7 ms·

Samsung is just consistently frustrating. Their hardware for consumer electronics (not appliances) is generally pretty good in my experience, but the attitudes

Samsung is just consistently frustrating. Their hardware for consumer electronics (not appliances) is generally pretty good in my experience, but the attitudes they take towards their customers via this planned obsolescence and software/dark pattern "shove it down your throat and you better like it" hostile crap. I've fundamentally had to change how I work with my phone because of garbage like "just save all the clipboard history, too bad if you don't want that" and "here you'd better like a dedicated button to Bixby" and now "LOOK WE HAVE AI NOW ON YOUR PHONE" as well as being one of the most egregious in the TV data thieving.

catlikesshrimp 2y ago
›› "just save all the clipboard history, too bad if you don't want that" I feel your pain. If you accept a bandaid: change the samsung keyboard to a FOSS keyboard without internet connectivity. The clipboard still exists, at least you can't see it. A better bandaid would be tasker to flush the keyboard everytime you copy something
- drpossum 2y ago
  That's mostly what I did, yes. This is helpful advice. Password managers like Android Keepass also have non-clipboard functionality in keyboards they provide.
spondylosaurus 2y ago
Do newer models not let you remap the "Bixby button" to something else? On my Note 10 I changed it to open the camera, but... it's a Note 10 from 2020, so that may have changed since.
- Iulioh 2y ago
  S23 ultra here You can totally remap it You can use another keyboard You have to look very hard to find the AI (the only use i have for it is delete some objects from a photo and that takes a few tries) You can literally solve everything in a few minutes
  - rschiavone 2y ago
    What if I don't want to deal with these problems in the first place
    - Iulioh 2y ago
      Buy another phone? Buy an iPhone and you don't have to ever wonder if you CAN change something
      - warcher 2y ago
        Yup. Don’t like siri? Go kick rocks.
        code_duck 2y ago
        You can disable Siri entirely, as far as the voice interface.
        spopejoy 2y ago
        You have to enable Siri for carplay, which is really obnoxious.
      - gaudystead 2y ago
        Does this comment mean to say that you can change anything or that you can't? IIRC there are quite a few things locked down on an iPhone that require you to jailbreak it if you want to customize it, but I haven't been in the iPhone space for a long time now so please forgive my naivety.
        Iulioh 2y ago
        Yes, that's what i meant. "With an Android if you have a shitty "feature" usually you can just change it" I have a samsung and everything is custom, nothing but the setting menu is Samsung at this point on my phone. And my choice was dictated only by the hardware in the Android ecosystem (i wanted the S pen) On an iPhone you can customize very little, the homepage alone would make me furious.
- Xeamek 2y ago
  Samsung's skin for android is actually incredibly customizable (to the point you can individually pick color for each UI element separately), as well as including quite a few QoL upgrades that are missing on stock android. But ye, you have to deal with some sub-optimal 'out-of-the-box' experience and privacy isn't really there (though let's be honest, on stock android google also look at your hands constantly)
notKakarot 2y ago
[dead]
colordrops 2y ago
I stopped buying Samsung phones a while ago when they made them impossible to unlock and install custom roms.
- jp191919 2y ago
  This is exactly why I have a Pixel now
- hnburnsy 2y ago
  You can still remove all the Samsung crap, install your favorite launcher, and use Fdroid. This is what I do and couldn't be happier with a debloated Note. https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater
- keyringlight 2y ago
  My impression is this is gradually going by the wayside for all brands, and that's not just on the manufacturer support side but also the breadth of custom roms available to different brands/models. The exception is if you get a Pixel which has 'top tier' support for custom roms and then there's a sharp falloff. Past that point you're into "your mileage may vary" territory with how much feature support is retained or degraded by the rom, and if you're bothered if banking apps require a phone with play integrity or playing hide and seek to pretend it's unaltered. This is likely just my perspective, but it seems that there's less to be gained from custom roms in recent years anyway as smartphones have matured and the rated of change has slowed. Plus there has been a trend among some brands to offer longer OS support lifecycles, of which Samsung seems to be one of the best for android.
  - Zambyte 2y ago
    Smartphones in my life are gradually going by the wayside at a similar rate. I don't have time for computers that fight me by design.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > My impression is this is gradually going by the wayside for all brands That's my impression as well, and is precisely why my current smartphone will be my last smartphone.
bigmattystyles 2y ago
Side question, are Samsung Electronics and Samsung Appliances really like 2 different companies under a Samsung umbrella in SK or are they actually the same company with employees being able to be assigned / move from group to group? Same question for LG I suppose.
- pjerem 2y ago
  Samsung is a gigantic conglomerate of hundreds of companies. They also make cars, houses, entertainment, healthcare services, chemicals and of course, yes, shipbuilding. In the occidental world, we only see a small portion of the iceberg. So I’d say it’s pretty unlikely that employees are frequently assigned from group to group. Maybe it’s possible as a big career change but even that seems unlikely.
  - komadori 2y ago
    When I visited South Korea some years ago, I took a delightful photograph of bag of Samsung-branded kimchi.
    - ytdytvhxgydvhh 2y ago
      I wonder if it would go well with some Volkswagen sausage. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_currywurst https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_currywurst
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      You mean Bibigo?
  - adolph 2y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol A chaebol (UK: /ˈtʃeɪbəl, ˈtʃeɪbɒl/ CHAY-bəl, CHAY-bol, US: /ˈtʃeɪboʊl, ˈdʒɛbəl/ CHAY-bohl, JEB-əl;[3] Korean: 재벌 [tɕɛbʌɭ] ⓘ, lit. 'rich family' or 'financial clique') is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group. Several dozen large South Korean family-controlled corporate groups fall under this definition. The term first appeared in English text in 1972. The intensity and extent of market concentration became evident as 80% of the country's GDP is derived from chaebols. The largest of the group, Samsung, exports 20% of South Korea's goods and services alone. Although no longer financially supported by the government, these firms have attained economies of scale on such a massive level that it is extremely difficult for a startup or small or medium enterprise (SME) to surmount the high barriers to entry.
gohma231 2y ago
As someone that prefers Android, it really is hard to pick a new phone... * Apple: You're getting iOS. Take it or leave it. * Google: OK hardware (maybe that's being generous). iFixit parts available. Hopefully you can make 911 calls in an emergency [1]. * Samsung: Great hardware. Good luck getting something repaired if you need it though. OK software. * Everyone else: You get maybe two years of security updates. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37714579 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37714579
- voidfunc 2y ago
  I basically seem to waffle back and forth between Pixel or Galaxy phones depending on the year. I wanted to like iPhone bit I tried it for a 2y period and it was just too different and I ended up going back to Android.
  - code_duck 2y ago
    I switched back and forth for a few generations and came to the opposite conclusion. I bought a Samsung phone because I thought it had a better camera than the matching generation of iPhones. Turned out the camera app itself was inferior and I didn’t like the processing of the photos. I also hated the duplicate Samsung/Google apps and that it forced horrific things like having a Facebook app and other carrier-installed things onto my phone.
- aleph_minus_one 2y ago
  > * Everyone else: You get maybe two years of security updates. Fairphone attempts to deliver (also security) updates for quite a long time.
- jkossen 2y ago
  Bought a Fairphone very recently, it's a bit thick, but other than that, it's supported for a long time and repairable. And it seems to work just fine :-)
- Syonyk 2y ago
  Or ditch the smartphone entirely, get some variety of robust dumbphone, and work that out in your life. I have a Sonim XP3+, running Android 11 Go, I think, but it's just a rugged dumbphone. Waterproof, drop resistant up to some very reasonable distance, and "generally indestructible" for most reasonable and quite a few unreasonable values of that term. It's good for calls, and texting. And the occasional hotspot use. I carry a decade old laptop for other stuff I need, and use the car's GPS if needed, though since giving up on smartphone maps some while ago, my internal navigation is way better than it used to be. Irritatingly, US carriers all went to VoLTE at about the same time, turning quite a few perfectly good older devices into ewaste, but I'm hopeful VoLTE works for a long while, and I have a decade or so before I have to think about a cell phone again. And, yes, I know that "I couldn't possibly do that for..." reason lists are long. Try it. If nobody resists "having a modern smartphone and being willing to install any random app someplace demands you install," that will be the future we get. I can't even scan QR codes. Life is good!
bildiba 2y ago
I switched from Samsung Galaxy (first S, then S3) to OnePlus years back, and I've been a happy camper. I currently have an OnePlus 9, I've heard no so good (compared to previous) reviews of their newer models, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. My current phone has been running great for multiple years, minimal bloatware, would recommend.
- valiant55 2y ago
  Yeah, I'm honestly afraid to buy a new phone with all the horror stories. I still have my OnePlus 6T, Oxygen is fine but it seems like the ROM scene isn't what it use to be.
- ot1138 2y ago
  I have a recent OnePlus and it's been excellent. I like it even more than the older ones I had, which is directionally quite different than my experience with Apple and Samsung.
- warble 2y ago
  I have the 10 pro and although the camera is definitely an improvement over the 5 I used to own, the overall performance is about the same. I still have my 5, and use it a lot for POS stuff and it's great still. I even have a OnePlus 1 around and it still works decently although it struggles a little with some apps. That's a TEN year old phone.
- magicalhippo 2y ago
  I bought a Motorola G73 5G a few months ago, paid $160 for the 256GB variant including 25% VAT. Compared to my primary phone, Samsung S21, it's a ridiculous amount of phone for the money. But I find the default Google apps to be quite limited compared to Samsungs offerings. Google's calculator app has no unit conversion and a very bare-bones "scientific" mode. Google's file app has no way to search for files containing special characters, while Samsung's can do that just fine by using \ to escape the character. I don't have a SIM in the Motorola as I just use it around the house, other is "work phone", so haven't tested the phone and messaging parts yet, but I recall Samsung were better there too several years ago when my SO had a Sony or something phone. But yeah, seriously considering getting something else next time around.
xandrius 2y ago
Exactly the same. I had to install a script which overwrites my clipboard completely twice a day. I just hate having all the stuff I copied there forever... And I went ahead and deleted any unwanted apps via adb, at least that was smoother than I expected. After that the phone is actually nicely usable.
- fransje26 2y ago
  > I had to install a script which overwrites my clipboard completely twice a day. Would you have any tips you could share on how to do that?
  - xandrius 2y ago
    Sure, I use "Macro Droid" and I have a single macro with 12h interval (trigger). The macro is set as follows: 1. Repeat 35 times 2. Fill Clipboard with [second][system_time] 3. Wait 1 second 4. End loop Let me know if that helps!
utensil4778 2y ago
Making the power button a dedicated physical hotkey for Bixby is one of the most egregious things I've ever seen on a phone.
jiggawatts 2y ago
For people that don’t know about the TV data thing: Samsung openly admits to taking screenshots of whatever is being displayed on your TV at regular intervals, collecting this to their data centres, and selling this to advertisers. NEVER use any Samsung consumer electronics device for working with sensitive data such as using a TV as a monitor!
- xnx 2y ago
  Vizio did this too.
nicbou 2y ago
I have a total ban on Samsung products due to what you describe plus their complete disregard for user privacy. They are labeled as user hostile the same way Windows is. It will take them years of flawless behavior to convince me to change my mind.
Xeamek 2y ago
You can change that buttons behavior. Not that it's a good feature, just an FYI

catlikesshrimp 2y ago

›› "just save all the clipboard history, too bad if you don't want that" I feel your pain. If you accept a bandaid: change the samsung keyboard to a FOSS keyboard without internet connectivity. The clipboard still exists, at least you can't see it. A better bandaid would be tasker to flush the keyboard everytime you copy something

drpossum 2y ago
That's mostly what I did, yes. This is helpful advice. Password managers like Android Keepass also have non-clipboard functionality in keyboards they provide.

spondylosaurus 2y ago

Do newer models not let you remap the "Bixby button" to something else? On my Note 10 I changed it to open the camera, but... it's a Note 10 from 2020, so that may have changed since.

Iulioh 2y ago
S23 ultra here You can totally remap it You can use another keyboard You have to look very hard to find the AI (the only use i have for it is delete some objects from a photo and that takes a few tries) You can literally solve everything in a few minutes
- rschiavone 2y ago
  What if I don't want to deal with these problems in the first place
  - Iulioh 2y ago
    Buy another phone? Buy an iPhone and you don't have to ever wonder if you CAN change something
    - warcher 2y ago
      Yup. Don’t like siri? Go kick rocks.
      - code_duck 2y ago
        You can disable Siri entirely, as far as the voice interface.
        spopejoy 2y ago
        You have to enable Siri for carplay, which is really obnoxious.
    - gaudystead 2y ago
      Does this comment mean to say that you can change anything or that you can't? IIRC there are quite a few things locked down on an iPhone that require you to jailbreak it if you want to customize it, but I haven't been in the iPhone space for a long time now so please forgive my naivety.
      - Iulioh 2y ago
        Yes, that's what i meant. "With an Android if you have a shitty "feature" usually you can just change it" I have a samsung and everything is custom, nothing but the setting menu is Samsung at this point on my phone. And my choice was dictated only by the hardware in the Android ecosystem (i wanted the S pen) On an iPhone you can customize very little, the homepage alone would make me furious.
Xeamek 2y ago
Samsung's skin for android is actually incredibly customizable (to the point you can individually pick color for each UI element separately), as well as including quite a few QoL upgrades that are missing on stock android. But ye, you have to deal with some sub-optimal 'out-of-the-box' experience and privacy isn't really there (though let's be honest, on stock android google also look at your hands constantly)

notKakarot 2y ago

[dead]

colordrops 2y ago

I stopped buying Samsung phones a while ago when they made them impossible to unlock and install custom roms.

jp191919 2y ago
This is exactly why I have a Pixel now
hnburnsy 2y ago
You can still remove all the Samsung crap, install your favorite launcher, and use Fdroid. This is what I do and couldn't be happier with a debloated Note. https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater
keyringlight 2y ago
My impression is this is gradually going by the wayside for all brands, and that's not just on the manufacturer support side but also the breadth of custom roms available to different brands/models. The exception is if you get a Pixel which has 'top tier' support for custom roms and then there's a sharp falloff. Past that point you're into "your mileage may vary" territory with how much feature support is retained or degraded by the rom, and if you're bothered if banking apps require a phone with play integrity or playing hide and seek to pretend it's unaltered. This is likely just my perspective, but it seems that there's less to be gained from custom roms in recent years anyway as smartphones have matured and the rated of change has slowed. Plus there has been a trend among some brands to offer longer OS support lifecycles, of which Samsung seems to be one of the best for android.
- Zambyte 2y ago
  Smartphones in my life are gradually going by the wayside at a similar rate. I don't have time for computers that fight me by design.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > My impression is this is gradually going by the wayside for all brands That's my impression as well, and is precisely why my current smartphone will be my last smartphone.

bigmattystyles 2y ago

Side question, are Samsung Electronics and Samsung Appliances really like 2 different companies under a Samsung umbrella in SK or are they actually the same company with employees being able to be assigned / move from group to group? Same question for LG I suppose.

pjerem 2y ago
Samsung is a gigantic conglomerate of hundreds of companies. They also make cars, houses, entertainment, healthcare services, chemicals and of course, yes, shipbuilding. In the occidental world, we only see a small portion of the iceberg. So I’d say it’s pretty unlikely that employees are frequently assigned from group to group. Maybe it’s possible as a big career change but even that seems unlikely.
- komadori 2y ago
  When I visited South Korea some years ago, I took a delightful photograph of bag of Samsung-branded kimchi.
  - ytdytvhxgydvhh 2y ago
    I wonder if it would go well with some Volkswagen sausage. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_currywurst https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_currywurst
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    You mean Bibigo?
- adolph 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol A chaebol (UK: /ˈtʃeɪbəl, ˈtʃeɪbɒl/ CHAY-bəl, CHAY-bol, US: /ˈtʃeɪboʊl, ˈdʒɛbəl/ CHAY-bohl, JEB-əl;[3] Korean: 재벌 [tɕɛbʌɭ] ⓘ, lit. 'rich family' or 'financial clique') is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group. Several dozen large South Korean family-controlled corporate groups fall under this definition. The term first appeared in English text in 1972. The intensity and extent of market concentration became evident as 80% of the country's GDP is derived from chaebols. The largest of the group, Samsung, exports 20% of South Korea's goods and services alone. Although no longer financially supported by the government, these firms have attained economies of scale on such a massive level that it is extremely difficult for a startup or small or medium enterprise (SME) to surmount the high barriers to entry.

gohma231 2y ago

As someone that prefers Android, it really is hard to pick a new phone... * Apple: You're getting iOS. Take it or leave it. * Google: OK hardware (maybe that's being generous). iFixit parts available. Hopefully you can make 911 calls in an emergency [1]. * Samsung: Great hardware. Good luck getting something repaired if you need it though. OK software. * Everyone else: You get maybe two years of security updates. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37714579 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37714579

voidfunc 2y ago
I basically seem to waffle back and forth between Pixel or Galaxy phones depending on the year. I wanted to like iPhone bit I tried it for a 2y period and it was just too different and I ended up going back to Android.
- code_duck 2y ago
  I switched back and forth for a few generations and came to the opposite conclusion. I bought a Samsung phone because I thought it had a better camera than the matching generation of iPhones. Turned out the camera app itself was inferior and I didn’t like the processing of the photos. I also hated the duplicate Samsung/Google apps and that it forced horrific things like having a Facebook app and other carrier-installed things onto my phone.
aleph_minus_one 2y ago
> * Everyone else: You get maybe two years of security updates. Fairphone attempts to deliver (also security) updates for quite a long time.
jkossen 2y ago
Bought a Fairphone very recently, it's a bit thick, but other than that, it's supported for a long time and repairable. And it seems to work just fine :-)
Syonyk 2y ago
Or ditch the smartphone entirely, get some variety of robust dumbphone, and work that out in your life. I have a Sonim XP3+, running Android 11 Go, I think, but it's just a rugged dumbphone. Waterproof, drop resistant up to some very reasonable distance, and "generally indestructible" for most reasonable and quite a few unreasonable values of that term. It's good for calls, and texting. And the occasional hotspot use. I carry a decade old laptop for other stuff I need, and use the car's GPS if needed, though since giving up on smartphone maps some while ago, my internal navigation is way better than it used to be. Irritatingly, US carriers all went to VoLTE at about the same time, turning quite a few perfectly good older devices into ewaste, but I'm hopeful VoLTE works for a long while, and I have a decade or so before I have to think about a cell phone again. And, yes, I know that "I couldn't possibly do that for..." reason lists are long. Try it. If nobody resists "having a modern smartphone and being willing to install any random app someplace demands you install," that will be the future we get. I can't even scan QR codes. Life is good!

bildiba 2y ago

I switched from Samsung Galaxy (first S, then S3) to OnePlus years back, and I've been a happy camper. I currently have an OnePlus 9, I've heard no so good (compared to previous) reviews of their newer models, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. My current phone has been running great for multiple years, minimal bloatware, would recommend.

valiant55 2y ago
Yeah, I'm honestly afraid to buy a new phone with all the horror stories. I still have my OnePlus 6T, Oxygen is fine but it seems like the ROM scene isn't what it use to be.
ot1138 2y ago
I have a recent OnePlus and it's been excellent. I like it even more than the older ones I had, which is directionally quite different than my experience with Apple and Samsung.
warble 2y ago
I have the 10 pro and although the camera is definitely an improvement over the 5 I used to own, the overall performance is about the same. I still have my 5, and use it a lot for POS stuff and it's great still. I even have a OnePlus 1 around and it still works decently although it struggles a little with some apps. That's a TEN year old phone.
magicalhippo 2y ago
I bought a Motorola G73 5G a few months ago, paid $160 for the 256GB variant including 25% VAT. Compared to my primary phone, Samsung S21, it's a ridiculous amount of phone for the money. But I find the default Google apps to be quite limited compared to Samsungs offerings. Google's calculator app has no unit conversion and a very bare-bones "scientific" mode. Google's file app has no way to search for files containing special characters, while Samsung's can do that just fine by using \ to escape the character. I don't have a SIM in the Motorola as I just use it around the house, other is "work phone", so haven't tested the phone and messaging parts yet, but I recall Samsung were better there too several years ago when my SO had a Sony or something phone. But yeah, seriously considering getting something else next time around.

xandrius 2y ago

Exactly the same. I had to install a script which overwrites my clipboard completely twice a day. I just hate having all the stuff I copied there forever... And I went ahead and deleted any unwanted apps via adb, at least that was smoother than I expected. After that the phone is actually nicely usable.

fransje26 2y ago
> I had to install a script which overwrites my clipboard completely twice a day. Would you have any tips you could share on how to do that?
- xandrius 2y ago
  Sure, I use "Macro Droid" and I have a single macro with 12h interval (trigger). The macro is set as follows: 1. Repeat 35 times 2. Fill Clipboard with [second][system_time] 3. Wait 1 second 4. End loop Let me know if that helps!

utensil4778 2y ago

Making the power button a dedicated physical hotkey for Bixby is one of the most egregious things I've ever seen on a phone.

jiggawatts 2y ago

For people that don’t know about the TV data thing: Samsung openly admits to taking screenshots of whatever is being displayed on your TV at regular intervals, collecting this to their data centres, and selling this to advertisers. NEVER use any Samsung consumer electronics device for working with sensitive data such as using a TV as a monitor!

xnx 2y ago
Vizio did this too.

nicbou 2y ago

I have a total ban on Samsung products due to what you describe plus their complete disregard for user privacy. They are labeled as user hostile the same way Windows is. It will take them years of flawless behavior to convince me to change my mind.

Xeamek 2y ago

You can change that buttons behavior. Not that it's a good feature, just an FYI