Technology Android

[dilla]

By now there are videos of people just pushing the iPad with their thumb in the middle and it cracking in half. Sure, some cheaper, large tablets bend when you press hard enough or crack when you use full force, but the problem seems to be how little effort it takes to crack the new iPad in half. While most people wouldn't accidentally crack it in their hands, imagine it getting hit in the backpack or something. The reports seem to all claim that the build quality is poor and that it actually takes little force to break it.

I only found that out after googling to see what's up with the new iPhones though. Seriously, check them out, especially the XR when you get the chance. Maybe we've been spoiled with the newer Galaxies and older iPhones, but the XR is the first iPhone that I remember that actually feels like a toy.

I mean, this is the same Apple that sold the same Mac mini at the same price for 3+ years. And has yet to update their Mac Pro in over 5 years but still charges the same. The problem with many iPhone users is that they see it as a fashion accessory or a status symbol so you'll have people that will pay S9+ prices for an Xr or whatever the bargain bin iPhone model is this time around. But you said this extends to all the iPhone models, including the Xs?


I still haven't read too much about the bending of the Pros but Apple's fetish for thinness, worse than most Android OEMs, is probably the culprit. I'd like to think they use high quality aluminum for most of the Macs and iPads but I'm also not sure that's what the iPad is entirely made of. I think so, though. So the main factor has to be just how thin this fucking thing is. The headphone jack died for this lol. And the Home button. I have yet to use a device without a home button and I'm not ready to give up the fingerprint sensor on the Home button like my S7 and the iPad Pro.

 

[dilla]

Pulled the trigger on an eGPU. It was $449 before a rebate of $30 with tax. I am weak.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-RX580IXEB-8GD#sp

Hopefully Newegg doesn’t cancel this order like a bitch.

 

[masta247]

Nice, it's a decent mid-range GPU. I have no idea how well Macs support eGPUs and I'm not sure which games still come out on Macs and how well they are supported, but if it works as well as it does on Windows then it's a good GPU unless you push the resolution too high (beyond 1440P) in AAA games. Less demanding games that work acceptably on integrated GPUs should be maxed out even in higher resolutions on the RX580 though. The price sounds good too.

Can you swap the GPU in that enclosure in the future, to upgrade further down the line if necessary?

 

[dilla]

Nice, it's a decent mid-range GPU. I have no idea how well Macs support eGPUs since I'm not sure which games still come out on Macs and how well they are supported, but if it works as well as it does on Windows then it's a good GPU unless you push the resolution too high in AAA games. 1080P or 1440P (to some extent) will game well on it.

The RX 580 is one of those GPUs that Apple supports and recommends. AMD eGPUs are, supposedly, just plug and play. I could have bought the components separately, since Apple truly supports the GPU and specific enclosures, not ready-made boxes like this "gaming box" as they call it. I read tons of reviews on Amazon, Newegg, and even on eGPU.io and it sounded like people praised the plug and play features of it and it performed pretty well. Some glitches commonly reported were that the fans on the box were generally quiet but when the computer was put to sleep and then woken back up, the fans would be pretty crazy. The remedy was to unplug the GPU and plug it back in and it was fine after that.

I'll see how problematic that will be, if the issue pops up for me, but I am currently running High Sierra and haven't really upgraded to Mojave yet since it is rather new and I wanted the kinks worked out. I think what I read was that Mojave allows for hot plugging the eGPU. I'm not sure if HS allows it but it might be a big enough perk for me to finally upgrade. I'll see if that fan issue pops up for me and if there's a proper fix and if not, I'll just upgrade to Mojave so that I don't have to restart my system each time the fans give me trouble and I have to unplug the eGPU.

There was a similar setup from Gigabyte, a gaming box that had a 1070, but it was $50 more. It seems kinda worth it but I have heard that Windows via Boot Camp requires some tweaking of settings and use of third party apps to use Nvidia on Windows on a Mac. I am still a beginner and I don't own any Windows games so I thought I'd start slow and work up from there. I still want simplicity and don't want to over-reach my noobness to eGPUs and comp hardware. I still know nothing and am relying on reviews from other Mac users.

If I read benchmarks correctly, DOTA should run at 2560x1080 at 120 fps. I'll have to double check but right now, it runs at about 40 fps on highest settings and when using my 29" display. On my MBP screen, it's just under 60fps. That's using openGL; it's about 10% better using Vulkan but that causes artifacts/glitches on my monitor. On my MBP screen, it's just fine, but gaming isn't as fun on it lol.

So we'll see what this eGPU brings. Buying the enclosure and GPU separately was going to be $10-15 more expensive and would require me to know wtf I was doing, so this deal got me a ready-made box that's hopefully just plug and play and I'm good. And has a $30 rebate. And I just saw that I get codes for 3 free games. Which are for Windows. lol so I guess I will be gaming on Windows because one of those games is Devil May Cry 5.

 

[dilla]

Max settings of DOTA On an extra monitor between 30 and 40 frames per second Before. Now with the external GPU I’m getting 70 to 80. Sometimes a few ticks over 100. Pretty sweet.

One mistake I was making was not connecting the monitor directly into the GPU and instead was just connecting the GPU into the computer and then the manager also went to the computer using the thunderbolt port. So I change that up real quick and plug in the HDMI cable into the GPU and that gave me the performance I’m saying now. Prior to that it was just a small increase and I was about ready to return the gaming box. But somebody pointed it out to me On a forum That I had set up wrong.

 

[dilla]

Boy, older iPads suck. Or the more recent iOS versions suck on it. My sister had an iPad three that her school gave her back in 2012 or something. Whenever they first came out. She used it for school but that was it and after my dad got the Air, which I eventually took, she stopped using the 3. I never touched it either. Until recently when my mom was asking about replacing her 6+ year old Lenovo notebook and I told her to give a tablet a try. Knowing she’d find a way to make something so simple end up being much more complicated, I started her off with the iPad 3 that had been abandoned.

Fuck it’s slow as shit. I think the max is iOS 8 for that generation of chips but it runs so damn slow. I may have to do a clean wipe but I doubt that changes much. I’ve heard these complaints before but figured it was people storing music and other stuff to clutter up the storage.

She asked how fast my iPad was and I immediately shot that notion down. I said it was fast enough but she’d have to learn this one first. Eventually I’ll give her my Air if she likes the iPad in general and finds it useful. If she wants to buy a new one, she can, but I have a Logitech keyboard case for the iPad Air that I think she’d find very useful, too. She’d cry at the pricing of the new iPad Pros, if that’s what she’s looking for. Maybe just the new, regular iPads. Those were selling like hot cakes during BF. I think 128 GB was going for $299?

 

[masta247]

Yeah, the old iPads had really old school processors. The iPad 3 had a dual-core ARM A9 processor, which is basically like the Galaxy S2, or the very first dual-core Androids. Each core is slower even than the "helper" cores in the Galaxy S6 (the energy efficient "little" cores for background tasks), and there are only two of them in the iPad 3. It didn't age well at all.
The iPad 4 had the first actual Apple-designed chip and brought a large jump in performance. But the performance increase that came with Air was probably the largest. It was ahead of its time. Even though it's not exactly fast anymore, you can still see the Air as a minimum requirement for even the heaviest apps and games.

Man, the Air was really a great product in all regards. When you think about it, 5 years later the regular iPad that they sell these days is still basically an Air with a newer processor that's pretty much exactly in between the original Air and the newest Pro. And I think that iPad is still perfectly good enough.

 

[dilla]

Yeah, the old iPads had really old school processors. The iPad 3 had a dual-core ARM A9 processor, which is basically like the Galaxy S2, or the very first dual-core Androids. Each core is slower even than the "helper" cores in the Galaxy S6 (the energy efficient "little" cores for background tasks), and there are only two of them in the iPad 3. It didn't age well at all.
The iPad 4 had the first actual Apple-designed chip and brought a large jump in performance. But the performance increase that came with Air was probably the largest. It was ahead of its time. Even though it's not exactly fast anymore, you can still see the Air as a minimum requirement for even the heaviest apps and games.

Man, the Air was really a great product in all regards. When you think about it, 5 years later the regular iPad that they sell these days is still basically an Air with a newer processor that's pretty much exactly in between the original Air and the newest Pro. And I think that iPad is still perfectly good enough.

Yup, I agree. The Air was plenty fast for me even though the Pro is noticeably faster, especially with multitasking. I think that is more to do with the RAM than CPU, right? Although the CPU helps. I don't do intensive stuff like editing and recording at the same time but switching between PDFs and note taking apps and the browser with multiple tabs open is a moderate stress, I think. I also iMessage with my sister lol.

My Air has been tucked away for a minute now and is still on the iOS 12 beta because I never pulled it out to update it but I'm sure it'll handle 12 just fine despite being a 2013 device.

Did you read the reception to the Slate? Looks like another swing and a miss by Google. I think this leaves Samsung, still, as the one carrying the Android tablet burden. I don't know for how much longer before they too quit.

Everyone has been saying tablets are dying for years now but while the growth might be negative, they're still around and are still powerful devices if you're not expecting laptop performance from them. Though, as we've discussed many times in the past, they can do a lot of things a notebook can. Just not all. And Apple has stuck to their guns with the iPad, although their end-game of replacing notebooks with iPads is questionable.

It's going to be a big game of catch up for Google if tablets stick around longer because what they're doing right now is just not cutting it. And that's just for hardware; I don't think even Android TV has gotten all major players with a TV app. Imagine having to add a tablet version in to the mix.

 

[dilla]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1069924716041752576

That just looks weird. Just a gaping hole/slot. Worse than the notch?

 

[masta247]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1069924716041752576

That just looks weird. Just a gaping hole/slot. Worse than the notch?

The Tweet was deleted (meaning whatever it was might have been legit). I assume it's a Galaxy S10 leak with the selfie cutout. While imho it's not as bad as a notch due to less screen being taken away, personally, I'd much rather have no selfie cam and a whole screen intact. I'd also take the thin top camera bezel of the S8/S9 over this.

Honestly speaking, the S8/S9 bezels are so thin that I don't think it's necessary to make them even smaller by sacrificing display integrity. While I used to want bezels to become as small as possible back in the days, I can't imagine anyone with an S8/S9 complaining about that anymore. A camera cutout in the freaking display would bother me though.

 

[dilla]

The Tweet was deleted (meaning whatever it was might have been legit). I assume it's a Galaxy S10 leak with the selfie cutout. While imho it's not as bad as a notch due to less screen being taken away, personally, I'd much rather have no selfie cam and a whole screen intact. I'd also take the thin top camera bezel of the S8/S9 over this.

Honestly speaking, the S8/S9 bezels are so thin that I don't think it's necessary to make them even smaller by sacrificing display integrity. While I used to want bezels to become as small as possible back in the days, I can't imagine anyone with an S8/S9 complaining about that anymore. A camera cutout in the freaking display would bother me though.

Yeah, that's exactly what it was. The S10 renders or leak that showed a strange hole in the screen in lieu of a notch.

I don't know which I'd prefer, notch or...hole.

I know the importance of the front facing camera, though I don't use it too often on any of my mobile devices. Just for occasional video chat/Face Time, but certainly not for any selfies. Any chance Samsung, or other OEMs, just remove the front camera completely, or make a variant that doesn't have one just to have a model that has a screen that takes up 100% of the front of a phone?

I remember certain variants of BlackBerries lacked a camera and were used as government phones because of security concerns. If Samsung can manage to market it as anything but that, I think more people will be open to one less camera but a complete front screen with no notch or hole or anything. For the people that don't take selfies daily.

But it also just occurred to me that the iris scanner is in the camera, right? Or the proximity sensor would also still need to be on the front of the phone so it may still not be possible to have a 100% bezel less phone.

 

[masta247]

Any chance Samsung, or other OEMs, just remove the front camera completely, or make a variant that doesn't have one just to have a model that has a screen that takes up 100% of the front of a phone?

That's what I'd personally like, but I don't know if Samsung would actually release a phone without a selfie camera. I think they're going to do everything they can to actually place a selfie cam under the display in the future. It is actually not impossible with OLED screens since they can be transparent. They are already able to place proximity sensors and fingerprint scanners under OLED displays. I believe that in two or three years all sensors will actually be located under the display.

For now, I prefer a thin top bezel over a notch or a hole. That way you get the whole, symmetrical screen and the camera and sensors as well. I am happy with the S8/S9s screen to body ratio. While it would be cool to have a completely all-screen front, I will only be interested in a phone that manages to accomplish that without holes or notches. I think these are stop-gap solutions that just aren't worth it.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

I'd much rather have a hole than a notch. But as I said before, the OnePlus 6T and one of the Vivo phones did the notch the best way possible.

Eventually, we'll start to see front facing cameras and sensors underneath the screen - that's the way it's heading.

 

[dilla]

That's what I'd personally like, but I don't know if Samsung would actually release a phone without a selfie camera. I think they're going to do everything they can to actually place a selfie cam under the display in the future. It is actually not impossible with OLED screens since they can be transparent. They are already able to place proximity sensors and fingerprint scanners under OLED displays. I believe that in two or three years all sensors will actually be located under the display.

For now, I prefer a thin top bezel over a notch or a hole. That way you get the whole, symmetrical screen and the camera and sensors as well. I am happy with the S8/S9s screen to body ratio. While it would be cool to have a completely all-screen front, I will only be interested in a phone that manages to accomplish that without holes or notches. I think these are stop-gap solutions that just aren't worth it.

Yeah, we will see what eventually comes out. I always have the urge to upgrade but I can hang on to my S7 if need be. There's just so much hype around how revolutionary the S10 will be but if it's still a whole lot of nothing at the end of the day I can hold off on upgrading. Or I can wait a few months and see how far the price drops. So many BF deals for the S9 at around the $400 price mark, or slightly above for the S9+, that I think I can wait that time if I do decide to get an S10.

Did you hear about the new LG phones that are now getting the same boot loop issues as pretty much every LG phone since the G4?

 

[masta247]

There's just so much hype around how revolutionary the S10 will be but if it's still a whole lot of nothing at the end of the day I can hold off on upgrading.

That's always been the case. People hype up the upcoming Galaxy smartphones to incredibly unrealistic proportions. The Galaxies always manage to be the most complete smartphones at the time of launch, often with hardware that's ahead of the curve, yet it's hard for them to meet some expectations.

This is the new Samsung upper mid-ranger that just became official, the new Galaxy A8:

I expect that the S10 will have a very similar style, as is usually the case. The S-series usually take things up one notch above the preceding A-series phone.

Frankly, the new A8 is really good for a mid-ranger. It has 8 gigs of ram and the Snapdragon 710 chipset, which is just a single tier below the 800-series.
Samsung actually uses the "Infinity-O" name for the camera hole display - I think it's all but certain that the S10 will do exactly the same thing.

Did you hear about the new LG phones that are now getting the same boot loop issues as pretty much every LG phone since the G4?

I'm honestly not surprised, lol. I think the only LG phones that had good software were the ones where Google fully handled that part - I mean the Nexus devices. I also think that LG hardware combined with Google software was a perfect combination for both companies.

 

[dilla]

That's always been the case. People hype up the upcoming Galaxy smartphones to incredibly unrealistic proportions. The Galaxies always manage to be the most complete smartphones at the time of launch, often with hardware that's ahead of the curve, yet it's hard for them to meet some expectations.

This is the new Samsung upper mid-ranger that just became official, the new Galaxy A8:
View attachment 443

I expect that the S10 will have a very similar style, as is usually the case. The S-series usually take things up one notch above the preceding A-series phone.

Frankly, the new A8 is really good for a mid-ranger. It has 8 gigs of ram and the Snapdragon 710 chipset, which is just a single tier below the 800-series.
Samsung actually uses the "Infinity-O" name for the camera hole display - I think it's all but certain that the S10 will do exactly the same thing.



I'm honestly not surprised, lol. I think the only LG phones that had good software were the ones where Google fully handled that part - I mean the Nexus devices. I also think that LG hardware combined with Google software was a perfect combination for both companies.

This is the device that also doesn’t have a headphone jack right? I read that the S 10 could be the worst Samsung phone with a headphone jack. But those are just rumors and predictions and people have been saying this about Samsung phones for a few years now since the Removal of the headphone jack trend began.

As for the S10 And it’s possible design I don’t think the hype around the latest Samsung flag ship for the S8 and S9 Promised anything revolutionary. I think the fingerprint scanner in the screen was the rumor for both of them but nothing really came of that. It’s the 10 that has all these rumors about a huge design change. Unless I’m mistaken. But even before the previous two phones were released people weren’t expecting a huge change in design And were instead expecting smaller bezels and maybe that change in location for the fingerprint scanner which eventually did happen.

We’ll see what the 10 Brings but I don’t think they really need to hit it out of the park in order for it to be a success. It looks like Apple is discounting a lot of it’s models due to poor sales so if it’s not Apple that’s selling devices like hotcakes that it only makes sense that it be Samsung Picking up the rest.

 

[masta247]

This is the device that also doesn’t have a headphone jack right? I read that the S 10 could be the worst Samsung phone with a headphone jack. But those are just rumors and predictions and people have been saying this about Samsung phones for a few years now since the Removal of the headphone jack trend began.

As for the S10 And it’s possible design I don’t think the hype around the latest Samsung flag ship for the S8 and S9 Promised anything revolutionary. I think the fingerprint scanner in the screen was the rumor for both of them but nothing really came of that. It’s the 10 that has all these rumors about a huge design change. Unless I’m mistaken. But even before the previous two phones were released people weren’t expecting a huge change in design And were instead expecting smaller bezels and maybe that change in location for the fingerprint scanner which eventually did happen.

We’ll see what the 10 Brings but I don’t think they really need to hit it out of the park in order for it to be a success. It looks like Apple is discounting a lot of it’s models due to poor sales so if it’s not Apple that’s selling devices like hotcakes that it only makes sense that it be Samsung Picking up the rest.

The leaks were all sorts of insane back in the day. The S8 was supposed to have an all-display font with the screen being hard-coded to display "Samsung" due to no space for the logo. And that's what evleaks posted. It was also supposed to have 6GB of RAM and cost $1000. Then so did the S9.

Then the S9 was supposed to come with an all screen front:
https://www.phonearena.com/news/Sam...gh-screen-to-body-ratio-rumor-claims_id100081

The leaks were crazy, while some of the Reddit discussions under those leaks were simply outrageously stupid.
When the final design and specs leaked (because the actual box leaked), people didn't believe it because it looked just like the S8 and still had 4GB of RAM, lol.

It's funny how so many people are disappointed when the S-series launch because they don't meet some outrageous expectations, despite still being the best all-around phones on the market, usually by a landslide at their launch. Otherwise, the S10 will be the first Android phone with a 7nm chipset, which is going to be a major upgrade regardless of what else they update.

I think the expectations for the S10 are pretty much in-line with what happened before all other Galaxy S-series launches, except we seem to have sneak peeks earlier on this time around with the Infinity-O thing on the A8.

I hope they keep on placing the headphone jack on the S series. The day they stop doing that might be the day I stop buying their phones since I have my headphone collection that I value more than the phone itself and there's nothing wireless that comes close. I spent a lot of time buying the perfect-sounding headphones, I consider that an excellent investment due to their longevity and lack of improvements over time within that market and generally expect some of them to last me for decades. Case in point, I have a pair of Koss headphones made in the 80s that still sound better than any wireless headset.
Even sound quality aside, I don't want to have to be forced to charge my headphones or have the batteries die after 3 or 4 years. The cable is a benefit for me, since it ensures I don't lose them and that they don't need any other power sources, and I'm simply 100% sure I wouldn't give up on wired headphones. Unless I stop listening to the music on the go.

 

[dilla]

The leaks were all sorts of insane back in the day. The S8 was supposed to have an all-display font with the screen being hard-coded to display "Samsung" due to no space for the logo. And that's what evleaks posted. It was also supposed to have 6GB of RAM and cost $1000. Then so did the S9.

Then the S9 was supposed to come with an all screen front:
https://www.phonearena.com/news/Sam...gh-screen-to-body-ratio-rumor-claims_id100081

The leaks were crazy, while some of the Reddit discussions under those leaks were simply outrageously stupid.
When the final design and specs leaked (because the actual box leaked), people didn't believe it because it looked just like the S8 and still had 4GB of RAM, lol.

It's funny how so many people are disappointed when the S-series launch because they don't meet some outrageous expectations, despite still being the best all-around phones on the market, usually by a landslide at their launch. Otherwise, the S10 will be the first Android phone with a 7nm chipset, which is going to be a major upgrade regardless of what else they update.

I think the expectations for the S10 are pretty much in-line with what happened before all other Galaxy S-series launches, except we seem to have sneak peeks earlier on this time around with the Infinity-O thing on the A8.

I hope they keep on placing the headphone jack on the S series. The day they stop doing that might be the day I stop buying their phones since I have my headphone collection that I value more than the phone itself and there's nothing wireless that comes close. I spent a lot of time buying the perfect-sounding headphones, I consider that an excellent investment due to their longevity and lack of improvements over time within that market and generally expect some of them to last me for decades. Case in point, I have a pair of Koss headphones made in the 80s that still sound better than any wireless headset.
Even sound quality aside, I don't want to have to be forced to charge my headphones or have the batteries die after 3 or 4 years. The cable is a benefit for me, since it ensures I don't lose them and that they don't need any other power sources, and I'm simply 100% sure I wouldn't give up on wired headphones. Unless I stop listening to the music on the go.

Yeah I do find that a mix of wireless and wired headphones fits me best. I use in ear wire Xiaomi/1More triple drivers for music on my phone but for streaming tv shows in bed I use my Samsung Level Pros because I don’t care too much about sound quality on third party streaming sites. For gaming on my MBP, I use the Beats Solo3s because they’re already tied to all my Apple devices and only those devices.

It I like having those optione especially when on the go. But I know audiophiles are in a whole different situation. I also forgot about my Logitech UE 6000? headphones. I haven’t used those in a long time because my Beats have more or less replaced them. But they were good too.

I didn’t know the leaks were that elaborate and numerous for the S8/9. I thought it was just screen and fingerprint hopes but a persistent Samsung logo on the screen? lol I would’ve bailed had that happened.

I recently read that one plan of action if the Sprint and TMo merger go through is removing Sprint towers in areas where there is already TMo towers. That’s concerning if TMo sucks in my area and Sprint doesn’t and the merger actually makes it worse by connecting me to a weaker TMo tower. Not to mention the congestion of hundreds more people connecting to the same tower in that area. If it’s not clear by the time the S10 releases or whenever I decide to upgrade, I’ll avoid getting another phone through Sprint in case this ends up being a poor deal.

 

[dilla]

https://9to5mac.com/2018/12/14/iphone-xr-demand-iphone-sales/

Are any of the other major OEMs reporting similar cutbacks in production for this reason? I don't know if the poor sales are people ignoring the XR and looking to the XS, or people with older phones that simply aren't upgrading their phones as often anymore but the top Reddit comment was along the lines of "good, maybe this will get Apple to reconsider their absurd prices."

If I'm not mistaken, all OEMs are guilty of this, not just Apple. Apple is probably the most egregious offender but others are still well over $100+ their actual worth. But are consumers getting smarter about how often they upgrade their phones and what the reasons are for upgrading, outside of "contract is up?"


Could this be the kick in the rear Apple and other OEMs needed to straighten out their pricing or alter their update schedules?

 

[masta247]

I think it's a mix of people not needing to upgrade as often mixed with people going for mid-rangers that are simply almost as good as the flagships these days. The latter is especially true outside of North America.
When you think about it, several-year-old devices were never as similar to newest flagships, and so are the newest mid-rangers. Like we discussed several times already, there aren't many reasons to upgrade anymore, and people are slowly catching up with the fact that their iPhone 6S or 7 (that traditionally would be due for an upgrade) does exactly the same things that a new XR or XS would, and actually does them perfectly well. Why spend a grand then?

Not just in terms of hardware or iPhones that have been more than good enough for a few generations now, but if your Android phone is not supported anymore, that's not even something that people care about anymore, as newer software versions bring nothing new that's worth anyone's attention as well. There's nothing exciting happening making people want to have it - just slow progression and slightly better reiterations of the same things.

By the way, the drama of Qualcomm working with the Chinese government to ban iPhone sales in China is hilarious. Surprisingly, they might have a shot considering the political climate and the fact that Apple is the largest (and now rather unwanted) competitor to Huaweii, Xiaomi and Oppo in China.
They actually banned the iPhone X and 8 already. Now they're working to ban the XR, XS and XS Max, so pretty much all iPhones that are still being sold. The way I see it, either Apple backs down and pays Qualcomm the big money that they're asking for, or Qualcomm and the Chinese makers will be very happy as Apple does get indeed banned there.

https://www.gsmarena.com/qualcomm_ban_iphone_xs_iphone_xr_china-news-34701.php