Technology Android

[masta247]

lol MKBHD a Streethop member confirmed?

Lmao, I just saw this today and was about to mention this. Wtf. At least give me a shoutout next time

Samsung may have removed MST from their phones, which sucks.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1349779417447411713

Pay was a big reason I stuck with Samsung because I use it everywhere and most of the places I go to do not have NFC kiosks. I know it's not an issue outside of the US since I've heard many Europeans say that NFC is widely available but it's not for me, and I still use Samsung Pay over Google Pay even if there is NFC available.

Nice to see Samsung drop the prices, though. But they dropped the screen resolution and even though I don't normally watch things in 1440p, that's no reason to bump down the display to the days of the S4/S4.

Also, I learned that TMobile isn't the only carrier selling OnePlus phones. Every other carrier has them buried at the bottom of the list of Android devices and I think Verizon offers the phone for free, via bill credits, for 24 months.

I think Samsung's lost it. Hopefully these are just "lost generations" and not a dying brand. Not only is it the first time a new Galaxy is an all around downgrade compared to the previous Galaxy (apart from a performance uplift), but they didn't even bother with a dedicated event, just launched it during CES, like peasants. Ehh.

The S21 is literally a cut-down S20 that's made of plastic with an updated processor. Actually the S10 next to it will look and feel like a better phone, and with it also getting Android 11, you won't be able to even tell the S21 is a newer device. The whole thing just makes it seem as if Samsung were out of money to even make and launch a new phone at this point.

Imho this is a good time to just have a good 2018/2019 phone to wait an uneventful time out with, until something comes around to shake the market up again. I think we've reached the pinnacle of stagnation, and the S21 is its flag bearer. The 2020 Pixels and iPhones aren't doing any better to be fair.

 

[dilla]

Lmao, I just saw this today and was about to mention this. Wtf. At least give me a shoutout next time



I think Samsung's lost it. Hopefully these are just "lost generations" and not a dying brand. Not only is it the first time a new Galaxy is an all around downgrade compared to the previous Galaxy (apart from a performance uplift), but they didn't even bother with a dedicated event, just launched it during CES, like peasants. Ehh.

The S21 is literally a cut-down S20 that's made of plastic with an updated processor. Actually the S10 next to it will look and feel like a better phone, and with it also getting Android 11, you won't be able to even tell the S21 is a newer device. The whole thing just makes it seem as if Samsung were out of money to even make and launch a new phone at this point.

Imho this is a good time to just have a good 2018/2019 phone to wait an uneventful time out with, until something comes around to shake the market up again. I think we've reached the pinnacle of stagnation, and the S21 is its flag bearer. The 2020 Pixels and iPhones aren't doing any better to be fair.

I agree. I just couldn't put it that way. I can understand that COVID from last year had an effect on profits and maybe Samsung is looking to cut some corners so they can drop the price of their phones so that people may be more inclined to upgrade, but then that just means that next year's model will be Samsung playing catch-up after taking a step back this year. And that's assuming COVID doesn't ruin people's wallets this year, which it most likely will for years to come. It felt like Samsung was saying they knew of the financial hardships many people are facing right now and that this $200 price drop was taking that in to account. Except the features that got taken away are worth much more than $200, like the microSD slot, headphone jack, and a 1440p (or better) screen.

I know many considered the iPhone 12 to be a rather disappointing upgrade from the 11, but I always say Samsung lacks the clout, at least in the US, to pull off some of the BS Apple does and to charge the same price while doing it. But Apple also cut back its prices a generation or two ago. But that charger and headphones is some BS too, and Samsung happily copied after mocking Apple for doing so.

Samsung just feels like a Chinese company that is copying off of the success of other OEMs. Except its decisions are always the wrong decisions of the other brands.

Also, Apple needs to quit with the weird resolution screens, too. I don't know what's holding them back from putting a 1440p screen, at least on the Pro Max models. I plan on holding on to my S10+ for as long as I can, but if the upgrade bug itches again, I'm ready to jump ship to iOS. I said it before so it's nothing new, but you said the 2018-19 models are worth holding on to and I agree, but I can't see myself sticking around in the Android ecosystem anymore. Even though Apple and Samsung both are doing some strange things, I might as well get the benefits of combining iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and possibly watchOS. The latter part, I never cared too much about wearables, mainly because of the price, but between the Samsung watches and Apple Watches and then the rest of the WearOS lineup, the Apple Watch is head and shoulders above the rest of the smartwatch game.

 

[masta247]

..

Yeah honestly you seem to be in a good position to move to an iPhone. I kind of like knowing what's up on both platforms but even then there isn't much happening on the Android camp. It's mostly that I paid for apps and am in on the Samsung ecosystem, and find their software (apart from the Samsung app bloat) more comfortable to use. As a Mac user, an iPad user, and with Macs moving to ARM and entering the same ecosystem anyway, an iPhone might make even more sense.

Yeah you could say at least the S21 is a cheaper phone now and that's a good point. However, now that the S20 has been out for a while it's actually competing against it at the same price though, and it might actually be the better phone out of the two since it's not as cut-down of a flagship.
The S21 is not a proper flagship anymore, which is kind of a "how the mighty have fallen" scenario.
Samsung are copying some of the unfortunate Apple decisions, but let's not forget that their phones were traditionally the most feature-rich devices out there. They combined all the desired features that about any other phone had as its one killer feature, from SD cards through being amongst the first with wireless charging or OLED panels, while delivering leading class core components. All of that at lower prices than most other flagships. That's what made them so great. That isn't the case anymore, and it's never been further from being the case with the S21.

Over time they began trimming their features and raising their prices. At this point they went down in price, but also released a phone that doesn't have the feature-rich Galaxy S soul anymore. The S21 might still be a good purchase for some people who don't care about the features that they killed, and they rolled back the price, but it's the first time a Galaxy S phone is a compromise on features and might still not be a good value even at the lower price, since it's not a proper flagship anymore. The S21 is literally a cut-down S20 with an updated chipset.

 

[dilla]

Yeah honestly you seem to be in a good position to move to an iPhone. I kind of like knowing what's up on both platforms but even then there isn't much happening on the Android camp. It's mostly that I paid for apps and am in on the Samsung ecosystem, and find their software (apart from the Samsung app bloat) more comfortable to use. As a Mac user, an iPad user, and with Macs moving to ARM and entering the same ecosystem anyway, an iPhone might make even more sense.

Yeah you could say at least the S21 is a cheaper phone now and that's a good point. However, now that the S20 has been out for a while it's actually competing against it at the same price though, and it might actually be the better phone out of the two since it's not as cut-down of a flagship.
The S21 is not a proper flagship anymore, which is kind of a "how the mighty have fallen" scenario.
Samsung are copying some of the unfortunate Apple decisions, but let's not forget that their phones were traditionally the most feature-rich devices out there. They combined all the desired features that about any other phone had as its one killer feature, from SD cards through being amongst the first with wireless charging or OLED panels, while delivering leading class core components. All of that at lower prices than most other flagships. That's what made them so great. That isn't the case anymore, and it's never been further from being the case with the S21.

Over time they began trimming their features and raising their prices. At this point they went down in price, but also released a phone that doesn't have the feature-rich Galaxy S soul anymore. The S21 might still be a good purchase for some people who don't care about the features that they killed, and they rolled back the price, but it's the first time a Galaxy S phone is a compromise on features and might still not be a good value even at the lower price, since it's not a proper flagship anymore. The S21 is literally a cut-down S20 with an updated chipset.

The microSD card and headphone jack are the biggest non-issue issues for me. I don't care for them nor do I really use them but it's still a big reason of why I won't get an S21. I have a microSD in my S10+ right now. I think I have my camera to put photos and videos on it so that my internal storage is relatively clutter free. Just the apps I use and the storage they require. I think I have like 75GB free on my internal storage and the mircoSD card (which I got for free with my S7, for some reason) is 64 or 128GB. I probably could just have everything on my internal storage and not notice too much nor fill up the space anytime soon. But it's still a feature others use out of necessity and there's no reason to remove it unless it's to push consumers to purchase the 256, 512, or 1 TB variants of the phone. I don't know what Samsung's offerings are, but I imagine it's like the iPhone's, which is equally shitty. One thing to note is Apple did this to, probably, force users in to buying iCloud storage if their phones got full. Samsung just killed Samsung Cloud, didn't they? lol, so Samsung wants us to buy larger storage phones or use...the cloud services....offered by Dropbox, Box, OneDrive....anything but Samsung's? Ok. And for headphones, I'm pretty much 100% wireless now, be it the xM3s or the Beats Solo3s or the Level U Pros. But I still use my headphone jack in the car for the aux cable in my car, since it doesn't do bluetooth music, just phone calls. To lose that and have to buy an adapter for the USB-C port just to listen to music is a small thing but the removal of the jack is still an unnecessary thing to do.

Apple also needs to move on from the Lightning port on the iPhone and its accessories. The iPads and Macs are already there and there's no reason for the iPhone to be stuck on 2013/14 Lightning ports. I only realized how glad I was that most of my devices were USB-C when I brought my MBP and phone to the clinic and use both rather extensively. I will run low on power by the end of the day but well before I need to go home so I can alternate between the phone and the MBP charging as I see patients and depending on which one I need. Had I decided to use my iPad in lieu of my MBP in the office, I could've still made-do with the MBP adapter but the cable would still need to be USB-C to Lightning, which I have, but is the official Apple cable. Which 0.5m long lol. I'd have to get at least a 3ft cable, which would've been annoying. Otherwise, my S10 uses the cable and charger that I use on my MBP, and it's a huge convenience.

 

[dilla]

Also, our research group is on Whatsapp and I am required to download Whatsapp because that's what all 6 members use. So after not using it for 4+ years, and probably another 4 years before the few months I did use it in 2017, I am back using it lol. I only allowed access to contacts but I'm sure Facebook is still steathily doing more in the background. My last hope is the AdGuard app I have will catch those requests and deny them but I don't have much hope. Hopefully this is only for a few weeks so I can uninstall again. I'd suggest they all use Hangouts but I know that platform is being shut down, too.

I'm wondering if installing Whatsapp on my Work profile on my phone will yield some better security measures? It's just my school GMail on there so I don't care if Facebook has access to user ID info from the little work I do on that profile.

 

[masta247]

Also, our research group is on Whatsapp and I am required to download Whatsapp because that's what all 6 members use. So after not using it for 4+ years, and probably another 4 years before the few months I did use it in 2017, I am back using it lol. I only allowed access to contacts but I'm sure Facebook is still steathily doing more in the background. My last hope is the AdGuard app I have will catch those requests and deny them but I don't have much hope. Hopefully this is only for a few weeks so I can uninstall again. I'd suggest they all use Hangouts but I know that platform is being shut down, too.

I'm wondering if installing Whatsapp on my Work profile on my phone will yield some better security measures? It's just my school GMail on there so I don't care if Facebook has access to user ID info from the little work I do on that profile.

Whatsapp used to be extremely clean. Almost all of the communication was encrypted and p2p with nothing stored on the servers apart from your number and profile photo. It used to be a perfect messenger app imho, from the privacy, security and just overall technical points of view. They left Whatsapp alone for the longest time knowing whatever they do to it will destroy it, but then they started trying to monetize it. Baby steps, to collect more and more data hoping users won't notice if there isn't a sudden dramatic change. I still love Whatsapp, but the direction it's headed towards is concerning.

The fact they'll now be able to link my Whatsapp account to Facebook, Instagram, Oculus accounts and my online behavior, as well as location, is very upsetting. It's sad what Facebook does to the apps it acquires. Once even Facebook itself was a great platform. Then they had to start trying to maximize their profit constrained only by the laws, which aren't caught up with the times or sufficient to protect the privacy of citizens signing up for those services. They are almost mandated to be such fuckers because of the system they are operating in, with the first priority being maximizing profit for the stakeholders, as long as what they're doing is legal. It's not a system in which we can have nice things online for long.

 

[dilla]

Whatsapp used to be extremely clean. Almost all of the communication was encrypted and p2p with nothing stored on the servers apart from your number and profile photo. It used to be a perfect messenger app imho, from the privacy, security and just overall technical points of view. They left Whatsapp alone for the longest time knowing whatever they do to it will destroy it, but then they started trying to monetize it. Baby steps, to collect more and more data hoping users won't notice if there isn't a sudden dramatic change. I still love Whatsapp, but the direction it's headed towards is concerning.

The fact they'll now be able to link my Whatsapp account to Facebook, Instagram, Oculus accounts and my online behavior, as well as location, is very upsetting. It's sad what Facebook does to the apps it acquires. Once even Facebook itself was a great platform. Then they had to start trying to maximize their profit constrained only by the laws, which aren't caught up with the times or sufficient to protect the privacy of citizens signing up for those services. They are almost mandated to be such fuckers because of the system they are operating in, with the first priority being maximizing profit for the stakeholders, as long as what they're doing is legal. It's not a system in which we can have nice things online for long.

I think last sentence is basically the new norm for tech. Enjoy a company for the hardware or services it provides while it's fresh and new, and then money rears its ugly head and things get put behind a subscription service, which is fine, and then prices start to go up. And sometimes features are crippled or just straight up taken away.

I think I used Whatsapp almost ten years ago when was in the Caribbean for school. It was a means to communicate with friends on the island instead of using FB messenger or something. I used Hangouts for friends back in the US but on the island it was all Whatsapp. And BBM, because we had a lot of Canadian students who all had Blackberries at that time.

I think I used it when we all left the island too because our friend groups were a mix of Canadian and US students and group texts weren't going to be cheap internationally. I think I ditched it around the time FB acquired it but not necessarily because FB acquired it. Many of those group chats disintegrated and people went their own ways and I was able to rope them in to using Hangouts as well. Hangouts had a desktop client or a web browser client, so I could message on my computer or on my phone. Whatsapp didn't have the web browser or PC app at that time so it was a huge plus to use Hangouts.

Then over the years I saw FB slowly start to inject its own stuff in to Whatsapp and I was glad I wasn't on it. I do use IG but I really don't follow normal folks I know and instead just follow it for sports highlights and businesses/companies and some social media people, like MKBHD or Dave2D. And I don't use the app from the Play Store as there is an app that claims to block trackers and other stuff from FB, so it's basically a modified apk I just sideload. At least it takes ads away as well as sponsored content from people I don't follow. But I'm sure there's some shady stuff from FB or the modder going on there but I haven't noticed it yet.

But I try to stay away from FB as much as I can. I know Firefox has Container tabs that keep FB from accessing the rest of my browsing data but that's another thing I'm not sure about how well it works.

We'll see how Whatsapp is since this is a pretty important thing I need to do using Whatsapp but I'll look and see if there are modified apks for it as well that block trackers and FB from snooping further. But I think it's something I'll keep until I need it and then remove it from my phone when I don't. If another opportunity pops up where I need to use it, I can download it again and use it.

I always see Reddit mention Telegram and Signal but as with all communication apps, the people you talk to need to actually be using it in order for it to be a viable option. I learned that from Hangouts lol. These guys all use Whatsapp but were nice enough to adopt Hangouts for me back in 2012 or 2013 and have stuck with it ever since. But if Hangouts goes down, I don't know if I'd be able to convince them to move to Duo or Allo or whatever Google decides to dump legacy Hangouts users on.

 

[masta247]

Eh, that's a long list:
Samsung Galaxy S21 forces a lot of trade-offs — here’s everything you give up | Tom's Guide

Sad to see the Galaxy series stop being what made the Galaxy series great. I don't need the charger or another pair of headphones, but the plastic body, lack of SD slot, lower display resolution and RAM downgrade all hurt. Especially when you realize that the key remaining features, including the cameras and batteries, are essentially the same as the ones in the S20.

But what hurts me perhaps the most is that Samsung confirmed that they're killing MST. I know you also posted about it that the S21 won't have it, but I just saw that Samsung also confirmed that none of the upcoming phones will come with MST for Samsung Pay anymore. It will still be supported by phones that launched with it in the past, but no more MST-equipped phones from Samsung.

It is incredibly stupid, since that was the main standout feature they had over other pay solutions, and was a really big deal. It's what's been allowing me to leave home without a wallet. Since many card readers still don't do NFC, this would again make it necessary for me to carry cards. I'll definitely be sticking to my S10 for this convenience alone as it's become a really huge deal for me to be able to leave home with nothing but my phone. It's especially ridiculous since this was such a big feature that nobody else had. Even if a small portion of Samsung users actually took advantage of it, it almost guaranteed that this group of people would stick with Samsung phones for this reason alone, as there's nowhere else they could have this.

We are literally at a point where I can do significantly more with my S10 than I could now with the S21, which also doesn't come with any features in return that the S10 can't already do! How absurd has the Smartphone market gotten?

 

[masta247]

I was also going through some tech materials I got about Samsung's short-range radios and this made me spit my tea (note under NFC):

As a side-note, a hardly mentioned fact is that the regular S21 doesn't come with UWB either. Nobody needs it yet though.

 

[dilla]

Eh, that's a long list:
Samsung Galaxy S21 forces a lot of trade-offs — here’s everything you give up | Tom's Guide

Sad to see the Galaxy series stop being what made the Galaxy series great. I don't need the charger or another pair of headphones, but the plastic body, lack of SD slot, lower display resolution and RAM downgrade all hurt. Especially when you realize that the key remaining features, including the cameras and batteries, are essentially the same as the ones in the S20.

But what hurts me perhaps the most is that Samsung confirmed that they're killing MST. I know you also posted about it that the S21 won't have it, but I just saw that Samsung also confirmed that none of the upcoming phones will come with MST for Samsung Pay anymore. It will still be supported by phones that launched with it in the past, but no more MST-equipped phones from Samsung.

It is incredibly stupid, since that was the main standout feature they had over other pay solutions, and was a really big deal. It's what's been allowing me to leave home without a wallet. Since many card readers still don't do NFC, this would again make it necessary for me to carry cards. I'll definitely be sticking to my S10 for this convenience alone as it's become a really huge deal for me to be able to leave home with nothing but my phone. It's especially ridiculous since this was such a big feature that nobody else had. Even if a small portion of Samsung users actually took advantage of it, it almost guaranteed that this group of people would stick with Samsung phones for this reason alone, as there's nowhere else they could have this.

We are literally at a point where I can do significantly more with my S10 than I could now with the S21, which also doesn't come with any features in return that the S10 can't already do! How absurd has the Smartphone market gotten?

Yeah, I went over it over my last few posts, how big MST was for me. I still carried my wallet with me, but I usually left it in the car unless I had to show ID somewhere. If it was just a simple purchase, Samsung Pay was great for it. I guess I still have it so long as I have my S10, but that was a big hit on getting another Samsung.

I also use a case on my phones so the plastic back wouldn't be noticeable to me unless I took my case off. It's like someone shitting under the hood of your car. Yeah, you don't see it and no one else will, but there's still shit under the hood of your car. A premium feel is a big deal on any device I buy now, be it tablet, phone, router, computer, etc. It doesn't need to be gold-plated and diamond-crusted, but it needs to feel solid. Or at the very least feel like the price you paid for it was worth it. With the S21, Samsung might be trying to convey the message that the price has been lowered and some of the specs didn't make a leap forward at the same time, but as your link shows, there's quite a few leaps backwards. Samsung didn't make a cheaper phone, they just simply made a shit phone. If the S10 was this price and had these specs, it'd be a great buy. But knowing that two generations after the S10 we've got a phone that feels like an S10 Lite is pretty upsetting.

I read that Samsung would be including AMD GPUs in their models next year but I don't think even the most avid mobile gamer would drop their current phones just to pick up a phone that has an AMD mobile GPU but everything else is whatever the S21 is specced at. 1080p screen, 4GB less RAM than a comparable S20 model, etc.

I'm not sure what UWB is but I think it stands for ultra wide band? That deals with WiFi or the cell radio? Or is it this new tech that's supposed to compete with/replace NFC, bluetooth, etc?

 

[dilla]

So I looked up UWB to see what it was. Looks to be what I was assuming it was.
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/20/apple-driving-ultra-wideband-research/

It's nice for phones to have but other devices need to have it, too, it looks like. I don't think any of my smart devices and other tech have it as yet.

 

[dilla]

@masta247 I forgot you had the S10. Did you get the UI 3.0 update as yet? I checked a few times over the weekend but it hadn't been pushed out to me as yet. I'm not even sure what changed in the update but after reading all the posts on Reddit of people going nuts over it, it got in my head as well that a new update was out. Looks to be an EU thing for now. I don't think I've seen US users report getting it.

 

[dilla]

So the S21 is actually getting positive reviews?
https://www.theverge.com/22241506/samsung-galaxy-s21-ultra-review-camera-price

It's technically the Ultra, but I figured reviewers would be upset at the price regardless of how good the specs were. I guess not.

Still waiting on Anandtech's review, which might be a week or two away because of how in-depth their reviews go.

 

[masta247]

So the S21 is actually getting positive reviews?
https://www.theverge.com/22241506/samsung-galaxy-s21-ultra-review-camera-price

It's technically the Ultra, but I figured reviewers would be upset at the price regardless of how good the specs were. I guess not.

Still waiting on Anandtech's review, which might be a week or two away because of how in-depth their reviews go.

The verge is like the Cosmo of the tech world. You read it to find out what people with no clue about tech think about tech. That said, the Ultra is actually a proper flagship that didn't take most of the cuts the S21 took. It's a very different phone. Also, realistically nobody will be buying the Ultra.

The regular S21 isn't a bad phone considering the times we are in, it's just a cut-down S20 with a newer chipset, and the S20 wasn't a bad phone. It wasn't particularly impressive either, but not bad. This is even less of a phone, but still not enough to make it actually bad. It's more about the fact they could move backwards and release an inferior and.. uninspiring product while nobody bats an eye that makes the whole market situation so sad. GSMArena summed it up well:
Samsung Galaxy S21 5G review: Alternatives, pros and cons, verdict (gsmarena.com)

"It's not that we don't like the Galaxy S21. On the contrary, we're quite fond of its looks, and there's proven substance beneath them. But maybe that's the issue - it's a little too proven. Last year's S20 is in many ways superior, and even though the S21 launches at a lower MSRP, the year-old S20 can still be found for less while arguably offering more. "

 

[masta247]

@masta247 I forgot you had the S10. Did you get the UI 3.0 update as yet? I checked a few times over the weekend but it hadn't been pushed out to me as yet. I'm not even sure what changed in the update but after reading all the posts on Reddit of people going nuts over it, it got in my head as well that a new update was out. Looks to be an EU thing for now. I don't think I've seen US users report getting it.

I didn't get the update, but I am not excited. I like the current software on my S10, and I am very happy with how great everything works. My experience with the second major OS update on Android has always been that of a downgrade and things beginning to break and slow down. I guess we'll see now that Samsung is moving to three years of updates, but there's nothing in Android 11 that's appealing to me, and I am having a great experience with 10. Kind of wish I had an option to keep the current version but still get security updates.
Unless things are about to change with the new update policy, I know one of those big updates will just begin deteriorating the software experience compared to what I have now. If it's not Android 11, it's going to be 12 that just ruins the experience.

People on Reddit are largely infatuated by a couple of new shiny menus to play with that get old after an hour or two to critically assess how polished the experience is. I'd wait a bit and read more about issues after the dust has settled. I know how half assed the final projects for each model are, and how big and important the early ones are at Samsung. I'd rather keep the last major release that they poured their hearts and souls into for their star product than get the newest update that the last three dudes ported as part of a side-project to support their "legacy" device to tick a box as long as it kind-of works. There's also a major difference between early releases which are of critical importance to Samsung who'd spend millions on QA, vs the late update that a couple of Junior QA dudes test as their side project. Considering how little the latest Android versions changed, I'd rather be a number behind but with the better quality software running on my phone.

 

[dilla]

The verge is like the Cosmo of the tech world. You read it to find out what people with no clue about tech think about tech. That said, the Ultra is actually a proper flagship that didn't take most of the cuts the S21 took. It's a very different phone. Also, realistically nobody will be buying the Ultra.

The regular S21 isn't a bad phone considering the times we are in, it's just a cut-down S20 with a newer chipset, and the S20 wasn't a bad phone. It wasn't particularly impressive either, but not bad. This is even less of a phone, but still not enough to make it actually bad. It's more about the fact they could move backwards and release an inferior and.. uninspiring product while nobody bats an eye that makes the whole market situation so sad. GSMArena summed it up well:
Samsung Galaxy S21 5G review: Alternatives, pros and cons, verdict (gsmarena.com)

"It's not that we don't like the Galaxy S21. On the contrary, we're quite fond of its looks, and there's proven substance beneath them. But maybe that's the issue - it's a little too proven. Last year's S20 is in many ways superior, and even though the S21 launches at a lower MSRP, the year-old S20 can still be found for less while arguably offering more. "

It's definitely more accessible to casual tech people like myself. It's definitely not as in-depth and technical as Anandtech is with hardware. Or NotebookCheck for notebook reviews. Those are the only two I know but their reviews would go over the heads of the average user who wouldn't care about nits and performance specs.

I didn't get the update, but I am not excited. I like the current software on my S10, and I am very happy with how great everything works. My experience with the second major OS update on Android has always been that of a downgrade and things beginning to break and slow down. I guess we'll see now that Samsung is moving to three years of updates, but there's nothing in Android 11 that's appealing to me, and I am having a great experience with 10. Kind of wish I had an option to keep the current version but still get security updates.
Unless things are about to change with the new update policy, I know one of those big updates will just begin deteriorating the software experience compared to what I have now. If it's not Android 11, it's going to be 12 that just ruins the experience.

People on Reddit are largely infatuated by a couple of new shiny menus to play with that get old after an hour or two to critically assess how polished the experience is. I'd wait a bit and read more about issues after the dust has settled. I know how half assed the final projects for each model are, and how big and important the early ones are at Samsung. I'd rather keep the last major release that they poured their hearts and souls into for their star product than get the newest update that the last three dudes ported as part of a side-project to support their "legacy" device to tick a box as long as it kind-of works. There's also a major difference between early releases which are of critical importance to Samsung who'd spend millions on QA, vs the late update that a couple of Junior QA dudes test as their side project. Considering how little the latest Android versions changed, I'd rather be a number behind but with the better quality software running on my phone.

Is that how firmware updates are done? The veterans work on the version that launches on a model and the newer developers manage the updates to the older devices? I have noticed that firmware updates do bring a lot of issues on older devices. I think the UI 3.0 had a big flaw where the camera would blur certain parts of the image every time. I think the blur was always in the center of the photo. Maybe that's why it was pulled. I'm not sure if S20 users were reporting the same thing or not or if they managed to get a polished product.

 

[masta247]

Is that how firmware updates are done? The veterans work on the version that launches on a model and the newer developers manage the updates to the older devices? I have noticed that firmware updates do bring a lot of issues on older devices. I think the UI 3.0 had a big flaw where the camera would blur certain parts of the image every time. I think the blur was always in the center of the photo. Maybe that's why it was pulled. I'm not sure if S20 users were reporting the same thing or not or if they managed to get a polished product.

Oh yes! The release versions are getting crazy priorities, best people, a lot of dev time and QA time. Especially at Samsung. Any issues are caused by the fact that not everything makes it on time but it's worked on and is added via small patches over the weeks or months post launch. Every bug reported gets at least thoroughly investigated. A bug in software can spoil an entire product launch, and these are the most expensive risks that a smartphone company can take. It's a concerted effort by many best teams across many offices to polish launch software. They support the device after go-live (launch), and gradually roll-off the project to begin working on the next gen launch device (some people may still work on the first major update until they're needed on the new project).

Supporting legacy devices (as in those that aren't sold anymore), in particular after the first major update, is a low priority, small team effort with a fraction of typical engineering hours to merely port a newer model's software to tick a box and say they've done their job at caring about security and app support. It has to be serviceable, but nobody expects it to work perfectly - it's not like it'll get reviewed again. The company does just enough due diligence since their reputation is still at stake, but nobody is going to care to optimize every ported process for power efficiency or write and run thousands of new test cases to test exotic situations under which something may crash or drain more battery than it could in the background. It would be a waste of money at diminishing returns from their perspective. That's been the case with Android updates over the last 10 years.

I know the likes of Google and Samsung tried to copy the Apple approach and work in parallel on all devices that they still support when developing a new release, but in reality they'd create a new software experience and still just port it to a "legacy" device. Efforts are around making it also work there rather than building the most optimal new experience for that older device. So the S21 may launch with a certain software written for it with tons of effort and laser focus for it to work as well as possible on the S21, with every process tuned to perfection to look as good as possible in those battery comparisons when the phone is still sold at its MSRP. Then a much smaller effort would try to port it to the S10 and a focus on trying to make as much as possible work on that device too. Once the S23 launches, the S21 will be updated from a software made specifically for it to one ported from whatever they made with the S23 in mind. That's the Android software lifecycle, and why I'm wary of later software updates. As a rule of thumb the later into the product lifecycle, the less effort goes into polishing software updates, and Samsung is typically still more diligent around their software updates than the smaller OEMs are.

 

[dilla]

Oh yes! The release versions are getting crazy priorities, best people, a lot of dev time and QA time. Especially at Samsung. Any issues are caused by the fact that not everything makes it on time but it's worked on and is added via small patches over the weeks or months post launch. Every bug reported gets at least thoroughly investigated. A bug in software can spoil an entire product launch, and these are the most expensive risks that a smartphone company can take. It's a concerted effort by many best teams across many offices to polish launch software. They support the device after go-live (launch), and gradually roll-off the project to begin working on the next gen launch device (some people may still work on the first major update until they're needed on the new project).

Supporting legacy devices (as in those that aren't sold anymore), in particular after the first major update, is a low priority, small team effort with a fraction of typical engineering hours to merely port a newer model's software to tick a box and say they've done their job at caring about security and app support. It has to be serviceable, but nobody expects it to work perfectly - it's not like it'll get reviewed again. The company does just enough due diligence since their reputation is still at stake, but nobody is going to care to optimize every ported process for power efficiency or write and run thousands of new test cases to test exotic situations under which something may crash or drain more battery than it could in the background. It would be a waste of money at diminishing returns from their perspective. That's been the case with Android updates over the last 10 years.

I know the likes of Google and Samsung tried to copy the Apple approach and work in parallel on all devices that they still support when developing a new release, but in reality they'd create a new software experience and still just port it to a "legacy" device. Efforts are around making it also work there rather than building the most optimal new experience for that older device. So the S21 may launch with a certain software written for it with tons of effort and laser focus for it to work as well as possible on the S21, with every process tuned to perfection to look as good as possible in those battery comparisons when the phone is still sold at its MSRP. Then a much smaller effort would try to port it to the S10 and a focus on trying to make as much as possible work on that device too. Once the S23 launches, the S21 will be updated from a software made specifically for it to one ported from whatever they made with the S23 in mind. That's the Android software lifecycle, and why I'm wary of later software updates. As a rule of thumb the later into the product lifecycle, the less effort goes into polishing software updates, and Samsung is typically still more diligent around their software updates than the smaller OEMs are.

I see. so the S10 is still not technically a legacy device as yet, then. I originally thought it to mean that whatever wasn't the latest Galaxy model at the time, was considered "legacy." So right now the S9 is still probably not a legacy device, but close to it, since it's about to be 3 years old now and Samsung promised 2-3 years of updates.

I wish Samsung did what Apple did in regards to firmware updates and make it uniform across the board. But that would mean they'd have to test it on every variant of the Galaxy and Note devices in order to make sure it was bug-free. And it probably would also mean the mid-range devices from Samsung would need to be included as well. And the Z Flip? And the Fold? That's a lot of devices now that I think about it. But it's not like Apple hasn't stretched its lineup of phones to absurd lengths. And only until recently did iOS also include the iPad. Now it's iPadOS and a separate thing but then iOS also included the iPod Touch lineup, too. Sucks Samsung can't do the same thing of supporting its wide array of devices from the past 3-5 years with software updates like Apple can. I'm sure there's a reason for it but it doesn't change the fact that an iPhone 7 user could still probably use their 7 today on the latest iOS version and be good until it's finally no longer supported by Apple in a few years. They'd have to change their battery and still enjoy many of the same features as iPhone 12 users are enjoying, as far as software goes.


I was reading this article and I dawned on me how much some people trust Apple with their well-being.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/23/apple-updates-iphone-magnet-support-document/

I know Apple has had its hand in the healthcare field for some time now, either through the Health app or the capabilities of the Apple Watch. But to have the well-being of your medical device in the hands of Apple, or partially so? That's pretty incredible and a lot to ask of people. But then I thought some more and wondered if I'd trust another OEM or Google/Android to do the same and it was a resounding "no" from me. I'd have my reservations with using Apple for that but I'd still trust them more than others, based on the track record with privacy in the past compared to others.

Off topic but I had to make some purchases today in preparation of this "winter storm" that's supposed to hit us in the next few days. Tomorrow, actually. So I had to pick up some supplies as well as hit up the hardware store to get some road salt for the driveway. All in all, I visited about 5 places, including a small food stand that use a strange, different kiosk for payment methods. And all of them took Samsung Pay without an issue. And then I thought about how Samsung killed MST from the S21 onward and how convenient it was to use at stores. I don't know about you in Canada or folks in Europe, but NFC is still not that big here. I need to go to a "nice" place if I wanted to use Apple or Google Pay via NFC. Most places don't have NFC, or at least not that I can see. McDonald's does lol. But that's it. After that, restaurants that have a more "progressive" reputation are the ones with NFC, like Starbucks, Panera, Chipotle, etc. But Wendy's and Burger King still swipe. The grocery store is still a swipe station. Walmart, I believe, straight up removed all their NFC kiosks to promote their own Walmart Pay , or something like that.

I still need MST and today was a reminder of that. Of its convenience as well as its prevalence in the US stores.

 

[dilla]

So it looks like despite the controversial changes, the S21 is getting some good reviews.

 

[dilla]

https://www.xda-developers.com/android-12-first-look-screenshots/

This got me wondering, when was the last, big, UI change for Android? If I remember correctly, it's looked the same since Lollipop?

I hope they bring some big features this time around. The competition has found a balance between major updates and minor ones with tweaks under the hood.

I'm still making my way through the comments of this: https://www.anandtech.com/show/16463/snapdragon-888-vs-exynos-2100-galaxy-s21-ultra

to figure out why Apple Silicon is doing so well compared to the rest. Did Apple just put all its eggs in the chip development basket and ended up not fucking it up and following through?