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by abawany 3558 days ago
I understand. However, I do encourage you to read and at least consider rooting the phone (without triggering the flash counter if the phone is under warranty): this will enable you to remove/disable a lot of the 'system' apps that are fairly evil. The first link I included has options for your device for cleaned-up Samsung ROMs.

I have a Sony Xperia Z2 now and I chose the root option instead of the (available) Cyanogenmod install for it since Sony, while being very open to rooting etc., chooses to remove some image enhancement functionality on flashed devices. The root has enabled me to remove a lot of the junk and also install the Xposed framework along with XPrivacy. The latter enables fine-grained control of permissions by app.

Sure it is a bit of work but it depends on how you value your private data. I realize ultimately it might be futile but I am planning to put in as much effort as makes sense to protect my data as best as I know how.