While the increased performance, better camera, and sleek build are reason enough to be excited for the Samsung Galaxy S6, one possible killer new feature was revealed by a user on the XDA-Developers forums: the ability to remove almost any app on the phone. This user had procured a pre-release Galaxy S6 Edge, and somewhat off-handedly remarked that many of the apps could be removed, uploading screenshots to further illustrate the point.
The interesting part is that this isn’t limited to third-party apps like Skype, OneDrive, and OneNote. Even Samsung’s own apps like S-Health and S-Voice appear to be removable, as is the built-in Calculator app. Should you decide you would like to reinstall the apps, those that can’t be found in the Google Play Store can be found in Samsung’s own Galaxy Apps store.
Of course, as this is a pre-release version of the phone, we can’t be certain that users will still be able to delete these apps on versions of the phone shipped to retailers. We also can’t be sure that the apps are actually being deleted. It’s possible that the apps are simply being disabled behind the scenes — something you can do with many apps on most Android phones.
Still, customers have been quite vocal about their distaste for bloatware. With Samsung preparing to ship a total of 55 million Galaxy S6 phones in 2015, this could go a long way toward improving the company’s reputation with its customers.
