How to Remove Pre-Installed Apps from Android Devices

Usually, Android-based smartphones purchased through various carriers are bundled with specific branded apps that may or may not be protected. Users who cannot afford to buy free-of-contract devices might want to remove these applications without tempering with the operating system.

Unfortunately, carriers that bundle their own-branded third-party applications install the applications directly into the Android operating system and not on the memory card, as usual.

By default, users do not have proper access to this area of the Android OS, where the applications are installed, thus they are unable to remove them.

The only way to remove these third-party apps would be to root your Android device and receive the Super User status.

However, for users who do not wish to “root” their devices, there's a simple way that they can stop or/and hide these applications from running in the background.

Any widgets that are displayed on the homescreen can be easily removed by tapping and holding the shortcut of the widget and drop it into the recycle bin.

Any other application that you might want to “remove” requires the installation of a third-party app called Advanced Task Killer, which can be downloaded from the Android market.
Advanced Task Killer enables users to “kill” any processes running on the Android smartphone and can also be set to auto-kill any application when the Android boots.

Once the applications have been stopped, you will only see their icons on the drawer. The process is reversible, so if you think you need one of the applications that you just “killed,” you can make the necessary setting in the Advanced Task Killer menu.

Even though the “killed” applications will continue to take up the same amount of storage space, at least they will not use up any of the phone's resources.

Complete uninstall of bundled third-party applications is only possible if they're not protected. This can be done with the help a free application called Uninstaller, which can be downloaded from Android Market.

Feel free to suggest your own Android tips and tricks, especially if you're an advanced user.