7 ms·

Samsung has good hardware, but their software is so bad. I didn't mind because I could root it and install cyanogen. But they made that impossible to do on the

Samsung has good hardware, but their software is so bad. I didn't mind because I could root it and install cyanogen. But they made that impossible to do on the S4. That's just malicious. I'm convinced their software engineers have a competition to see who can write the worst code without getting fired and get it shipped. Clearly nobody has ever been fired at samsung. Their awful software combined with their pathological paranoia about people rooting their phones means I'll never buy a samsung product again.

Pxtl 11y ago
I always find Samsung devices have more consistent performance on weaker hardware than the pure-google alternatives, and I assume their choice to trail Google's releases is part of that. For example, I don't blame them for maintaining the stock browser over Chrome.
jayceekay 11y ago
i had a galaxy s6 for the past 5 months and it was a nightmare. i made the mistake of not doing my research, approving an OTA upgrade to 5.1.1 and made it impossible to root my phone. recently got a nexus 5x and i am so happy to have a stock google phone again.
- adamweld 11y ago
  I'm going back to my Nexus 5 after upgrading the internal battery by 30% [1], the S6 had great hardware but the memory management and overall software experience is horrible. Just give me AOSP! I'm going to miss the camera and Samsung Pay, though. [1] http://www.adamweld.com/2016/01/nexus-5-battery-capacity-upgrade.html http://www.adamweld.com/2016/01/nexus-5-battery-capacity-upg...
barbs 11y ago
What exactly is so bad about their software?
- Spivak 11y ago
  Ignoring the fact that it's ugly as sin and they bundle hundreds of useless apps which are cannot be removed which can cause weird breakages when disabled, the problem is that despite the fact that on paper their hardware should crush every other phone on the market they somehow manage to make the phones UI slower than a budget phone running stock (or near stock) Android. To be fair, that hardware shines when Android fades away and you want to play graphically intensive phone games but it's terrible for everything else.
  - WrkInProgress 11y ago
    Just curious, when was the last time you used a Samsung device ? A couple of points as I used to share your opinion, but I recently purchase a Edge Plus which changed my views (which while not as extreme were aligned with yours. 1.) For the most part, I do prefer stock android in terms of aesthetics and some key apps (dialer, etc). 2.) Samsung has really toned down their over the top "colourful" aesthetic on phones. They are increasingly following Material design guidelines. 3.) Depending on the carrier variant (and this could be killer), Samsung bundle apps are not as critical anymore and they definitely do not cause weird breakages when disabled. 4.) Having used both a Nexus 6P (considered the cream of the crop when it comes to stock Android experience) and there is very little performance difference between the two. 5.) Samsung (and other OEMs) have always been ahead of the curve of stock android when it comes to features that were co-opted into later versions on Android. They were the first to have quick access toggles in the notification bar, lock screen notifications, etc. So there were always some trade-offs. 6.) Even without getting into third party launchers, etc that can completely ape stock android in looks - Samsung has finally included proper theming support for their devices - so even a novice user can download a "Material Dark / Material Light" theme. One perfect example that is still relevant to this day is the multi-window option that I use daily on my Edge Plus, which would not be possible on a Nexus device (just yet).
  - xorcist 11y ago
    Samsung's software has also had security problems in the past. Only the bare minimum was done to avoid exploitation. Issues are likely to remain. Their modifications are also a large source of their delay to update to new Android versions. It's somewhat ironic that many users buy their hardware despite their software modifications.
nagarjun 11y ago
To be honest, my Nexus 5X has been acting up since the day I bought it. It's had an ongoing issue with performance: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/3ua0ad/nexus_5x_performance_issues/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/3ua0ad/nexus_5x_pe.... It seems like buying a good Android device can be a hit or miss. It's sad because Android itself has come a long way.
tluyben2 11y ago
After having had iPhones and Samsung S-series since they came on the market, I bought a Huawei P8 Max last week in some outlet in Thailand. The software is great; I want to break my S6 in half when I touch it. The phone is excellent too; it's fast and, as I am a freak when it comes to battery life, it fixes all my power issues. With the MS foldable mobile keyboard I can do almost everything on this thing. It weighs more than most phones but compared to carrying my laptop + batteries + power cable this is very light.
darklajid 11y ago
I have a S6E as a corporate issued phone. It's a brick. A paperweight. Crap. Unusable. The software is so bad, it hurts. It has flaws all over the place. I hate it so much, I'm trying to revive a 5 year old device with a dead battery right now. That completely ignores - that the "Edge" feature is so useless, utterly useless. Slightly shiny. So pointless. - that this manufacturer doesn't give a shit about being open, probably is the worst in that regard. Forget about using the hardware with decent software - you are stuck with their stuff
fsloth 11y ago
To offer an anecdote from another point of view I'm quite pleased with my Note 3 but all I do on my phone is browse with Chrome, read email, draw occasionally (thus the Note), take some video, watch netflix and some sms and actual phone calls. I've disabled the fancy stuff like multi display, though. My baseline expectations for samsung software are quite low so it might just be that I'm happy this phone works at all - but I can't recall the last time any software issues actually impacted me in a negative way. I don't have any carrier stuff on the phone, maybe that's a factor.

Pxtl 11y ago

I always find Samsung devices have more consistent performance on weaker hardware than the pure-google alternatives, and I assume their choice to trail Google's releases is part of that. For example, I don't blame them for maintaining the stock browser over Chrome.

jayceekay 11y ago

i had a galaxy s6 for the past 5 months and it was a nightmare. i made the mistake of not doing my research, approving an OTA upgrade to 5.1.1 and made it impossible to root my phone. recently got a nexus 5x and i am so happy to have a stock google phone again.

adamweld 11y ago
I'm going back to my Nexus 5 after upgrading the internal battery by 30% [1], the S6 had great hardware but the memory management and overall software experience is horrible. Just give me AOSP! I'm going to miss the camera and Samsung Pay, though. [1] http://www.adamweld.com/2016/01/nexus-5-battery-capacity-upgrade.html http://www.adamweld.com/2016/01/nexus-5-battery-capacity-upg...

barbs 11y ago

What exactly is so bad about their software?

Spivak 11y ago
Ignoring the fact that it's ugly as sin and they bundle hundreds of useless apps which are cannot be removed which can cause weird breakages when disabled, the problem is that despite the fact that on paper their hardware should crush every other phone on the market they somehow manage to make the phones UI slower than a budget phone running stock (or near stock) Android. To be fair, that hardware shines when Android fades away and you want to play graphically intensive phone games but it's terrible for everything else.
- WrkInProgress 11y ago
  Just curious, when was the last time you used a Samsung device ? A couple of points as I used to share your opinion, but I recently purchase a Edge Plus which changed my views (which while not as extreme were aligned with yours. 1.) For the most part, I do prefer stock android in terms of aesthetics and some key apps (dialer, etc). 2.) Samsung has really toned down their over the top "colourful" aesthetic on phones. They are increasingly following Material design guidelines. 3.) Depending on the carrier variant (and this could be killer), Samsung bundle apps are not as critical anymore and they definitely do not cause weird breakages when disabled. 4.) Having used both a Nexus 6P (considered the cream of the crop when it comes to stock Android experience) and there is very little performance difference between the two. 5.) Samsung (and other OEMs) have always been ahead of the curve of stock android when it comes to features that were co-opted into later versions on Android. They were the first to have quick access toggles in the notification bar, lock screen notifications, etc. So there were always some trade-offs. 6.) Even without getting into third party launchers, etc that can completely ape stock android in looks - Samsung has finally included proper theming support for their devices - so even a novice user can download a "Material Dark / Material Light" theme. One perfect example that is still relevant to this day is the multi-window option that I use daily on my Edge Plus, which would not be possible on a Nexus device (just yet).
- xorcist 11y ago
  Samsung's software has also had security problems in the past. Only the bare minimum was done to avoid exploitation. Issues are likely to remain. Their modifications are also a large source of their delay to update to new Android versions. It's somewhat ironic that many users buy their hardware despite their software modifications.

nagarjun 11y ago

To be honest, my Nexus 5X has been acting up since the day I bought it. It's had an ongoing issue with performance: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/3ua0ad/nexus_5x_performance_issues/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/3ua0ad/nexus_5x_pe.... It seems like buying a good Android device can be a hit or miss. It's sad because Android itself has come a long way.

tluyben2 11y ago

After having had iPhones and Samsung S-series since they came on the market, I bought a Huawei P8 Max last week in some outlet in Thailand. The software is great; I want to break my S6 in half when I touch it. The phone is excellent too; it's fast and, as I am a freak when it comes to battery life, it fixes all my power issues. With the MS foldable mobile keyboard I can do almost everything on this thing. It weighs more than most phones but compared to carrying my laptop + batteries + power cable this is very light.

darklajid 11y ago

I have a S6E as a corporate issued phone. It's a brick. A paperweight. Crap. Unusable. The software is so bad, it hurts. It has flaws all over the place. I hate it so much, I'm trying to revive a 5 year old device with a dead battery right now. That completely ignores - that the "Edge" feature is so useless, utterly useless. Slightly shiny. So pointless. - that this manufacturer doesn't give a shit about being open, probably is the worst in that regard. Forget about using the hardware with decent software - you are stuck with their stuff

fsloth 11y ago

To offer an anecdote from another point of view I'm quite pleased with my Note 3 but all I do on my phone is browse with Chrome, read email, draw occasionally (thus the Note), take some video, watch netflix and some sms and actual phone calls. I've disabled the fancy stuff like multi display, though. My baseline expectations for samsung software are quite low so it might just be that I'm happy this phone works at all - but I can't recall the last time any software issues actually impacted me in a negative way. I don't have any carrier stuff on the phone, maybe that's a factor.