Technology Android

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
No just because it's US based, is what I meant. I don't own any Samsung products at the moment either

Oh, true. Who knows how manufacturing in the US will affect quality.

Some Black Friday deals have been popping up that make upgrading pretty easy for a minor bump in cost per month. S21 Ultras can be had for like $7 a month after trading in a device and with bill credits. But we're close to the S22 being unveiled. And the iPhone is still in my periphery as a possible upgrade too. I don't know what I want anymore from a phone so I tried to stay-put and just ride out the S10+ until it's more obvious what my next phone should be.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
What desktop browsers do you guys use? I just saw Austin Evans plug Opera since they sponsored one of his videos and I forgot about Opera.

I use Firefox on desktop and on my phone and I'm happy with it.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
My sister ended up getting the top model 16" MBP the other day. Apple has decided to bring their convoluted naming scheme to the Macs now so I think it's the M1 Max Pro? I don't know but it's fucking overkill for the shit she does with it.

Apple really made it one beefy boy and it reminds me of the MacBook/PowerBook days of pre-2009, before Apple had the unibody design. It's so clunky and heavy and feels like a laptop from the mid-2000s.

I didn't mess around with it too much so I can't speak to how fast it is but I know she used it for 3+ days before she had to charge it. I guess it's that 100 Wah battery plus not having a power hog that is the Intel chips. Still, it's a retarded purchase on her part but what can you do? She just decided on a whim to go for it.

I've been good with my MBP from 2017 and I hope it gives me several more years of usage until Windows decides to support ARM for Windows 11, or something, so we can still use Boot Camp.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
It's just Google being Google.

Stadia has been circling the drain for a while. I don't know what metaphor to use for this news: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...o-pivot-to-google-stream-white-label-service/
They still kept Stadia alive for longer than expected. It lasted for over two years. I expected they'd shut it down after a first failed year. At first it seemed Google were the only ones who believed it has a future, almost weirdly considering how quick they were to pull the trigger on platforms that were much more promising than it.
Then I read about it, and the conclusion seemed to be that Google's freaking out because they've never shut down a paid service before, and they'd have a hard time telling people they can't play the games they bought anymore. They must be in a serious predicament, bleeding money knowing their platform doesn't have a future, or telling loads of their customers to go fuck themselves after taking their money.
 
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dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
They still kept Stadia alive for longer than expected. It lasted for over two years. I expected they'd shut it down after a first failed year. At first it seemed Google were the only ones who believed it has a future, almost weirdly considering how quick they were to pull the trigger on platforms that were much more promising than it.
Then I read about it, and the conclusion seemed to be that Google's freaking out because they've never shut down a paid service before, and they'd have a hard time telling people they can't play the games they bought anymore. They must be in a serious predicament, bleeding money knowing their platform doesn't have a future, or telling loads of their customers to go fuck themselves after taking their money.
I fully expect Google to tell customers to screw off and just buy the games again elsewhere.

Or maybe a $50 Play Store credit to their account and that's it. Eat the cost for the hardware and software after that credit.

Will it be considered as big of a flop as the Ouya was? Amazon still has Luna going but we'll see for how much longer. I thought Amazon was going to fail with the Fire lineup but it's become pretty successful, minus the phone. The tablets and streaming devices are still popular and good. Google doesn't even have that with Stadia. It'll be easy for them to cut and bail, I think.

Excited for the Samsung Unpacked event? I've glanced at the leaks and it looks like there will be a decrease in RAM, even in the Ultra models? I'll see if carriers or Samsung have good trade in deals and maybe I'll upgrade otherwise I'm not excited about losing the headphone jack and expandable storage, even if I seldom use those.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Excited for the Samsung Unpacked event? I've glanced at the leaks and it looks like there will be a decrease in RAM, even in the Ultra models? I'll see if carriers or Samsung have good trade in deals and maybe I'll upgrade otherwise I'm not excited about losing the headphone jack and expandable storage, even if I seldom use those.
Not really that excited, especially since we already have the official specs and pictures. And frankly, because of the following:
I have the S10, my best friend just got the S21 FE, and it's not about the S21 being a small upgrade - between the two I actually prefer the S10. Thanks to the SD card I've got 384GB of storage on that thing, I still use the headphone jack despite having wireless headphones, and the Snadragon 865 was the last efficient Qualcomm chip before ARM went stupid trying (and failing) to chase Apple's performance with the prime inefficient core clocked balls to the walls. So the battery actually lasts longer on my 1.5 year-old S10 than my friend's new S21 FE. I also use Samsung Pay exclusively - I don't carry my wallet anymore, so not having the option to pay at chip-only terminals in case I run into one would make me anxious.

Also, I really like the S10's design so much more - it was the last Samsung phone with a legitimately premium feel. I like even looking at that thing. The newer Samsung phones are plasticky and their flat screens just don't look as cool anymore. The bezels actually grew since then. I also like the camera cutout in the corner where I rarely notice it, rather than seeing it in the middle. I think the screen on the S10 just looks better, and the fact it's the higher resolution one is just icing on the cake.

So, I feel like newer Samsung phones actually take features I care about away, and don't really offer anything interesting enough to make up for it. The performance improvements are small and irrelevant as I never feel like my phone isn't fast enough. And if I did, the S21 wouldn't change much as the performance gap isn't big enough for one phone to feel much snappier than the other. The camera is just good enough for anything I can imagine. I will eventually pull the trigger on a phone that does camera much better, maybe amazing zoom or some other groundbreaking features, but so far the differences have been tiny since the S10. I like the cameras on the Ultra, but I don't want to carry a brick. Maybe if a similar camera setup comes to the standard-sized S series device I'd be interested, but we're not there yet with the S22.

Honestly, if my S10 breaks, I'd be sad. The S22 looks like an ok backup plan, but there's no way around feeling like I'm downgrading in many ways. Maybe I'd start looking at the foldables to at least have something that pushes the envelope again, even though they aren't there yet.
 
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dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Not really that excited, especially since we already have the official specs and pictures. And frankly, because of the following:
I have the S10, my best friend just got the S21 FE, and it's not about the S21 being a small upgrade - between the two I actually prefer the S10. Thanks to the SD card I've got 384GB of storage on that thing, I still use the headphone jack despite having wireless headphones, and the Snadragon 865 was the last efficient Qualcomm chip before ARM went stupid trying (and failing) to chase Apple's performance with the prime inefficient core clocked balls to the walls. So the battery actually lasts longer on my 1.5 year-old S10 than my friend's new S21 FE. I also use Samsung Pay exclusively - I don't carry my wallet anymore, so not having the option to pay at chip-only terminals in case I run into one would make me anxious.

Also, I really like the S10's design so much more - it was the last Samsung phone with a legitimately premium feel. I like even looking at that thing. The newer Samsung phones are plasticky and their flat screens just don't look as cool anymore. The bezels actually grew since then. I also like the camera cutout in the corner where I rarely notice it, rather than seeing it in the middle. I think the screen on the S10 just looks better, and the fact it's the higher resolution one is just icing on the cake.

So, I feel like newer Samsung phones actually take features I care about away, and don't really offer anything interesting enough to make up for it. The performance improvements are small and irrelevant as I never feel like my phone isn't fast enough. And if I did, the S21 wouldn't change much as the performance gap isn't big enough for one phone to feel much snappier than the other. The camera is just good enough for anything I can imagine. I will eventually pull the trigger on a phone that does camera much better, maybe amazing zoom or some other groundbreaking features, but so far the differences have been tiny since the S10. I like the cameras on the Ultra, but I don't want to carry a brick. Maybe if a similar camera setup comes to the standard-sized S series device I'd be interested, but we're not there yet with the S22.

Honestly, if my S10 breaks, I'd be sad. The S22 looks like an ok backup plan, but there's no way around feeling like I'm downgrading in many ways. Maybe I'd start looking at the foldables to at least have something that pushes the envelope again, even though they aren't there yet.

Some more stuff leaked, coincidentally, from the the Polish Samsung website: https://web.archive.org/web/2022020...l/lp/promocje/12757-samsung/index.html?332230

I too can't live without the MST for Samsung Pay since I use it almost everywhere. The specs, on paper, look like a significant upgrade from my S10+ but I doubt I'd actually notice the benefits in day to day usage. I like where most phone cameras are at these days and I'd like Google's software optimization to be a focus now instead of chasing camera specs. I don't take many pictures anyway and usually when I do it's on the fly and not really to capture a scenic shot or anything. Cameras were a big deal to me prior to my S7 but after that, it all feels the same to me, as far as the images that I take myself.

As I said many times, if Samsung or TMo offer some crazy incentive to upgrade, I'll do it, but it'd have to be like a $700+ trade in value and maybe a bundle with a pair of Galaxy Buds or a Watch. I'm sure other carriers will have similar incentives so I don't even have to stick with TMo to do it. I'll switch carriers. But those deals just have to exist. I'll miss those features the S22 loses from the S10 but money talks.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
TMo is offering the 256 GB Ultra with $800 off if I trade in my S10+. I might do it. I have no need for an S Pen, but fuck it. 1440p/120hz sounds great and 5G sounds nice. the free upgrade from 128 to 256 storage takes out one fear of lack of storage.
 

Jokerman

Well-Known Member
TMo is offering the 256 GB Ultra with $800 off if I trade in my S10+. I might do it.
Do it. Or go Apple and wait for the 14. You and masta read about phone tech all the time and then don't upgrade for years. I understand about being practical and needs, but you can rationalize keeping almost anything too long, like a Blackberry or flip phone. We all do it and we even convince ourselves that what we have is superior. Just upgrade, you'll adjust.

Now I'm going to watch some TV on my 25" Sony WEGA because the flatscreen TVs are plasticky in comparison and the performance gap doesn't make up for it. I even prefer the 480p resolution to 1080 or 4K. Makes me dizzy. Plus, I need the RCA connections to hook up my PS1 and VCR. (There are literally people just like that.)
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Do it. Or go Apple and wait for the 14. You and masta read about phone tech all the time and then don't upgrade for years. I understand about being practical and needs, but you can rationalize keeping almost anything too long, like a Blackberry or flip phone. We all do it and we even convince ourselves that what we have is superior. Just upgrade, you'll adjust.

Now I'm going to watch some TV on my 25" Sony WEGA because the flatscreen TVs are plasticky in comparison and the performance gap doesn't make up for it. I even prefer the 480p resolution to 1080 or 4K. Makes me dizzy. Plus, I need the RCA connections to hook up my PS1 and VCR. (There are literally people just like that.)
lol I upgrade every three years or so so I can justify it this time. I'm torn between pre-ordering now and taking advantage of deals prior to release or waiting to see some proper benchmarks. I don't know what I'll get out of those benchmarks and reviews because they will all be better than my S10+, at least on paper. But I would feel a tad salty if it performs worse than the S21 did, either in battery life or day to day use. The camera, I'm reading, is marginally better than the S21 but that shouldn't matter to me because I'd need be judging performance relative to my S10, not the 20 or 21.

I have 5G in my area and I'd like to use it but even then I realize that that novelty will wear off after a few weeks, assuming speeds improve over LTE in my area.

I'll do it. I am a sucker for shiny new things and despite recognizing that problem, I still upgrade earlier than I would like to. The $800 credit for my trade-in seems like a smart financial decision considering my S10+ is worth, at best, $250 through Samsung or on Swappa or something.

Also, looks like people really jumped at the S8: https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-pausing-tab-s8-pre-orders-us/

Stopping preorders is a strange thing to do, though. I wonder why there's a sudden interest in Android tablets, specifically Samsung's, this year. That price tag, though.... Now it's really competing with the iPad Pro at that price.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
I forgot to mention my S10 got Android 12 a few days back, too. It has made me pause and think if I should keep the phone another year or so until the updates stop but then I also realized I don't know what has changed over the past 5 years in Android and would probably not notice it anyway in future releases.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Fuck it, ordered the S22U. "Free" upgrade to 256 of storage and it'll be $400 over two years of installment payments.

Guess I'll suddenly be a simp for non-MST payments and no headphone jacks now, even though my older car doesn't have Android Auto built-in and I use the headphone jack to get audio through the speakers lol.

I'm sure the initial complaints of battery life, compared to the 21, will be fixed within a month or two with a software update. Every phone has some launch-day issues that eventually get fixed and people stop freaking out about it. I refuse to believe Samsung would allow their latest model to be beat by the previous model. Thing is, I hope it's just some optimization issue and not something the requires them to dumb-down the chipset in order to get the battery life back.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
I forgot Samsung followed Apple's lead, after mocking them, and does not include a charger with the phone. Also, to get the Super Fast Charge speeds, one needs to purchase a $50 charger from Samsung.

Guess I'll stick with my old charger then. All these new charging techs are confusing to me and I'm not sure what's in between the charger I had with my S10+ and what's being offered from Samsung at 45W, or something. 30W?

I saw a unit at Best Buy and spent a minute or to messing around on it. S Pen definitely writes as fluidly as reviewers say it does. I'll have to start getting used to jotting quick notes down and making it more of a part of my daily usage.

I also saw MKBHD's video on the S8 Ultra. Looks like a sick tablet and Samsung looks to have made multitasking much easier and productive than what Apple has done with the iPad/Pro. Of course, the thing is massive but that looks like a more interesting device, to me, than the more-recent iPad Pros. Apple has really neglected iPadOS.
 

Pittsey

Knock, Knock...
Staff member
I forgot Samsung followed Apple's lead, after mocking them, and does not include a charger with the phone. Also, to get the Super Fast Charge speeds, one needs to purchase a $50 charger from Samsung.

Guess I'll stick with my old charger then. All these new charging techs are confusing to me and I'm not sure what's in between the charger I had with my S10+ and what's being offered from Samsung at 45W, or something. 30W?

I saw a unit at Best Buy and spent a minute or to messing around on it. S Pen definitely writes as fluidly as reviewers say it does. I'll have to start getting used to jotting quick notes down and making it more of a part of my daily usage.

I also saw MKBHD's video on the S8 Ultra. Looks like a sick tablet and Samsung looks to have made multitasking much easier and productive than what Apple has done with the iPad/Pro. Of course, the thing is massive but that looks like a more interesting device, to me, than the more-recent iPad Pros. Apple has really neglected iPadOS.
Google did the same. Pixel 6 didn't come with a charger
 

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