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It’s hard to believe Samsung has any customers outside of their Korean hegemony. Samsung hasn’t proven themselves as a trustworthy smart electronics vendor in

It’s hard to believe Samsung has any customers outside of their Korean hegemony. Samsung hasn’t proven themselves as a trustworthy smart electronics vendor in the past, be it smart TV, smart watch, or smart phone: 2015 - https://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-changes-smarttv-privacy-policy-in-wake-of-spying-fears/ https://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-changes-smarttv-privacy-po... 2015 - https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/06/new-exploit-turns-samsung-galaxy-phones-into-remote-bugging-devices/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/06/new-e... 2015 - https://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-lg-smartwatches-yield-personal-data-to-researchers/ https://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-lg-smartwatches-yield-pers... 2015 - https://www.techhive.com/article/2881944/samsungs-latest-smart-tv-snafu-injects-pepsi-ads-into-your-personal-videos.html https://www.techhive.com/article/2881944/samsungs-latest-sma... 2016 - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/19/samsung-galaxy-s6-explosion-lawsuit-note-7-recalls https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/19/samsung-g... 2018 - https://betanews.com/2018/07/03/samsung-messages-photo-bug/ https://betanews.com/2018/07/03/samsung-messages-photo-bug/ 2018 - https://www.consumerreports.org/televisions/samsung-roku-smart-tvs-vulnerable-to-hacking-consumer-reports-finds/ https://www.consumerreports.org/televisions/samsung-roku-sma... That’s not to mention they’ve been found price fixing, astroturfing, embezzling, and bribing. Vote with your dollar.

amphibian87 7y ago
I agree, Samsung doesn't deserve our money. I boycotted Samsung after they destroyed my perfectly good Galaxy s5 with software updates. Sadly, the Pixel I got next wasn't much better. They dominate certain RAM markets though, and that's kind of unfortunate.
- kowbell 7y ago
  I had an S5 too, and actually still have it in case I ever need a backup (e.g. last week when _my_ Pixel started getting caught in an infinite boot loop!) Though I hadn't noticed the S5 being destroyed by software updates - the only reason I stopped using it is because they stopped updating it and it was locked from custom ROMs, which was a sad conclusion because it had still decent hardware. Could you elaborate on the villainous updates you encountered?
  - hvindin 7y ago
    My personal S5 experience leads me to believe that there was some trickery afoot from Samsung's end. When I realised that my S5 was starting to get a little bit dodgy (having owned it from April 2011 until around December 2018) I went and bought 8 of them. Surprisingly, they were still available for purchase on the Samsung website over 7 years after they were originally released, although they quickly ran out of stock and I needed to go trawling through mobile phone stores asking them to check their store rooms. From here I noticed that every time I updated my phone to the latest software version, deleted all the extraneous bloatware that actually made no sense to have pre-installed, and go to using a device: it would start to behave weirdly within weeks. Apps that had previously run just fine (like, as an example, google maps) were laggy and constantly crashed. After going through 6 of the 8 phones in just over 3 months (the rate of failure seemed to have more to do with the fact that they were S5's in 2019 than anything I was doing to them) I eventually just gave up and bought an S10+ (because I honestly just wanted to see what the hell one would do with a terabyte of Storage on their phone - turns out it's absolutely nothing, but the possibilities initially intrigued me, but I guess I'm not really creative enough to come up with something worth doing with all that storage space). Now I'm still bitterly using the aforementioned S10+ waiting for someone to release a phone that I perceive to be as good as the S5.... So no hard data, just my experience with a large amount of S5's that all seemed to become unusable based on the date rather than actually being broken....
    - skylanh 7y ago
      There are recent updates from LineageOS for the S5 (multiple variants). https://download.lineageos.org/ https://download.lineageos.org/
    - trashface 7y ago
      Anecdata, but my S5 is still working after...6-7 years I guess. My brother also has one and his works. My charging port broke so I have to remove the battery to charge it, but I have three batteries that I rotate between so this isn't a big deal. However it hasn't received a software update since 2017 (I am on T Mobile), so there are probably all kinds of security issues lurking. It will, however, be the last Samsung phone I buy.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
faitswulff 7y ago
> It’s hard to believe Samsung has any customers outside of their Korean hegemony. You could say the same about Facebook for the same reasons, and yet here we are. I was just at a Christmas party where a cybersecurity professional told me that he didn't care if his TV spied on him. I think that's how most of America thinks.
- aiisjustanif 7y ago
  Are we friends with the same person? It's quite upsetting to see cybersecurity professionals say they don't care their TV spies on them.
ravenstine 7y ago
> It’s hard to believe Samsung has any customers outside of their Korean hegemony. No it's not. Most people have no clue and might no even care [now].
drewg123 7y ago
I bought a $3000 top-end Samsung TV in 2015. The experience made it the last product from Samsung that I'll ever buy. Their top of the line 4K HDR-UHD TV (for flat TVs, their highest was curved) was delivered with bright corners that were whitish all the time. Samsung claimed that this was within normal standards for a $3000 TV, and told me they would not repair it (after going around with them for a week or so). Luckily, the local retailer agreed to exchange it. Their denial of responsibility has cost them a lifetime of purchases.
genzeddev 7y ago
As a Canadian taxpayer, my tax dollars fund Samsung. A Canadian company, AdGear, won[1] a contract with the Government of Canada to be the official advertising technology provider in 2015. That was all fine and good, until Samsung acquired AdGear in 2016 [2]. Now Samsung is distributing official bulletins for the government, as well as running ad auctions on the national news outlet, CBC. These same ad auctions would presumably use all the data harvested from Samsung TVs and other consumer electronic equipment. I have been unable to find more details on if/when this contract was renewed, I know the original contract was for a term of three years, with two optional one-year renewal periods. One thing's for sure: The whole thing stinks. [1]: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-government-of-canada-chooses-adgear-as-its-first-ever-advertising-technology-provider-527862351.html https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-government-of-cana... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdGear#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdGear#History
webninja 7y ago
What’s a better company to buy from? Samsung is the only company getting brand recognition in your post.
- troydavis 7y ago
  Vizio is much better about privacy, almost entirely due to https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/02/what-vizio-was-doing-behind-tv-screen https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/02/... . Eventually the FTC (or a state AG) will get tired enough of Samsung's anti-consumer shenanigans to run with it and see what happens, and/or Samsung will do something that they don't clearly and fully disclose and step into the FTC's world.

amphibian87 7y ago

I agree, Samsung doesn't deserve our money. I boycotted Samsung after they destroyed my perfectly good Galaxy s5 with software updates. Sadly, the Pixel I got next wasn't much better. They dominate certain RAM markets though, and that's kind of unfortunate.

kowbell 7y ago
I had an S5 too, and actually still have it in case I ever need a backup (e.g. last week when _my_ Pixel started getting caught in an infinite boot loop!) Though I hadn't noticed the S5 being destroyed by software updates - the only reason I stopped using it is because they stopped updating it and it was locked from custom ROMs, which was a sad conclusion because it had still decent hardware. Could you elaborate on the villainous updates you encountered?
- hvindin 7y ago
  My personal S5 experience leads me to believe that there was some trickery afoot from Samsung's end. When I realised that my S5 was starting to get a little bit dodgy (having owned it from April 2011 until around December 2018) I went and bought 8 of them. Surprisingly, they were still available for purchase on the Samsung website over 7 years after they were originally released, although they quickly ran out of stock and I needed to go trawling through mobile phone stores asking them to check their store rooms. From here I noticed that every time I updated my phone to the latest software version, deleted all the extraneous bloatware that actually made no sense to have pre-installed, and go to using a device: it would start to behave weirdly within weeks. Apps that had previously run just fine (like, as an example, google maps) were laggy and constantly crashed. After going through 6 of the 8 phones in just over 3 months (the rate of failure seemed to have more to do with the fact that they were S5's in 2019 than anything I was doing to them) I eventually just gave up and bought an S10+ (because I honestly just wanted to see what the hell one would do with a terabyte of Storage on their phone - turns out it's absolutely nothing, but the possibilities initially intrigued me, but I guess I'm not really creative enough to come up with something worth doing with all that storage space). Now I'm still bitterly using the aforementioned S10+ waiting for someone to release a phone that I perceive to be as good as the S5.... So no hard data, just my experience with a large amount of S5's that all seemed to become unusable based on the date rather than actually being broken....
  - skylanh 7y ago
    There are recent updates from LineageOS for the S5 (multiple variants). https://download.lineageos.org/ https://download.lineageos.org/
  - trashface 7y ago
    Anecdata, but my S5 is still working after...6-7 years I guess. My brother also has one and his works. My charging port broke so I have to remove the battery to charge it, but I have three batteries that I rotate between so this isn't a big deal. However it hasn't received a software update since 2017 (I am on T Mobile), so there are probably all kinds of security issues lurking. It will, however, be the last Samsung phone I buy.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

faitswulff 7y ago

> It’s hard to believe Samsung has any customers outside of their Korean hegemony. You could say the same about Facebook for the same reasons, and yet here we are. I was just at a Christmas party where a cybersecurity professional told me that he didn't care if his TV spied on him. I think that's how most of America thinks.

aiisjustanif 7y ago
Are we friends with the same person? It's quite upsetting to see cybersecurity professionals say they don't care their TV spies on them.

ravenstine 7y ago

> It’s hard to believe Samsung has any customers outside of their Korean hegemony. No it's not. Most people have no clue and might no even care [now].

drewg123 7y ago

I bought a $3000 top-end Samsung TV in 2015. The experience made it the last product from Samsung that I'll ever buy. Their top of the line 4K HDR-UHD TV (for flat TVs, their highest was curved) was delivered with bright corners that were whitish all the time. Samsung claimed that this was within normal standards for a $3000 TV, and told me they would not repair it (after going around with them for a week or so). Luckily, the local retailer agreed to exchange it. Their denial of responsibility has cost them a lifetime of purchases.

genzeddev 7y ago

As a Canadian taxpayer, my tax dollars fund Samsung. A Canadian company, AdGear, won[1] a contract with the Government of Canada to be the official advertising technology provider in 2015. That was all fine and good, until Samsung acquired AdGear in 2016 [2]. Now Samsung is distributing official bulletins for the government, as well as running ad auctions on the national news outlet, CBC. These same ad auctions would presumably use all the data harvested from Samsung TVs and other consumer electronic equipment. I have been unable to find more details on if/when this contract was renewed, I know the original contract was for a term of three years, with two optional one-year renewal periods. One thing's for sure: The whole thing stinks. [1]: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-government-of-canada-chooses-adgear-as-its-first-ever-advertising-technology-provider-527862351.html https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-government-of-cana... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdGear#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdGear#History

webninja 7y ago

What’s a better company to buy from? Samsung is the only company getting brand recognition in your post.

troydavis 7y ago
Vizio is much better about privacy, almost entirely due to https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/02/what-vizio-was-doing-behind-tv-screen https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/02/... . Eventually the FTC (or a state AG) will get tired enough of Samsung's anti-consumer shenanigans to run with it and see what happens, and/or Samsung will do something that they don't clearly and fully disclose and step into the FTC's world.