5 ms·

Why is the leading contender disqualified? The Samsung Galaxy 7 is still great.. remember the burning phone as the NOTE 7 (and it's more a phablet than phone)

darklajid 10y ago
As an owner of a S6E: I'd disqualify those due to unremovable crapware (anything starting with S basically), crappy support for rooting/flashing the phone (ODIN, flash fuse), crappy driver support for 3rd parties (-> No CM, probably never). Touchwiz. If you like Apple, the iPhone is great I guess. If you like Samsung, the S6/S7 series might be great. I'd definitely agree that the hardware is superb in both cases, but would disqualify these devices (in my world, for my use cases and preferences) due to software concerns.
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  "unremovable crapware" like... Google Play Music, Google Play Movies, Google Play Books, Allo, Android Pay, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Translate, et al.?
  - Grazester 10y ago
    Touchwiz > All of that!
  - darklajid 10y ago
    Short version: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I keep that although I don't use it really, no, no, yes Different use cases and all, I guess. The first three are irrelevant in my world (and arguably should be opt in - add their Games thing to that list). You follow with yet another IM/chat/voip application. Android Pay? I'm neither interested, nor do I believe that adoption around here is high enough to use it for anything remotely serious. GMail is something I don't really use anymore, but still keep due to my mostly dormant Google account. YouTube is neat, honestly. Google Translate is something I rarely have a use for. If I need that, translate.google.com works fine in Firefox. Why would I install that as an application? (Update: Only just noticed that you answered in my 'Samsung crapware' thread, I complained about 'Google crapware' in a sibling thread. Maybe we're actually in agreement? I cannot tell if you honestly consider Google's stuff as crap - as I do - or if this is sarcasm)
    - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
      I just find it an interesting double standard where many people consider Samsung software bloat, and Google software not-bloat. Even though Google's is only there because it's contractually required, and it's equally non-removable. Glad to hear you agree non-removable bloat is bad across the board! :)
      - brainfire 10y ago
        Google's apps don't run unless you launch them.
        darklajid 10y ago
        And I can install a 'Skype stub' application that doesn't do a thing unless you start it as well. It's still crapware, unwanted and useless. If I want anything but the Play Store (honestly.. I shudder, whenever I have to write/say that name. How can you take that name serious, ever?) itself, I can install it. Preinstalling applications is a Bad Idea™ most of the time, clutter if you're feeling nice, abusing the market position otherwise. Why would I need Chrome on my mobile? Why is it impossible to remove it?
        brainfire 10y ago
        I don't disagree, but it's not a double standard to be more irritated by apps that get in your face and drain additional resources.
        ocdtrekkie 10y ago
        Play Services is running all the time by default. It's default configuration is to run location services, which is highly battery intensive, to report your location to Google on a regular basis... a huge privacy issue. The Play Store auto-updates all these Google apps by default, which can use a lot of data. Play Services can and does update itself even with auto-updates disabled. It's very hard to justify Google Play Services as anything other than malware, because it has all of the primary functions and behaviors of a virus.

darklajid 10y ago

As an owner of a S6E: I'd disqualify those due to unremovable crapware (anything starting with S basically), crappy support for rooting/flashing the phone (ODIN, flash fuse), crappy driver support for 3rd parties (-> No CM, probably never). Touchwiz. If you like Apple, the iPhone is great I guess. If you like Samsung, the S6/S7 series might be great. I'd definitely agree that the hardware is superb in both cases, but would disqualify these devices (in my world, for my use cases and preferences) due to software concerns.

ocdtrekkie 10y ago
"unremovable crapware" like... Google Play Music, Google Play Movies, Google Play Books, Allo, Android Pay, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Translate, et al.?
- Grazester 10y ago
  Touchwiz > All of that!
- darklajid 10y ago
  Short version: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I keep that although I don't use it really, no, no, yes Different use cases and all, I guess. The first three are irrelevant in my world (and arguably should be opt in - add their Games thing to that list). You follow with yet another IM/chat/voip application. Android Pay? I'm neither interested, nor do I believe that adoption around here is high enough to use it for anything remotely serious. GMail is something I don't really use anymore, but still keep due to my mostly dormant Google account. YouTube is neat, honestly. Google Translate is something I rarely have a use for. If I need that, translate.google.com works fine in Firefox. Why would I install that as an application? (Update: Only just noticed that you answered in my 'Samsung crapware' thread, I complained about 'Google crapware' in a sibling thread. Maybe we're actually in agreement? I cannot tell if you honestly consider Google's stuff as crap - as I do - or if this is sarcasm)
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    I just find it an interesting double standard where many people consider Samsung software bloat, and Google software not-bloat. Even though Google's is only there because it's contractually required, and it's equally non-removable. Glad to hear you agree non-removable bloat is bad across the board! :)
    - brainfire 10y ago
      Google's apps don't run unless you launch them.
      - darklajid 10y ago
        And I can install a 'Skype stub' application that doesn't do a thing unless you start it as well. It's still crapware, unwanted and useless. If I want anything but the Play Store (honestly.. I shudder, whenever I have to write/say that name. How can you take that name serious, ever?) itself, I can install it. Preinstalling applications is a Bad Idea™ most of the time, clutter if you're feeling nice, abusing the market position otherwise. Why would I need Chrome on my mobile? Why is it impossible to remove it?
        brainfire 10y ago
        I don't disagree, but it's not a double standard to be more irritated by apps that get in your face and drain additional resources.
      - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
        Play Services is running all the time by default. It's default configuration is to run location services, which is highly battery intensive, to report your location to Google on a regular basis... a huge privacy issue. The Play Store auto-updates all these Google apps by default, which can use a lot of data. Play Services can and does update itself even with auto-updates disabled. It's very hard to justify Google Play Services as anything other than malware, because it has all of the primary functions and behaviors of a virus.