Technology Android

[Casey]

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=bVNRVFZOU2tjNnM0SEhjdkVNbUw1U3N6Z013dnRR

Comparison between all the flagships. Why is the S9 not faring so well? I thought that sensor was supposed to be a game-changer.

Because Google's insane progress in this field comes down to software, not hardware.

Apple has spent the last year hiring dozens of the best camera engineers in the world - heard this direct from the source at a Silicon Valley party last year. And they STILL can't keep up.

Funny thing is, Google are still holding back. They have a ton more stuff in the algorithm that isn't even live yet. Not sure if they plan to push it with Android P final release or with the Pixel 3, but we're in for a crazy ride.

 

[dilla]

So AnandTech released its review on the S9/9+. https://www.anandtech.com/show/12520/the-galaxy-s9-review

First off, I didn't know that for the S8, the SD version was considered the "better" one. Seems like this is the case again for the S9. Not by much, but the author did say it was noticeably better with battery life and marginally better in performance.

The comments on Reddit have some very salty Europeans. Understandable. But they are definitely airing their grievances on getting the shaft for the S9.

I didn't know the + also had 6 GB of RAM. Even though I have no use for 6 GB, that does seem to be the more enticing model since the Plus comes with a bigger battery and the better camera.

Feels like there's been a drop in OEMs having a flagship device. Aside from the S9 now and the Note this Fall, is there another Android OEM that can put something out that will challenge the S9? Of course Google will respond with its Pixel 3, but does whatever LG have up its sleeve really pose a threat? Does Moto still make flagships anymore?

I'm not counting the Chinese OEMs like Huaweii, who now can't sell their phones at Best Buy, one of the biggest electronics stores in the US, but without a newcomer in some time and HTC getting bought out and LG still having QC issues, this really seems like an Apple vs Samsung thing, with Google sometimes throwing light punches with the Pixel. Keeping tabs on mobile tech seems to pick up activity twice a year when these three companies decide to release a new product.

 

[dilla]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/business/apple-hires-googles-ai-chief.html

Maybe Siri won't suck now

 

[dilla]

Anyone with an AMOLED screen try using Pixel Filter to turn off inactive pixels completely?

Someone on Reddit suggested this, so I'm giving it a shot. It's so odd to be able to see the pixel lines on the screen.

 

[masta247]

It's been a while since I last checked in. I was moving back to Canada and had quite a lot of stuff going on lately.

The Exynos on the S9 is broken. Great chip, designed past its power envelope, with the final nail to its coffin being the horrible tuning by Samsung. I read the Anandtech reviews and I am surprised that Samsung allowed it to be launched like this.
All the better for the North American buyers. The 845 is a fairly decent upgrade. Not sure if the S9 is, though. I spent quite a bit of time with it and while I think it's a better purchase than the S8, it is not by much. Both phones feel exactly the same - even the camera turned out to be worse in some regards. Speaking of, the sensor isn't any better than the one on the S7/S8. I look forward to actually seeing any progression in the camera sensors that smartphones use again - as for over 2 years now we've seen nothing but software tweaks, multi-sensor cameras and variable apertures. In my book, that is stagnation.

I'm unsure how I feel about the new Android and the direction it is going. Some things sound like fine additions or gimmicks, but I'm really not a fan of gesture controls. I really find it less convenient on the iPhone X, and I wish Android didn't go that route.. but we will see after it's out. I'm excited about the new "AI" features, no matter how useless due to how imperfect they are. Any progress in that field is a great thing.
I watched the event, and I am not sure how I feel about Google these days. They went a long way and away from their coolness and "don't be evil" days, and turned into something different. They are still doing some cool stuff, mostly with computer learning, but I feel like their final products are rather weak, and their culture is becoming the opposite of what they originally stood for.

AMD is doing great, and the new Ryzen refresh chips are stellar. Intel patched their vulnerabilities, resulting in performance hits across all their chips, while Zen+ matched Intel on single threaded performance while offering more cores, and they are more secure too. Intel is supposed to release an 8 core chip later this year to catch up, so the CPU market is finally doing great again, after a decade of stagnation.

Otherwise, I feel like the leading companies are struggling to innovate. This year they are scrambling for new ideas by seriously snatching key employees from other companies. On top of the Apple and Google transfers,
Intel snatched AMD's head of GPU, as well as Jim Keller from Tesla (the designer of AMD's best chips and the underlying architecture for Apple mobile chips). They will be designing graphics cards now, and a new CPU architecture. Considering the people that they pouched, at least they should have something exciting in the future.
At the same time, they are struggling with their 10nm tech that they invested hundreds of millions in (including the US tax money), while the industry is already making chips based on a slightly superior 7nm process, with 5nm being next.

And speaking of Tesla, they seem to be facing lots of issues recently. I hope for the best, as I am genuinely a huge fan of everything they've done.

 

[Rukas]

^^ Can you please make an Tesla / Space X thread as detailed as this?

 

[dilla]

It's been a while since I last checked in. I was moving back to Canada and had quite a lot of stuff going on lately.

The Exynos on the S9 is broken. Great chip, designed past its power envelope, with the final nail to its coffin being the horrible tuning by Samsung. I read the Anandtech reviews and I am surprised that Samsung allowed it to be launched like this.
All the better for the North American buyers. The 845 is a fairly decent upgrade. Not sure if the S9 is, though. I spent quite a bit of time with it and while I think it's a better purchase than the S8, it is not by much. Both phones feel exactly the same - even the camera turned out to be worse in some regards. Speaking of, the sensor isn't any better than the one on the S7/S8. I look forward to actually seeing any progression in the camera sensors that smartphones use again - as for over 2 years now we've seen nothing but software tweaks, multi-sensor cameras and variable apertures. In my book, that is stagnation.

I'm unsure how I feel about the new Android and the direction it is going. Some things sound like fine additions or gimmicks, but I'm really not a fan of gesture controls. I really find it less convenient on the iPhone X, and I wish Android didn't go that route.. but we will see after it's out. I'm excited about the new "AI" features, no matter how useless due to how imperfect they are. Any progress in that field is a great thing.
I watched the event, and I am not sure how I feel about Google these days. They went a long way and away from their coolness and "don't be evil" days, and turned into something different. They are still doing some cool stuff, mostly with computer learning, but I feel like their final products are rather weak, and their culture is becoming the opposite of what they originally stood for.

AMD is doing great, and the new Ryzen refresh chips are stellar. Intel patched their vulnerabilities, resulting in performance hits across all their chips, while Zen+ matched Intel on single threaded performance while offering more cores, and they are more secure too. Intel is supposed to release an 8 core chip later this year to catch up, so the CPU market is finally doing great again, after a decade of stagnation.

Otherwise, I feel like the leading companies are struggling to innovate. This year they are scrambling for new ideas by seriously snatching key employees from other companies. On top of the Apple and Google transfers,
Intel snatched AMD's head of GPU, as well as Jim Keller from Tesla (the designer of AMD's best chips and the underlying architecture for Apple mobile chips). They will be designing graphics cards now, and a new CPU architecture. Considering the people that they pouched, at least they should have something exciting in the future.
At the same time, they are struggling with their 10nm tech that they invested hundreds of millions in (including the US tax money), while the industry is already making chips based on a slightly superior 7nm process, with 5nm being next.

And speaking of Tesla, they seem to be facing lots of issues recently. I hope for the best, as I am genuinely a huge fan of everything they've done.

Funny you mention this. I got a call from Sprint today telling me my contract was up two months ago and they wanted to let me know I was eligible for an upgrade. The rep knew we had an S7 and asked if I was looking to upgrade. I told her no and that I was waiting. She tried to bait me with the S9 saying she'd waive the $30 activation fee and make the monthly payments for the phone $10 cheaper ($32--->22ish) per month. Still didn't bite. There's just nothing that my S7 can't do.

On the S7 subreddit, people are losing their shit over when they're going to get Oreo. It seems many non-US places have gotten the official release, but I think most of the US users, myself included, are still on Nougat. It's funny to see all this excitement over a 1+ year old OS release. The inevitable "my battery sucks on Oreo" threads are bound to pop up. There was similar hype for Nougat when the beta was released and then shortly afterwards, people complained about battery life. I just don't see what Oreo, released one year late mind you, is going to offer over Nougat that the average person is going to notice and appreciate. Those days of ground breaking, yearly features/updates are gone for both iOS and Android. Now there's really just an app for that when it comes to a feature or service people want.

I also made the leap to a proper monitor. I got an LG 29UM68P. Basically a 29" Ultrawide monitor. 2560x1080, FreeSync (got the Radeon Pro 555 to take advantage of that). Was using the HDMI port for a bit but ultimately switched to DisplayPort. I love the set up. I usually have it mirroring my screen from my MBP but for a few things school related, I'm able to just split screen the monitor to have a browser and PDF open and do work on my MBP's screen.

It has built-in speakers, obviously not the best, but enough for me to enjoy Netflix on a big screen and decent audio. I don't know how I lived without this setup before. The deal for the monitor was retarded, too. $180, no tax, 2 day express shipping free. I couldn't pass it up.


Going back to the phone, if the price comes down low enough for the S9 monthly payments, I'll bite. Otherwise, the next two upcoming phones I'll consider are the Note 9 and the Pixel 3.

LG has that ThinQ or something. They really want that to sell. They're offering a 32 or 40" LG TV for those who preorder the phone. I think it's called the ThinQ, but I could be wrong. But I've seen too many horror stories with the LG phones. Boot loops galore.

 

[masta247]

^^ Can you please make an Tesla / Space X thread as detailed as this?

I wish I knew about Tesla and Space X enough, but cars and rocket engineering aren't my areas of expertise
I really looked forward to the Model 3, so it's sad to hear that they're facing issues. That is the most ambitious goal that Tesla has aimed at yet. A brand new Tesla for $35k would be a huge thing. There'd be hardly any reason not to get one for an average, western, middle-class person looking for a car. I also look forward to self-driving cars being regulated and becoming the new standard. The roads would become a little safer and streets cleaner too.

Funny you mention this. I got a call from Sprint today telling me my contract was up two months ago and they wanted to let me know I was eligible for an upgrade. The rep knew we had an S7 and asked if I was looking to upgrade. I told her no and that I was waiting. She tried to bait me with the S9 saying she'd waive the $30 activation fee and make the monthly payments for the phone $10 cheaper ($32--->22ish) per month. Still didn't bite. There's just nothing that my S7 can't do.

On the S7 subreddit, people are losing their shit over when they're going to get Oreo. It seems many non-US places have gotten the official release, but I think most of the US users, myself included, are still on Nougat. It's funny to see all this excitement over a 1+ year old OS release. The inevitable "my battery sucks on Oreo" threads are bound to pop up. There was similar hype for Nougat when the beta was released and then shortly afterwards, people complained about battery life. I just don't see what Oreo, released one year late mind you, is going to offer over Nougat that the average person is going to notice and appreciate. Those days of ground breaking, yearly features/updates are gone for both iOS and Android. Now there's really just an app for that when it comes to a feature or service people want.

I also made the leap to a proper monitor. I got an LG 29UM68P. Basically a 29" Ultrawide monitor. 2560x1080, FreeSync (got the Radeon Pro 555 to take advantage of that). Was using the HDMI port for a bit but ultimately switched to DisplayPort. I love the set up. I usually have it mirroring my screen from my MBP but for a few things school related, I'm able to just split screen the monitor to have a browser and PDF open and do work on my MBP's screen.

It has built-in speakers, obviously not the best, but enough for me to enjoy Netflix on a big screen and decent audio. I don't know how I lived without this setup before. The deal for the monitor was retarded, too. $180, no tax, 2 day express shipping free. I couldn't pass it up.


Going back to the phone, if the price comes down low enough for the S9 monthly payments, I'll bite. Otherwise, the next two upcoming phones I'll consider are the Note 9 and the Pixel 3.

LG has that ThinQ or something. They really want that to sell. They're offering a 32 or 40" LG TV for those who preorder the phone. I think it's called the ThinQ, but I could be wrong. But I've seen too many horror stories with the LG phones. Boot loops galore.

Good deal on the monitor! While its entry level in terms of build quality, even price aside, it's an overall decent monitor if you like widescreen and the size and resolution are fine - it has a very good quality, LG-made IPS panel, so surely a great deal. I still use their 4K monitor from their higher series of that same year and that's one of the best ones you can get even today, even price aside - the LG-made IPS panels are currently the best, and LG is the rare company using exclusively their own panels, and they use them in extremely low priced monitors considering the display quality that they offer.

Freesync is mostly for games (that's the only use case I can think of that will drop your frames enough for Freesync to kick in).
If you want neat and small speakers for it, check out the Bose Companion 5. I'm normally not recommending Bose as the first choice, but considering the size and the somewhat reasonable price (for Bose standards), they are great desk speakers. While obviously they aren't a proper stereo set-up, they pack much more punch than I expected too, and much more than I expected to see from any computer speakers. When I first tested them, my girlfriend thought I had bought a new home stereo system and still tries to convince me that they are good enough as our home sound system, instead of a proper, "bulky" setup. Possibly it could even be that in a small living room, but wouldn't be enough for music for me. The least I can say is that the sound that they produce is very impressive and it's probably the best size/sound quality speaker set on the market. They are the super ultimate desk/computer speakers though.

I don't get the hype behind waiting for software updates these days. There isn't much to look forward to, and the software is usually less optimized and more buggy than the earlier releases for a given Android phone. The resources going into optimizing the 2nd or 3rd major software update are just much less than the release version or the first major upgrade after. That includes engineering and QA, and Android software updates are a rather complicated thing to port correctly. I'm actually somewhat glad that Samsung ended up ditching 8.0 for the S6. While I like the idea that Android is still technically open source, the fact that the releases are so barebones and the OEMs have so much work to port it to their devices (especially with so much customization) means that the update system really sucks, and realistically the best software you will have is likely the one that comes with your phone.

LG's new ThinQ smartphones aren't too great. The OP6 also isn't. They are just generic, mediocre quality phones that aren't bringing anything exciting to the market - mostly in line with the stagnation we've been seeing for the last few years. At this point, you can get a Xiaomi, Huawei, HTC or whatever other phones, and the experience will be pretty much the same, with Samsung, Sony and the PIxels being a tiny step ahead in one way or another, but not in a meaningful enough way to justify upgrading to one from even a 2 or 3-year-old phone.

Weirdly, I actually look forward to seeing what the new iPhones bring. It's about time for a re-design and some bigger changes on the Apple side that the rumors are pointing to. The 2017 iPhones almost caught up to Android (apart from the ancient design on the iP8/iP8 Plus), and I am hoping that this year they will have something even more interesting going on. With how little is happening on the Android camp, it gives Apple a chance to do better. A redesign + going further with what they did last year could mean the iPhones might be worth looking into again.

 

[dilla]

I wish I knew about Tesla and Space X enough, but cars and rocket engineering aren't my areas of expertise
I really looked forward to the Model 3, so it's sad to hear that they're facing issues. That is the most ambitious goal that Tesla has aimed at yet. A brand new Tesla for $35k would be a huge thing. There'd be hardly any reason not to get one for an average, western, middle-class person looking for a car. I also look forward to self-driving cars being regulated and becoming the new standard. The roads would become a little safer and streets cleaner too.



Good deal on the monitor! While its entry level in terms of build quality, even price aside, it's an overall decent monitor if you like widescreen and the size and resolution are fine - it has a very good quality, LG-made IPS panel, so surely a great deal. I still use their 4K monitor from their higher series of that same year and that's one of the best ones you can get even today, even price aside - the LG-made IPS panels are currently the best, and LG is the rare company using exclusively their own panels, and they use them in extremely low priced monitors considering the display quality that they offer.

Freesync is mostly for games (that's the only use case I can think of that will drop your frames enough for Freesync to kick in).
If you want neat and small speakers for it, check out the Bose Companion 5. I'm normally not recommending Bose as the first choice, but considering the size and the somewhat reasonable price (for Bose standards), they are great desk speakers. While obviously they aren't a proper stereo set-up, they pack much more punch than I expected too, and much more than I expected to see from any computer speakers. When I first tested them, my girlfriend thought I had bought a new home stereo system and still tries to convince me that they are good enough as our home sound system, instead of a proper, "bulky" setup. Possibly it could even be that in a small living room, but wouldn't be enough for music for me. The least I can say is that the sound that they produce is very impressive and it's probably the best size/sound quality speaker set on the market. They are the super ultimate desk/computer speakers though.

I don't get the hype behind waiting for software updates these days. There isn't much to look forward to, and the software is usually less optimized and more buggy than the earlier releases for a given Android phone. The resources going into optimizing the 2nd or 3rd major software update are just much less than the release version or the first major upgrade after. That includes engineering and QA, and Android software updates are a rather complicated thing to port correctly. I'm actually somewhat glad that Samsung ended up ditching 8.0 for the S6. While I like the idea that Android is still technically open source, the fact that the releases are so barebones and the OEMs have so much work to port it to their devices (especially with so much customization) means that the update system really sucks, and realistically the best software you will have is likely the one that comes with your phone.

LG's new ThinQ smartphones aren't too great. The OP6 also isn't. They are just generic, mediocre quality phones that aren't bringing anything exciting to the market - mostly in line with the stagnation we've been seeing for the last few years. At this point, you can get a Xiaomi, Huawei, HTC or whatever other phones, and the experience will be pretty much the same, with Samsung, Sony and the PIxels being a tiny step ahead in one way or another, but not in a meaningful enough way to justify upgrading to one from even a 2 or 3-year-old phone.

Weirdly, I actually look forward to seeing what the new iPhones bring. It's about time for a re-design and some bigger changes on the Apple side that the rumors are pointing to. The 2017 iPhones almost caught up to Android (apart from the ancient design on the iP8/iP8 Plus), and I am hoping that this year they will have something even more interesting going on. With how little is happening on the Android camp, it gives Apple a chance to do better. A redesign + going further with what they did last year could mean the iPhones might be worth looking into again.

The design looks strange but this is the hot deal on SlickDeals this past week. https://www.harmankardon.com/factor...utm_campaign=soundsticks-z-100-may20&CJPID=CJ

I'm not serious about speakers just yet. I felt like an idiot thinking the Beats Solo3s I got for free with my Mac last year were good enough for me. With all the hate around Beats headphones and they bass-heavy sound, it was sort of a guilty pleasure of mine.

But it turns out many reputable audiophiles have given the Solo3s some very high marks. So that's what I use for gaming and media even with the displays speakers. Works well enough for me for now.

And yeah, I realized it was an older model, and despite the 29", was an entry level model too. I just play DOTA 2 once in a while so it has been great for that. I'm sure FPS would kill me but I don't play too many of those. At least not on high settings that would cause a dip in framerate.

I was initially looking at the Apple-approved LG 4K Ultrafine but that really seemed like overkill for a schmuck like me. I'm not pro photographer or video editor. I'd love to have that resolution screen, but the best deal I found was a refurb from a private seller/store on eBay for $329. Otherwise I think it's a $600-750 monitor and that would be ridiculous, even by my already ridiculously overkill standards for things.

The OP6 looks nice but OP has come so far away from what it was when the OP! and OP2 were released, it's just dumb. Reddit has turned its back on the OP brand as a whole because of the gradual increase in price with each iteration. They're not wrong, but 'friendship ended with OP" for sure. They've gone back to sucking Moto's dick. Whether they're right or not, they think a midrange Moto device is the perfect blend of price and performance. After complaining about flagship devices not pushing the envelope enough.

I also got a deal on a 10.5 iPad Pro 64GB. $499, $530 with tax. I know it's expected that Apple has a refresh announced for WWDC but $150 off on an Apple product is too good to pass up. I'm glad I missed the previous hot deal 2 months ago where Costco had a 2017 iPad 128GB WiFi for $299. ok, not glad, but the Pro was something I wanted more because of the ProMotion 120hz screen and Pencil support. I heard the 2018 iPad had a screen gap that was obnoxiously wide, despite having Pencil support. I feel the 2018 iPad Pro will be a smaller upgrade from the 2017 than what the 2018 iPad was to the 2017.

I ordered a Pencil from out of state, so no taxes lol. $95 out the door.

So I'm excited. I can mark up PDFs with ease now and I'll see how the note-taking is.

 

[masta247]

^ The 10.5 iPad Pro is my favorite modern iPad, and I was considering upgrading my Air to it, except the price wasn't reasonable. Actually, the 10.5 one is the first one since the original Air that I think brought enough freshness to the table and would be a nice upgrade. However, soon the refreshes will be out, so the prices on the last year's models will go down further and I might actually grab one then. At least as long as the new iPads don't bring anything great, like an OLED display or something, then I would wait another year for those to go on sale, as the Pro models are heavily overpriced and it's hard for me to imagine a brand new one being worth it.

The processor on the 10.5 went a crazy long way and is already overpowered, being like a dozen times faster than the Air and frankly, I still use the Air on a daily basis and surprisingly still don't feel like it's lagging in its performance too much. For 499$ I could be tempted though. For 399$ I would probably just buy it though.

 

[dilla]

^ The 10.5 iPad Pro is my favorite modern iPad, and I was considering upgrading my Air to it, except the price wasn't reasonable. Actually, the 10.5 one is the first one since the original Air that I think brought enough freshness to the table and would be a nice upgrade. However, soon the refreshes will be out, so the prices on the last year's models will go down further and I might actually grab one then. At least as long as the new iPads don't bring anything great, like an OLED display or something, then I would wait another year for those to go on sale, as the Pro models are heavily overpriced and it's hard for me to imagine a brand new one being worth it.

The processor on the 10.5 went a crazy long way and is already overpowered, being like a dozen times faster than the Air and frankly, I still use the Air on a daily basis and surprisingly still don't feel like it's lagging in its performance too much. For 499$ I could be tempted though. For 399$ I would probably just buy it though.

Yeah, it's $499 at MicroCenter. I don't think they have Canadian stores but you can always see if Best Buy or a Canadian store will still match that price.

So far, the Pro feels mostly the same as my Air did but I am still waiting on the Pencil to see the writing capabilities. Multitasking is a lot snappier as I was switching between the browser and Zinio magazines and Reddit a good bit. Those are still not "pro" uses, but it was still faster than the Air with none of the lag.

I've told a few friends about the deal and they seemed interested in the deal, but I'm not sure if they'll jump on it. Most of them think their phones are enough for internet access and don't even use their laptops. One guy I know is still using this 2008 or 09 aluminum unibody MacBook. Not even the Pro. And he actually just has it and doesn't use it too much and relies on his phone for most of his online work.

I just ordered some generic, dinky smart case for the iPad from Amazon. It's actually Amazon's own AmazonBasics branded smart case. I have a similar, cheapo case for my Air that was $10 or so. Amazon's was $5 including tax lol. So that's taken care of. This Pencil looks like it could be delayed a few days and instead could arrive this coming Monday instead of Friday or Saturday. Which is a bummer.

 

[ARon]

My Nexus 6p has a battery that dies arround 30% if I open the camera or do something task heavy. Known issue, sucks. I was out of the country when they were giving replacement Pixel XL's if I sent the 6p back, feels bad. Now my my chipset is broke. The big part of the biglittle cores stopped working which is another known issue so I'm running on the 4 smaller cores now. Bleeding this thing to death until something worthwhile comes out. Gonna change my battery soon but I don't see anything down the road that I want much. Hopefully Pixel 3 is surprisingly decent

 

[dilla]

My Nexus 6p has a battery that dies arround 30% if I open the camera or do something task heavy. Known issue, sucks. I was out of the country when they were giving replacement Pixel XL's if I sent the 6p back, feels bad. Now my my chipset is broke. The big part of the biglittle cores stopped working which is another known issue so I'm running on the 4 smaller cores now. Bleeding this thing to death until something worthwhile comes out. Gonna change my battery soon but I don't see anything down the road that I want much. Hopefully Pixel 3 is surprisingly decent

There are deals on SlickDeals all the time for more modern phones than the 6P. My friend just bought the S9 through Samsung for ~650ish via monthly payments, so that might be an option too.

I think Woot has a deal on the Pixel 1 refurb for $200ish.

No use limping around with that bum 6P. It's, what, 3-4 years old now? I think you got your money's worth lol

 

[ARon]

There are deals on SlickDeals all the time for more modern phones than the 6P. My friend just bought the S9 through Samsung for ~650ish via monthly payments, so that might be an option too.

I think Woot has a deal on the Pixel 1 refurb for $200ish.

No use limping around with that bum 6P. It's, what, 3-4 years old now? I think you got your money's worth lol

I know. I just genuinely don't like anything new. The S9 has great hardware but meh. I'll probably wait for it to break completely before I get something new

 

[dilla]

I've been using Google Lens for a bit now because I'm a beta tester for the Google App.

Maybe I'm using some really mundane things lying around my house and desk but it feels like amazing tech that's just going to be used for dumb-ass things. This is basically Google Goggles, right?

 

[dilla]

So the S7 Oreo update was pulled because it was causing boot loops.

Yay.

 

[ARon]

I'm surprised it even got it

 

[dilla]

Well, the S6 saw 2 major updates so I assumed the S7 was the same. I imagine the S8 gets P, too.

While I don't see the need to have the latest and greatest version of Android, because the changes are so minimal and minor, it's still irritating that it takes this long for an update to be released. I suppose Samsung has the S7, 8, and 9 to worry about testing the OS for, as well as the Note series of phones, but people are already looking forward to P and we're looking at a botched Oreo rollout.

I don't want to leave Samsung, and I don't think I could because I do like TouchWiz and its features, but the OS update situation makes me rue for a Google Phone. Is it called Android One now, where select phones all get stock Android updates on day-0?

 

[masta247]

I know. I just genuinely don't like anything new. The S9 has great hardware but meh. I'll probably wait for it to break completely before I get something new

I think that's the reality of the smartphone market at the moment. The sales are dropping too, as people are simply happy with their existing devices and not willing to upgrade to much more expensive devices with very limited tangible improvements. Switching from a 3 year old phone to a current one means paying almost twice as much as the previous one originally cost, while feeling like using the same device, with slimmer bezels, just a little snappier, maybe taking somewhat better photos etc, but with nothing too new or groundbreaking.

There's also plenty of very divisive design choices, like missing headphone jacks, implementation of notches, curved corners etc, making it much harder to find the ultimate, appealing device for a lot of people.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to find a device that ticked all of my requirements at the moment, and I wouldn't feel good about spending 800$ on a phone I know I won't be perfectly happy with.

I don't want to leave Samsung, and I don't think I could because I do like TouchWiz and its features, but the OS update situation makes me rue for a Google Phone. Is it called Android One now, where select phones all get stock Android updates on day-0?

The updates these days are not that relevant. The Google Phones have them, but the devices currently are imho sort of meh in terms of hardware and their designs, especially compared to Samsung's.
Android One are basically low-end devices running Android that are guaranteed to keep their software quality in check by Google.

 

[dilla]

I think that's the reality of the smartphone market at the moment. The sales are dropping too, as people are simply happy with their existing devices and not willing to upgrade to much more expensive devices with very limited tangible improvements. Switching from a 3 year old phone to a current one means paying almost twice as much as the previous one originally cost, while feeling like using the same device, with slimmer bezels, just a little snappier, maybe taking somewhat better photos etc, but with nothing too new or groundbreaking.

There's also plenty of very divisive design choices, like missing headphone jacks, implementation of notches, curved corners etc, making it much harder to find the ultimate, appealing device for a lot of people.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to find a device that ticked all of my requirements at the moment, and I wouldn't feel good about spending 800$ on a phone I know I won't be perfectly happy with.



The updates these days are not that relevant. The Google Phones have them, but the devices currently are imho sort of meh in terms of hardware and their designs, especially compared to Samsung's.
Android One are basically low-end devices running Android that are guaranteed to keep their software quality in check by Google.

I see. I thought Nokia's "flagship" Android phone was part of Android One. Is it not a flagship and instead a low-end phone, like you said?

I agree about phones today. It varies from person to person when exactly an "adequate" phone was released for the. Like Aron feels his busted 6P is still good for him. I'm fine with my 2+ year old S7. People with iPhones are still fine with their 5S or 6 from 4 years ago.

If you're strong enough to not buy in to the hype of the newer phones' marginal upgrades and keep your current phone in good shape, it might force OEMs to get more creative and/or widen the time between new models. I know carriers have a big hand in forcing updates with the 2 year contracts. Those are gone now, but many people 25 and older still grew up with the concept of getting a new phone every 2 years back when flip phones were still a thing. Now there are monthly installment plans and even 12 month leases and people might feel like once the lease is up or the phone has been paid off, they're ready for a new, shiny phone.

I ignore articles mentioning the notches. I know it was a big deal with the iPhone X was shown to have a notch but I thought I read that it was on the status bar up top and didn't obstruct anything. I don't know if that's the case with Android phones, but I can't imagine it being any different. I couldn't tell you what the benefits of a notch were, though. So I don't stand on one side or the other on the subject of notches on phones. Maybe when I start looking for a new phone it'll be a bigger issue for me.