I used to hate Samsung’s bloatware on laptops and phones – but Windows 11 and Android are the best chance to take on Apple
Samsung has always made some of the best smartphones and recently started releasing some of the best laptops you can buy right now. However, one thing that has always put me off about the company’s products is the amount of bloatware that comes pre-installed.
The company’s attempts to get me to use apps like Samsung Internet Browser, Samsung Wallet, and Samsung Notes, even though there are perfectly good Android alternatives, were one of the reasons I decided to upgrade to the Pixel 7 Pro when it came time to trade in my otherwise beloved Galaxy Note 9. Pixel handsets have the least amount of bloatware because they’re made by Google, the company behind Android and programs like Chrome, Google Wallet, and Google Keep—all apps and services I actually use.
However, after my Pixel 7 Pro met an untimely end (basically it got run over by a car), I went back to Samsung and bought the Galaxy S24 Ultra, mainly because it’s one of the best camera phones you can buy – but I feared a return of the bloated devices. However, I’ve found that things have changed – and Samsung’s promotion of its own software is starting to make a lot more sense.
Oh, there is still flatulence
When I say things have changed, I don’t mean that Samsung has dropped the bloatware – it’s still there and I had to spend more time than I would have liked removing or changing many of the default apps and services before I even started using the phone.
What has changed, however, is that Samsung is making a better case for how its various products can work together and form a nearly seamless ecosystem, something that Apple does brilliantly but other laptop and phone makers have failed to do. That became clear when I started using the new Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge laptop alongside my S24 Ultra.
If you own multiple Apple products, you might take for granted how well they work together. For example, you can view your iPhone’s notifications (and soon its screen) on your Mac, or turn an iPad into a second display for your MacBook simply by placing the two devices close together.
Apple’s ecosystem may seem restrictive at first glance (there’s no way I’d buy an Apple Watch, even if it was the best smartwatch on the market for my purposes, because it wouldn’t work without an iPhone), but the tight control over hardware and software means that if you fully commit to Apple devices, you get a seamless and user-friendly experience that Apple’s competitors struggle to replicate.
The main reason for Apple’s success is that the company not only builds all of its devices, such as iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but also creates the software that runs on those devices. This makes it much easier to create an ecosystem of integrated products.
Samsung, like pretty much all PC makers, doesn’t have that luxury. Its hardware is assembled from a wider range of manufacturers, its phones and tablets run Android, an operating system from Google, and its laptops run Windows 11 from Microsoft.
Although Windows 11 is getting better and better at working with Android devices, thanks in large part to the excellent Phone Link app that lets you access messages, photos, and even apps from your phone within Windows 11, it still doesn’t offer the seamless experience you get when using a Mac and iPhone.
Samsung’s answer to this is to offer its own apps for most regular tasks (calendar, notes, messages, etc.), both in the Windows 11 and Android versions. This isn’t the most elegant solution – it means you have to use Samsung’s apps and keep them installed on your devices, and you also need a Samsung account.
After logging in on both the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge and my Galaxy 24 Ultra, I started playing around with the ecosystem. QuickShare is Samsung’s version of AirDrop that allows you to quickly send and receive files between the Galaxy Book and Galaxy phone. This has proven very useful as I often need to email myself documents from my phone to open them on my PC.
Another cool feature is the ability to use the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra as a webcam for the Galaxy Book4 Edge. Thanks to the S24 Ultra’s excellent cameras, you can drastically improve the image quality of your video calls compared to the Galaxy Book’s built-in webcam. Again, this is similar to a feature in macOS that lets you use your iPhone as a webcam, and while there are already methods to use a smartphone as a webcam in Windows 11, this is the first time I’ve seen such a simple and user-friendly implementation.
With my S24 connected to the Galaxy Book4 Edge, I could also use the laptop’s keyboard and trackpad to control the phone, but perhaps the best feature I’ve tried so far is using a Galaxy Tab tablet as a second screen for the Galaxy Book4 Edge. This is an excellent and really useful feature – I use Apple’s Sidecar feature, which lets me use my iPad as a second screen for my MacBook, a lot, and I’m really pleased to see a similar feature for Windows 11 and Android. While the implementation isn’t quite as seamless as Sidecar (which detects when a MacBook and iPad with the same Apple ID are close together and prompts you to extend your screen), it’s relatively easy to set up and works well.
Of course, you’ll need to have Samsung devices and apps installed, but what Samsung offers is what I’ve seen so far as a cohesive ecosystem of devices and software that rivals Apple’s. That means Windows 11 users with Android phones won’t have to look at Apple users so enviously anymore.
This is also good for Samsung, of course, because if you have a Samsung smartphone and are looking for a new laptop, a Samsung Galaxy Book is a compelling option. Case in point: I needed new wireless earbuds and the ability to quickly switch from my Galaxy S24 Ultra to the Galaxy Book4 Edge convinced me to spend money on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.
It turns out that there is value in making an effort to offer customers convenient and user-friendly features – and when manufacturers pre-install apps on our devices, they need to give us a reason to use them. That’s a lesson Samsung seems to have learned from Apple – and I hope other laptop makers will now learn from Samsung, too.
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