Motorola spoiled a good budget phone with bloatware | Hacker News Reader

Motorola spoiled a good budget phone with bloatware

theverge.com

46 pointsbaal80spam28 comments

This is why I won't get a phone that isn't supported by LineageOS

Me too! And for ~half the price of the phone in TFA[0] you can get a Moto G32/42/52, which can run LineageOS officially since last year.

[0] how on earth is 300 USD considered "budget" for a cellphone?

Officially? Can you elaborate a bit? I've got a g52 and it's really slow most of the time, I'd love to install a clean ROM but I just don't want to spend time on this right now. If there is a fast and official way, that'd be awesome.

Officially refers to Lineageos officially supporting that phone.

Lol, now I feel stupid. That makes much more sense

Compare it to the top and bottom of the iPhone "market":

- https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-se $430

- https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-15-pro $1000

>[0] how on earth is 300 USD considered "budget" for a cellphone?

It's "budget" for consumers in wealthy western countries where 300$ doesn't even cover half a rent's pay, and it's "budget" when compared to flagship phone prices set by Apple which now cost 1k+ starting price and everyone else followed.

Also inflation happened. The 300$ you remember from pre-Covid as being "a lot of money for a phone", are now worth a lot less in 2024. So yeah, compared to current market prices, 300$ for a phone is now kinda budget.

> Also inflation happened.

Oh, don't worry, I'm an argy, I understand inflation haha. What I mean is, budget phones are sub 200 USD nowadays, with very cheap phones around 100 USD.

300 dollars seem like a lot to me, and "just" to have some plastic fake leather cover, or nextgen wifi which isn't fully deployed everywhere?

>you can get a Moto G32/42/52, which can run LineageOS officially since last year.

Got any link for that? Would like to read about it. A non-tech friend has one of those phones.

I bought a G42 (hawao) last year, I saw it on offer, I checked and it had been recently added to the roster, less than a month before.

I had to wait a couple of days before Lenovo let me unlock the bootloader, not sure if that's because it was brand new or because you always have to wait a couple of days.

The LineageOS wiki doesn't tell you (and I understand their reasons), but if your friend wants to run any homebanking app he'll need to install Magisk too, and add the Shamiko module (and configure a couple of things, but it's all out there)

https://download.lineageos.org/devices/rhode/builds

https://download.lineageos.org/devices/hawao/builds

https://download.lineageos.org/devices/devon/builds

Thank you.

$300 is still $50 above what phone should cost. You cant change my mind.

I use both an iPhone and a Motorola G Power 2020. My Moto came with absolutely zero bloat. It’s annoying they’ve tapped into that revenue stream but as long as it’s uninstallable I wouldn’t get too upset. The first thing I do on any phone is uninstall everything I don’t need. Even the iPhone had a bunch of Apple apps I have no use for.

You probably bought a Motorola version instead of the ones from prepaid providers. I have Moto G Power 2020 and 2021 from Cricket, both are full of bloatware like the article.

Ours was from Google Fi. They had a promotion where you could buy the Moto for $50 on the condition of using it with them for 90 days. So we did and then she just popped her SIM back in her Pixel and I took the Moto.

It has an unremovable Google Fi app, but it doesn't interfere with anything. I have it on a cheapo Verizon Red Pocket SIM which works great.

Is this trash installed in the factory image or is it part of the carrier-provisioned crapware?

I heard they push more of that crapware with updates on some models

Is this just a US problem? I'm using a Moto G32 in the UK and it's got no bloatware, regular security updates (got one yesterday morning), and an experience that's smoother than the Pixel 7a I got rid of (though a little slower due to the chips etc).

All for £130. Couldn't be happier, I haven't even switched on my iPhone in months. Oh, and Moto gestures for the torch and the camera are great for when out walking the pooch.

There was one thing I disabled which I've never needed to do on previous Motos, but talk of Moto going rogue doesn't match my (UK) reality.

I've been a Motorola customer for many years. Their other phones were lovely minimal and affordable tools with an almost pure Android experience. They had "Moto gestures" where you chop to turn on the light or twist to open the camera, and that's about it. This bloatware is unusual.

Last year's Motorola Thinkphone was originally a $700 business-oriented 5G flagship alternative, it's now down to $400 and an awesome phone. It takes a minute to uninstall the extra Microsoft apps if you don't want them, (I still use Outlook, Excel, and Onedrive for work, so I left those, dumped the rest especially including LinkedIn) but that's easy.

What is normal and disappointing from Motorola is their terrible update policy. The budget phones only get 2 years of security updates and no Android updates. I did just give up on my 5 year old Moto G from 2018, it went without updates for ~4 years. Fortunately the Thinkphone gets security updates through January 2027.

It's not just Motorola, but all budget Android brands and phones.

It is perhaps most notable because they used to be better than most budget options.

Whole Android ecosystem is a mess.

Coming soon to your iPhone.

I would rather pay twice that for a Pixel 7A.

Or at a push 50 bucks more for a pixel 6A if you shop around.

There’s budget and there’s shite and this is shite.

Well the Pixel certainly isn't budget. The "a" models are at least mid-range prices, but still not budget. Also, the Pixel line is straight up missing features that Moto phones have; I'm quite fond of their shake-to-activate flashlight feature, which is far nicer than messing with touchscreen controls.

Moto Gestures are a killer feature, indeed.

It's a shame this did not become standard on Android.

My understanding is that it has a hardware component (needed to do that kind of continuous sensor analysis without killing battery life), which might explain it.

Recently sold my Pixel 7a that I got to replace my Moto G32 (I succumbed to the appeal of shiny) when I realised that the £130 Moto G32, despite being slower and less powerful, was a more pleasurable all-round experience.

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