All I know is my galaxy wants to download N gigabytes to update every month or two, do it again the same day after the first one, and revert every privacy setting to default (not private) in the process. I've resorted to DNS shenanigans to limit the abuse, only temporarily allowing some domains as necessary for wifi calling or whatever.
My pixel 2 never had that sort of bullshit. I never had to figure out how to disable (because uninstalling isn't allowed and neither is root on a Samsung) Candy Crush, I never had to disable (every unwanted "update") location services and ads for my fucking builtin camera, and it had a general feeling of just working.
The stock Samsung apps weren't amazing, but ignoring the phoning home with my location and screenshot and recent conversations they weren't shockingly terrible, nevertheless that wasn't my issue with the experience by a longshot.
The system update notification also randomly pops up fullscreen in front of whatever app you are actively using. And some vendor apps even have their own notifications outside the play store ones - why the fuck would I care about updating "Voice Recorder" that it needs its own notification when I have never used it and the only reason it's installed at all is because it came preinstalled and can't be removed. This is so infuriating that I refuse to update out of spite and will definitely not be buying a Samsung for my next phone.
My pixel 2 never had that sort of bullshit. I never had to figure out how to disable (because uninstalling isn't allowed and neither is root on a Samsung) Candy Crush, I never had to disable (every unwanted "update") location services and ads for my fucking builtin camera, and it had a general feeling of just working.
The stock Samsung apps weren't amazing, but ignoring the phoning home with my location and screenshot and recent conversations they weren't shockingly terrible, nevertheless that wasn't my issue with the experience by a longshot.