Technology Android

[masta247]

So LG just confirmed that they are shutting down their mobile phone division.

All I can say is that their ideas were great, but they never doubled down on them. You knew that the gimmick you're getting is just there for hype and the spec sheet - they were adding these so they can sell the phone. They cared about being "first" to things so people could talk about them and move to the next "first" completely forgetting about their previous idea's existence. If there was a feature you liked about an LG phone, you knew they will give up on it a year later in favor of new gimmicks, and they will not be further developing or even supporting them. They barely supported any phones that weren't the most current flagships altogether.

I appreciate LG for the amazing Nexus phones they made and for ahead of its time devices like the G2, or ideas like the Flex, quad-DACs, self-healing plastics and design innovations. They will all have a great place in the Smartphone history. But to me LG went down because ultimately they built a reputation of entirely abandoning these as soon as they weren't the newest cool thing anymore. It ultimately made me feel that what they're communicating is "you bought this gimmick and it's not working as well as it should? Thanks for the cash but tough shit sucker, now off to the next phone" attitude.

 

[dilla]

So LG just confirmed that they are shutting down their mobile phone division.

All I can say is that their ideas were great, but they never doubled down on them. You knew that the gimmick you're getting is just there for hype and the spec sheet - they were adding these so they can sell the phone. They cared about being "first" to things so people could talk about them and move to the next "first" completely forgetting about their previous idea's existence. If there was a feature you liked about an LG phone, you knew they will give up on it a year later in favor of new gimmicks, and they will not be further developing or even supporting them. They barely supported any phones that weren't the most current flagships altogether.

I appreciate LG for the amazing Nexus phones they made and for ahead of its time devices like the G2, or ideas like the Flex, quad-DACs, self-healing plastics and design innovations. They will all have a great place in the Smartphone history. But to me LG went down because ultimately they built a reputation of entirely abandoning these as soon as they weren't the newest cool thing anymore. It ultimately made me feel that what they're communicating is "you bought this gimmick and it's not working as well as it should? Thanks for the cash but tough shit sucker, now off to the next phone" attitude.

lol sound like any other company as well? LG does this with hardware but someone else is very good at doing this with software and services.

I'm just spit balling here but I was thinking this other day. Back in 2011 or so, some of us were worried that Samsung had such great hardware that they'd eventually leave Android and make their own OS. They did with Tizen but I think it was stopped for phones and instead became something they used on smart watches and stuff. I'm not sure, all I know is that Tizen did not supplant Android on Samsung phones and tablets.

But with the amount of pull Samsung has as an Android OEM, who's to say we don't see something else wacky happen? Maybe Samsung got ahead of itself a decade ago but now they've built up enough leverage that they can do something big within Android or do something to separate from Android? Probably not the latter because they'd require Google Services to still be functional but Samsung has to be thinking of something that they can use as leverage with Android/Google. Apple already makes their own stuff, pretty much; what if Samsung's next leap of faith was in the direction of what Apple has been doing for some time now? If Google/Android were to lose Samsung as an OEM, who is going to fill that void? LG is gone. In the US, there are no Chinese OEMs, unless you count OnePlus and those don't sell all that well here. You'd be stuck with Google needing to make their Pixels actually compete with the iPhone or Android devolves in the OS for a fuckton of mid-range devices, and that's it. The only other OEM I can think of that's big enough to tussle with Samsung and Apple is Microsoft but the Duo phone or whatever it was called was basically DOA.

 

[dilla]

Samsung trying to get in to the OLED game?

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/9/2...nics-lg-display-oled-tv-panels-quantum-dot-qd

I wonder what they'll do to set themselves apart from LG and Sony's reputation in the OLED market. Even Vizio had entered the market last year. I bet Samsung is relying on their brand recognition in home appliances and mobile to swing some buyers their way over LG and Sony. At least the ones that don't know that LG makes the panels for all of them. It might work, especially if Samsung prices themselves above Vizio but under Sony's premium prices.

 

[masta247]

Samsung trying to get in to the OLED game?

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/9/2...nics-lg-display-oled-tv-panels-quantum-dot-qd

I think we talked about it before. They make the best OLED panels in business, they were just dumb and gave up on them for TVs.

So now they suddenly want to go back asap, to the point they don't want to wait until they can manufacture their TV-sized OLEDs which they refused to invest in over the last 5 years or so, but now instead they're rushing to buy panels from LG. And that's with Samsung being the OLED tech king. It's funny, but Samsung's decision-making was never clever. They eventually succeed by brute forcing any new markets with their sheer size and great engineering, but their upper management's always been dumb as a rock.

 

[dilla]

I think we talked about it before. They make the best OLED panels in business, they were just dumb and gave up on them for TVs.

So now they suddenly want to go back asap, to the point they don't want to wait until they can manufacture their TV-sized OLEDs which they refused to invest in over the last 5 years or so, but now instead they're rushing to buy panels from LG. And that's with Samsung being the OLED tech king. It's funny, but Samsung's decision-making was never clever. They eventually succeed by brute forcing any new markets with their sheer size and great engineering, but their upper management's always been dumb as a rock.

I forget that our phones have OLEDs sometimes. And that, yeah, Samsung makes most of the ones for mobile devices. Who else makes them? I think Apple made their own screens but those were LCDs and they now use OLEDs in their iPhones. The iPads don't. It was a head-scratcher that despite making the smaller OLEDs at such a large scale, Samsung never put them in their TVs. I wonder if their appliances have OLEDs, like the screens on their fridges or washers. It'd be kind of pointless but OLED is popping up everywhere now and even cars have OLED clusters. Or OLEDs on the ceilings of their interiors, like Rolls Royce, where they have a starry-sky design on the liner.

But you are right, they have made some huge boneheaded mistakes and they overcome their flops by dumping money in to something instead of being wise with their money and also wise with the decision making they do for their products. MST removal still has me butthurt.

Speaking of phones, if I decide to switch carriers, I'll definitely be looking at upgrading my phone. Staying with the same carrier offers weak deals but switching between them has some attractive trade in credit. Like $750 for my S10+ from VZW when the street value is $200, at best. I'm at the point that I want something new other than Samsung because there really is no big distinguishing factor between other OEMs and Samsung with no MST. Samsung Pay was huge and I've gone in to it before. I thought about the OnePlus 9 but I still don't know enough about it. I know only the Pro model has wireless charging, which seems silly. WC isn't too big of a deal for me but you feel cheated not having it on a flagship phone at this point. I may have to revisit the Pixel 5 but I read only negative things on Reddit from Pixel users about poor CS or bugs that take forever to fix. And the option for an iPhone is always there given that I'm in their walled-garden with a Mac and an iPad. I've wanted a wearable for some time after my Jawbone UP broke a few years back. Of course, it was just a simple fitness tracker and watches are far more complex but nothing on Android Wear, or whatever it's called, seems to have even mediocre reviews. I still have to see the reviews on the OnePlus Watch but I imagine that would still work best with a OP phone, much like a Galaxy Watch would with a Samsung device.

If I stick with Sprint/TMo, then I'll just keep the phone and be happy with a lower bill. I know 5G is young and still probably best closer to a big city and not so much in the suburbs but I'll have to see how good the speeds are around the location I use it most to see if maybe it is worth it. Then the itch for a 5G phone begins. But again, I bet the tech evolves quickly as far as radios go and maybe getting one this early on will have me "outdated" and unable to use the latest features of a network if the improvements and benefits improve exponentially over the next two years.

 

[dilla]

The reviews are not good for the OnePlus Watch https://gizmodo.com/this-is-the-worst-smartwatch-ive-ever-used-1846652533

I thought it looked nice but every review says it looks nice but performs very poorly. And then the commenters are even worse and are probably fanboys of hating against OnePlus. I know OP is no longer the flagship-killer OEM it was many years ago but seeing a lot of the comments mentioning "Chinese OEM" and wanting to see OP fail makes me think it's just some anti-Chinese narrative.

I know I had my reservations of Chinese OEMs, and still do, but I'm not hoping for a brand to completely fail.

I still haven't looked deep in to the OP9 that was just released but I was considering it as an alternative to another Samsung phone. But the Reddit comments seem very biased against OP and maybe just Chinese OEMs as a whole. Probably not the place to go for sound-minded reviews lol.

 

[dilla]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/14/22382887/sony-announces-xperia-1-iii-xperia-5-iii

I really need to try a Sony phone in-hand before they eventually stop making phones, too. So little fanfare and it looks like a decent phone. I know availability in the US is an issue as many carriers don't stock Sony phones, if any.

 

[masta247]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/14/22382887/sony-announces-xperia-1-iii-xperia-5-iii

I really need to try a Sony phone in-hand before they eventually stop making phones, too. So little fanfare and it looks like a decent phone. I know availability in the US is an issue as many carriers don't stock Sony phones, if any.

Sony still make absolutely sweet phones. Beats me why they're not doing better amongst the enthusiasts at the very least. They are ticking all the right boxes and it's not like they are lacking anything the competition has either. They even have the legendary brand behind it, and the design to match.

 

[dilla]

Sony still make absolutely sweet phones. Beats me why they're not doing better amongst the enthusiasts at the very least. They are ticking all the right boxes and it's not like they are lacking anything the competition has either. They even have the legendary brand behind it, and the design to match.

I took a look at the major three carriers here in the US; none of them offer Sony phones on their websites, at least not anymore, which means none of the new models. OnePlus has a better presence in retail stores than Sony phones do. Let that sink in. As does TCL, which last I checked was offered by Verizon in stores, too.

 

[dilla]

https://www.accc.gov.au/media-relea...about-the-collection-and-use-of-location-data

 

[dilla]

So I still need to catch up on the Apple event today but I got the basic gist of it, as far as products go. I like the design of the new iMac, but the colors aren't my thing. i know the original iMac released in all these fruity colors and it was fine then, but the design of the iMac since the 90s has always been minimalist and professional looking. It still looks that way, but the colors are just something else. I'd expect that on their phones but not on a computer. But that's just me. I'll have to see what the M1X, I think it's called, is all about and how it compares to previous gen Macs and current PCs. I know Apple did a great job with the M1 so I'm expecting more of that.

I don't know if the same chip is in the new iPad Pros they announced, but that would really be something. An iMac in tablet form. And the Ax chips were always great in their segments in the iPhone and iPad, so I wonder how much better the M1X is going to be. And the 12.9 model gets mini-LED treatment.

Air Tags are whatever. I seen the Tile units for years and some people used to like them and grab them whenever they went on sale. They used it for luggage and car keys and maybe wallets? I haven't had issues with those so they weren't appealing to me.

Apple TV got a big change but I never planned on owning one. Between the built-in apps in webOS (which I recently found out were kind of shit) and the Google TV Chromecast thingy, I'm set with those. I have read that Apple TV devices typically get versions of streaming apps that allow for max performance, 4K, etc. I'd like that but the devices are expensive for what they are. Plus I mainly streaming on my laptop or phone and usually and ad blocker knocks out ads in services like Hulu.

Google IO is typically in June, right? Apple still has to do WWDC so we'll see what happens there but these Macs looked good as did the iPad. I expect WWDC to continue to be mostly software updates like a new iOS/macOS.

What ever did Google do with HTC after purchasing them? You'd think Google would be looking to introduce more hardware alongside software and services it provides, to keep up appearances with Apple, but you don't see that. I think I see more excitement and news regarded Google Nest than I do Android stuff.

 

[masta247]

^ Google is the Electronic Arts of hardware. They scorch earth behind everything they purchase. The phone division of HTC is in ruins - they pulled some of its engineers over to work on the Pixels, and otherwise there's no more HTC phone division. The last phone they launched under the HTC brand is literally this generic Chinese OEM phone with a HTC logo engraved on it :HTC Wildfire E3 - Full phone specifications (gsmarena.com)

The part of HTC that was not purchased by Google is a stand-alone company in Taiwan that's doing good (they still make VR headsets), but they don't have a phone division because Google bought and destroyed it. Google got everything related to HTC phones made pre-2017, so HTC would have to start from scratch (and I know they were considering rebuilding). Apparently they aren't contractually barred from doing so, and it's more about the cost of doing so from scratch.

The Apple event was alright. The Pro iPads definitely went a long way, but I have no personal interest in them, even though it's impressive they come with the M1 now. I am more excited about their fall event. I'm not excited for Google IO anymore, to the point I don't watch them ever since 2017 or so.

 

[Casey]

Anyone seen the Mi 11 Ultra? It looks totally bad-ass. I am tempted.

 

[dilla]

^ Google is the Electronic Arts of hardware. They scorch earth behind everything they purchase. The phone division of HTC is in ruins - they pulled some of its engineers over to work on the Pixels, and otherwise there's no more HTC phone division. The last phone they launched under the HTC brand is literally this generic Chinese OEM phone with a HTC logo engraved on it :HTC Wildfire E3 - Full phone specifications (gsmarena.com)

The part of HTC that was not purchased by Google is a stand-alone company in Taiwan that's doing good (they still make VR headsets), but they don't have a phone division because Google bought and destroyed it. Google got everything related to HTC phones made pre-2017, so HTC would have to start from scratch (and I know they were considering rebuilding). Apparently they aren't contractually barred from doing so, and it's more about the cost of doing so from scratch.

The Apple event was alright. The Pro iPads definitely went a long way, but I have no personal interest in them, even though it's impressive they come with the M1 now. I am more excited about their fall event. I'm not excited for Google IO anymore, to the point I don't watch them ever since 2017 or so.

I get excited for Apple events and usually catch some part of most of the events. This time, I missed it completely and had to look through recaps and thoughts videos. I had to be reminded that the Macs got the powerful chips from the iPads and iPhones, not the other way around. In my basic knowledge of things, the M1 is a modified A12X, or something like that, from the iPad Pros. So Apple beefed it up and put it in the MBAs and Mac Minis last Fall and then brought it back down to the iPad Pros from where it originally came from. Forgot about that completely. So the Macs are in fact running mobile processors, or at least processors that Apple had on its mobile devices for years.

For someone with iPad Pro of any kind, even the first generation, there doesn't look to be a major reason to upgrade unless you need the mini-LED of the 12.9 model. These devices are so powerful, even for basic use, that it feels a tad overkill to upgrade even from a 3+ year old model. Plus, the iPad has the power to do anything but is still limited by iPadOS and all the restrictions it as. Also, the lack of support for a lot of content creating apps, including Apple's own Final Cut Pro.

I do need to see the mini-LED in action, though. I'm sure it will trickle down to the rest of the Pro models in the next refresh and then the rest of the iPads in a year or two. I don't know how expensive the technology is but Apple did raise the price of the mini-LED-equipped 12.0 Pro model by $100. It's more than a MacBook Air now.

I'll have to find somewhere that gives me a dumbed-down explanation of the difference between the Mac models with the M1. Some has 7 core and others have 8-core GPUs according to Apple's website. I want to know just how much of a difference that makes if someone were playing a game.

And now that M1 Macs can run iOS apps, I wonder if games released on iOS work with no issue if played on a Mac. Or if Apple/developers have placed restrictions on which apps can be run on a Mac, even if they share a similar Apple Silicon chip.

 

[dilla]

I just have to say, the Z Fold 2 is growing on me. Not the price tag at the $1800+ MSRP, but the design and cool factor of it.

I hope more OEMs embrace the foldable design and that it's not just a fad like 3D cameras or modular phones were.

Sidenote: TMobile is offering a free A32 5G when you trade in any working phone, no matter how old. Of course, it's a free phone through bill credits, but I saw a rather large line outside my local store when I drove past last week. Samsung kid range devices are supposed to be pretty good, right?

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Anyone seen the Mi 11 Ultra? It looks totally bad-ass. I am tempted.

Yeah, saw it a while back - looks like it could be the best phone this year. They are opening the gap ahead now IMO.

 

[masta247]

Anyone seen the Mi 11 Ultra? It looks totally bad-ass. I am tempted.

Yeah I mentioned it somewhere a page or two ago. It's without a doubt the best and most exciting smartphone at the moment. Its camera is just miles ahead of anything out there too. The moment they showed it winning photo shootouts against the Sony RX100 M7 (which is Sony's newest $1000 camera with a 1-inch sensor) blew my mind, and the announcement was definitely the most exciting phone launch I've seen in many, many years.

Xiaomi are doing amazing things and are innovating while others are stagnating. As soon as you are able to get it anywhere, they'd definitely dominate Samsung as the biggest smartphone maker, and deservedly really.
It seems like they're playing it safe with North America because when Huawei reached the very same position, they got put down by the US Govt. At the same time because they aren't in North America they aren't getting anywhere as much media coverage to truly show how huge and great they've become. It's launching Europe-wise in two weeks though. It'd definitely be my next early upgrade if I were there.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Even their midrange phones look like great options (Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco). I've been following Xiaomi since the Mi 4 and have watched them grow into what they are today. I think they need a stronger retail and customer service presence though and that could really solidify their momentum.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

I am also looking forward to Google I/O this year - hoping to see some good announcements.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

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