side by side comparison.

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Google-Nexus-5X,Google-Nexus-6P/phones/9593,9587

Heres the tl;dr

5x and 6p have the same camera and both have a fingerprint sensor.

5x is smaller.
Lcd display.
Lower resolution
Made of plastic

6P
1440 resolution.
5.7 inch screen
Better graphics processor and cpu
Made of aluminium

And it goes on from there.

See the full list but in a nuthsell the 6p is the premium version of the two but the 5x isnt a bad device for the price

 

[Hadron]

If you are really adamant about $0, the best you can probably do is a 128GB s6 or an S7/G5/G4 where you activate adoptable storage via ADB and stick a 128-200GB SD in. At least that way, with the large storage, you offset the bloatwate. But yes, only Nexus has almost no bloatware.

So there is a trick to enable adoptive storage on the S7/G5?

 

[chanchan05]

So there is a trick to enable adoptive storage on the S7/G5?

Yup. You just need ADB bridge. Samsung and LG apparently just removed the control on the UI. You don't even need to root.

http://www.androidauthority.com/adoptable-sd-storage-samsung-galaxy-s7-s7-edge-679356/

 

[xyourxhighnessx]

To be fair. If You have root you can take a look at the build prop. Most have a line saying something to the effect "adoptable storage = false" etc

Change it to true and reboot. Then insert a fresh (this is important as youll have to format the sd card....or at least be comfortable formatting whatever is currently on your sd card...or transfer everything off it)

And youll have 2 choices.
1. Format as portable storage.
If you choose this your sd card will function as it always has.

Or
2. Choose adoptable storage and the sd card will not be removable anymore but will function as phone storage.

Or you can use it for both adoptable storage and portable storage if you choose to allocate some space for each each purpose.

The only real downside of adoptable storage for me is if your sd card fails at some point...you're screwed and will likely need to factory reset as i hear the system becomes unstable if you choose adoptable storage and remove the sd while the phone is on. And im assuming the same is true if the sd card fails.

One more thing to note is if you choose adoptable storage the sd card will be encrypted.

 

[Jaime J Herrera]

Nothing is ever $0. Nexus 6P.

 

[The_Chief]

Another vote for Moto X Pure Edition. Stock Android with GOOD Moto enhancements.

 

[tube517]

Yup. You just need ADB bridge. Samsung and LG apparently just removed the control on the UI. You don't even need to root.

http://www.androidauthority.com/adoptable-sd-storage-samsung-galaxy-s7-s7-edge-679356/

Yep.

I just change one line in Build.Prop for my LG G Stylo and enabled Adoptable storage.

 

[spydrplayseverything]

As a Filipino, I would suggest MyPhone. The brand has VERY as in VERY cheap phones that goes around to ₱1,000 to ₱10,000. Though for the exception of the ₱10,000 is of there latest phone the SuperD. Which gives you 3D Effects Without Actually wearing 3D glasses on. For now, I'm planning o buying the My96. And yes, it does not have bloatware. Just good o'l Android Stock.

 

[Hadron]

Well since this thread is more than a year old things have changed. Right now I'd say that for a Canadian (like the original poster) the phone with the least bloatware is probably the Essential PH-1, which seems to come with even fewer pre-installed apps than the Pixel 2.