Technology Android
- Thread starter THEV1LL4N
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This is going to be my grumpy post of the month:
Personally, I can't find any use for the Assistant, so I have it disabled on my phone. Once in a while I check whether it's progressed into something better and less 'dumb' and am disappointed, ask it to tell me a joke, hear the same one I heard last time I tried it, then turn it back off again.
I find doing the same things through apps to be much faster, more reliable and convenient, and I also don't get random spam I don't need, also at most random times ever, like a weather notification at 3am (when I can check weather anytime without even unlocking my phone). Whenever I tried to do things with the Assistant using voice, it took ages, and then I still needed the visual feedback only to find out that it didn't do what I wanted half of the time.
I find Samsung Bixby and Microsoft Cortana even more useless, to be fair.
Then there's the fact that the features that it's focused on are completely irrelevant to me - I don't drive, my home is offline, I have a variable schedule (and it can't keep track of enabling and disabling my alarms reliably), apparently the news and articles I'm interested in are a mystery to it, I don't usually write down my appointment times and I don't care about the stats of my cardio. At the same time, it doesn't help me with anything I actually use my phone for, as it's not even aware of the apps I use, it's not really "context-aware" so it can't help me with non-generic scenarios. It actually can't even help with most generic scenarios, as it can only control the most basic settings on my phone, which I can easily toggle with less than 5 taps, and I just waste time trying to make it do something it's not capable of.
Plus when I tell it to compose a message, the recipient would think that I'm retarded if I sent it. I only sent one message using it - to my girlfriend, and she called me asking if I'm alright. She was probably worried I was having a seizure. Whenever I tell it to call someone, I have a 50% chance of dialing the wrong person/business. Frankly, relying on it would be amusing and horrifying, but surely I wouldn't get anything done.
To me, that's like a very, very early alpha of a cool technology.
I appreciate that some people use virtual assistants and find that they suit their needs though. It means the companies behind them have a reason to make those things better, which I look forward to. They're certainly improving, just very slowly.
Personally, I would probably start using them when they are able to do a lot more than they can do now, and only after they get to the point I could trust it to do things as well as I I would do them myself.
Personally, I can't find any use for the Assistant, so I have it disabled on my phone. Once in a while I check whether it's progressed into something better and less 'dumb' and am disappointed, ask it to tell me a joke, hear the same one I heard last time I tried it, then turn it back off again.
I find doing the same things through apps to be much faster, more reliable and convenient, and I also don't get random spam I don't need, also at most random times ever, like a weather notification at 3am (when I can check weather anytime without even unlocking my phone). Whenever I tried to do things with the Assistant using voice, it took ages, and then I still needed the visual feedback only to find out that it didn't do what I wanted half of the time.
I find Samsung Bixby and Microsoft Cortana even more useless, to be fair.
Then there's the fact that the features that it's focused on are completely irrelevant to me - I don't drive, my home is offline, I have a variable schedule (and it can't keep track of enabling and disabling my alarms reliably), apparently the news and articles I'm interested in are a mystery to it, I don't usually write down my appointment times and I don't care about the stats of my cardio. At the same time, it doesn't help me with anything I actually use my phone for, as it's not even aware of the apps I use, it's not really "context-aware" so it can't help me with non-generic scenarios. It actually can't even help with most generic scenarios, as it can only control the most basic settings on my phone, which I can easily toggle with less than 5 taps, and I just waste time trying to make it do something it's not capable of.
Plus when I tell it to compose a message, the recipient would think that I'm retarded if I sent it. I only sent one message using it - to my girlfriend, and she called me asking if I'm alright. She was probably worried I was having a seizure. Whenever I tell it to call someone, I have a 50% chance of dialing the wrong person/business. Frankly, relying on it would be amusing and horrifying, but surely I wouldn't get anything done.
To me, that's like a very, very early alpha of a cool technology.
I appreciate that some people use virtual assistants and find that they suit their needs though. It means the companies behind them have a reason to make those things better, which I look forward to. They're certainly improving, just very slowly.
Personally, I would probably start using them when they are able to do a lot more than they can do now, and only after they get to the point I could trust it to do things as well as I I would do them myself.
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I'm sure this is just for the US but it's still staggering just how much the business sector depends on iOS.
https://9to5mac.com/2018/09/04/ios-dominating-business-use/
Especially the use of some of the older phones like the iPhone 6/S. Those were released after the S6 and before the S7, right?
https://9to5mac.com/2018/09/04/ios-dominating-business-use/
Especially the use of some of the older phones like the iPhone 6/S. Those were released after the S6 and before the S7, right?
I drive daily and I use it around that time. I use it to call people or businesses in the car or I ask it to play a song while driving. This is in my car that doesn't have Android Auto but it still registers my voice while driving so long as the screen is on.
I also use it for the same things when not driving. If I have to call a store or book an appointment, I just say "OK Google, call name of business" and it does it. It's definitely a luxury and I could live without it, but I can see how it would add a few more steps to the process like manually typing and searching for a business and then finding the right location if there it's a franchise or something.
Thing is, even without driving, I feel like I would ask Assistant the same questions. The only thing I wouldn't be doing would be navigation, unless I just wanted to know the route in my head when walking to a place and seeing what place it's close to as a landmark.
I don't use it for texts, though especially when driving because it can always mishear what I say and I'd have to proofread the text before saying "send." But I do still use dictation to compose a text or email when I'm not driving so it's still pretty accurate in that sense. For some reason, it likes to hear different things in the car despite the radio being off and no background noise. I think I've found that a not-so-great LTE connection not only gives it some lag in registering words (understandable) but it also gets words wrong too.
I also use it for the same things when not driving. If I have to call a store or book an appointment, I just say "OK Google, call name of business" and it does it. It's definitely a luxury and I could live without it, but I can see how it would add a few more steps to the process like manually typing and searching for a business and then finding the right location if there it's a franchise or something.
Thing is, even without driving, I feel like I would ask Assistant the same questions. The only thing I wouldn't be doing would be navigation, unless I just wanted to know the route in my head when walking to a place and seeing what place it's close to as a landmark.
I don't use it for texts, though especially when driving because it can always mishear what I say and I'd have to proofread the text before saying "send." But I do still use dictation to compose a text or email when I'm not driving so it's still pretty accurate in that sense. For some reason, it likes to hear different things in the car despite the radio being off and no background noise. I think I've found that a not-so-great LTE connection not only gives it some lag in registering words (understandable) but it also gets words wrong too.
I was amazed at the stats for iOS for IT in the US. Throughout continental Europe, most IT companies would not touch iOS with a ten-foot pole. It's been frowned upon for ages, as you can't do the advanced things you can do on Android. Heck, the distaste is so strong that some of the professors at my uni would shake their heads at the few IT students seen using iPhones. It's also part of the reason I was originally a bit biased against iOS, as I was part of that tech world back there.
I grew to appreciate it as a decent casual user OS, but I still can't believe most tech companies actually use it over there.
When I think about it, over here in Canada, the sentiments seem to also be subtly against iPhones in the tech companies I worked with though. It's not only less practical for tech employees, it's also uncool for most of those guys. While more people use them, it's certainly not 80%.
I expected healthcare, real estate etc to actually be much higher for iOS there, due to non-techy use cases, and it being seen as a more polished and reliable system (hey, it's just reputation). I would expect that's what people in those industries care to project. I don't really get the reasoning behind those stats. They would be very different outside of the US for sure.
I grew to appreciate it as a decent casual user OS, but I still can't believe most tech companies actually use it over there.
When I think about it, over here in Canada, the sentiments seem to also be subtly against iPhones in the tech companies I worked with though. It's not only less practical for tech employees, it's also uncool for most of those guys. While more people use them, it's certainly not 80%.
I expected healthcare, real estate etc to actually be much higher for iOS there, due to non-techy use cases, and it being seen as a more polished and reliable system (hey, it's just reputation). I would expect that's what people in those industries care to project. I don't really get the reasoning behind those stats. They would be very different outside of the US for sure.
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Google Pixel 3 launch is coming soon. I think they might have a few surprises up their sleeve and the Pixel 3 will be the phone to get out of the 2 they'll release.
Anyone looking at the Pocophone F1?
If the Pixel 3 disappoints me, I may try keeping my LG G4 for a fourth year or look at a deal on OnePlus 6, Pocophone or something from Huawei, the Xiaomi Mi A2, a nice Android One phone (or something I like ideally without a notch). If anyone's doing the notch right (aesthetically), it's OnePlus 6T or Oppo R17.
Anyone looking at the Pocophone F1?
If the Pixel 3 disappoints me, I may try keeping my LG G4 for a fourth year or look at a deal on OnePlus 6, Pocophone or something from Huawei, the Xiaomi Mi A2, a nice Android One phone (or something I like ideally without a notch). If anyone's doing the notch right (aesthetically), it's OnePlus 6T or Oppo R17.
It's the most disruptive launch we've seen in the Smartphone market. Well, you're getting a prime flagship smartphone as good as the best out there for $300, with few corners cut, from Xiaomi - so the quality is pretty much on par with the likes of LG or HTC, and a notch above OnePlus.
If it's sold through official channels where you live, and the price isn't much higher (up to 350 Euro), and it's not sold out, I would definitely get it in a heartbeat.
The value is simply incomparable to anything we've seen in the smartphone market, the Nexus 5 came close in 2013, but the flagship phones at that time were cheaper, so the Pocophone is even crazier now.
The bad news is that due to all the craze they are sold out pretty much all the time, so the retailers are trying to hike up their prices. It also has an iPhone X-like notch and a solid plastic build like phones did back before the glass+aluminum sandwich became a thing, which can be considered as negatives, but if that's the price to pay for getting a $300 flagship, I don't think it's a big deal.
https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_pocophone_f1-review-1808.php
The conclusion of that review sums it up: "Pocophone has done what OnePlus couldn't achieve this year - come up with a flagship killer with a jaw-dropping price. The F1 has everything and we mean everything - a premium screen with a notch that holds the infrared scanner for face unlock, the latest Snapdragon chip, expandable storage, stereo speakers, all the necessary ports, and high-end camera experience on both sides of the device."
It is definitely the most exciting phone I've seen in a long, long time.
AND it has a 4000mAh battery:
If it's sold through official channels where you live, and the price isn't much higher (up to 350 Euro), and it's not sold out, I would definitely get it in a heartbeat.
The value is simply incomparable to anything we've seen in the smartphone market, the Nexus 5 came close in 2013, but the flagship phones at that time were cheaper, so the Pocophone is even crazier now.
The bad news is that due to all the craze they are sold out pretty much all the time, so the retailers are trying to hike up their prices. It also has an iPhone X-like notch and a solid plastic build like phones did back before the glass+aluminum sandwich became a thing, which can be considered as negatives, but if that's the price to pay for getting a $300 flagship, I don't think it's a big deal.
https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_pocophone_f1-review-1808.php
The conclusion of that review sums it up: "Pocophone has done what OnePlus couldn't achieve this year - come up with a flagship killer with a jaw-dropping price. The F1 has everything and we mean everything - a premium screen with a notch that holds the infrared scanner for face unlock, the latest Snapdragon chip, expandable storage, stereo speakers, all the necessary ports, and high-end camera experience on both sides of the device."
It is definitely the most exciting phone I've seen in a long, long time.
AND it has a 4000mAh battery:
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Damn, those numbers look good. There's always a "but" with these phones, a caveat that makes people think twice. I don't know what it is for this phone but it might be the company Xiaomi and its China ties. How have Xiaomi phones been supported after they were released? At least two years of updates?
Doubt we'll see it at a reasonable price in the US, though.
Doubt we'll see it at a reasonable price in the US, though.
The "but" here is that there are some saving measures. The camera sensor is a tier below high-end and doesn't come with OIS (not unlike most Sony phones), the storage is likely a mid-range solution, the phone's body is made of polycarbonate, not aluminum, and Xiaomi's support is only developing in most of the western countries.
Xiaomi is very good on support and build quality. They don't update their lower end phones for more than 1 full release, but their flagships usually get full 2 years of support. It's not unlike any of the other major brands.
Pocophone is a new brand under Xiaomi, so it's uncharted territories, but the popularity of this phone is insane, so I doubt they'd handicap it.
Generally speaking, Xiaomi is the Chinese Apple/Samsung for half the price, and they're consistently great in terms of quality throughout all of their product lines. Their laptops are about as good as the Surface series, their power banks are possibly the best there are, and their smartphones have great reputations on the markets they already entered. They also make some of the best air purifiers and smart home systems. They are great at everything they do.
All Smartphone makers have China ties, and being designed in China is as problematic as being designed in the US or anywhere else, except the NSA can't spy on you as reliably. These days the likes of Xiaomi or Huaweii aren't any worse than western makers (apart from some cheesy choices when copying successful ideas, their marketing, and the fact they make more low-end models). I'd actually argue that Xiaomi is often better than most of the major non-Chinese companies in terms of their hardware design. They really went a long way and I think the bias of the past against the Chinese makers will only lead to them taking the world by a larger surprise.
They entered the Polish market about 2 years ago and they are already the second largest smartphone and third largest laptop maker there in terms of new outright sales, ranking great reviews, coming at great prices and consistently outperforming the previous market leaders that charge much more for their products. That's through sheer word-of-mouth marketing too, as people were mass importing their products to the point Xiaomi opened their own stores there, and I'm yet to meet a person who bought something from Xiaomi and doesn't love it. The pleasant surprise is usually a large factor.
Xiaomi is very good on support and build quality. They don't update their lower end phones for more than 1 full release, but their flagships usually get full 2 years of support. It's not unlike any of the other major brands.
Pocophone is a new brand under Xiaomi, so it's uncharted territories, but the popularity of this phone is insane, so I doubt they'd handicap it.
Generally speaking, Xiaomi is the Chinese Apple/Samsung for half the price, and they're consistently great in terms of quality throughout all of their product lines. Their laptops are about as good as the Surface series, their power banks are possibly the best there are, and their smartphones have great reputations on the markets they already entered. They also make some of the best air purifiers and smart home systems. They are great at everything they do.
All Smartphone makers have China ties, and being designed in China is as problematic as being designed in the US or anywhere else, except the NSA can't spy on you as reliably. These days the likes of Xiaomi or Huaweii aren't any worse than western makers (apart from some cheesy choices when copying successful ideas, their marketing, and the fact they make more low-end models). I'd actually argue that Xiaomi is often better than most of the major non-Chinese companies in terms of their hardware design. They really went a long way and I think the bias of the past against the Chinese makers will only lead to them taking the world by a larger surprise.
They entered the Polish market about 2 years ago and they are already the second largest smartphone and third largest laptop maker there in terms of new outright sales, ranking great reviews, coming at great prices and consistently outperforming the previous market leaders that charge much more for their products. That's through sheer word-of-mouth marketing too, as people were mass importing their products to the point Xiaomi opened their own stores there, and I'm yet to meet a person who bought something from Xiaomi and doesn't love it. The pleasant surprise is usually a large factor.
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Don’t forget headphones too. I still have my old Piston in ear headphones from two years ago, though I don’t use them as often in preference of wireless.
I’ll have to look into their presence in the US especially with their phones. I don’t plan on upgrading soon but maybe their next iteration of this phone will be something to consider.
I’ll have to look into their presence in the US especially with their phones. I don’t plan on upgrading soon but maybe their next iteration of this phone will be something to consider.
Their TV's look amazing too.
Huawei have Honor. Xiaomi have Pocophone.
I told you all years ago that Xiaomi would become huge (although they took a bit of a hit and dropped a few places to 4th or 5th in terms of global market share due to Huawei doing incredibly well and Apple seeing a resurgence in the last couple of years as back then it looked like Apply might drop to 3rd or 4th place.
Huawei have Honor. Xiaomi have Pocophone.
I told you all years ago that Xiaomi would become huge (although they took a bit of a hit and dropped a few places to 4th or 5th in terms of global market share due to Huawei doing incredibly well and Apple seeing a resurgence in the last couple of years as back then it looked like Apply might drop to 3rd or 4th place.
Yeah, I always had good thoughts about Xiaomi. Ok, there was a point until which I was still skeptical, then about 6-7 years ago I got their 5000mAh power bank to check what all the fuss is about, and have been a fan ever since. It was the first power bank made with an awesome unibody aluminum design, came with 4 charge level indicators, which was a big deal (the ones from major brands at the time only had one LED that flashed either green or red if it was dying), it came with a Samsung battery cell, cost me $8 and still worked flawlessly until earlier this year, when I left it behind for a slimmer, $25 Belkin model that otherwise feels the same. Unfortunately, they don't sell Xiaomi over here, and Belkin is like Xiaomi in the accessory world, just 4 times more expensive.
I bought Xiaomi's air purifier for my mom. $250 for the best rated and smallest air purifier below $1000, it comes with all smart-features too.
Their presence is unfortunately pretty much non-existent in North America. Ordering online from random sellers is risky since Xiaomi is a heavily copied brand in China, and the few niche reputable ones are overcharging significantly.
I guess there are some sorts of barriers to entering the markets as in general, the Chinese makers seem to have trouble moving over here. It seriously limits the options. But you can't protect your markets forever - once the Chinese makers enter though, it will be very disruptive. It's a company that has access to educated engineers for $600 a month, excellent hardware design experience mastered on their own huge market, and direct, local access to the cheapest, high-quality manufacturing plants in the world. Plus low margins on top of that (as opposed to Huawei). I look forward to them coming over here, as it means great choices for the consumers, and always forces the established companies to step their game up to compete. Right now all we see from those is price gouging.
I bought Xiaomi's air purifier for my mom. $250 for the best rated and smallest air purifier below $1000, it comes with all smart-features too.
Their presence is unfortunately pretty much non-existent in North America. Ordering online from random sellers is risky since Xiaomi is a heavily copied brand in China, and the few niche reputable ones are overcharging significantly.
I guess there are some sorts of barriers to entering the markets as in general, the Chinese makers seem to have trouble moving over here. It seriously limits the options. But you can't protect your markets forever - once the Chinese makers enter though, it will be very disruptive. It's a company that has access to educated engineers for $600 a month, excellent hardware design experience mastered on their own huge market, and direct, local access to the cheapest, high-quality manufacturing plants in the world. Plus low margins on top of that (as opposed to Huawei). I look forward to them coming over here, as it means great choices for the consumers, and always forces the established companies to step their game up to compete. Right now all we see from those is price gouging.
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Agreed. Xiaomi is big in India, I believe, if not most of Asia. My parents are going soon and they go frequently, so even though I'm not due for an upgrade yet, I can still ask to get an idea for pricing. Even if it's more expensive than importing it to the US, at least it'll be more likely to be a legit product assuming I get it from a proper retailer.
That's still some time away for me to be thinking about it. I'm not even sure about band compatibility though China does still use CDMA so it should be OK for Sprint here for as long as they continue to use CDMA.
I did check Xiaomi's website when buying their headphones. I bought mine from Amazon and I think they were legit. My mom wanted a similar pair and that one shipped from Hong Kong after ordering from the 1More website. But when looking at their site, I noticed they were much more than an audio company, which is what I've known them for since their headphones are value buys in the headphones community. I saw those air purifiers you mentioned and a bunch of other household stuff. I just assumed because China is so locked off from the world, this was just a company that made cheap appliances for a billion-plus people and was unsure of their quality.
I discovered a new world since I got the S8. The USB C situation is a complete mess, and buying a cable or a charger is like a minefield. The standard was a nice idea and I was really looking forward to a reversible connector, but making it open while allowing so many different uses pretty much ended in a disaster. You can still buy a cable from a large company like Anker or Belkin that will fry your devices. I bought a cable for my power bank from Miniso (they are sold everywhere, and in large amounts), as in the worst case it would just fry my power bank, which isn't strong enough to fry my phone. As soon as I plugged it in, my phone gave me a pop up to unplug it immediately or I risk fucking up my phone. At least that's nice, as I guess it detects if the 56-ohm resistor is there, but then I read about this issue and found out that there are cables that have it and are USB certified that can still fry your ports/charger/computer, as the devices on both ends have no way of knowing that the cable is shitty and does not support what they're trying to accomplish. You can literally buy a legit cable that fools your phone into thinking that the power it asks for from the charger is fine, yet the charger has no way to communicate that it has no way to deliver that power, frying the charger, and the phone if the charger is not solid enough to die gracefully.
Then Google is bashing Samsung for using quick charge through USB Type C (they consider power delivery to be the only safe fast charging standard over USB type C) and banned proprietary fast charging methods over USB-C in Android guidelines, yet all of the OEMs are still using them, and supply their own cables and chargers that work with their own phones, but none of them really comply with the USB-C standard. They use internally different cables (that can handle higher voltage, as that's how QuickCharge/Adaptive Charging etc are delivering more power) while still being called USB Type C and technically working with all devices, yet most cables won't work well with their chargers, as compliant type C cables aren't designed to support those fast charging methods. At the same time, Google's implementation of USB C on the Nexus 6P and the original Pixel (!) was not compliant with the spec and they disabled fast charging as those would fry the chargers if they left it on. Then there are cables that are officially certified that aren't safe to use, which famously led the Google engineer to dedicate his spare time to testing all the cables he could find and reviewing them on Amazon. He stopped last year, as there were probably too many cables with too many issues and it just became too much of a mess, so now there's no good way to tell, really, unless you can find tests of a given cable on Reddit or otherwise, or go through the 1 star reviews from people who got their devices fried by a given cable.
I wish USB-C was just a faster, reversible upgrade to Micro USB, as that was a perfectly safe and much more reliable solution. It was pretty much perfect, and getting the shittiest $1 cable meant in the worst case it just wouldn't charge as fast. The phone could never ask for more power than the cable or charger could deliver, and the charger could never push more power than the phone can accept over that cable. Fast charging would either just work or not if the cable wasn't additionally wired for higher voltage. With USB C, the situation is really shitty, and I wasn't even aware how much they fucked up with it. For a casual buyer who isn't even aware of the problem and just wants a cable to charge his phone or transfer data, USB-C in its current form might be the worst standard ever released to the public.
The only way to be 99.9% safe is to purchase official cables and chargers made specifically and individually for each USB-C device you have, and never mix and match chargers/cables/devices, which completely kills the purpose of the "universal" standard and takes us back to the days of pre-Micro-USB. Otherwise, those things will usually work to some extent in all configurations, but you risk anything from them not playing well with your shiny new devices to frying them, which wasn't a risk you'd have to take with Micro USB. The problem is even larger, since you also have high power devices (like laptops) powered with USB-C, yet most third-party cables can't handle anywhere close to the power that such power bricks push. Also, connecting your lowly phone to such high-power brick with such cable might end really bad.
Another problem is that it's not a situation that is easy to fix, as the damage has been done the moment USB-C got standardized, with most of the modern phones and laptops already coming out with that tech, and fixes not being possible on a software level, as the hardware design of USB-C is just electrically hazardous:
https://www.androidcentral.com/usb-c-problem-isnt-going-away-anytime-soon
Oh, then there's Android 8.1 that added a "feature" allowing the carrier to auto-lock APN settings, so you can't change them manually or add new ones. Except that behavior is set as default, so carriers who don't support Android 8.1 yet essentially lock your phone's APN settings. So there are people who insert such carrier's sim card (when they change carriers or simply travel with a different sim card in their Android 8.1 running phone) and suddenly can't access the Internet with any other carrier's sim card without rooting or hard resetting to factory settings, because Android locked them to APN settings of the last sim card that they inserted, lol. Samsung didn't push that update to their phones, and I wonder if Google continues with that fuckery in 9.0. Locking a device to a carrier is already illegal in most countries, so Google claims it's a bug with 8.1 (or a feature meant only for some markets). The behavior is still unchanged though, so if you're on 8.1, you can get very screwed.
Then Google is bashing Samsung for using quick charge through USB Type C (they consider power delivery to be the only safe fast charging standard over USB type C) and banned proprietary fast charging methods over USB-C in Android guidelines, yet all of the OEMs are still using them, and supply their own cables and chargers that work with their own phones, but none of them really comply with the USB-C standard. They use internally different cables (that can handle higher voltage, as that's how QuickCharge/Adaptive Charging etc are delivering more power) while still being called USB Type C and technically working with all devices, yet most cables won't work well with their chargers, as compliant type C cables aren't designed to support those fast charging methods. At the same time, Google's implementation of USB C on the Nexus 6P and the original Pixel (!) was not compliant with the spec and they disabled fast charging as those would fry the chargers if they left it on. Then there are cables that are officially certified that aren't safe to use, which famously led the Google engineer to dedicate his spare time to testing all the cables he could find and reviewing them on Amazon. He stopped last year, as there were probably too many cables with too many issues and it just became too much of a mess, so now there's no good way to tell, really, unless you can find tests of a given cable on Reddit or otherwise, or go through the 1 star reviews from people who got their devices fried by a given cable.
I wish USB-C was just a faster, reversible upgrade to Micro USB, as that was a perfectly safe and much more reliable solution. It was pretty much perfect, and getting the shittiest $1 cable meant in the worst case it just wouldn't charge as fast. The phone could never ask for more power than the cable or charger could deliver, and the charger could never push more power than the phone can accept over that cable. Fast charging would either just work or not if the cable wasn't additionally wired for higher voltage. With USB C, the situation is really shitty, and I wasn't even aware how much they fucked up with it. For a casual buyer who isn't even aware of the problem and just wants a cable to charge his phone or transfer data, USB-C in its current form might be the worst standard ever released to the public.
The only way to be 99.9% safe is to purchase official cables and chargers made specifically and individually for each USB-C device you have, and never mix and match chargers/cables/devices, which completely kills the purpose of the "universal" standard and takes us back to the days of pre-Micro-USB. Otherwise, those things will usually work to some extent in all configurations, but you risk anything from them not playing well with your shiny new devices to frying them, which wasn't a risk you'd have to take with Micro USB. The problem is even larger, since you also have high power devices (like laptops) powered with USB-C, yet most third-party cables can't handle anywhere close to the power that such power bricks push. Also, connecting your lowly phone to such high-power brick with such cable might end really bad.
Another problem is that it's not a situation that is easy to fix, as the damage has been done the moment USB-C got standardized, with most of the modern phones and laptops already coming out with that tech, and fixes not being possible on a software level, as the hardware design of USB-C is just electrically hazardous:
https://www.androidcentral.com/usb-c-problem-isnt-going-away-anytime-soon
Oh, then there's Android 8.1 that added a "feature" allowing the carrier to auto-lock APN settings, so you can't change them manually or add new ones. Except that behavior is set as default, so carriers who don't support Android 8.1 yet essentially lock your phone's APN settings. So there are people who insert such carrier's sim card (when they change carriers or simply travel with a different sim card in their Android 8.1 running phone) and suddenly can't access the Internet with any other carrier's sim card without rooting or hard resetting to factory settings, because Android locked them to APN settings of the last sim card that they inserted, lol. Samsung didn't push that update to their phones, and I wonder if Google continues with that fuckery in 9.0. Locking a device to a carrier is already illegal in most countries, so Google claims it's a bug with 8.1 (or a feature meant only for some markets). The behavior is still unchanged though, so if you're on 8.1, you can get very screwed.
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Also, North American Android versions are retarded. '3G' is called '4G', and '4G' is called 'LTE', so when my network drops to 3G I see a 4G icon. I have no idea how did this make any sense to anyone.
Not to mention no way of knowing whether I'm connected to any of the standard HSPA networks or HSPA+, which offer very different speeds ranging from potato to actually usable. To my astonishment, when I'm connected to any of those, my phone just proudly displays the '4G' icon.. completely disregarding the fact that all of those technologies are just different tiers of 3G and none of them has anything to do with actual 4G (which is synonymous with LTE, the only actual 4G technology).
On top of that, all tiers of LTE Advanced, as well as VoLTE connections, are simply displayed as 'LTE+', which isn't a real thing and doesn't tell me anything, other than that there's "something" over regular LTE that I'm apparently getting, but it won't tell me what.
I was rather amazed, I googled that, and apparently, over here it's normal behavior on Android for reasons nobody seems to be able to explain. Yet it carries on, despite the rest of the world having Android that actually uses proper naming and icons that correspond to the actual broadcast technology your phone is connected through at a given time, so you know what to expect and whether your connection is actually usable.
Lying and pretending that I'm always on 4G/LTE doesn't make the websites load any faster if really I'm barely getting a low-bandwidth 3G signal, and seems just like a really shitty thing to do.
Not to mention no way of knowing whether I'm connected to any of the standard HSPA networks or HSPA+, which offer very different speeds ranging from potato to actually usable. To my astonishment, when I'm connected to any of those, my phone just proudly displays the '4G' icon.. completely disregarding the fact that all of those technologies are just different tiers of 3G and none of them has anything to do with actual 4G (which is synonymous with LTE, the only actual 4G technology).
On top of that, all tiers of LTE Advanced, as well as VoLTE connections, are simply displayed as 'LTE+', which isn't a real thing and doesn't tell me anything, other than that there's "something" over regular LTE that I'm apparently getting, but it won't tell me what.
I was rather amazed, I googled that, and apparently, over here it's normal behavior on Android for reasons nobody seems to be able to explain. Yet it carries on, despite the rest of the world having Android that actually uses proper naming and icons that correspond to the actual broadcast technology your phone is connected through at a given time, so you know what to expect and whether your connection is actually usable.
Lying and pretending that I'm always on 4G/LTE doesn't make the websites load any faster if really I'm barely getting a low-bandwidth 3G signal, and seems just like a really shitty thing to do.
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I'm hypothesising that all of these leaks of the Google Pixel 3/3 XL are intentional/fakes.
I know some of their designs are questionable but I believe they've improved (just look at how beautiful their designs were last year with the Pixel 2, Pixelbook and Google Home Mini). I think introducing a notch of that size will cause disruption and it won't feel immersive unless they've got something great lined up that justifies having it so deep from the top bezel. I really don't know, but my guess is that we're expecting something ugly and this could play right into their hands as they could impress people with lowered expectations of it's design.
The only way I'd buy the Pixel 3 is if it provides good value for money. It's the phone I want buy for the right price and only if they get certain other aspects of it right. The camera and unlimited full sized photo storage in Google Photos is a selling point for me. Battery life is another thing but my guess is that the Pixel 3 will have something like a 2900mAh capacity - maybe the software can make it last.
I bought my Dad a Mi A1 a couple of weeks ago and Android One is really nice. I would be very happy with it.
I'd love a Pocophone but I don't have confidence in purchasing it because of scams.
Also, last year it was announced that Three UK would be selling Xiaomi phones. I predicted that the Mi A1 would be sold here in the UK as it was a phone that was suitable for global use as Xiaomi products that don't have MIUI (i.e. Mi Box 3 International version, Mi A1 and Mi A2) are more universal products with support from Google Play and Google Play Services.
I know some of their designs are questionable but I believe they've improved (just look at how beautiful their designs were last year with the Pixel 2, Pixelbook and Google Home Mini). I think introducing a notch of that size will cause disruption and it won't feel immersive unless they've got something great lined up that justifies having it so deep from the top bezel. I really don't know, but my guess is that we're expecting something ugly and this could play right into their hands as they could impress people with lowered expectations of it's design.
The only way I'd buy the Pixel 3 is if it provides good value for money. It's the phone I want buy for the right price and only if they get certain other aspects of it right. The camera and unlimited full sized photo storage in Google Photos is a selling point for me. Battery life is another thing but my guess is that the Pixel 3 will have something like a 2900mAh capacity - maybe the software can make it last.
I bought my Dad a Mi A1 a couple of weeks ago and Android One is really nice. I would be very happy with it.
I'd love a Pocophone but I don't have confidence in purchasing it because of scams.
Also, last year it was announced that Three UK would be selling Xiaomi phones. I predicted that the Mi A1 would be sold here in the UK as it was a phone that was suitable for global use as Xiaomi products that don't have MIUI (i.e. Mi Box 3 International version, Mi A1 and Mi A2) are more universal products with support from Google Play and Google Play Services.
lol that sucks about the LTE situation. I didn't know LTE and 4G were different. I did know HSPA was something different but also not sure in what ways. I think only TMobile has/had HSPA in the US.
Also, I didn't know the situation was that bad with USB-C cables. I mentioned I got one for my iPad Pro, which I just plug in to my MBP charger to use for Quick Charging. But I don't use any USB-C peripherals on my MBP, except for the USB-C hub for legacy USB and a USB-C to miniDP cable for my monitor. I was about to get an external SSD the Samsung T5, but I held off on it, despite it being a good price (500GB for $109 or something). I was going to dump my media on it and keep it plugged in to my MBP as long as I was using it at my desk.
And obviously my S7 is still microUSB so no issues there.
USB-C really was supposed to change things and people on Reddit slap their dicks for USB-C on their phones, but if there's a serious issue about burning out and lack of regulations on the accessories, then that's something that's not talked about often on forums.
Also, I didn't know the situation was that bad with USB-C cables. I mentioned I got one for my iPad Pro, which I just plug in to my MBP charger to use for Quick Charging. But I don't use any USB-C peripherals on my MBP, except for the USB-C hub for legacy USB and a USB-C to miniDP cable for my monitor. I was about to get an external SSD the Samsung T5, but I held off on it, despite it being a good price (500GB for $109 or something). I was going to dump my media on it and keep it plugged in to my MBP as long as I was using it at my desk.
And obviously my S7 is still microUSB so no issues there.
USB-C really was supposed to change things and people on Reddit slap their dicks for USB-C on their phones, but if there's a serious issue about burning out and lack of regulations on the accessories, then that's something that's not talked about often on forums.
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