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This kind of shit is why I've decided to avoid Samsung wherever possible. I bought a galaxy watch years ago and got sucked in with a galaxy flagship phone and t

This kind of shit is why I've decided to avoid Samsung wherever possible. I bought a galaxy watch years ago and got sucked in with a galaxy flagship phone and the Samsung earbuds. Every Samsung device I've ever owned since the galaxy s4 has been utter trash. The watch was never useful because Samsung wanted to create their own app ecosystem and all but abandoned it. My note 10+ is full of bugs and rooting it is entirely out of the question. My earbuds have been nothing but trouble and are thankfully finally dead enough that I can justify replacing them. Can't wait for this phone to finally die so I can replace it with something that I don't actively hate.

ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago
I agree. I tried every other brand to avoid apple but came back to apple this year. Samsung is bloatware and janky and google pixel was incredible but had really poor battery life and somehow even though android looked great, iOS did tiny micro interactions so much better. E.g. when holding the space in iOS, the whole keyboard becomes a virtual touchpad vs android where you can only go left or right horizontally.
capitainenemo 4y ago
Their software is terrible, but their hardware is pretty nice. Shame they've been paring it down over the years. Pinnacle of their hardware, IMO was the Galaxy Note 4. Had their "antiglare AMOLED" (admittedly still not ideal for long device lifespan and outdoor use), wacom stylus with hover and right click (awesome for local or remote desktop sessions), replaceable battery, IR blaster, blood oxygen sensor, pulse measurement, audio jack, physical buttons. Nowdays I make do with their 2022 XCover6 - but I miss the features I lost.
- GuB-42 4y ago
  I still have my Galaxy Note 4. It refuses to die, and manufacturers refuse to give it a competitor. It may be its last year though, even though it is perfectly functional, and I blame app developers for that. It runs Android 6, and for the last couple of years, developers have been dropping support. LineageOS is an option, though on that particular phone, it is not as good as stock, and know some apps are going to piss me off because of SafetyNet. It is also starting to lack in processing power, as apps get more and more demanding even though they don't offer more in terms of features. My next phone is probably going to be the XCover6 too. Seems to be the only decent phone with a removeable battery, with the FairPhone, but the FairPhone has no SD card, no headphone jack, and I find it overpriced. BTW, the S5 was also an excellent phone, a combination of the two would have been perfect. It lacked a stylus, but it was waterproof and built like a tank even though it wasn't a rugged phone. It it also supported hovering on its touchscreen (called Air View), a feature I don't understand why it isn't present in every phone today, if just for its ability to support "hover" target in web pages. Its hardware implementation is also pretty cheap and clever: it is just a particular way of driving the capacitive touchscreen.
  - earthling8118 4y ago
    The lack of touchscreen hover in modern devices is pure tragedy. I had an S5 as my first touchscreen phone and so many things have gone downhill since then. It had a removable battery, headphone jack, IR blaster, and just a ton of features. Each time I get a new one there are less useful features. I had an S8 that had a mimicked home button press with haptic feedback (since they removed physical buttons, this was perfect IMO). They removed that feature. There was an extra button for Bixby that could be (awkwardly) used by Tasker to have custom controls. Gone. They moved the buttons to all be on the same side and now one handed screenshots are hard to take. It's all a bit too much.
  - lmm 4y ago
    I was a huge Note fan, I'm using a Sony Xperia 1 III now which is not perfect but it's OK. Has a proper headphone jack at least, and the S7-style colour notification LED is really useful (although not quite as good as the S7's version).
  - bilkow 4y ago
    Just a correction, but the Fairphone 4 does have a SD card slot.
BLKNSLVR 4y ago
I thought rooting Samsung's was quite a simple exercise with Odin. Why is it out of the question? I'm looking forward to when my wife upgrades her phone, so I can root the S10e.
- alex7734 4y ago
  While I don't know about his particular device, newer Samsung devices tend to permanently disable features (like the camera in the Fold devices) when you root them.
  - Sakos 4y ago
    I don't understand why disabling the camera is a thing. It's really insufferable behavior.
- garyfirestorm 4y ago
  Some note series devices had some sort of contract with military, which made them totally impossible to root for eg. Note 4
  - dredmorbius 4y ago
    Do you have a citation on that?
- gjsman-1000 4y ago
  Carrier Snapdragon versions? No way. Verizon Note 9s are still quite unrootable, let alone custom ROM-able.
- gjsman-1000 4y ago
  Even if your device lets you root it (many don't), you will trip the "Knox fuse." It's a small fuse inside the CPU that permanently burns out if you root, and permanently blocks Samsung Pay, Secure Folder, a few other Samsung security apps... and on the Galaxy Z Fold 3, your camera (though on the Z Fold 3, apparently, if you re-lock your bootloader the restriction goes away). Also said fuse cannot be reset so if you reinstall completely stock firmware, it's blown forever.
jve 4y ago
People long for angular iPhone, I long for Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge form factor. I wish it would have been available today. Well, anyways, mine S10 (small one) is okay feature/bug/hassle free-wise within my scoped use-cases.
sakras 4y ago
Honestly, I’ve recently come to the realization that life is too short for things that “work” but don’t bring joy to use. Don’t torture yourself with this phone you hate, just splurge on a new one you’ll like.
- rolenthedeep 4y ago
  The real problem is, what do I replace it with? The open source options right now seem to be generally kind of crap for a daily driver. The best option I know is a pixel phone with a custom OS, but I feel bad about buying from Google.
  - sakras 4y ago
    That’s a good point, having a nice usable smartphone kind of requires selling your soul to a devil at the moment. I’ve sold mine to Apple, and despite the closed nature of its ecosystem, I am very happy with the day-to-day experience. Is it worth giving up my freedoms in the absence of a viable free alternative? I guess it is for me. If it’s not for you then I guess your stuck for now.
gambiting 4y ago
I feel the exact opposite - after years of OnePlus phones, I got an S21 two years ago and jesus, finally an android phone that just works. No weird issues with bluetooth/wifi dropping out, no random crashes, good camera, it just works without a hitch. It feels like an iphone experience just with android.
acchow 4y ago
I don't think it's just a Samsung problem. I have an non-Samsung Android TV and it becomes intermittently non-responsive, apps sometimes crash, sometimes commands are queued up and then after a pause all happen in rapid succession. I'm never buying anything Android again.

ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago

I agree. I tried every other brand to avoid apple but came back to apple this year. Samsung is bloatware and janky and google pixel was incredible but had really poor battery life and somehow even though android looked great, iOS did tiny micro interactions so much better. E.g. when holding the space in iOS, the whole keyboard becomes a virtual touchpad vs android where you can only go left or right horizontally.

capitainenemo 4y ago

Their software is terrible, but their hardware is pretty nice. Shame they've been paring it down over the years. Pinnacle of their hardware, IMO was the Galaxy Note 4. Had their "antiglare AMOLED" (admittedly still not ideal for long device lifespan and outdoor use), wacom stylus with hover and right click (awesome for local or remote desktop sessions), replaceable battery, IR blaster, blood oxygen sensor, pulse measurement, audio jack, physical buttons. Nowdays I make do with their 2022 XCover6 - but I miss the features I lost.

GuB-42 4y ago
I still have my Galaxy Note 4. It refuses to die, and manufacturers refuse to give it a competitor. It may be its last year though, even though it is perfectly functional, and I blame app developers for that. It runs Android 6, and for the last couple of years, developers have been dropping support. LineageOS is an option, though on that particular phone, it is not as good as stock, and know some apps are going to piss me off because of SafetyNet. It is also starting to lack in processing power, as apps get more and more demanding even though they don't offer more in terms of features. My next phone is probably going to be the XCover6 too. Seems to be the only decent phone with a removeable battery, with the FairPhone, but the FairPhone has no SD card, no headphone jack, and I find it overpriced. BTW, the S5 was also an excellent phone, a combination of the two would have been perfect. It lacked a stylus, but it was waterproof and built like a tank even though it wasn't a rugged phone. It it also supported hovering on its touchscreen (called Air View), a feature I don't understand why it isn't present in every phone today, if just for its ability to support "hover" target in web pages. Its hardware implementation is also pretty cheap and clever: it is just a particular way of driving the capacitive touchscreen.
- earthling8118 4y ago
  The lack of touchscreen hover in modern devices is pure tragedy. I had an S5 as my first touchscreen phone and so many things have gone downhill since then. It had a removable battery, headphone jack, IR blaster, and just a ton of features. Each time I get a new one there are less useful features. I had an S8 that had a mimicked home button press with haptic feedback (since they removed physical buttons, this was perfect IMO). They removed that feature. There was an extra button for Bixby that could be (awkwardly) used by Tasker to have custom controls. Gone. They moved the buttons to all be on the same side and now one handed screenshots are hard to take. It's all a bit too much.
- lmm 4y ago
  I was a huge Note fan, I'm using a Sony Xperia 1 III now which is not perfect but it's OK. Has a proper headphone jack at least, and the S7-style colour notification LED is really useful (although not quite as good as the S7's version).
- bilkow 4y ago
  Just a correction, but the Fairphone 4 does have a SD card slot.

BLKNSLVR 4y ago

I thought rooting Samsung's was quite a simple exercise with Odin. Why is it out of the question? I'm looking forward to when my wife upgrades her phone, so I can root the S10e.

alex7734 4y ago
While I don't know about his particular device, newer Samsung devices tend to permanently disable features (like the camera in the Fold devices) when you root them.
- Sakos 4y ago
  I don't understand why disabling the camera is a thing. It's really insufferable behavior.
garyfirestorm 4y ago
Some note series devices had some sort of contract with military, which made them totally impossible to root for eg. Note 4
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  Do you have a citation on that?
gjsman-1000 4y ago
Carrier Snapdragon versions? No way. Verizon Note 9s are still quite unrootable, let alone custom ROM-able.
gjsman-1000 4y ago
Even if your device lets you root it (many don't), you will trip the "Knox fuse." It's a small fuse inside the CPU that permanently burns out if you root, and permanently blocks Samsung Pay, Secure Folder, a few other Samsung security apps... and on the Galaxy Z Fold 3, your camera (though on the Z Fold 3, apparently, if you re-lock your bootloader the restriction goes away). Also said fuse cannot be reset so if you reinstall completely stock firmware, it's blown forever.

jve 4y ago

People long for angular iPhone, I long for Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge form factor. I wish it would have been available today. Well, anyways, mine S10 (small one) is okay feature/bug/hassle free-wise within my scoped use-cases.

sakras 4y ago

Honestly, I’ve recently come to the realization that life is too short for things that “work” but don’t bring joy to use. Don’t torture yourself with this phone you hate, just splurge on a new one you’ll like.

rolenthedeep 4y ago
The real problem is, what do I replace it with? The open source options right now seem to be generally kind of crap for a daily driver. The best option I know is a pixel phone with a custom OS, but I feel bad about buying from Google.
- sakras 4y ago
  That’s a good point, having a nice usable smartphone kind of requires selling your soul to a devil at the moment. I’ve sold mine to Apple, and despite the closed nature of its ecosystem, I am very happy with the day-to-day experience. Is it worth giving up my freedoms in the absence of a viable free alternative? I guess it is for me. If it’s not for you then I guess your stuck for now.

gambiting 4y ago

I feel the exact opposite - after years of OnePlus phones, I got an S21 two years ago and jesus, finally an android phone that just works. No weird issues with bluetooth/wifi dropping out, no random crashes, good camera, it just works without a hitch. It feels like an iphone experience just with android.

acchow 4y ago

I don't think it's just a Samsung problem. I have an non-Samsung Android TV and it becomes intermittently non-responsive, apps sometimes crash, sometimes commands are queued up and then after a pause all happen in rapid succession. I'm never buying anything Android again.