5 ms·

The "Samsung bloat" is a thing of the past .. The new phones come with more restrained and thoughtful touches that enhances the phone.

scotu 9y ago
No worries, they listened and they got your back https://www.xda-developers.com/samsungs-partnership-with-mcafee-will-pre-install-mcafee-virusscan-on-the-galaxy-s8/ https://www.xda-developers.com/samsungs-partnership-with-mca... Want some mcafee with your s8? No? Well sucks being you...
- NTripleOne 9y ago
  Good job you install your own preferred flavour of android on it, then.
  - peteretep 9y ago
    I don't care to compile my own, and I want a version I can trust; I want to be able to sue someone if it violates my privacy. What are my options?
    - NTripleOne 9y ago
      Well those first two points are completely contradictory so I won't even bother humouring the rest.
    - Severian 9y ago
      Moto phones are pretty legit software-wise. Almost stock Android. They do have some very useful features however for what they offer (gestures and such). They are owned by Lenovo though. Since ownership their OS updates have been much more regular. YMMV.
  - archvile 9y ago
    Pretty sure the bootloaders on branded devices are locked, are they not?
    - NTripleOne 9y ago
      Not an issue I've ever had to deal with, I buy my phones, not get them on my contract.
  - veeti 9y ago
    Custom ROM's are an unstable mess on most Android devices, Samsung being particularly notorious for poor developer support. Don't be surprised when 911 calls don't work [1] [2] [3] [4]. [1] http://www.androidcentral.com/cyanogenmod-team-dropping-support-samsung-vibrant-because-911-issues http://www.androidcentral.com/cyanogenmod-team-dropping-supp... [2] https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-3-tmobile/help/tmobile-note-3-cyanogenmod-12-call-911-t3050932 https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-3-tmobile/help/tmobile... [3] https://plus.google.com/+CyanogenMod/posts/ePeEX2TRTYg https://plus.google.com/+CyanogenMod/posts/ePeEX2TRTYg [4] https://www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/5lek7o/couldnt_dial_911/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/5lek7o/couldnt...
jonaswi 9y ago
The reason I switched to an iPhone from a Samsung S6 was that one day when I woke up I got a notification stating something like "We've installed you some microsoft apps". The same day I went to my local Apple store and bought an iPhone. What stops them doing this kind of things in the future?
- asjo 9y ago
  Like Apple installing some U2 album on your iPhone?
  - magoon 9y ago
    Not dissimilar, but I wouldn't put them in the same league. U2 was added as a purchased album to iTunes accounts.
    - evilduck 9y ago
      Right, unless you had auto-download of purchases explicitly enabled, nothing was pushed onto phones. And with the backlash it received, I doubt they'll ever do that again (they even stopped their 12 days of Christmas giveaways).
    - evilduck 9y ago
      Right, unless you had auto-download of purchases explicitly enabled, nothing was pushed onto phones. And with the backlash it received, I doubt they'll ever do that again (they even stopped their 12 days of Christmas giveaways).
  - gls2ro 9y ago
    I think the main difference (and I'm not saying Apple cannot do the same maybe at some point in the future) is between an app is downloading something inside that app and the OS is installing an app. A lot of app are connecting in the background to servers and downloading data without always asking permission. But in general the OS should not install something without asking explicitly.
  - 9y ago
i336_ 9y ago
This is a rather empirical test, but it's the one that defines my view of smartphones at the moment. Walking up to a demo Pixel in a retail store and flipping the menu slider opens the menu without a single dropped frame. Walking up to a new S8 and dragging upwards opens the menu somewhat glitchily, with noticeable lag, and with a few dropped frames. There weren't many dropped frames, and the lag was all but unnoticeable. I'd wager that a lot of people would never even notice the lag and glitchiness was there. But unfortunately my reactivity to smoothness becomes pathologically sensitive approaching the 95th percentile - so if something's hilariously horrible, I'll live with it, but if something drops a single frame, I don't want anything to do with it. Sure, you can judge that as stupid, but the way my brain sees it, you either get sorted into the bucket of "you made no effort and you're terrible" and "ooooooooooooo." If you wind up on the edge of the bucket I get really bad uncanny valley. :/ (Another way to look at it is to say that if you put me on a moped that can't go beyond 60mph, I'll get used to it, but if you put me in an Autobahn simulator where traffic jams can abruptly appear beyond corners and then later on just as abruptly disappear... well... suffice to say I might start physically breaking things.) I'll also acknowledge that I have absolutely no idea what was running on both phones - and that the Pixel's store demo mode had probably reset the phone and killall'd everything so it was nice and snappy. But in my case that sells the Pixel to me hands down (I have no idea how responsive it actually is). Hey Samsung, implement a demo mode! I am really looking forward to Fuschia. 120fps target? Yes please!!!
petercooper 9y ago
Backing you up as no idea why you're downvoted. Got an S8 yesterday and there is next to nothing on it. It comes with some MS apps preinstalled, a handful of Samsung apps (voice recorder, health, Bixby, Samsung's browser) .. and that is literally all the cruft I've encountered and it was all mostly avoidable.

scotu 9y ago

No worries, they listened and they got your back https://www.xda-developers.com/samsungs-partnership-with-mcafee-will-pre-install-mcafee-virusscan-on-the-galaxy-s8/ https://www.xda-developers.com/samsungs-partnership-with-mca... Want some mcafee with your s8? No? Well sucks being you...

NTripleOne 9y ago
Good job you install your own preferred flavour of android on it, then.
- peteretep 9y ago
  I don't care to compile my own, and I want a version I can trust; I want to be able to sue someone if it violates my privacy. What are my options?
  - NTripleOne 9y ago
    Well those first two points are completely contradictory so I won't even bother humouring the rest.
  - Severian 9y ago
    Moto phones are pretty legit software-wise. Almost stock Android. They do have some very useful features however for what they offer (gestures and such). They are owned by Lenovo though. Since ownership their OS updates have been much more regular. YMMV.
- archvile 9y ago
  Pretty sure the bootloaders on branded devices are locked, are they not?
  - NTripleOne 9y ago
    Not an issue I've ever had to deal with, I buy my phones, not get them on my contract.
- veeti 9y ago
  Custom ROM's are an unstable mess on most Android devices, Samsung being particularly notorious for poor developer support. Don't be surprised when 911 calls don't work [1] [2] [3] [4]. [1] http://www.androidcentral.com/cyanogenmod-team-dropping-support-samsung-vibrant-because-911-issues http://www.androidcentral.com/cyanogenmod-team-dropping-supp... [2] https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-3-tmobile/help/tmobile-note-3-cyanogenmod-12-call-911-t3050932 https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-3-tmobile/help/tmobile... [3] https://plus.google.com/+CyanogenMod/posts/ePeEX2TRTYg https://plus.google.com/+CyanogenMod/posts/ePeEX2TRTYg [4] https://www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/5lek7o/couldnt_dial_911/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/5lek7o/couldnt...

jonaswi 9y ago

The reason I switched to an iPhone from a Samsung S6 was that one day when I woke up I got a notification stating something like "We've installed you some microsoft apps". The same day I went to my local Apple store and bought an iPhone. What stops them doing this kind of things in the future?

asjo 9y ago
Like Apple installing some U2 album on your iPhone?
- magoon 9y ago
  Not dissimilar, but I wouldn't put them in the same league. U2 was added as a purchased album to iTunes accounts.
  - evilduck 9y ago
    Right, unless you had auto-download of purchases explicitly enabled, nothing was pushed onto phones. And with the backlash it received, I doubt they'll ever do that again (they even stopped their 12 days of Christmas giveaways).
  - evilduck 9y ago
    Right, unless you had auto-download of purchases explicitly enabled, nothing was pushed onto phones. And with the backlash it received, I doubt they'll ever do that again (they even stopped their 12 days of Christmas giveaways).
- gls2ro 9y ago
  I think the main difference (and I'm not saying Apple cannot do the same maybe at some point in the future) is between an app is downloading something inside that app and the OS is installing an app. A lot of app are connecting in the background to servers and downloading data without always asking permission. But in general the OS should not install something without asking explicitly.
- 9y ago

i336_ 9y ago

This is a rather empirical test, but it's the one that defines my view of smartphones at the moment. Walking up to a demo Pixel in a retail store and flipping the menu slider opens the menu without a single dropped frame. Walking up to a new S8 and dragging upwards opens the menu somewhat glitchily, with noticeable lag, and with a few dropped frames. There weren't many dropped frames, and the lag was all but unnoticeable. I'd wager that a lot of people would never even notice the lag and glitchiness was there. But unfortunately my reactivity to smoothness becomes pathologically sensitive approaching the 95th percentile - so if something's hilariously horrible, I'll live with it, but if something drops a single frame, I don't want anything to do with it. Sure, you can judge that as stupid, but the way my brain sees it, you either get sorted into the bucket of "you made no effort and you're terrible" and "ooooooooooooo." If you wind up on the edge of the bucket I get really bad uncanny valley. :/ (Another way to look at it is to say that if you put me on a moped that can't go beyond 60mph, I'll get used to it, but if you put me in an Autobahn simulator where traffic jams can abruptly appear beyond corners and then later on just as abruptly disappear... well... suffice to say I might start physically breaking things.) I'll also acknowledge that I have absolutely no idea what was running on both phones - and that the Pixel's store demo mode had probably reset the phone and killall'd everything so it was nice and snappy. But in my case that sells the Pixel to me hands down (I have no idea how responsive it actually is). Hey Samsung, implement a demo mode! I am really looking forward to Fuschia. 120fps target? Yes please!!!

petercooper 9y ago

Backing you up as no idea why you're downvoted. Got an S8 yesterday and there is next to nothing on it. It comes with some MS apps preinstalled, a handful of Samsung apps (voice recorder, health, Bixby, Samsung's browser) .. and that is literally all the cruft I've encountered and it was all mostly avoidable.