Technology Android

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Do you guys want to do a WhatsApp group chat instead of this thread? I feel like sharing big news articles would be better through that
Or Discord. Coming to SH just to cut and paste is a hassle. And not everyone checks often enough compared to their phones.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Good post on marketshare in the US between Apple and Samsung: https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/13/ios-and-samsung-market-share-now-tied-in-the-u-s/

Funny how the SE is what pushed iOS over the top for Apple's growth. They really shouldn't ignore that phone because while it's not for everyone, everyone I've read about owning one loves it and still uses it today.

On Samsung's end, it seems the S8 promotion helped a good bit in their sales too.

Razer has a new smartphone: https://phoneradar.com/razer-phone-companys-first-smartphone-2k-display-sd835-soc-8gb-ram-specs/


Wonder how that turns out. I've heard of their computers and even looked in to them a few times but they seem to be sort of like Alienware and focused on gaming. Reminds me a bit of the PlayStation phone and how not-good it did and was never attempted again.
 

THEV1LL4N

Well-Known Member
I like it. My girlfriend is going to buy one next week. Screen isn't big enough for me but it looks great.

I was about to buy it! I considered the Xiaomi Mi A1 as well because it's so much more cheaper in price but I think I might wait one more year because when I actually think about it, there's nothing actually wrong with my LG G4 and I don't want to spend so much on a new phone if I don't actually need to.

I think I had my Nexus 4 for about just over 3 years. I'll do the same with my G4 and then look at the phone market again throughout the next year (Samsung Galaxy S9, LG G7, LG V40, Pixel 3 or 2S or whatever they'll call it, Ultra Pixel? or a new Android One phone from Xiaomi maybe?) I'd also like to see what Huawei come up with this year.

This next year will probably feel like a slow one in terms of waiting for a new device and I will have missed out on the free Google Home Mini offer. I'll see what the next year brings though and hopefully there are some good bundles this time next year.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
No, here's the thing. The custom image SoC isn't even active yet. Pixel 2 has destroyed all the competition even without.!

I wouldn't say destroyed. It was pretty much on par with the S7. The new Pixel 2 has an inferior sensor, but the software processing is through the roof - I'd call it a completely new world of correcting photos on the fly and making them look pretty artificially, the fake Bokeh being the pinnacle of that. Personally, I don't know how I feel about it. They even regressed the sensor size and quality compared to the original Pixel. I'm surprised the Dxo labs didn't mention that accordingly, but then again, the photos do look pretty, despite the prettiness not coming from how the camera itself captures the real world. Dunno, man.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Man, I'm so surprised the world is putting up with that shit, and voting with their wallets for this:
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/59584/asus-z270-platform-work-coffee-lake-cpus/index.html

"so if you wanted and Intel let you, you could make Z270 compatible", to which Wu replied: "Yes, but you also require an upgrade from the ME (Management Engine) and a BIOS update. Intel somehow has locked the compatibility". There you have it folks, Intel is locking users out of upgrading to Coffee Lake on their current Z270 boards, by forcing users to buy a Z370 motherboard.

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/59584/asus-z270-platform-work-coffee-lake-cpus/index.html
Then you go to Reddit, and people act like nothing is happening, creating Coffee Lake builds. It feels so sad.

To put it in perspective, for desktop users, Coffee Lake is Skylake with extra cores, using the same socket even, so you could just plug it in the same motherboard in the same computer, keeping the same software licenses and all. However, Intel locked it and lied about the hardware being incompatible. People suspected it's BS and now Asus came out saying it is in fact BS, despite them potentially profiting more than Intel even from extra motherboard sales - Intel only makes maybe 10$ off a board sale due to only a single part of theirs being built into each. Such fuckery.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Man, I'm so surprised the world is putting up with that shit, and voting with their wallets for this:
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/59584/asus-z270-platform-work-coffee-lake-cpus/index.html



Then you go to Reddit, and people act like nothing is happening, creating Coffee Lake builds. It feels so sad.

To put it in perspective, for desktop users, Coffee Lake is Skylake with extra cores, using the same socket even, so you could just plug it in the same motherboard in the same computer, keeping the same software licenses and all. However, Intel locked it and lied about the hardware being incompatible. People suspected it's BS and now Asus came out saying it is in fact BS, despite them potentially profiting more than Intel even from extra motherboard sales - Intel only makes maybe 10$ off a board sale due to only a single part of theirs being built into each. Such fuckery.


That's odd that you say that "reddit doesn't seem to care." Some users on there, in all subs, feed of of nuances like this. This is a big issue, so I'm not sure why you're not seeing any outrage if this is true.

In the Apple sub, I'm seeing comments on Apple saying there will be no October Event to announce new products and some people are butt hurt that Coffee Lake is out for PCs but Apple not having an announcement this year for a refresh to Coffee means we won't see it until March or even June of next year, when it will be old.

And people are retorting with "is Kaby Lake not good enough for you, what are you missing?"

So missing out on something as trivial as what Coffee Lake will bring is still a big issue to reddit.

Odd no one is talking more about it. Is this on r/technology?

Also, saw this thread on rAndroid and it perfectly describes my changes in mood and view on Samsung and other OEMs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/77majn/anyone_else_defaulting_to_samsung/

rAndroid has always been a Google/Nexus circlejerk but more and more users are now starting to have these thoughts that go outside the hive mind and look at other OEMs as feasible alternatives. The joke on that sub is that the ideal phone for the users on there is a Samsung device running iOS. And I agree lol
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I wouldn't say destroyed. It was pretty much on par with the S7. The new Pixel 2 has an inferior sensor, but the software processing is through the roof - I'd call it a completely new world of correcting photos on the fly and making them look pretty artificially, the fake Bokeh being the pinnacle of that. Personally, I don't know how I feel about it. They even regressed the sensor size and quality compared to the original Pixel. I'm surprised the Dxo labs didn't mention that accordingly, but then again, the photos do look pretty, despite the prettiness not coming from how the camera itself captures the real world. Dunno, man.

The S7 and even the S8 are absolutely NOT on par with the Pixel 2. I'm not talking about specs and the sensors but the end result.

My girlfriend got her Pixel 2 this morning. The photos are absolutely fucking insane. Without even trying. Even in the shittiest lighting conditions. Google has performed some real magic here. I've never seen anything like it on a phone, and I've tested the Note 8, S8+, iPhone 8+, all of them. Pixel 2 is on another level.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Odd no one is talking more about it. Is this on r/technology?

Oh they are, there was an outrage, but people forget about it the next day, while the Pc builder reddit and Intel reddit are full of people building new Coffee Lake computers like nothing happened. It's kind of annoying to me to see such things being ignored, and people just voting and giving permission to such things with their wallets. The story is true, and this it the reddit topic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/76yiov/asus_confirms_coffeelake_could_have_worked_in_z270/

The most confusing are people trying to find excuses for Intel, the company that just acted against them too. The fact that the comment about "Intel finally gave us something new, let them have the extra few dollars they make per motherboard chipset sold" got so upvoted is also beyond me. People need to build completely new computers, with new software licenses and all, instead of being able to just swap CPUs to run Coffee Lake just because Intel said so and blocked the CPUs from working with older motherboards. They didn't even care to change the lock mechanism on the new motherboards so they even physically fit and work until booting when they get soft locked.

And Coffee Lake is a decent upgrade - while Intel, having not much competition for years were milking the same cow since Sandy Bridge with tiny improvements for many generations, AMD wiped the floor with Ryzen, so Intel rushed CL with finally increased core counts (for the first time in 10 years) to trade blows with Ryzen in desktop AND mobile, to be pretty much on par. Although Ryzen is still better value for money, offers slightly higher productivity performance and power efficiency/lower heat, Coffee Lake is a little better with legacy software and games.

Basically the extra cores mean that Coffee Lake is a fairly significant upgrade over previous Intel processors, Intel knows that. Milking the customers who just this year bought flagship Intel based computers and flagship motherboards, and requiring them to get completely new ones again to run CL despite it being technically able to run in their computers is fuckery.

Also, saw this thread on rAndroid and it perfectly describes my changes in mood and view on Samsung and other OEMs.


https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/77majn/anyone_else_defaulting_to_samsung/

rAndroid has always been a Google/Nexus circlejerk but more and more users are now starting to have these thoughts that go outside the hive mind and look at other OEMs as feasible alternatives. The joke on that sub is that the ideal phone for the users on there is a Samsung device running iOS. And I agree lol
Yeah I guess the mob mentality of closed communities and the fact that the popular or new but easy opinions get upvoted instead of what is true are my main problems with reddit, and why I try not to go through comments anymore. I mainly use it to check what's the popular opinion on techy things and for news - reddit is super fast as everyone wants to get their post karma by posting things that might become popular asap, and they just post links. The downside is that a lot of very important news get lost, because they are not mass-friendly, so they don't get upvoted enough to get out of the "new" category.

In general I much prefer forums, where people know what is important to discuss, they are to the point, and if someone posts something that is not true, he will get checked (or moderated) by a more experienced and trusted poster, not by a mob of newbies. It doesn't happen on reddit, and it is unpleasant to see an easy but false opinion getting upvoted, while someone who actually explained how the thing really works getting downvoted into becoming hidden because the concept has a second layer of complexity that is less convenient to go through, despite completely changing the angle of a given argument. True discussions that reach the actual point are very rare there, and when they happen, they get ruined by the mob of opinionated people who just want to further believe what made sense to them after reading a headline or two further supporting their assumptions. It's very rare you see educated answers from people who know their stuff - they usually lurk on the forums where they can comfortably discuss things with people who are mostly in the same ballpark in terms of knowledge or at least open-mindedness regarding a given topic, and proved so by dedicating their time making thousands of posts on a niche place existing exclusively for that subject matter.
It's also why I never made a reddit account.

But yeah, I think Samsung makes the all around best hardware in terms of smartphones, in some aspects by far. There are still problems with Android so many years later, that I also frequently feel like the phones get wasted on the OS. That said, iOS in my book has even more problems, and limitations, despite it being the better working OS for basic phone use in terms of its underlying technology. Considering how popular smartphones are, none of those mobile OSes are adequate imho, and these days both are growing very slow and in uninspiring directions. Since Microsoft officially killed Windows Phone, I'm secretly hoping that there is space left for the new third mobile OS that will do things just right, no matter how unlikely that is - there's just too many things to be done right over Android and iOS and their issues. Heck, back in the days Samsung had Bada and Intel had Tizen - both were technically better than Android in many ways, just failed at becoming popular.

The S7 and even the S8 are absolutely NOT on par with the Pixel 2. I'm not talking about specs and the sensors but the end result.

My girlfriend got her Pixel 2 this morning. The photos are absolutely fucking insane. Without even trying. Even in the shittiest lighting conditions. Google has performed some real magic here. I've never seen anything like it on a phone, and I've tested the Note 8, S8+, iPhone 8+, all of them. Pixel 2 is on another level.
Yeah I meant the original Pixel. I saw the shots from the Pixel 2. It comes with great software processing. A lot of talent clearly went into that. Apple also focused on that part with the iPhone 8. I'm just disappointed that the phones didn't come with improved hardware. Personally I'm hoping this will stimulate progress in camera quality, and Samsung will feel more pressure to one-up them with the S9, as the Note 8's camera is disappointingly same-old, and I really hope the dual cam fad goes away - I'm really glad Google didn't go that route.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
I think the people that blindly accept Intel's decision are the same that wouldn't criticize Apple for something like removing a headphone jack or the sudden switch to USB-C. They have a lot of money to spend on this hobby of theirs and they're so invested, mentally, they'll just shut up and move on without much of a fuss. PC building is also a pissing contest, so better to start building and gripe later on just to have the best set up for 48 hours.

I think that same mentality is what prompts the scores of people posting about upgrading from a 6P to a Pixel to a Pixel 2 all in the span of a few years. And that ties back to our issue of people upgrading quickly and OEMs just putting out shit products with minor spec bumps.

Same with your gripes about the mobile OS scene. I said it a few years back that the big innovations stopped years ago. Google IO and Apple's WWDC events, as far as software goes, have been underwhelming. I believe a lot of what Apple does is improve upon existing tech. Someone does it first and Apple bakes in to their hardware well enough that the average user can understand it and use it. They present the tech in that manor, too. But even that has lost a lot of its shine as well. Between hardware leaks and mediocre polishing of existing features, there's not much to look forward to.

On Google's end, they just dump out half-assed services that get the axe 3 years later. The fact that Allo, Hangouts, and whatever the other thing they have is called all exist at once is a testament to Google's ability to gauge how useful their services are and how refined they are to begin with.

What company could possibly create an OS to compete? Amazon? lol, Samsung with Tizen? I think Samsun has the marketshare that if they went for it, they could. Vanilla Android fanboys will scoff at a TouchWiz/Tizen mashup but if it's on as many Galaxy devices that are out there right now, why not?

I've heard people talk about LineageOS and putting that on their S7s, but I'm not rooting my phone and flashing custom ROMs to try it out. I know CM is dead but OPPO used their OS at first on their phones, right? What happened with that?

On a side note, many S7 users are saying their S7s have held up well over time. It'll be two years for me in Feb and I'd agree. Whatever quips I have with the software, at least it isn't fucking up hardware-wise. I've kept it clean and relatively damage and scratch-free so I may hang on to it when it comes time to upgrade.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
What company could possibly create an OS to compete? Amazon? lol, Samsung with Tizen? I think Samsun has the marketshare that if they went for it, they could. Vanilla Android fanboys will scoff at a TouchWiz/Tizen mashup but if it's on as many Galaxy devices that are out there right now, why not?

Yeah that's the problem. Nobody really has much interest in putting out their own OS. For Google it was ads and pushing their services. For Apple it was to have full control over selling a complete package. Microsoft did it just because they made some pennies on each license sold to OEMs, kind of like with desktop Windows. There's not much else, maybe Facebook, lol. I think that's the main problem.

I'm not sure about Samsung. They tried releasing flagships with Bada at the very same time as their first Galaxy S (Samsung Wave), it even had slightly better specs and was cheaper, and it just didn't catch on. I had it. That thing was so smooth, and the battery lasted for a week.
Now for Samsung, Bada, then Tizen became more like back ups in case Google messes up with Android. Android became successful and Samsung is its top OEM, having experienced failure with popularizing its mobile OS, I don't know whether they'd like to try again.

I think that popularity of iOS and Android has all to do with business rather than how good the OSes are. Android's main selling point was that it's a mobile OS, it's free and open source, so OEMs could use it for free and fully customize it to their needs. iOS is popular because iPhones come with it and there's no choice. That's not a good situation for the customers, who don't seem to mind though, because they don't know better and are used to what we have, and there's like a million of apps already made to run on what we have now, making it even more difficult to look elsewhere.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
That's the other issue: apps. That's probably one of the biggest things that I feel killed the Windows Phone. Some Was had incredible hardware but the app selection was terrible and most places didn't embrace WP. Barring some big player like Amazon coming in and paying people to support their platform, I don't see a new OS taking off due their apps.

What is the deal with the Pixel 2 screen burn in issues? So many are reporting it

https://twitter.com/hallstephenj/status/922183909202386944

https://www.androidcentral.com/google-pixel-2-xl-screen-burn

And a reddit thread discussion about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/782e5u/the_future_of_oled_displays_and_why_the_v30pixel/

So many big players in bed with L, and if LG is the culprit, that's going to hit Apple pretty hard since they're using LG displays too, I believe.

Google just can't catch a break with their phones. I get people will scrutinize a new phone as soon as it's released via reviews and stupid, rigorous testing and examining but I feel like every Google/Nexus phone in recent years has had issues pop up that users complain about. And ultimately I hear the phrase "I can't wait until X-Phone comes out so I can upgrade from my "Google/Nexus X."

I'm just going to shut up and put up with Samsung devices now. I'm already two phones deep in to Samsung and now even my wireless headphones are from Samsung, and they play nice together. My external SSD drive will be a Samsung (probably the T5 500 GB) and so it just makes sense to not try to rock the boat too much. I do love Samsun Pay, as well. I'll just have to deal with some minor issues that I have with it, some times.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I personally believe it might be up to LG’s OLED. I had the Witcher 3 UI burn in on their past gen OLED TV, and their phones of the past using their P-OLED also were notorious for it. Their OLED is not as mature as Samsung’s, but they’re still making good progress. The silly thing is having on screen controls and notification panel on a OLED device prone to burn in. There’s a reason Samsung stuck to physical controls when they were perfecting their OLED, apart from users liking them.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
I personally believe it might be up to LG’s OLED. I had the Witcher 3 UI burn in on their past gen OLED TV, and their phones of the past using their P-OLED also were notorious for it. Their OLED is not as mature as Samsung’s, but they’re still making good progress. The silly thing is having on screen controls and notification panel on a OLED device prone to burn in. There’s a reason Samsung stuck to physical controls when they were perfecting their OLED, apart from users liking them.

I like Samsung but even after owning two of their phones over 5 years, I guess I still didn't give them full credit for what they do. Aside from the internet's circlejerk over use Android and getting it via Nexus/Google devices, Samsung seems to have its shit down pat. The software is kind of an issue on occasion but if their tech is that damn good that other OEMs fight over supply, then that's something else.

Apart from the Note 7 snafu, I don't think Samsung has had any major issues. People might have issues here and there but LG had the boot looping issues that rendered devices useless and now this screen burn in. HTC is down and out. I don't know what the mood currently is about Moto, but people are probably neutral or mildly pleased with them, at best. I know people like the Xiaomis and the Huaweiis but those still aren't readily available in the US outside of the Nexus devices they made.

I know OLEDs are prone to burn in and I have seen some pics on the S7 subreddit of people that used Maps daily for hours on end for navigation and got burn in. But it still doesn't seem to be a big issue given the number of people with complaints and the number of S7s out there vs LG phones and soon, Pixel XLs.
 

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