If there’s one thing the carriers and manufacturers of Android devices are good at (specially the carriers), it’s filling up the devices with extra unneeded and bloatware apps of their own, bogging them down and making them slow in many cases, as well as using up space that could otherwise be left free for other uses. Worst part of it is that in most cases, these apps cannot be removed without root access.
The Samsung Epic 4G Touch, carrier branded by Sprint, also comes with a lot of bloatware. Thanks to XDA modder Calkulin and his Bare ROM Converter, you can now remove most of the unneeded apps on your Epic 4G Touch by simply flashing a file from ClockworkMod recovery, on both Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich firmware. Using Bare ROM Converter is quite simple. Just drop the Bare ROM Converter zip file on your SD card, boot into ClockworkMod recovery, flash the zip, and reboot your phone. And voila, most of the unneeded and non-essential apps will be gone from the phone, leaving you with a bloatware-free ROM.
Here are some of the apps that the Bare ROM Converter removes:
- Buddies Now
- Dual Clock widget
- Kies Air
- Mobile Tracker engine
- Media Hub
- Polaris Office
- Google Plus
- Samsung widgets like News, Program Monitor, Weather Clock, etc.
- SNS Accounts
- Sprint Installer
- Mobile Wallet
- Social Hub
- Vlingo
Those interested in stripping their phone of all the bloat can head over to the original development page on XDA to download Bare ROM Converter and also check out the full list of apps it removes. As mentioned, it works on both Gingerbread ROMs and the Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs that have been leaked over the last few months. Share your thoughts on the Bare ROM Converter in the comments below.
