Technology Android

[THEV1LL4N]

So after watching this video on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855, I think the Samsung Galaxy S10 will be one of the best phones this year in terms of the camera. Also, the Google Pixel 4 will have great performance to go with it's AI offerings. Google just need to ensure that the rest of their hardware is up-to-scratch as they have much room for improvement. They need to ensure that they stay ahead of the competition with the camera quality as that's essentially their USP and the defining factor of the Pixel brand.

I hope to upgrade a Pixel 4 if it's a great device. If I'm not happy with the price, I may wait until November, December and pushing it, January. Or, if I'm really not happy with the device at all I may go for the Samsung Galaxy S10 which should be cheaper by Q4.

Late 2019 or early 2020 is when I will (most-likely and finally) upgrade from my LG G4 from 2015 at which point it will be around 4½ years old. Or should I keep it as my main phone up until 5 years? Just for the sake of the milestone? haha.

 

[masta247]

Is there anything on the horizon for desktops/laptops that is set to take those class of computers to an absolutely next level and really widen the gap between computers and tablets? I mean a GPU, CPU, something that just puts computers leaps and bound ahead, like the difference between a Gen 8 i7 and a core 2 Duo from 2009?

Desktop computers are generally leaps and bounds ahead and will continue to do so. The power available to those larger, desktop devices simply can't be approached by mobile devices. The gap is very large as is, but just watch the AMD announcement next week which will skyrocket desktop computing again, as they're launching the first consumer CPUs and GPUs on the 7nm process. Since AMD entered the game again, there has been an incredible amount of progress there. Quad-core chips went from being highest-end to virtually irrelevant within less than two years, as now hexacore chips are already considered to be the value proposition. They're clocked at close to 5ghz out of the box and the average performance per core has increased dramatically as well in the last two years. AMD is continuing to push the envelope, while Intel continues to scramble to throw their best products they ever had out there to stay relevant. The last two years alone have seen more progress than the whole prior decade, and Zen 2 on 7nm in a week will possibly be the largest milestone in terms of computing power we have seen.

It's the laptops and tablets that are becoming more similar, largely because the size of these devices and the batteries and heat dissipation capabilities are becoming more alike. Generally speaking, the gap is shrinking for those products in terms of pure hardware. It's the software ecosystems and CPU architectures that are creating the boundaries.

I hope to upgrade a Pixel 4 if it's a great device. If I'm not happy with the price, I may wait until November, December and pushing it, January. Or, if I'm really not happy with the device at all I may go for the Samsung Galaxy S10 which should be cheaper by Q4.

That's a reasonable plan, but keep in mind that then the Galaxy S11 will be right around the corner..
At this point though being one generation behind if it means savings can be an excellent idea. I did just that getting the S8.. for almost half the price of the S9. There is no way the S9 was worth anything close to almost twice as much as an S8. 10-20% maybe, but the sales are usually better than that.

 

[dilla]

Desktop computers are generally leaps and bounds ahead and will continue to do so. The power available to those larger, desktop devices simply can't be approached by mobile devices. The gap is very large as is, but just watch the AMD announcement next week which will skyrocket desktop computing again, as they're launching the first consumer CPUs and GPUs on the 7nm process. Since AMD entered the game again, there has been an incredible amount of progress there. Quad-core chips went from being highest-end to virtually irrelevant within less than two years, as now hexacore chips are already considered to be the value proposition. They're clocked at close to 5ghz out of the box and the average performance per core has increased dramatically as well in the last two years. AMD is continuing to push the envelope, while Intel continues to scramble to throw their best products they ever had out there to stay relevant. The last two years alone have seen more progress than the whole prior decade, and Zen 2 on 7nm in a week will possibly be the largest milestone in terms of computing power we have seen.

It's the laptops and tablets that are becoming more similar, largely because the size of these devices and the batteries and heat dissipation capabilities are becoming more alike. Generally speaking, the gap is shrinking for those products in terms of pure hardware. It's the software ecosystems and CPU architectures that are creating the boundaries.



That's a reasonable plan, but keep in mind that then the Galaxy S11 will be right around the corner..
At this point though being one generation behind if it means savings can be an excellent idea. I did just that getting the S8.. for almost half the price of the S9. There is no way the S9 was worth anything close to almost twice as much as an S8. 10-20% maybe, but the sales are usually better than that.

Yeah, I noticed that big jump in the latest MBPs to six cores on the base 15" MBP and 8 on the higher ones. I think it's eight. But Apple would be wise to get off Intel's teat, or vice versa, and give AMD a fair shake in the next year or two. If Nvidia GPUs put up those great numbers compared to AMDs, then all Apple uses are AMD GPUs and should change that, as well. But looks like Apple is really reeling after the recent announcement on their loss of value or profit. Which I'm happy about because it will force Cook to do something useful with the Mac's trajectory, as well as the iPhone's, and not release mundane shit aside from a few aesthetic changes. I wonder if AMD can proposition Apple at this point to get those Ryzens in Macs. Apple will probably sell them at the same prices despite AMDs typically costing less than Intel, but at least it's a start in getting some more diverse, and better, hardware into these Macs.

Otherwise, Apple will have to stay afloat by people that buy in to the brand's value by name instead of what they are actually getting out of their products. Those iPhones will continue to sell but I can sense the ire of power users that are upset with Macs since 2015, or so, and are ready to jump ship. Many already have for one reason or another, but if the pricing continues to be silly in comparison to the value many of these users get from macOS and Apple hardware, Macs might be relegated to being fashion statements for students as opposed to machines that many professionals actually do their work on.

 

[dilla]

So what do you make of all the tracking/spying claims against Google? I know it's against a few other major companies but Android users on Reddit are really focused on the Android aspect of it. Especially since it seems like they go hand in hand with the Facebook tracking, even when Facebook isn't installed. Or if you don't even have a Facebook account to begin with. Some odd apps using Facebook tracking, like Under Armour's MyFitnessPall app and Shazam. And a period tracking app.

A few years ago, we all seemed fine with Google scanning our emails and storing our searches and tracking our shopping habits. Now it seems people all of a sudden give a shit, or Google got more intrusive, I don't know. Maybe the 2016 elections got people more aware of privacy concerns.

 

[masta247]

A few years ago, we all seemed fine with Google scanning our emails and storing our searches and tracking our shopping habits. Now it seems people all of a sudden give a shit, or Google got more intrusive, I don't know. Maybe the 2016 elections got people more aware of privacy concerns.

People suddenly started caring about their privacy which is a great thing, as long as it's targeting the right problems. The services that we use have always had way too much access to our data. I only found comfort in knowing I'm just one of the hundreds of millions and nobody cares enough about a single individual. There are way too many services requiring you to create accounts with them as well, endangering your data, increasing the risk that one of those accounts gets hacked.

Facebook tracks people who are not on Facebook through other services that deliberately use Facebook's plug-ins. Google tracks everyone everywhere, it never mattered if you had an account with them - they still have an ad profile at least on your device. Having an account just gives them more information and ties the devices that you use to a single entity. Facebook and Google tracking the devices or their users are the tip of the iceberg though and fairly harmless compared to the bigger threats. There are so many data privacy issues and companies making your data vulnerable that are still flying under the radar that should be dealt with.

European IT security classes like to use the existence of US private credit bureaus as an extreme example of neglect and governments not protecting their citizens' information. We would consider them to be a threat of the highest caliber and that would simply not be allowed. One bad accident can lead to a complete privacy disaster.

Can you imagine a private business getting all personally identifiable information about each individual from each major company the person deals with, including personal identification numbers, financial transaction information, credit card numbers, addresses, ID scans and other detailed information etc, and businesses providing that information willingly? Then any business can request that information on any individual for a fee?
That is insane and this is normal in the US or Canada, and the private credit 'bureaus' are allowed to exist just like that. I believe that is by far the biggest data security threat and the biggest privacy violation that you guys are facing there since they're actually dealing with sensitive data that gets broadcasted regularly and that can be seriously weaponized. The worst things that Facebook or Google have on you is access to your private messages. The location data, ad interests or even pictures that you made public yourself really just pale in comparison and are fairly harmless.

 

[Rukas]

Random question.

Best place to go to get basic android tablets manufactured with own branding and OS loaded?

 

[masta247]

Random question.

Best place to go to get basic android tablets manufactured with own branding and OS loaded?

There's a lot of businesses that deal with that but I actually have no idea in particular what would be the best place. Probably one of the Shenzen joints that advertise themselves on Aliexpress, but I have no idea which one.
I don't think I've ever seen a custom/branded tablet that I could recommend and that wasn't horrible, although I haven't seen many of those at all in the first place.

If your budget is high, you might be better off contacting a company making generic tablets that you like directly about a custom solution.
If your budget is low, you might look into aliexpress. There are plenty of sellers offering such services and you will most likely get a very basic potato tablet with your branding for cheap. Just research each seller that you'd be considering really well. These days they are doing tech miracles in Shenzen for cheap though, you just have to find the right people.

 

[dilla]

People suddenly started caring about their privacy which is a great thing, as long as it's targeting the right problems. The services that we use have always had way too much access to our data. I only found comfort in knowing I'm just one of the hundreds of millions and nobody cares enough about a single individual. There are way too many services requiring you to create accounts with them as well, endangering your data, increasing the risk that one of those accounts gets hacked.

Facebook tracks people who are not on Facebook through other services that deliberately use Facebook's plug-ins. Google tracks everyone everywhere, it never mattered if you had an account with them - they still have an ad profile at least on your device. Having an account just gives them more information and ties the devices that you use to a single entity. Facebook and Google tracking the devices or their users are the tip of the iceberg though and fairly harmless compared to the bigger threats. There are so many data privacy issues and companies making your data vulnerable that are still flying under the radar that should be dealt with.

European IT security classes like to use the existence of US private credit bureaus as an extreme example of neglect and governments not protecting their citizens' information. We would consider them to be a threat of the highest caliber and that would simply not be allowed. One bad accident can lead to a complete privacy disaster.

Can you imagine a private business getting all personally identifiable information about each individual from each major company the person deals with, including personal identification numbers, financial transaction information, credit card numbers, addresses, ID scans and other detailed information etc, and businesses providing that information willingly? Then any business can request that information on any individual for a fee?
That is insane and this is normal in the US or Canada, and the private credit 'bureaus' are allowed to exist just like that. I believe that is by far the biggest data security threat and the biggest privacy violation that you guys are facing there since they're actually dealing with sensitive data that gets broadcasted regularly and that can be seriously weaponized. The worst things that Facebook or Google have on you is access to your private messages. The location data, ad interests or even pictures that you made public yourself really just pale in comparison and are fairly harmless.

What's the difference between Google and Facebook sharing the information with select parties versus "private businesses" having the same access? I think everyone has a different threshold on what information is private and just how private it is. I don't mind my shopping habits being tracked. It's still weird that I get ads for GPUs on some sites I don't use an ad blocker on and Google News keeps giving me GPU news despite searching a good bit for deals but not news on GPUs the past year. Same with random auto products I've looked up.

But I would have an issue with getting access to my emails and I know that was happening since I made a Google Account almost a decade ago. I'm sure a lot of my purchase information is pulled from there too from receipts and tracking numbers sent to me. I use a throwaway Yahoo account for most subscriptions to companies deals and other emails but I'm sure they've found a way to link my Google account and my throwaway Yahoo account because they're accessed from 4 or 5 devices.

I think the big red flag for me regarding privacy "leaks" would medical information. I'm not sick or anything but a lot can be done with medical records. I don't think Google or, God forbid, Facebook has breached those yet but it may be close if companies start accessing apps like Google Fit or MyFitnessPal and start combing through data logged through there.

I still do the Reward Surveys from Google and of course Google knows and asks if I've been to certain stores and what method of payment I've used. Same with location tracking in general with Google Maps.

So I don't care about my search results and shopping habits being tracked and those two do go hand in hand, but I do worry about things like my news feed being altered towards my biases that already exist. Google News does this with a lot of current events except it's skewing my feed towards more right leaning sources despite my trying to access news from both ends of the political spectrum. It can show me HuffPo articles and CNN articles but then also flings in a Breitbart or Daily Stormer article, too. That's too far right for my taste compared to a Wall Street Journal.

So shit like that is annoying because I'm sure these articles exist, already, to skew an opinion one way or another. To have my feed also give an added push in one direction or another is pretty troubling and I think this is what Facebook was doing for the elections and midterms as well. Or "accused" of doing.

In the similar vein but on a lighter note, I am no longer looking at GPUs; I don't care for benchmarks too much and I'm happy with my RX 580 box. But Google will not stop posting GPU news to my feed. If only Google had a way to let them know you're no longer interested in certain news or topics anymore. But they do. The thumbs-up/down feature and option to block certain news sources, which I have used. But Google gives that the finger and recently has started showing me news about the Women's March lmao.

So I don't know anymore. I'm not saying Apple is innocent but I use Apple News on my Mac and my iPad and I don't have this issue. I'm sure the bias is there but the app listens to me when I block topics or sources; Google does not. Maybe it's simply a case of a broken system on google's end. That wouldn't surprise me; another half-ass feature not working as intended with no fix in sight. But the effects are more harmful in Google's case. It just won't listen to your preferences on topics or news sources. And it's not "smart" enough to see you don't click on certain topics that Google may have auto-suggested and take them away; it just keeps trying to shove it in your face.

I don't even know if there's a way to curtail trackers in the browsers anymore. I use uBlock Origin and even have a custom DNS on our home router. I use system-wide AdGuard Pro on my S7 and have almost all the filters enabled. I really just target filter lists that focus on tracking and cookies and not so much the ads. I still don't see ads but I look for ones that are tracker focused and I do get error loading pages on some sites when I click a link because they're adding tracking urls to their links. So it's working. But I still don't know just how much more one can do because clearly some stuff is still getting through and it might be Google at this point, and I can't escape that because I use Google search and I'm logged in to my Google Account in all my devices and/or browsers.

Some suggest VPNs, and I do have 60 GB free per month on Windscribe, but that's for hiding from your ISP, right? Some VPNs may have the ability to strip tracking URLs and block ads but there's still stuff stored on our devices that store our history and preferences that these companies then use.

Also, different topic, but Consumer Reports had the S7 as one of its best phones of 2019. https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/acx2f9
I have no qualms with my S7; just probably need a new battery soon, but I always have the upgrade bug in me to get the latest and greatest. I wonder if I can make it until Summer, a few months after the S10 releases, when the price could go down by a few $100 bucks and I just buy it outright and just stick with my S7 in the meantime. I could probably do it on my current battery but I'd like one last hurrah with it and, if I sell it, give it to someone with a relatively new battery from an authorized repair center.

 

[dilla]

Is there a downside to putting larger apps on your SD card? I put some streaming apps on it and a few social media apps, like Instagram and Reddit is Fun, on there. Do they run slower or maybe have issues updating via the Play Store because they’re not in the internal storage?

I put the Samsung Browser on there too, but it kept force closing so that clearly doesn’t like it. But for apps that build up cache over time, will I be fine just putting them on the SD card and letting them build whatever cache they want?

 

[dilla]

So alleged S10 shots and news leaked today:

Possibly, at least...

The event: https://news.samsung.com/global/invitation-samsung-galaxy-unpacked-2019



Samsung's foldable phone is coming, too: https://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-to-show-fully-functional-foldable-phone-in-february-11547102973

I don't know if I'll be able to hold out and not pre-order it, lol. Pretty sure even if it doesn't live up to the hype, it'll be a big enough leap for me from an S7. That's three generations of phones and even though the upgrades year-to-year are getting smaller and trivial, I think it'll be a big enough leap for me. Hardware-wise, and software wise.

I keep hearing about this One UI but I'm not sure what it is. Does it have to do with Android trying to combat fragmentation by allowing older versions of Android to still be updated and not rely on carriers sticking their dicks in it and releasing an OS 2 years after it was released by Google?

I'll keep an eye out on SlickDeals for discounts on the S10. If the rumors of a "Lite" version are true, I'd prefer not to get that unless the "Pro" version has features that are for niche users. I'd just like to bring my phone to 2016, or so, and have a USB-C port lol. My iPad Pro and MBP are all playing nice with each other with the USB-C ports/cables as does my Samsung SSD but the big deal will be for my phone, which is probably what I plug and unplug and charge the most out of all those devices.

Also, masta, my mom is looking to update her Lenovo Thinkpad. I think it's from 2013, or so, and it has served her well but she managed to crack the case/bezel around the screen and I think she just wants a new one, despite it working just fine.

I went to Dell's website and wanted to get the XPS 13 or 15 for her, but I was also looking to see the pricing on the Ryzen equipped models compared to the Intel ones. Turns out, Dell doesn't do AMD on their XPS models and it is on the Latitude models.

Would I be unnecessarily reaching by getting the Latitude model just for Ryzen? Money isn't a concern, but I was just curious about it.

EDIT: It's an Inspiron

Here's the link to the cart, hope it works: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/car...acd=12309198375458460&VEN3=810804361117238206

A promo code took $100 off. 8GB RAM, 2-in1 screen, because she probably would appreciate that. I bought 4 years of their Pro Plus service because the $100 discount took a sizable chunk off. They do next day services and repairs and while she has never needed it, it's basically free with the coupon. And we get some CashBack on it, too, but like $20 worth, maybe.

But worth going the Ryzen 5 route on it or should I stick to an XPS and future proof it with 16 or 32 GB of RAM and take the i7? My dad's XPS 15 has been serving him real well so we've got some good history with it.

 

[masta247]

Also, masta, my mom is looking to update her Lenovo Thinkpad. I think it's from 2013, or so, and it has served her well but she managed to crack the case/bezel around the screen and I think she just wants a new one, despite it working just fine.

I went to Dell's website and wanted to get the XPS 13 or 15 for her, but I was also looking to see the pricing on the Ryzen equipped models compared to the Intel ones. Turns out, Dell doesn't do AMD on their XPS models and it is on the Latitude models.

Would I be unnecessarily reaching by getting the Latitude model just for Ryzen? Money isn't a concern, but I was just curious about it.

EDIT: It's an Inspiron

Here's the link to the cart, hope it works: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/car...acd=12309198375458460&VEN3=810804361117238206

A promo code took $100 off. 8GB RAM, 2-in1 screen, because she probably would appreciate that. I bought 4 years of their Pro Plus service because the $100 discount took a sizable chunk off. They do next day services and repairs and while she has never needed it, it's basically free with the coupon. And we get some CashBack on it, too, but like $20 worth, maybe.

But worth going the Ryzen 5 route on it or should I stick to an XPS and future proof it with 16 or 32 GB of RAM and take the i7? My dad's XPS 15 has been serving him real well so we've got some good history with it.

The XPS series are much better than the Inspiron series. Sadly, the first generation Ryzen laptop CPUs were not really used in premium models, possibly due to the big OEMs having agreements to use Intel chips in these lines. This year more OEMs will use the newer Ryzen chips in their laptops, but they literally just launched 2 days ago with no availability yet in sight.

As of right now, if I wanted Dell I'd just get one of the newest Dell XPS laptops with Intel's Whiskey Lake chips. The 2019 XPS line just hit the stores 3 days ago and it's amongst the best professional laptop series you can get, right next to the Thinkpads. There are several improvements over the 2018 line, including the design, the webcam location etc.
More importantly, the Whiskey Lake chips in them are decent too - they just came out and are a direct response to Ryzen mobile, so they are fast quad or hexa cores too that are very competitive with Ryzen mobile, they just usually come with Intel's weak integrated GPU (which probably won't matter to your mom). Just make sure to grab a model that has an SSD drive in it, as the entry level ones STILL use HDDs or old-school hybrid drives. Oh, and keep in mind that it sadly dropped regular USB ports in favor of USB-C/Thunderbolt.

https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/dell-xps-13-price-specs-release-date,news-59718.html

Alternatively, I'd consider the newest 7th gen Lenovo Thinkpad X1. It also comes with the Whiskey Lake chip, but the problem is that this one launches in June so it's not going to be available straight away. While the Dell XPS line is excellent, the Thinkpad X1 line is probably the best in terms of quality in the laptop world. They might not look as amazing and they aren't really that much better than the XPS series (which are already top notch), but I personally love those laptops:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/13833/lenovo-at-ces-2019-7th-gen-thinkpad-x1-carbon-gets-thinner

 

[masta247]

What's the difference between Google and Facebook sharing the information with select parties versus "private businesses" having the same access? I think everyone has a different threshold on what information is private and just how private it is.

The main point is that Google and Facebook deal with mostly harmless, "dumb" data. The worst things that they keep range from harmless to somewhat-harmful if you're irresponsible with what you post online. The worst thing Google has on you is the list of stores and articles that you visited online, and of course your e-mails and things you uploaded to Drive or other Google services. Same story with Facebook.
Both companies later provide you with suggestions based on that dumb data that might seem creepy or harmful, but that's mostly because of the way they're trying to guess what you might be interested in. The information that they are basing those suggestions on is very vague and barely useful to anyone. The sensitive data that they have is limited to the things that you upload yourself, including photos, messages etc., should your account get hacked. Google or Facebook are not sharing that information with anyone. They are only sharing information about your age, location, guessed interests etc, unless they get hacked.
I'm glad that people are more aware of their privacy, but media focusing on Google or Facebook blur the picture a lot, since these companies aren't even dealing with people's sensitive data without people physically providing them with that data. They don't share personally identifiable data as well. Probably every website that you provided your credit card number to is more of a data safety hazard, but again, people do that out of their own will.

The example with the credit bureaus is that they have your full name, address, social security numbers, credit card numbers and debt/bill payment histories. That's basically all anyone needs to steal your identity or ruin your life for good. Personally, I think that's information I would never want anyone to have on me, see or share, but the businesses or banks I deal with in North America provide them with that information willingly. Everyone acts like it's a normal thing here. The fact that they are allowed to do that is incredibly insane to me, and it's even worse that you can't do anything to stop that.
In Europe, businesses can't store even the most basic personally identifiable information about anyone without their consent (even name or e-mail address), and people can ask any business to remove all such information from their files. Last year every business that has any data on you was obliged to notify you of that fact and inform you that you can request deletion of all that data. Nobody can transfer your information without your permission as well. It's the law, and for a very good reason.

Is there a downside to putting larger apps on your SD card? I put some streaming apps on it and a few social media apps, like Instagram and Reddit is Fun, on there. Do they run slower or maybe have issues updating via the Play Store because they’re not in the internal storage?

They run slower and potentially crash due to apps having limited permissions in terms of writing to SD cards AND anything outside of their own folders (so when an app is on the SD card it might find itself unable to write data anywhere and crash after failing to do so). Generally, Google fucked up Android's handling of SD cards around KitKat and kept it like that ever since, since Google isn't using SD cards on their phones and doesn't mind making it harder for everyone else. Their idea was to prevent shitty apps from saving trash all over your storage and leaving it there, even after they get uninstalled. The SD cards also typically wear out much faster than the internal storage.

I stick to internal storage for apps, SD cards for media and any other files. That ensures that there are no issues, that the internal storage is not needlessly trashed with large files that aren't accessed frequently and that don't wear out SD card much anyway. That's probably the best way, as it also plays well with Android.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

The main point is that Google and Facebook deal with mostly harmless, "dumb" data. The worst things that they keep range from harmless to somewhat-harmful if you're irresponsible with what you post online. The worst thing Google has on you is the list of stores and articles that you visited online, and of course your e-mails and things you uploaded to Drive or other Google services. Same story with Facebook.
Both companies later provide you with suggestions based on that dumb data that might seem creepy or harmful, but that's mostly because of the way they're trying to guess what you might be interested in. The information that they are basing those suggestions on is very vague and barely useful to anyone. The sensitive data that they have is limited to the things that you upload yourself, including photos, messages etc., should your account get hacked. Google or Facebook are not sharing that information with anyone. They are only sharing information about your age, location, guessed interests etc, unless they get hacked.
I'm glad that people are more aware of their privacy, but media focusing on Google or Facebook blur the picture a lot, since these companies aren't even dealing with people's sensitive data without people physically providing them with that data. They don't share personally identifiable data as well. Probably every website that you provided your credit card number to is more of a data safety hazard, but again, people do that out of their own will.

What about third party companies being able to read full email messages in Gmail and view files in Google Drive? Of course, a user would have to allow certain access and permissions in order for that to happen. But I think this area needs looking at in terms of tightening up with privacy. What are your thoughts on this?

I stick to internal storage for apps, SD cards for media and any other files. That ensures that there are no issues, that the internal storage is not needlessly trashed with large files that aren't accessed frequently and that don't wear out SD card much anyway. That's probably the best way, as it also plays well with Android.

Yes, that's the best way.

 

[dilla]

Did you catch the pic snapped in the wild of the rumored S10? I think it was on Reddit and was taken over some dude's shoulder on the train, or something. Grainy pic but you could see the punch hole camera lol.

And there's some Android Q rumors of a system-wide, native dark theme.

This got me wondering about something I heard a year or two ago. Android had a plan to do something to Android that would allow users to bypass their carriers in getting updates so it was more like Apple's system where a phone was limited by hardware, and not OEMs and carriers, when it came to getting the latest updates. Was it a program or feature and did it have a name?

 

[masta247]

This got me wondering about something I heard a year or two ago. Android had a plan to do something to Android that would allow users to bypass their carriers in getting updates so it was more like Apple's system where a phone was limited by hardware, and not OEMs and carriers, when it came to getting the latest updates. Was it a program or feature and did it have a name?

Samsung's new One UI has a switch for a native dark theme. It works with Android Pie as well. It just came to the S9, it's coming to the S8 with the Pie update and the S10 will most likely launch with it. The night mode works surprisingly well system-wide. Third party apps will naturally not oblige, but system apps and the whole UI turn dark.

Samsung's UI has gotten really great compared to the other OEMs and quite incredible compared to their past efforts. Grace UI that the S8 launched with was already very solid. Now the One UI is surely the best Android UI.

https://android.gadgethacks.com/new...s-internet-browsing-way-better-night-0191218/

And in regards to the project that Google said will bring faster updates - it's called Project Treble. It's been there since Oreo and you've had some time to see how well it works - it basically didn't improve much. In simple terms, it separates Android into several independent modules though, so OEMs can choose to update their release in parts or parallelize their work a bit better, hardware vendors can update the part responsible for the drivers without having to mess with the other parts etc. Surely it makes things a bit easier.

Technically you can now update Android without needing new drivers from the chip-maker since you can just slap new Android OS on an old "driver" block and it might work - that's considered to be the biggest improvement, since long ago there were cases where vendors like Nvidia or Qualcomm refused to play along and simply refused to support older chips on newer Android versions. They didn't bother with creating drivers for the chips they considered outdated and device-makers were forced to cease support for their devices, as they had no way to make new Android releases work on phones running those chips. That technically shouldn't be a problem now, but that hasn't really been a problem in a while anyway, since Nvidia doesn't exist in the Android world and Qualcomm supports their chips for about as long as device-makers support their phones running them, while Samsung and Huawei make their own chips and aren't affected by this at all anyway.

Now if the chip-maker provides new drivers, the phone-makers will still wait for the drivers to be made as opposed to using the old drivers anyway. It's not shortening the process much. If anything, it makes it a bit easier for small manufacturers to port Android and removes some potential roadblocks.
It technically also allows OEMs to support their devices for as long as they choose to do so. As you might have noticed, they don't really want to. The OEM customizations and testing and carrier customizations, testing and approval still have to happen.. and it's what always took the longest anyway. It's also what costs the most and why the software support is so short on the Android side.

There's no magic bullet, sadly. The way Android works in terms of releases and updates is fundamentally broken and dividing it into separate parts doesn't do much if the same things still have to happen in the end. Android works nothing like what Apple does with iOS though. Apple basically does all the work before they announce the update, so it's ready to download after the announcement, but they're doing all the work with the carriers etc. before they announce each new OS iteration, so we aren't aware of the process, but it's there. The process is also much simpler for Apple, since they also don't have to customize their software much for different devices, so the process of adding support for an older device is much, much cheaper. Not to even mention the fact that they make their own chips and drivers.
Google announces a new Android version and only then the majority of the work begins, and there's incomparably more work for the OEMs, and there's more parties involved, so we have to wait.

 

[dilla]

Samsung's new One UI has a switch for a native dark theme. It works with Android Pie as well. It just came to the S9, it's coming to the S8 with the Pie update and the S10 will most likely launch with it. The night mode works surprisingly well system-wide. Third party apps will naturally not oblige, but system apps and the whole UI turn dark.

Samsung's UI has gotten really great compared to the other OEMs and quite incredible compared to their past efforts. Grace UI that the S8 launched with was already very solid. Now the One UI is surely the best Android UI.

https://android.gadgethacks.com/new...s-internet-browsing-way-better-night-0191218/
View attachment 453

And in regards to the project that Google said will bring faster updates - it's called Project Treble. It's been there since Oreo and you've had some time to see how well it works - it basically didn't improve much. In simple terms, it separates Android into several independent modules though, so OEMs can choose to update their release in parts or parallelize their work a bit better, hardware vendors can update the part responsible for the drivers without having to mess with the other parts etc. Surely it makes things a bit easier.

Technically you can now update Android without needing new drivers from the chip-maker since you can just slap new Android OS on an old "driver" block and it might work - that's considered to be the biggest improvement, since long ago there were cases where vendors like Nvidia or Qualcomm refused to play along and simply refused to support older chips on newer Android versions. They didn't bother with creating drivers for the chips they considered outdated and device-makers were forced to cease support for their devices, as they had no way to make new Android releases work on phones running those chips. That technically shouldn't be a problem now, but that hasn't really been a problem in a while anyway, since Nvidia doesn't exist in the Android world and Qualcomm supports their chips for about as long as device-makers support their phones running them, while Samsung and Huawei make their own chips and aren't affected by this at all anyway.

Now if the chip-maker provides new drivers, the phone-makers will still wait for the drivers to be made as opposed to using the old drivers anyway. It's not shortening the process much. If anything, it makes it a bit easier for small manufacturers to port Android and removes some potential roadblocks.
It technically also allows OEMs to support their devices for as long as they choose to do so. As you might have noticed, they don't really want to. The OEM customizations and testing and carrier customizations, testing and approval still have to happen.. and it's what always took the longest anyway. It's also what costs the most and why the software support is so short on the Android side.

There's no magic bullet, sadly. The way Android works in terms of releases and updates is fundamentally broken and dividing it into separate parts doesn't do much if the same things still have to happen in the end. Android works nothing like what Apple does with iOS though. Apple basically does all the work before they announce the update, so it's ready to download after the announcement, but they're doing all the work with the carriers etc. before they announce each new OS iteration, so we aren't aware of the process, but it's there. The process is also much simpler for Apple, since they also don't have to customize their software much for different devices, so the process of adding support for an older device is much, much cheaper. Not to even mention the fact that they make their own chips and drivers.
Google announces a new Android version and only then the majority of the work begins, and there's incomparably more work for the OEMs, and there's more parties involved, so we have to wait.

Treble. That's what it was called. People on the S7 sub were jacking off to it pre-Oreo and once I got it, like you said, I didn't really notice a difference. Then I wondered if I misremembered what version of Android it was coming to and thought it might have been Pie. Guess it was Oreo.

I also remember hardware companies, like QC, refusing to release their drivers for any reason. It was the reason flashing CyanogenMod on my S3 gave me shit pictures because the camera drivers weren't open source, or something, and unable to be baked in to the ROM.

I mentioned privacy a few days ago and saw this post on rAndroid: https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/283944-how-to-preserve-your-privacy-on-android

I did some of these steps, including the simple reset of my ad profile. I went a step further and deleted all my Google history since the start of my Google Account lol. I kept the history of all my locations because I do get interested from time to time and want that info. But the search results and app interactions that Google keeps, got rid of those. Also deleted all my audio recording they had saved from when I use Voice Assistant. Figured I'd lose some of that data and stop Android from collecting it in the first place from now on.

I did have a question about the browser. So many people have suggested using Focus instead of the stock app; do you use it or have you used it? I feel like it would be a nuisance to have to manually re-log in after each visit, if Focus completely wipes history and cookies and such. But I don't know if that's how it works. I tried Focus before on my iPad a year or two ago and it just didn't seem like the thing for me. But my mobile browser on my phone doesn't get used too often for logging in to accounts and stuff, so I guess I can live with needing to log in manually each time. I hope Samsung Pass works on it, so that would just be a fingerprint verification each time.

 

[dilla]

More S10 leaks, supposedly:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1086499524456132608

 

[dilla]

lol: https://www.androidauthority.com/sa...945049/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=webfeeds

Time for a battery replacement soon and just hanging on to the S7 for as long as I can.

My local repair shop said that they'd run a diagnostic on all phones that get their batteries replaced to determine whether its the battery that's the cause or, what he said was, a motherboard issue. I didn't quite understand it but he said sometimes the controller on the motherboard is loose or worn down and that can also be a cause of battery issues.

My battery lasts just fine, just not like new. I can get 3 hours of SOT while streaming on LTE if I try hard enough and the phone has never gotten warm when using Navigation or watching movies. Warm, maybe, but I guess not searing hot like something is wrong.

Two different apps say that my overall battery health is in the low 60s. 62ish%, so it's time for a change and I don't think anything's wrong with the motherboard or whatever the guy was saying. It was an authorized Samsung repair center, just not Samsung. UBreakIFix. If it comes down to a mobo replacement or whatever he said, I'd likely just buy a new phone than pay for new internals and the labor. I'm assuming it'll be a $200+ expense anyway.

But I guess I'm asking what would the symptoms of that that failure be? A really hot phone that drains stupid fast, right?

 

[masta247]

I never used the Focus browser. I'm not concerned about Google's data collection, as I don't consider the data they have on me to be that harmful.

As for the S10 leak, the case leak looks legit. It's completely in line with what I expected too. As for the prices, I hope they don't increase, although the 5G models might be giving an artificial reason to make it more expensive, which would suck. It's not unusual though, as first 3G phones were more expensive, and so were the first 4G phones. The chip-makers are trying to make up for R&D costs through the early products as well, especially since at the beginning there won't be many 5G chips available and the vendors who were first to deliver them will try to profit on that fact.

The problem is that smartphones have already become too expensive. I hope the market responds and people buy less of them, or go mid-range (which seems to be growing again). I feel like people shelling out their money for the newest iPhones or Galaxy flagships every two to three years anyway have given manufacturers a large pass to charge and do whatever they want.

But I guess I'm asking what would the symptoms of that that failure be? A really hot phone that drains stupid fast, right?

There are many parts on the mobo that can reduce battery life by not working optimally. Most such faults would be very obvious - you'd have to charge your phone several times per day and it'd likely be hot all the time. These issues aren't as common anymore though. There can be some issues with current/voltage regulators that are less obvious, but if your phone isn't draining all the time, I wouldn't bother at this point.
My girlfriend has a two-year old S7 that otherwise works perfectly fine and she usually charges it mid-day now. The weird behaviour about your S7 from what you said is that it lasts longer on LTE than on Wifi. I could drain my S8's battery on LTE if I turned up the brightness (it's usually at around minimum) and streamed for ~5 hours or so for sure, and it's a new phone with a less power-hungry chipset.

 

[dilla]

I never used the Focus browser. I'm not concerned about Google's data collection, as I don't consider the data they have on me to be that harmful.

As for the S10 leak, the case leak looks legit. It's completely in line with what I expected too. As for the prices, I hope they don't increase, although the 5G models might be giving an artificial reason to make it more expensive, which would suck. It's not unusual though, as first 3G phones were more expensive, and so were the first 4G phones. The chip-makers are trying to make up for R&D costs through the early products as well, especially since at the beginning there won't be many 5G chips available and the vendors who were first to deliver them will try to profit on that fact.

The problem is that smartphones have already become too expensive. I hope the market responds and people buy less of them, or go mid-range (which seems to be growing again). I feel like people shelling out their money for the newest iPhones or Galaxy flagships every two to three years anyway have given manufacturers a large pass to charge and do whatever they want.



There are many parts on the mobo that can reduce battery life by not working optimally. Most such faults would be very obvious - you'd have to charge your phone several times per day and it'd likely be hot all the time. These issues aren't as common anymore though. There can be some issues with current/voltage regulators that are less obvious, but if your phone isn't draining all the time, I wouldn't bother at this point.
My girlfriend has a two-year old S7 that otherwise works perfectly fine and she usually charges it mid-day now. The weird behaviour about your S7 from what you said is that it lasts longer on LTE than on Wifi. I could drain my S8's battery on LTE if I turned up the brightness (it's usually at around minimum) and streamed for ~5 hours or so for sure, and it's a new phone with a less power-hungry chipset.

Yeah, frequent upgrades by users really gave OEMs the power, or sense of security, that updates could be minimal year to year and that big changes didn't need to be made until they had to be. The S3 and S4 were big leaps but the S5 and 6 weren't so much. I guess the S7 was a big enough leap that it sold well but the S8 seemed to be more of the same. I don't know about the S9 but this S10 surely is going to be a big leap. That seems to be every 2 or 3 years that Samsung made those big changes, sort of like the tick-tock model of processors for computers.


I don't worry too much about Google, because I know using their OS is a big enough thing that blocking other Google stuff is just silly. I just worry about the other trackers out there. Facebook is still a household name but Cambridge Analytics wasn't. Until it was. I'm sure there's similar companies out there that haven't been caught as yet.

I'm not a person with a tinfoil hat on all the time, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I thought those that called Facebook some sort of secret database with all our personal info for the government were all loonies. While I don't think it's to that extreme, it certainly wasn't "nothing." And I recently saw an article where some security analyst/expert said the recent "ten year challenges" were also some sort of facial recognition trap and that it wasn't going to be used for good things. Maybe not bad, but it had a stink of something fishy going on. Of course, people are still doing it and I doubt anything huge comes out of it, but I'd say it's the unknown analytics companies that we should be more worried about.


As for the mobo issues, that's not happening to me, so it's good to know that at least it won't be more than a battery replacement, hopefully. It'll also help in case the store tries to BS me in to getting it done anyway. I'd just refuse at that point but at least I'd have someone reputable's opinion from far away to feel confident in it. No way I'd get the repair done anyway, but if I sell the phone, I can be upfront about it if something huge like the mobo was an issue.

And yeah, I remember most new smartphones during the 3G era being $199 for the flagships as down payment and then less for mid tier, lower tier, etc. When the first 4G phone came to the US, it was on Sprint and it was WiMax. It was the Evo 4G. And I think that one was $249 or even $299. Sprint really upcharged on it and WiMax went tits up a few years later. And the 4G plan was also $10 or $15 more per month, even if your area didn't have WiMax or 4G or whatever their BS tech was. Eventually, they just charged $10 more per month for all users that had a LTE compatible phone and it still continues to this day. Each line has an additional $10 charge for using LTE.

As for the WiFi thing, I can't remember the last time I kept WiFi on all day. I am in a building now in most days and reception can be spotty. Not just for LTE or data but voice too. It can go completely dead depending on where I'm sitting. So I have WiFi on in that building for about 4-6 hours just so that my phone doesn't constantly alert me about losing and gaining reception and wear its battery down that way.

I'll try doing WiFi all day and especially when streaming video at home. I'll see what it's like now since the security patches every few months tends to change the behavior of the phone in some way or another. Last night, I had a SOT of 1:10 after watching 2 or 3 episodes of a TV show on LTE using Terrarium and was at 70% battery. I'd say it was about 500 MB of data or so, because these are third party links and not always HD and are 23 min episodes, or so. Only 30% lost in an hour of stream, which is decent for a 3 year old phone. But it's not always like that and now I really want to see what it would have been like had I used WiFi at home to do that same amount of streaming.