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Oh, doubtless you need to trawl for them, but they exist. I've seen them with my own eyes. "Virtual nose surgery" was one (yeah, I wasn't impressed that she installed it, but I gave her a level of trust that has now had to be revoked.)
It wasn't a rant about the Play Store though. They OP asked what was wrong with Android.
And here is the second one "screen licking kitty live wallpaper":
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.orland.wallpaper.s...
Look at it. It's a "cute" cat live wallpaper that licks your screen. Tell me any 7 year old girl would be able to resist... and it's probably harmless, right? Wrong. It did the following:
1) Added 2 or 3 extra shortcuts on the home screen to spam apps/sites
2) Opening the "payload" app, immediately pops up a message "your device has a virus" that then directed me to a site to download a fake antivirus APK. This was very similar to the other app she installed.
3) Sends around 10+ spam notifications a minute for crapware apps.
Let's be honest here.. these apps are in the top 200 free games category. Virtual Nose Surgery in #35 and Screen licking Cat is #129. That's in the UK Play Store, now, today as I type. That is fcuking disgraceful.




Member since:
2005-06-29
1) The Play Store has apps that are as bad as any malware you might want to find on the internet. They literally use all of the old malware tricks (install extra apps/short cuts, tell you there is a virus on your device.)
Never encountered any of these, neither have my Android-using friends. Doesn't mean they don't exist - but it does *usually* mean the problems are overblown - like antennagate.
3) Battery life is a joke. The OS still has a hard time managing the battery.
4) Background tasks are a mess. If you don't constantly manage your apps and background tasks you battery is toast in a few hours. Apps install background tasks like crazy.
I could go on, I won't.
Not only are these all disputable, they've got nothing to do with the Play Store.