There's an old saying that the camel gets into the tent by putting his nose in first.
Take bloatware. Rob_A says if we don't run Nova, it's a drop in the bucket for rom and that's it. OK, that's a nuisance, but let's say ok for the moment.
Now - take the case any bloatware that will always run - either because of how the carrier snuck it in, or because it gets some start-running intent from a service you need.
And now imagine two things: 1) that bloatware is trickling some i/o out on the net and 2) net neutrality is defeated and the carrier can charge for tiered services.
That adds up to a hidden charge and a nefarious one - the user will essentially be paying for the carrier's net transactions that he wanted no part of.
And if the only ways to stop it are to void your warranty by rooting or to make Android unstable by running a task killer - then that adds up to something even more nefarious.
Sorry to say the sky could fall someday - but these guys are greedy and if you give 'em an inch they'll take a mile.
So - yeah, potentially bloatware and net babbling can add up to something serious.
Here's something nefarious also not seemingly related - but it is:
iPhone users mad at game's hidden costs | Daily Chronicle
Why did I pull that in? Well, honestly the hyperbole of children's parents being taken to the cleaners was very hard to resist - but I could've resisted it were it not for this one thing I think we've all been through:
Arguing as individuals that something's unfair on our bill.
As consumers, our only recourse is to ultimately pay a disconnect fee and change carriers. But we don't because the disconnect fee is always greater than the complaint.
And so, I'm just ringing the dinner bell about the camel's nose in the tent - and it starts for us at the most personal level with apps we can't control and don't know what they contain.
Now personally, I like Sprint not only because of the great quality of cell service and not only because of the great prices - but because it just seems to me they're much less evil than the other carriers. I can't back that up, it's just my opinion - they seem to let more slide when you take a phone into the store from purely anecdotal sense I've gathered. I haven't seen Sprint's name leading the anti-neutrality stuff (although I'm sure they'd go along with the crowd if it passes - I've not seen them in front against us).
And because of that - I've written the CEO of Sprint. I explained that I was rooted, that I knew what it entailed and why I did it. I gave my net name, the one I use here, and my full account info and real name. And who knows me based on who I am and what I really do.
So, within my best ability, I've tried to make clear that this isn't a crackpot issue.
I don't expect others to do this - one of us hanging our necks out should be more than sufficient.
And while I think bloatware is evil and the end of humanity, I still don't think Sprint's evil on this.
I think they're immature.
I think they know, like all advertisers, that if you reach X people, then 1/6 of X will pay attention, and 1/6 of that 1/6 will try it, and that 1/6 of that 1/6 of that 1/6 will buy it. (That 1/6 model was from something I picked up from a business major type roommate years ago - it's probably stale.) With that math, Sprint's making a potential beak-wetting of 1/4 million unit sales off of the bloatware - whatever that adds up to.
So - they have a profit motive.
But - because this isn't like other phones, as I'd mentioned earlier - they don't get it. They're packaging this stuff like we still have feature phones - and despite selling smartphones before, sorry to say we're the center of the universe but Android is just different.
If we all ask for no bloatware, they won't listen -
nor should they.
The first exec that says everyone's rates should go up on account of that lost revenue stream from 5k per 1-million sets of bloatware will get fired.
But - if we can get an opt-out and erase option from them, then we win.
And great, honest guys like drexappeal and others won't have to sweat rooting.
That would be win-win. That would be the bloatware petition I'd sign.
And that would put our nose into their tent - we're going to control what on our phones is accessing the net and we'll control when. That establishes our voice in controlling hidden charges.
Sorry for the new rant - but I think I'm right.