Google and Samsung have had a very interesting relationship as of late, which have involved the two of them in many different lawsuits (not necessarily with each other) and in a conflict of interests in regards to services being provided on Samsung’s Android phones. Now, Samsung is infamous for using TouchWiz as a UI skin on their devices, which you either love or love to hate, depending on what kind of person you are. Hand in hand with TouchWiz, Samsung has also been shipping out apps on their phones that do similar, if not exactly identical, things as their official Google Apps counterpart, effectively just taking up room on the phone with redundant apps. We have learned, much to the joy of you pure Android enthusiasts out there, that Samsung has finally removed one of these apps, which has been around since the original Galaxy S, from the Galaxy S5: The Media Hub.
For those of you that do not know, the Media Hub app does what it sounds like. It was a digital store for movies, music, and books that was sponsored and managed by Samsung, this app was very redundant when compared to the Google Play Store, which is standard on every phone that runs on a version of Android that wants updates from Google. Now, the reasoning behind why Samsung is going about this in this manner is simple and straightforward: Google said so. Just like parents lay down the law with their rowdy kids, Google has started to get serious in regards to what they allow on phones. If a developer wants any Google Apps on their phone, such as the Play Store and search box, then they need to follow certain guidelines laid down by the search giant. As a part of the long-term cross-licensing agreement that Google and Samsung are working on, Samsung needed to start changing how they handle the user experience, specifically how their media services clash with those already established by Google.
For those of you who used the Media Hub extensively on your previous Galaxy devices and will be picking up an S5, then I have some bad news for you. There is no easy way for you to access the content you have on the new flagship, which seems like an oversight from Samsung. Hopefully, they will announce a solution to all of those who may face this problem. What do you think? Is this good for Samsung? Let us know down below in the comments!