[One (M9) Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] x51:
SO.... Where was the box I can uncheck to avoid the latest Fantastic 4 push advertisement showing up in my notification area the other day? Hint: "There is no box" is the right answer here. Also there is STILL no box to turn off yelp ads in blinkfeed. Unchecking the box for HTC location services might work, but that was a different setting that just happened to have a side effect that stopped yelp from showing up. This is only because if they don't know where you are, they cant advertise local restaurants. It's still not actually OFF.

Regardless, this is NOT about unchecking a box or how good or bad or useful the content they push is. This is about complete lack of respect for your customers. I have owned many HTC devices since even before they were branded as HTC devices. Things like Dell re-branded HTC made PDAs before smart phones were even a (common) thing. I paid $650 for the M7, $650 for the M8, and $650 for the M9. I was a loyal customer willing to overlook the sub-par (to put it lightly) cameras, and the overheating issues.. I kept telling myself, "Mistakes happen and they are working on fixing them... HTC is a good company. HTC cares about their customers." I was clearly fooling myself, my faith and trust have been violated. I feel bad that HTC has financial troubles.. The best way to overcome that is to offer a superior product, and superior customer service. They make a decent phone, if they would improve QA, add a much better camera, SERIOUSLY improve customer service, and figure out a way to roll out android updates and security fixes outside of the carriers.. They might have a leg up on the competition and be able to climb back up that profitability ladder... I'm not an expert.. but I'm pretty sure alienating your customers to make a few extra bucks is not the best way to get where they want to be.

Users in general (the type that don't visit XDA-Developers) dont know how to locate these settings to turn them off. Especially when it's a hack.. Turn off HTC location to stop yelp in your blink feed.. What? how is that obvious?? But wait there's more... In order to get to the settings to turn off HTC location, you need to add the HTC home widget if you dont have it, and go under THOSE settings... Wait, what does that have to do with YELP OR BLINKFEED?? Nothing.

The RIGHT way to go about this to ensure the most users keep it on, without forcing it, or angering those that dont want it would have been the following way: Once you updated to the latest blink-feed via google there should be a notification (like the one for "Customize HTC Home" ) that would pop up (ONCE) that says something like "HTC can now offer recommendations and exclusive offers on products and services that interest you. (You can turn this off under blink feed settings at any time)" With a check box that says "I want to receive news and exclusive offers customized for me in my blink feed." (unchecked by default) If you check this you get all the HTC offers by default.

There should also be a "customize" button. Under that customize button there are all of the types of content they will show and you can turn each one on or off: (these can all be checked by default since there was a master on / off box on the previous screen.)

- Yelp - Get recommendations for nearby restaurants wherever you go!

- HTC Products - News, Information and exclusive offers on HTC Products and Services right at your fingertips.

- 3rd Party Products - Get exclusive savings, information, and special offers on great products from HTC affiliates.

- Entertainment - Receive News, Special Offers, and valuable information on upcoming Movies, TV shows, Music, and live events near you!...

- Notify me when new types of content are added. (In other words if they add another specific service like "Bestbuy Offers" or something it will tell you so you can turn it on (or off) depending on how you have the the next setting set.

- Automatically enable new content types. (These can be turned off at any time in blink-feed settings) (Default will be off)

If they went about it this way (opt-in) without asking you over and over until you cave (like customize HTC home) I would have tried all of the options.. and then disabled them if I found them intrusive. It's all about Forcing it on me, no "Actual" way to turn it off, and the general lack of respect for me as a customer.

Yes. THAT ^^^

I'd have no problem with the amazon model of $400 with "Special Offers" and $650 Ad free.