DT Ignite (and why it sucks)

[jalecbronson]

So, if you have a phone that was bought in or round 2014, you're likely to have a piece of what is commonly referred to as "bloatware" (you know, the stuff that you don't want on your phone but is impossible to uninstall unless you're rooted. the stuff that carriers make money on) called DT Ignite. DT Ignite allows carriers to install post-sale bloatware without your permission.  "Carriers make a boatload of money through bloatware deals. It’s not going anywhere any time soon. We all hate it and will always hate it. It is an unfortunate part of the game that, if we buy carrier-tied devices, will have to deal with." (from droid-life.com http://www.droid-life.com/2014/12/02/dt-ignite-verizon-tmobile-bloatware-malware/) 

"Mandalay Digital Group, which owns Digital Turbine, has recently announced that it will be buying Appia, the largest independent mobile app marketer outside of Facebook. Mandalay plans to integrate Appia’s app marketing into Digital Turbine, and possibly into its Ignite distribution package as well.

The result is that app marketing and carrier software distribution look set to become increasingly intertwined. Optimistically, such a service could provide users with carrier supplied apps that actually match your wants and needs. However, the skeptic in me finds it unlikely that such a service will offer any real value to consumers. Worse still, there is already evidence to suggest that this idea will result in extra unwanted bloatware appearing after you’ve already purchased your device!" ( from Android Authority http://www.androidauthority.com/carved-wood-phone-cases-679659/)

It is claimed that these automatic downloads are not counted towards your monthly cap. Even if this is true, it only makes the whole deal half devious. I'm sure some of you already know about this as it is not exactly new news.Just thought I'd throw it back out and urge people to buy their next phone directly from the manufacturer as opposed to the carrier. It might cost a bit more, but you won't have to put up with stuff like this.

[jalecbronson]

Correction: link 2 was not right. this is the correct link: http://www.androidauthority.com/carriers-install-bloatware-without-permission-571052/

[Tfrays]

Very true. Even though I have activated phones with DT ignite on them a the data almost instantly starts getting eaten up. Especially if your on a 1 GB plan per say. I was getting warning messages that my data was almost gone within mins. of activating the new phone. I didn't have Google accounts loaded yet so I know it wasn't that. On top of it most of the games are extremely low end, pay to play and the security apps are just atrocious.