Yes, they load up Android with their own versions of apps in an attempt at end-user lock-in to their ecosystem, plus various other, what I consider, unnecessary padding that's not uninstallable.
The new life breathed into an older Samsung device by the installation of LineageOS is what I consider the proof of this.
Overall it's entirely subjective, however. I prefer minimal base Android so that I can choose which apps are allowed to annoy me with their various reminders to create an account, log in, look at these new features, rate me, etc.
Other (less technologically savvy) family members love their Samsung apps and the ecosystem, and just find my setup to be confusing or overly complicated.
Right. Whereas we want to strip the software down to the bare minimum into some sort of platonic ideal state, it turns out all the Samsung stuff is actually quite useful and actually is what most people want. It's really quite useful stuff!
I have a midrange Samsung tablet (FE model) and the only "bloat" I've noticed is a Google Now replacement that I can't uninstall. That's very annoying, but that's also the only unnecessary application on there.
Samsung has to package certain applications with their device to allow Google Play, like Chrome. Google has convinced people that their browser is the norm (not the perfectly fine Samsung Internet) and that any manufacturer making their own apps to compete with theirs is "bloat".
The well-integrated Samsung calendar is a lot better than Google Calendar, but Google forced companies for years to install their version as well, despite their failure to capitalize on the unique hardware features of some devices. The same is true for many other Google apps.
I don't think I've seen random ads in Samsung's pre-installed apps. Samsung Health on my (non-Samsung) phone started advertising their new phone at me, which disturbed me, but it seems to have stopped doing that soon after all by itself. My guess is that they received more backlash than anticipated.
I'm pretty sure I could give Samsung Dex to a lot of people and they'd be fine using it as a daily driver for their computer. It does everything most people want out of Windows (a browsers and light office work) and it's not nearly as bad as some other attempts. With modern smartphone CPUs, the UI is smooth and responsive, and Samsung's design makes me a little jealous as a Linux user because it's honestly just better. I'd even go do far as to call it better than Windows 10's UI in some ways.
If you're ever near a store that had Samsung tablets on display, I recommend you try putting one of the demo units in Dex mode. It's a toggle in the quick toggles and it'll turn the tablet into a full desktop (which is perfectly fine for the massive screens tablets have these days!).
Hell, if Jetbrains keeps developing their remote coding platform, I bet I'd be able to do programming work from a tablet and a sleeve as if I was working on my Linux laptop.
I think this depends on region, and the type of phone.
I am in Canada and have never seen ads or bloatware on Samsung phones. I currently use a Galaxy Z Fold 3 connected to a lapdock via USB-C video out. DeX is a very nice desktop environment for the phone.
Meh. Not really. I notice a few things here and there but avoiding Samsung apps is pretty easy.
With Samsung I can plug in a USB-C to HDMI cable and duplicate my screen with zero effort. And with DeX, apparently I can turn my phone into a desktop?! I never tried before last week but when I plugged in aforementioned cable, I get a DeX prompt. Exit, and I see the screen. Hit "enable DeX" and it turns on a mode that shows something like a desktop screen on the external display.
Perhaps the fact this isn't known or operationalized by companies means it has a ways to go, or that laptops are easier for remote workers. But it's cool stuff.
That reputation was why I had stuck to brands which stayed closer to a more vanilla Android experience.
My experience with their latest stuff has been that they do still have a lot of bloat and duplicated functionality, but the base experience is much closer to stock Android than what I remembered from their older phones. To put it differently, it looks and feels similar to the near stock Xperia 1 ii I switched from but has all sorts of little differences.
I actually find myself using a lot of the functionality too, so it feels a bit less "bloated" to me.
I haven't really noticed ads though. They do recommend stuff, eg their camera app has a bunch of modes and the "Expert RAW" mode was shown in the app but required a download from their app store. I don't really count those since they're somewhat more relevant than say, Windows advertising candy crush on the start menu.
I have a Samsung A32 and the bloatware has been completely unobtrusive for me so far, and no ads either.
My purchasing and usage habits for mobile devices is to get something new that is mid or low-range, use it until I notice performance issues, or the bloatware does something I don't like, then flash a custom ROM.
That's served me pretty well in the past, but I may still have hangups from teething pains with rooting devices and compatibility issues on custom ROMs back in the 2010's
Just be careful not to disable the ui, adb or something else that is essential. I haven't found anything that can't be disabled, yet. Always backup your important data in case you have to reset to factory defaults.
