Technology Android

[masta247]

How is that a random bug? Feels more like a disgruntled employee snuck some code in.

More like a trolling NSA agent. Especially as it's a US-only issue, apparently.

 

[k69atie]

I was only aware of it being a carrier specific issue. Here in the US, it seems T Mobile is the only variant having this issue but I could be wrong.

Didn't know it was an international issue, too.

And yeah, it is too complex to be a simple mistake. Someone fucked up on purpose I think.

Yeah quite a few people over here have had issues

 

[ARon]

I deleted all questionable photos from my s9, fuck that

 

[THEV1LL4N]

I'm not a fan of those designs. I still can't treat phones with a notch seriously. I much prefer Samsung's solution of just making the bezels as small as possible without cutting a part of the display out. Even better would be if the screen was flat. And to think that even the rounded corners used to bother me..

But now we actually have phones that are technologically better. At this point, we are getting much more innovation from the Chinese makers. I'm not kidding. This is the newest Vivo phone:
https://www.gsmarena.com/vivo_nex_s-9227.php

And this is the newest Oppo phone:
https://www.gsmarena.com/oppo_find_x-7885.php

They are now ahead of the big makers in terms of hardware. They managed to implement in-screen fingerprint sensors that apparently work great, embedded the other sensors under the screen and they have pop-out front facing cameras. They also squeezed in larger batteries and exclusively top-tier components. Google is way behind in terms of hardware design, and having HTC engineers isn't helping, as they've been struggling with the exact same thing for many years now. Slapping its own software to help that and a ridiculous price tag to go with it doesn't count as making good phones in my book.
Heck, even Samsung isn't up there with what Oppo and Vivo did, as Samsung have been trying to do the same thing for years, but couldn't deliver. I assume they will have to catch up with the S10, but the fact that this is happening is a sign of the times . The only thing the Chinese makers are missing now is some polish in terms of software and aesthetics, but they overtook the giants in terms of pure tech, which really had it coming.



My girlfriend's had Oreo on her S7 for a while now. She couldn't tell a difference except for the changes to the notification area and fonts. Basically, everything she found to be different was attributed to the new Samsung UI version, not Android.
The battery life and performance are about the same, and most actual features that Oreo brought have always been there on Samsung phones already.



A design from scratch takes several years. If you're making modifications or planning SKUs (which goes as far as core counts, clock speeds, amounts of threads, even cache to some extent, not to mention the whole marketing thing and pricing) can still be completely changed mere months before the product would hit the shelves. For instance, the changes that Intel made between Skylake and Coffee Lake could be accomplished within weeks of engineering work and a couple of trial manufacturing runs. It's the exact same architecture with an upgraded interconnect to facilitate 2 extra cores, plus some minor tweaks to the chip's behavior. Any performance increase is purely due to higher clock speeds which could be achieved due to updated manufacturing (14nm+++, as Intel calls it).

Considering Coffee Lake came out just months after Ryzen and was a direct response to it, I bet those changes were actually accomplished within weeks of engineering work, plus prolonged QA to make sure they are market ready. The engineering samples started leaking a month or two prior to the release and they were still different chips at that point, running on the Skylake platform. If Intel decides to release a mainstream 8-core processor now, they can do that anytime with the existing tech, and I'm sure they have the chips ready. It's just a business decision for them, and they will have to do it to compete with the latest mainstream Ryzen, which is faster than what Intel offers in the mainstream.

We know that Intel is working on a new CPU architecture, which they will likely finish in a few years, and it might be quite great, as Jim Keller was poached to work on it (he designed some of the greatest AMD chips, including Ryzen, and his work is the heart of Apple's ARM CPUs). But the architecture is just one half of the story. The second half is what products it will be powering, and that's as much of a business decision as it is a tech decision.

After seeing how Windows performs with Snapdragon 835, I have some doubts about ARM on laptops/desktops. Even more so since the hyped "Windows" Snapdragon 1000 was announced to be as power hungry as Intel's ULV i5s. The combined performance hit of having to emulate to run the software and being a more barebones architecture without advanced instruction sets ends up taking 9 seconds to launch chrome on the fastest device so far, and provides about the same battery life as Intel's finest (and several times faster). Apple's chips surely perform better than Qualcomm's, but that still doesn't solve the fundamental issue and still would offer sub-par performance. I'm sure Apple have been working on potential solutions for a long time, and we don't have ARM Macbooks because it's not easy to find good solutions.

Probably the best one they figured out so far is making an ARM version of MacOS with basic programs running natively, and third-party programs being emulated, but the performance hit to those emulated programs would be way too severe to pack it into a 1000$ device, which is why there are still no ARM Macs.

I read about these phones a while ago. Great to see them nearing release - I think they're either being officially unveiled or going on sale in July. I'd love to get one but my main concern is reliability and phone cover. If it's imported then the warantee will be overseas. To be honest, I purchased the US version of the T-Mobile G2/HTC Desire Z (HTC Vision).

 

[dilla]

I deleted all questionable photos from my s9, fuck that

ICE is still coming for ya

 

[ARon]

ICE is still coming for ya

I don't work under my government name I'm cool

 

[masta247]

I read about these phones a while ago. Great to see them nearing release - I think they're either being officially unveiled or going on sale in July. I'd love to get one but my main concern is reliability and phone cover. If it's imported then the warantee will be overseas. To be honest, I purchased the US version of the T-Mobile G2/HTC Desire Z (HTC Vision).

Due to this, I wouldn't be sure if it's a great time to buy them. More than anything, it shows how far those makers have come, and they indeed will grow their market share for sure, at the expense of the established brands.. which had it coming.

At this pace we will see a new generation of superior Chinese phones entering the western markets in a generation or two with superior devices. Heck, Huawei is already all over Europe and last year they beat Apple as the world's second-biggest smartphone maker. The trade regulations of individual nations will only go so far until it's too late and countries that will be still fighting foreign innovation off will just lose out.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Due to this, I wouldn't be sure if it's a great time to buy them. More than anything, it shows how far those makers have come, and they indeed will grow their market share for sure, at the expense of the established brands.. which had it coming.

At this pace we will see a new generation of superior Chinese phones entering the western markets in a generation or two with superior devices. Heck, Huawei is already all over Europe and last year they beat Apple as the world's second-biggest smartphone maker. The trade regulations of individual nations will only go so far until it's too late and countries that will be still fighting foreign innovation off will just lose out.

What are you referring to? The overseas warranty limitation? I'd love to upgrade now. But two things I'm a little anxious of are spending a few hundred to get something tacky, unreliable or with a cheap build quality that it proves to be faulty or whatever. I just know that phones cost more now for what they are.

Ideally, I'd like to get a new desktop (Ryzen 3 or 5), a very good 2-in-1 Chromebook laptop/tablet and a new phone. I think I can get all 3 under £1500 if I'm patient and look out for some deals or good products that don't break the bank. I'm just trying to be sensible with money as I don't need an ultra performance gaming desktop as I hardly every use a desktop anymore but still prefer it to any other computer (plus I want to start playing games now - but like emulator ones, 3D Sonic games like Sonic Generations and the racing ones which I'm not sure that an A10 or A12 CPU will be adequate for). A chromebook will be for frequent everyday use which will replace my Nexus 7 2012 that I hardly ever use since I updated it to Lollipop (making it painfully slow and almost unusable).

 

[masta247]

What are you referring to? The overseas warranty limitation? I'd love to upgrade now. But two things I'm a little anxious of are spending a few hundred to get something tacky, unreliable or with a cheap build quality that it proves to be faulty or whatever. I just know that phones cost more now for what they are.

Ideally, I'd like to get a new desktop (Ryzen 3 or 5), a very good 2-in-1 Chromebook laptop/tablet and a new phone. I think I can get all 3 under £1500 if I'm patient and look out for some deals or good products that don't break the bank. I'm just trying to be sensible with money as I don't need an ultra performance gaming desktop as I hardly every use a desktop anymore but still prefer it to any other computer (plus I want to start playing games now - but like emulator ones, 3D Sonic games like Sonic Generations and the racing ones which I'm not sure that an A10 or A12 CPU will be adequate for). A chromebook will be for frequent everyday use which will replace my Nexus 7 2012 that I hardly ever use since I updated it to Lollipop (making it painfully slow and almost unusable).

Yes, I meant the overseas warranty. I don't think I'd gamble with getting a phone with foreign warranty. I'd probably only get a phone from a company with at least some official, local presence, and through their local distribution. Even the best quality phones break, and it's quite a frequent thing really.

One thing to consider is that sometimes spending a bit more makes for a better investment that will last longer and make you spend less in the end. That's a good point for having a phone with a proper 2-year warranty (if it's still a thing in the UK). Also, getting 2 cheap phones can get you a flagship, and a flagship will also mean less need to upgrade further down the line, while you get to enjoy the benefits of better tech from the get-go.
In terms of PCs, that's also a point for better quality PC components. The thing that fails most frequently is the PSU, then motherboards. Those things are usually lower quality on pre-built devices, especially ultra-value offerings, which is my I build my own computers. Personally, I would probably get 2 decent devices rather than 3 budget ones. Then I would get the third, lowest priority one later.

Surely don't get a A10/A12 device at this point. For emulation, you need single threaded performance. Ryzen or even i3 from Intel would be perfect for that, with the 8th Gen i3 even having a slight edge purely in terms of emulation performance! These days the Intel i3s are quad cores, and they're quite decent, but AMD packs much better iGPU for those days you actually decide to play something non-emulated. If you don't need a discrete GPU, by any means Ryzen is a more complete package. I don't see many pre-builts with the Ryzen APU, so I would wait a bit for those as they seem to make the best budget chips.

 

[dilla]

Our electric/energy company ran a deal last week for a third gen Nest thermostat for $99. We got two. And they were giving away a Home Mini for each thermostat, so we got two of those for free.

$230 including tax and free shipping for 2 Nests and 2 Minis.

Thermostat will likely need to be installed professionally since our house has two units and I also suck with electrical work but I have just put a Mini in my room and have been fucking around with it for half the day and I love it. Already got our smart devices in Assistant on our phones so getting it on the Mini was simply a matter of logging in and so now I can voice control various plugs in our house and, in a few days, the thermostat. We might take advantage of the deal again for the clinic, which has 3 thermostats lol. Getting those on a schedule/timer would be great for times like the heat wave we had last week as well as having them coinciding with office hours. Right now, they run manually and people forget to turn them off in patient rooms and the main floor so this should help.

But I really like the Mini. I set one up for my room and I plan on putting the second one downstairs in a more accessible area for the family, but I feel like I might get sick of it in my room and might just have it in my parents' bathroom because they listen to their songs when getting ready or showering lol. A speaker would be nice for me, too, but they use it far more often.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Our electric/energy company ran a deal last week for a third gen Nest thermostat for $99. We got two. And they were giving away a Home Mini for each thermostat, so we got two of those for free.

$230 including tax and free shipping for 2 Nests and 2 Minis.

Thermostat will likely need to be installed professionally since our house has two units and I also suck with electrical work but I have just put a Mini in my room and have been fucking around with it for half the day and I love it. Already got our smart devices in Assistant on our phones so getting it on the Mini was simply a matter of logging in and so now I can voice control various plugs in our house and, in a few days, the thermostat. We might take advantage of the deal again for the clinic, which has 3 thermostats lol. Getting those on a schedule/timer would be great for times like the heat wave we had last week as well as having them coinciding with office hours. Right now, they run manually and people forget to turn them off in patient rooms and the main floor so this should help.

But I really like the Mini. I set one up for my room and I plan on putting the second one downstairs in a more accessible area for the family, but I feel like I might get sick of it in my room and might just have it in my parents' bathroom because they listen to their songs when getting ready or showering lol. A speaker would be nice for me, too, but they use it far more often.

That's a really good deal.

 

[dilla]

That's a really good deal.

Yeah, obviously subsidized by the power company, but still a bargain.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

I think you should take up the offer again, especially as you said there's a need for it at the clinic as well.
Brands like Hive are the preferred ones by energy companies here.

 

[dilla]

Man, installation for these things are expensive as hell. Nest's website had links to preferred Nest Pro installers and they wanted $200 and then $95 per hour after the first hour. And they said it would take 2-3 hours. $400 for 2x$100 items. Ridiculous.

We ended up calling a local electrician that we've known for some time that did the wiring in our house during a remodeling 7 years ago and he said he'd replace the thermostats and program and set them up for $200 flat. Still kind of expensive but I looked in to replacing it myself and it involved shutting off the power to the house and fucking with some wires and I'm not about that life. Plus we have a humidifier system hooked up and that adds a few steps.

Looked simple enough but I'd rather not turn a $200 thermostat purchase in the $1000+ in damages because I fuck the system up or something.

Still, what an expense despite the savings.

 

[dilla]

Nest is installed and "learning" for the next few days. Getting it hitched to our Google Mini was also a breeze.

With the help of the electrician being present, I was able to convince my mom that getting a smart lock for the doors was a good idea, along with some of the smart switches/dimmers that can be programmed to turn on and off at certain times.

So next project is the smart lock for the door to our garage as our front door isn't compatible with a smart lock. Might need to change the front door lol

 

[Rukas]

Nest is installed and "learning" for the next few days. Getting it hitched to our Google Mini was also a breeze.

With the help of the electrician being present, I was able to convince my mom that getting a smart lock for the doors was a good idea, along with some of the smart switches/dimmers that can be programmed to turn on and off at certain times.

So next project is the smart lock for the door to our garage as our front door isn't compatible with a smart lock. Might need to change the front door lol

Leave the nest.

 

[dilla]

Leave the nest.

lol

 

[dilla]

https://www.sammobile.com/2018/07/12/leaked-promo-material-reveals-new-galaxy-note-9-s-pen/


Still debating getting my battery replaced by an authorized Samsung repair center and keeping my S7 another year.

But some of these phones are looking real nice, aesthetically. Nothing in the features department making me want to jump ship.

 

[dilla]

Why does Google suck so much at making something so simple work? https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/07/15/used-android-go-phone-month-terrible/

It could have been something similar to what the SE models of the iPhones are and instead it ends up being something that OEMs can label as being a "Go" phone and have an excuse to make it just be a shitty, handicapped phone.

Also, this thread was an interesting read:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/8y9wad

I noticed that the trend for superior Android apps was "unofficial" apps or third party apps. Official apps for things like social media and services tend to be better on iOS. Devs put a lot of time and effort in to optimizing it for iOS whereas Android users have to deal with a sub-par official app until someone makes "improvements" on it in their own version of an app.

I use Reddit is Fun on Android and I love it. But Apollo on iOS on my iPad is a damn chore. It looks so drastically different and much more cluttered than RiF that I even deal with Reddit's new look while using Safari on my iPad to browse Reddit. Maybe I just like RiF too much because that is the only third party app I use on iOS.

 

[masta247]

Why does Google suck so much at making something so simple work? https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/07/15/used-android-go-phone-month-terrible/

It could have been something similar to what the SE models of the iPhones are and instead it ends up being something that OEMs can label as being a "Go" phone and have an excuse to make it just be a shitty, handicapped phone.

It's a 100$ phone, at least it works! That's literally the price of a potato feature-phone a few years ago.
The iPhone SE costs over four times as much and is priced like an upper mid-range Android phone, and there's plenty of very decent Android phones in that price range.

Also, this thread was an interesting read:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/8y9wad

I noticed that the trend for superior Android apps was "unofficial" apps or third party apps. Official apps for things like social media and services tend to be better on iOS. Devs put a lot of time and effort in to optimizing it for iOS whereas Android users have to deal with a sub-par official app until someone makes "improvements" on it in their own version of an app.

I use Reddit is Fun on Android and I love it. But Apollo on iOS on my iPad is a damn chore. It looks so drastically different and much more cluttered than RiF that I even deal with Reddit's new look while using Safari on my iPad to browse Reddit. Maybe I just like RiF too much because that is the only third party app I use on iOS.

Android is infinitely more open to Indie Developers. You know, those who really love the craft and do a lot of things just for the cause. iOS is where the money's at for the big devs who actually want to sell their apps for profit. Apple is also a big nazi enforcing gazillions of rules on the devs before their app can go live or become featured. That sometimes requires substantial investment just to make it to the App store. At the same time, a lot of bullshit apps from shitty devs using generic app-makers go through because they pass a generic Apple check-list and don't do anything important, so they are not scrutinized as much as more advanced apps.
At Google everything goes, and the Play Store regulates itself. The apps are auto-verified for security, while their efficiency and stability affect how they rank at the store, but all apps are welcome.

Personally, I much prefer Google's approach, but I wish the penalties for lower quality were larger though. Something is happening in that direction, as last year Google significantly increased the importance of stability and performance in relation to how the app ranks at the Play Store. It's still not where it should be though, as you can overcome that with sheer amounts of downloads and marketing budgets to rank higher anyway, so I hope things will improve.