Shovelware on your phone

Screenshot_2012-07-23-20-15-08Do you use the pre-installed software that came on your phone?  I don’t mean the popular stuff like Google Maps and such… I mean the proprietary stuff… the stuff from your Carrier like T-Mobile or Verizon?  Or the stuff from your handset maker like Samsung or HTC?   For example:

Getting started with S Memo

Not to pick on Samsung or their reportedly “good” app “S-Memo”… That’s one of many examples.  Usually proprietary software sucks or costs money to use or sux AND costs money to use.  But, sometimes, some of it is quite nice.  That’s purportedly the case with Samsung’s S-Memo, but I’m not here to promote that software.

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In fact, regardless of how nice it might be, I’m choosing to not even bother with it.  And, there’s an important reason why:

It’s not available on other phones and never will be!

One of the draws of the Android platform is that it’s hardware agnostic.  That means, I can run Android on a plethora of devices from an almost countless number of hardware providers and software written for Android will wok on the vast majority of them.  Why would I want to get mired down in an app that I cannot take with me when I decide to switch to another phone?  That would be like buying a Dell computer with a proprietary spreadsheet app that’s not compatible with Excel or LibreOffice.  Then, if I want to buy say, an HP computer, I can’t use the Dell spreadsheet app or the spreadsheets I created with it.  What’s the point?  Specifically, what’s the point for ME?  I can see the point for Samsung… If I start using it, it locks me into their hardware.  But that doesn’t help me or you.

So, regardless of how awesome it may be, I’m just simply not going to use it.  There are PLENTY of other note taking apps out there like ColorNote, OneNote, EverNote that are NOT tied to one maker’s hardware

What about you?  Do you use any of the proprietary software that came with your phone?  If so, what do you use and what are your plans for making the switch to another phone at some point in your future that doesn’t provide it?