I’m using a Pixel 6 Pro right now, and I’m looking around to see if there are any good phones. However, I have heard that there are ads in the newer flagship phones (Samsung, Xiaomi). I am willing to spend around USD$750 on a new phone, but I just don’t want any crazy ads or preinstalled apps like Facebook. Are there phones that don’t suck nowadays? I can buy a phone that is sold in the US, Canada, or EU.

(I don’t want to go through menus to disable ads (Xiaomi), and I’m currently looking at phones other than the Pixel lineup to see if there’s a better option for me)
(I also don’t want to mess around with custom bootloaders/systems, I rely on Google services way too much)

EDIT: If it wasn’t clear enough, I am not looking for things like GrapheneOS or LineageOS or others, I am looking for a phone and judging based on the stock system on it.

  • aleph@lemm.eeEnglish
    177·
    9 months ago

    Where’d you hear about flagship Samsung phones having ads?

    As far as I know, the only Samsung models that feature ads tend to be the lower end series that get sold in markets like India.

    • catculation@lemmy.zipEnglish
      16·
      9 months ago

      Their ads are mostly self promotion and bloatware apps. In my device I had to turn off notifications for most of the pre installed apps.

      • aleph@lemm.eeEnglish
        914·
        9 months ago

        A pre-installed app is not an ad, though.

        Plus pretty much of of them can easily be disabled.

        • 3aqn5k6ryk@lemmy.worldEnglish
          12·
          9 months ago

          What if the pre installed app is netflix, hulu and bunch of useless things i do not use? Its not a bloatware for you but for me it is. Yes, i can disabled but not all of them. Some just outright disable the disable button. Bunch of services running in the background. Samsung is notorious for this kind of behaviour.

          I received a budget galaxy tab from a lucky draw. Shit is disgusting with how many useless stuff in there. Planned to give it to my mother but i cant stomach how laggy it is with android 13. It is not a good experience at all. I had to use adb to remove all of them.

          • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            9 months ago

            I’m still pissed my Google TV has a Netflix button and I pay for and use Netflix… and that shit is “integrated” so deeply it still loads up in the background even… anyway.

            Do people really rationalize this crap away?

            • tester1121@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
              3·
              9 months ago

              Can’t you remove Netflix on CCwGTv? The Play Store let me, and it doesn’t seem to reinstall.

              • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                9 months ago

                No idea what a CCeGTv… oh, no, this is an NVSwGTv ;-) But that’s a super solid point! I was actually paying for it up until they got greedy, just objected to the button. But now that I can uninstall it there’s a 95% chance it won’t be able to launch in the background.

                Now I just need to sharpie over the logo, and my mind will be at peace 🤤

                  • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    2·
                    9 months ago

                    Word :-)

                    I actually have, but even with the device rooted and buttonmappers special ADB command run somehow, and only sometimes, Netflix creeps into the task switcher.

                    The button reliably launches Plex every time, so as far as I’m concerned it works just fine.

                    Someone suggested uninstalling the Netflix app and I’m sure that would sort out the last bit of it. But I was actually still using Netflix :-)

          • aleph@lemm.eeEnglish
            11·
            9 months ago

            I have a flagship Galaxy device and there was nowhere near that many. As I mentioned before, the budget Samsung devices are much worse than the flagships when it comes to bloatware.

            In any case, the subject at hand is not bloatware (which is undeniably bad - no argument from me) but ads. Not the same thing.

            • 3aqn5k6ryk@lemmy.worldEnglish
              11·
              9 months ago

              Of course you have a samsung device. No surprise there. So by that logic, if i buy a low tier device i should just accept whatever shit samsung install on my device? Having a bad user experience doesnt matter because fuck me right? Good to know.

              Oh. It is an ad though. Just by having an app pre installed inside my device. Guess what? The app can send notification and that notification is what? Ads.

        • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          Splitting those hairs! Weather™ app telling me there’s a story about the weather in Apple News™ isn’t technically an ad either, but really it is. Nobody should have to disable this kind of bullshit… it shouldn’t happen in the first place and it serves no purpose other than to annoy people.

          It’s unacceptable to spend thousands of dollars on something that serves you marketing content.

    • Big P@feddit.ukEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      On my note 8 a few years back I would get push notifications advertising from Samsung