Pretty annoyed, First time having a flagship android phone: samsung galaxy 8

orangpelupa

orangpelupa

Elite Bug Hunter
Legend
I usually only buy entry-level phones, but yesterday i bough a used galaxy note 8 from work colleague

Uh...

1. Turns out samsung note 8 have defective design: if you are unlucky, it can get bricked when the battery goes to 0%

2. The rounded edge is bloody annoying. Accidental touch, hard to touch small objects on edge (upvote on arstechnica). It also distorts colors

3. The samsung UX for fullscreen/hidden nav bar is bloody annoying. You cant swipe from sides to go back. Its basically act the exact same as non-hidden nav bar

4. No easy way to unlock bootloader and root the damn thing. I need root access to restore my microsd card encryption key

5. So many bloody ads (samaung gift, etc) despite i didnt agree to the ads agreement
 
Picao84 said:
I just got a One Plus 7 Pro and not sure I like the rounded edges either.
Click to expand...

OPO are not available officially in Indonesia. I should have gone with xiaomi poco f1. It got a flat screen, SD 845, etc.

But it was missing NFC and IR despite those features were pretty common for xiaomi phones

milk said:
Motorolas are the way to go. Trust me on that one.
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Unfortunately moto no longer do business in Indonesia. Lenovo do release their phones tho.

Although I heard ever since lenovo bough moto, their SW updates goes abysmal?
 
Pixel 3a XL, LOVE IT! Went from a Samsung 7 edge to it and can't believe the difference. Updates all the time and no bloatware or "customized" interface with Android, just pure android. :)
 
digitalwanderer said:
Updates all the time and no bloatware or "customized" interface with Android, just pure android.
Click to expand...
Yeah once I got my Pixel a few years back I never want to go for anything else with bloatware. We got our daughter her first phone this year, a Samsung A70, and the built-in app experience is just terrible. The Bixby suite is fucking horrible and it's impossible to remove it all for standard versions instead.
 
That's one thing I've liked about the no-name (at least a brand I've never heard of before) Umidigi Android Phone I got during the Amazon sale. It's just stock Android 9 as far as I can see. Although, I can't seem to find a way to disable the percentage in the battery icon at the top. Numbers are harder to read without reading glasses than just a partially filled icon. :p I hate getting old.

Although, I do miss the smaller size and much lighter weight of the iPhone 6s in comparison, the larger screen is easier to read without reading glasses.

So far, it's been getting updates, who knows how long that'll last though. Oh reminds me of something else that Android (at least on this phone) does that iOS doesn't. After a system update it requires you to enter your PIN (doesn't accept fingerprint reader) before you can use the phone or even access the lock screen. At least with iOS you can access the lock-screen without having to enter your PIN. There's a lot of things I do like, however (not the least of which is easily changing what Wifi you are connected to).

Also, Android has come a long way from the last time I even touched an Android phone (Android 4.4). Back then Android was slow as F*** and felt unresponsive and klunky even on premium phones. So far, this experience has been much better.

Regards,
SB
 
digitalwanderer said:
Pixel 3a XL, LOVE IT! Went from a Samsung 7 edge to it and can't believe the difference. Updates all the time and no bloatware or "customized" interface with Android, just pure android. :)
Click to expand...

OnePlus phones are basically pure Android as well. I got the OP3 when Android 6 and it was officially updated all the way to 9. It still works fine, only got the OP7 because I needed to raise some expenses for my small app business, to avoid paying so much tax lol. Here's hoping that the OP7 lasts as long as the OP3. Being all glass and curved makes me nervous. The OP3 had plenty of drops and the screen never broke, only a "few" dents on the metal body.
 
maybe im weird, i prefer the adulterated android. e.g. MIUI with its useful app switcher (instead of huge cards scrollin horizontally) and its full screen gesture) or various flea market custom rom (e.g. AOSP Extended with its "hold volume to skip song", hold power to open camera, click power 2x to turn on flash light, etc)
 
My coworker got rid of the Pixel for Samsung. She said the Google drove her nuts with notifications and this or that. Is there like a term for that as nagware is for something else.
 
wishiknew said:
My coworker got rid of the Pixel for Samsung. She said the Google drove her nuts with notifications and this or that. Is there like a term for that as nagware is for something else.
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Notifications are completely customizable per app, the user decides specifically what generates notifications and how much. It will even prompt you to disable that particular app's notifications if you keep swiping them off (or disable them manually right there). That's a silly reason to change phones for something that has a lot more bloatware.
 
Yeah that was a huge annoyance with my Android phone such that I just went and disabled all notifications. It was ridiculous. I was getting a notification like every 10-15 minutes it seems like. I think the main reason it was annoying is the default notification sound was both loud and LONG. iOS does default notifications much better, IMO.

I think the biggest thing is that iOS doesn't bring up a notification and associated notification sound everytime there is an update for an application. It just updates the application. Stock Android evidently by default wants to notify you of every single update for every single app.

When I have time I'll have to go through and enable ones I think are important.

Regards,
SB
 
Silent_Buddha said:
Stock Android evidently by default wants to notify you of every single update for every single app.
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I've never had that. It shows an app notifications section but they're all grouped together under "x apps have updates" and I haven't noticed it generating sounds. Even if it did, you can tell it to either turn off those app updates notifications, or simply have them as silent. On any notification, swipe left slightly and you get a gear icon where you can customize exactly how you want notifications for that app (if at all).

I don't really install any apps so I don't get many notifications but of course almost every app wants to notify you of something so the first time it does, right there on the notification interface, simply disable notifications for that particular app. I don't like notification spam but I also refer them to be on by default if a new app is added as I know that if I don't want them, I can simply disable.
 
I told her not to use Chrome, Google Assistant or the Google search bar. Go search inside the Samsung browser. Even my own Motorola G7 Power Android One, Google Messages was asking me what I thought of it the other day. Samsung might be bloat but it didn't nag except for the Samsung App store.
 
To make the numerous notifications even more annoying: android doesn't have a notification center.

The notification bar is the Notification center. And it's jumbled


:(


Example

Gmail new mail on account X
APP X is running in BG
Amazon notification
Gmail new mail on account y
Whatsapp message
APP Y is running in BG
Gmail New mail on account z



Ugh it's bloody annoying. Where can I download a notification center app that groups notifications together and put "active in background" apps on top?
 
A flagship is only a flagship for one year tops.
What you claim to be a flagship hasn't been one for two generations now.

I too would have preferred to buy a mid/high-range from e.g. Xiaomi or Realme. You'd probably get better battery life (new phone = no established battery decay), software updates for a substantially longer period of time and maybe even better performance.
You'd even get an AMOLED screen on most mid/high-rangers from those brands. The Realme X2 Pro and Redmi K20 Pro are great phones for their price.
 
ToTTenTranz said:
A flagship is only a flagship for one year tops.
What you claim to be a flagship hasn't been one for two generations now.

I too would have preferred to buy a mid/high-range from e.g. Xiaomi or Realme. You'd probably get better battery life (new phone = no established battery decay), software updates for a substantially longer period of time and maybe even better performance.
You'd even get an AMOLED screen on most mid/high-rangers from those brands. The Realme X2 Pro and Redmi K20 Pro are great phones for their price.
Click to expand...

i was coming from a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5, and galaxy note 8 was pretty much the same as note 9 (yes note 9 have faster SoC, but even xiaomi redmi note 5 was already fast).

its hilarious when a bargain bin Xiaomi Redmi have way fewer ads than a flagship phone. not to mention other annoying stuff.

the only thing i really liked from galaxy note 8 is its waterproofing. No need to look for wet wipes. Just wash the thing :D
 
BTW: I've had a Galaxy S10+ for 3 months now, and I absolutely love it.
There's no ads at all, I disabled Bixby and even repurposed the bixby button as a camera shortcut. Though all these latest features might have somethiing to do with E.U. laws.

After seeing what to expect on 2020's Galaxy S20, I'm only sorry I'm not getting that 1/1.33" gigantic camera sensor and a better under-display fingerprint sensor.
OTOH it looks like future Samsung flagships are skipping the analog jack so I'm still better off with the S10+.
 
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