I think the Galaxy Store occasionally has some offers, like 50% discount on purchases and stuff. If you play gacha games, you can "save" a lot of money.
Yeah everytime I open it for updates it shows me a popup ad. For the VPN my only reference point is Proton VPN premium servers, when using it the downloads don't move, disable it, and it starts going instantly
Settings, Apps, Galaxy Store, Disable. It should revert it to the stock version and disable it. Unless your phone has some additional restrictions that prevents disabling it.
Who uses that anyway? Back when I was using a Samsung phone, I was always annoyed because I couldn't uninstall this bullshit
The Pixel with GrapheneOS is simply superior. No ads, no tracking, no bloatware, no bullshit, just 100% FOSS software with privacy and security in mind.
For anyone who doesn't know, you can remove the Galaxy Store and any other Samsung bloatware you don't want using ADB. Root isn't required, but be careful when removing apps, you could accidentally remove something that's a dependency on something else you actually use. For me I desperately needed to stop the constant notification from the Samsung Account app telling me to sign in to continue.
Its not an actual competitor considering you need both a samsung smartphone and the galaxy store app to actually download apps. The discounted apps are limited to samsung smartphones. Meanwhile, those brought on Playstore can be installed on any google play services compatible smartphone.
I have no idea how Samsung phones are so popular. They are aesthetically pleasing I guess, but their insistence on bloat ware has driven me away since day 1. I almost got the 1 bloat free phone they ever made which was the S4 Google Play edition, but opted for the HTC One Google Play edition instead. Since then, every phone has been loaded with unremovable garbage apps that you can't get rid of without rooting. I refuse to buy a phone with garbage apps that no one uses with the sole purpose of data collection. Say what you will about Google (I know) but at least their apps are helpful.
My mom has a Samsung Smart TV that recently kept turning on by itself to play their shitty TV+app which was pre installed on the TV, and never once opened (not on purpose at least) by anyone in the household. Apparently this is a common issue. I had to disconnect it completely from the internet, perform a factory reset, sign her Samsung account out, and plug in a Chromecast to replace the UI of the TV just to get everything working for her, and not waste electricity by having the TV randomly turn on every 30 minutes. It's one thing if they were bloating their UI with good apps, but forcing a bunch of absolutely useless apps onto us is ridiculous.
I don't have a particular liking for Samsung, but I've been using their devices for many years since their features best match my needs.
I never got any bloat, quite the contrary, I go out of my way to install some of their apps because they provide android functionality that is rare to find otherwise (e.g. audio multi-app sound, sound output to different devices, individual app volume control, etc.).
There are no preinstalled games, 3rd party apps or anything really other than the basic Google & default apps like a browser.
From reading online, it seems to be a feature of some segments of the US market.
I'm currently using my first Samsung device in a while (handed down by someone who didn't like it) and it's just like any other phone.
I'm not in the US though.
What I could hold against them is how some of their devices have extra features enabled within the brand's ecosystem. I understand it's a basic way to keep users with the brand without being too harsh (everything still works with another appliance after all), but it's still a bit crummy.
Updates uninstalled, all available permissions turned off, auto-update turned off for Galaxy Store. That app has done nothing but get in my way. Thanks for the reminder, Samsung.
Some apps can be updated through the Play Store, others only through the Galaxy Store. Last I heard Good Lock had been introduced to the Play Store but had limited functionality.