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Topic: The Problem With Facebook (Read 17099 times)

The Problem With Samsung

Reply #50
Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook
Winke bought his Samsung Galaxy S8, an Android-based device that comes with Facebook’s social network already installed, when it was introduced in 2017. He has used the Facebook app to connect with old friends and to share pictures of natural landscapes and his Siamese cat -- but he didn’t want to be stuck with it. He tried to remove the program from his phone, but the chatter proved true -- it was undeletable. He found only an option to "disable," and he wasn’t sure what that meant.
I discovered within a week from my purchase of Note 4 that some preinstalled apps, such as Facebook, cannot be uninstalled. For this guy it took like two years. The news should be perturbed about *that.*

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #51
It's one of the first things I've discovered on all three "smart"phones I've bought since my first one some eight years ago. It goes something like:

1. Connect to wifi
2. Import contacts, setup e-mail and calendar
3. Delete Facebook (and other stuff I don't want)

But deleting doesn't work for Facebook. Only disabling. The weirdest part is that at least some of the ASUS & Sony bloatware can be deleted, showing that Facebook doesn't actually need to be made part of the "system" in order to come preinstalled.

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #52
Disable is progress of sorts. Previous versions of Android only allowed certain Google apps and others to revert to unupdated versions. But Facebook is not on that list on a Sony from last year. Facebook is (presumably) removed, not disabled.

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #53
I couldn't delete Facebook from my Sony Xperia XA2 without unlocking the bootloader and slightly deteriorating the camera quality in the process. Of course I wouldn't have done it if I were planning to stick with stock Android.

We'll see how much I like Sailfish for actual daily use. I definitely intend to give it a good try. I don't really understand why the imo better phone operating systems (Maemo/MeeGo/Sailfish & Windows Mobile/Phone) aren't more popular. Sure, nowadays they're niche products that require an effort to acquire, but I'm talking more about the critical ~2008-2010 period when Maemo and Windows Mobile were readily available and miles ahead of the competition. Then again, Microsoft messed things up with Windows Phone even if the basic UX was pretty decent. /sigh

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #54
I don't really understand why the imo better phone operating systems (Maemo/MeeGo/Sailfish & Windows Mobile/Phone) aren't more popular. Sure, nowadays they're niche products that require an effort to acquire, but I'm talking more about the critical ~2008-2010 period when Maemo and Windows Mobile were readily available and miles ahead of the competition.
I suspect about the same reason as why Linux is not more popular than Windows. Even though Linux is lightyears ahead in customisability, there is no major corporate push for it and  some critical apps (office software, graphics design, games) are unavailable for it.

Similarly, Android has all the apps, so nobody else can survive, unless they support Android apps. But since all success depends on Andoid apps, why have anything else than Android?

I am a bit more curious about iOS. iPhone costs a ton. Then you pay for many apps too on top of that. Why would anyone agree to it? It's as if Apple fans were a different planet (I see them only on YT, I refuse to believe they exist in real).

Then again, Microsoft messed things up with Windows Phone even if the basic UX was pretty decent. /sigh
It took special talent to mess that one up. Microsoft has it.

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #55
I suspect about the same reason as why Linux is not more popular than Windows. Even though Linux is lightyears ahead in customisability, there is no major corporate push for it and  some critical apps (office software, graphics design, games) are unavailable for it.
I don't think there was a lack of corporate push on Microsoft's end with well-functional Outlook integration, etc. I suspect they must've wanted something device manufacturers didn't, or maybe device manufacturers were just afraid of what MS might do if they also obtained a phone monopoly.

For them Android was clearly good enough for something, but it was never very clear to me just what that something was. I've always thought that '07/'08 era iPhones and Android phones were clearly inferior to my contemporary feature phone,[1] the SE s500i, which could also install apps like Opera Mini and Google Maps using Java ME.[2]

I am a bit more curious about iOS. iPhone costs a ton. Then you pay for many apps too on top of that. Why would anyone agree to it? It's as if Apple fans were a different planet (I see them only on YT, I refuse to believe they exist in real).
I don't know why one would pay that much for a phone, but they mostly work well enough. I understand Apple devices are also properly usable for blind people.

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #56
For them Android was clearly good enough for something, but it was never very clear to me just what that something was. I've always thought that '07/'08 era iPhones and Android phones were clearly inferior to my contemporary feature phone,[1] the SE s500i, which could also install apps like Opera Mini and Google Maps using Java ME.[2]
Corporate push importantly includes pushing ads and multimedia. Opera Mini is/was awesome for knowledgeable users, but not good for dumbusers who could keep misclicking Google ads. And was there a Java ME Facebook? I haven't heard.

Current Opera Mini has gone the way of whole-screen splash ads.

Java ME Facebook

Reply #57
There is a Java ME Facebook installed on my Nokia feature phone.

(I don't have a FB account... I just installed it by curiosity, to see how it would work with my wife's account. Very limited, indeed.)

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #58
Whether or not Facebook is a system app may depend on the software's build. I've seen it as a systems app, sure, however I've had some of the mentioned models and it not be. It wasn't on my S8 but was on my Note4. It's not on my Note9 though. Samsung isn't necessarily responsible for the OS version. Mine is an N960U. Iirc, the U means it's Samsung's version. More often the providers have their own and apps they partner with get stuck in as system apps (or bloatware). The major provider versions, here, are N960A/S/V, for At&t, Sprint and Verizon. The missus uses At&t however when I got her a phone I got a Verizon S7. I had to remove Verizon's OS to get the data connection to work right and I put back the universal version which didn't contain bloatware as system apps. I then thought better of it and installed At&t's version, removed the system apps I didn't want and then removed root access, so her phone is basically stock At&t with some bloat nixed. She uses Facebook but knowing me I still pulled it from the system folder before derooting.

**Maybe Samsung's letter was J on hers... Idk.  Either way different versions yada yada. :)

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #59
There is a Java ME Facebook installed on my Nokia feature phone.

(I don't have a FB account... I just installed it by curiosity, to see how it would work with my wife's account. Very limited, indeed.)
If you don't have an account, then you don't know how ads are displayed there, and if the density of the ads is sufficient (from the marketer's point of view). Ads are a major point here. You must have tons of opportunities to misclick to trigger outrageous consequences, such as accidentally buy airplanes or at least bitcoins for somebody else.

Samsung isn't necessarily responsible for the OS version.
Yes, this is another major point. The OS may come with the operator/distributor modifications. Why would operators/distributors modify the OS? To include their own branded apps for more ad/marketing revenue. So, they prefer OS's that are particularly suited for such purpose, including the point that it should not be too easy for users to remove that crap.

Sailfish perhaps allows too much user control, therefore there will never be much corporate push for it.

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #60
Sailfish perhaps allows too much user control, therefore there will never be much corporate push for it.
That might be true. I was able to set up Syncthing in a breeze (as an alternative for Dropbox), whereas on Android that was… difficult.

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #61
Content moderators strike back.

A former YouTube moderator is suing YouTube, accusing it of
failing to protect workers who have to catch and remove
violent videos posted to the site....

The suit says many content moderators remain in their positions for less than a year and that the company is "chronically understaffed," so moderators end up working overtime and exceeding the company's recommended four-hour daily viewing limit. Despite the demands of the job, moderators had little margin for error, the suit said.

The company expects each moderator to review 100 to 300 pieces of video content each day with an "error rate" of 2% to 5%, the suit said. The companies also control and monitor how the videos are displayed to moderators: whether in full-screen versus thumbnails, blurred or how quickly they moderators watch in sequence.

The suit comes as moderators for social media companies speak out on the toll the job takes on their mental health. YouTube has thousands of content moderators and most work for third-party vendors including Collabera, Vaco and Accenture. The San Francisco-based Joseph Saveri Law Firm, which is  representing the plaintiff, filed a similar lawsuit against Facebook that resulted in $52 million settlement in May.

Re: The Problem With Facebook

Reply #62
I was going to say I heard about that on a BBC podcast half a year ago or even last year, but that was about France and this is about America. (And also possibly about Facebook instead of YouTube.)