Android

They became dead to me the moment they stopped having removable batteries.

No, this is not a Note 7 joke or anything. I just really hate the trend of integrated batteries in electronics because it places a fundamental limit on the product's useful life of about four to five years before the battery degrades so much that it becomes essentially unusable as a mobile device. It's probably the single worst "innovation" in consumer electronics history. Replacing a sealed-in battery out of warranty is often similar in price to getting a new damn phone, and not without risk either since modern phones are sealed so tightly that even professional technicians can accidentally destroy the rest of the device while trying to disassemble it.

You used to boast that your removable batteries were an advantage over the iPhone, Samsung. What happened to that?

When LG folded their mobile division I chose a Motorola over a Samsung.

The only thing I'd buy from Samsung without a lot of persuasion is Samsung's SSD drives, which are usually the best and most reliable on the market.

The main problem is that Samsung is one of the worst hardware manufacturers in terms of valuing privacy, even their TV's are being geared towards spamming ads at you and spying on you through their cameras.

Also Samsung forces Facebook/Meta bloat ware on you.

I haven't had a Samsung phone since Android Gingerbread, but I do have a Samsung TV in my guests room and every time it gets turned on, my pi-hole blocks a lot of traffic under the ads and tracking category, so Samsung's phones are probably similar.

I think their screens are really good and they also have 5 generations of foldable devices, more than any other company.

Still, I wouldn't buy one because I don't like their software and they tend to restrict functionality unless you use other Samsung devices. For instance, a Samsung Galaxy watch, even running Wear OS, will not have all the features enabled unless you pair it with a Samsung phone.

Have an s21, wife has s22, few yrs ago child had A20 (I think) the s series has been great. I could have upgraded to s22 didn't want. The A20 was horrid but for a youngish teen it was "fine" if I had to get another phone I would look around and see whats what but over all I like my phone better than the s22, and while my phone was being repaired I bought a Moto G5, considering the cost I hated the damn thing and was slow as F. Now my other youngish teen has that one, I am just happy to be rid of it. It worked for me, just barely. Admit to having been used to the s21, so may be somewhat biast.

I don't like them for me. I hate all the Samsung software injected into android.

But for regular people they are probably the most recommended ones in the android ecosystem. So I recommend them sometimes if the budget is good.

I might not like the software. But the hardware seems good quality. And software still has some cool functions.

Somebody told me it has a way to hibernate apps that are in the background. And I think that is amazing.

I personally love Samsung. Have a Note20 Ultra still going strong, got a Tab S9 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro in the last year. They are all so customizable out of the box using Good Lock and other software that it would be painful to switch. I find they all perform really well and the improvements of OneUI are appreciated. I like the Calendar, Browser (on tablet), Reminders and some other apps much more than Google's offerings.

We need S5 but with modern specs. Galaxy Alpha would be zased phone if it had a MicroSD reader.

Battery life is seriously impressive and they do offer some customisations over stock that aren't even found in LOS but overall pretty meh and bloated.

I've never had a good experience with Samsung till recently. The s4 overheated an insane amount, the s7 edge dropped wifi left and right, then finally I tried the fold 3 on my 3rd attempt at Samsung.

I enjoyed the phone for the aspect of the fold, the software handled it really well. But, one ui couldn't get out of its own way, it had a lot of nice extra features, but also had a lot of useless (to me) extra features. The bloat like others mentioned was bad. But ok, not super offensive like it was on the old touch wiz.

I kept that phone a little over a year, the battery aged terribly. It started out great, then by the 7 or 8 month mark, it just dove off a cliff. At the 11th month, the factory screen protector, the one that's like essential to the phone, popped a huge bubble right in the middle where the fold happens. Thankfully that was under warranty and I got replaced, but that was when I knew it was time to go.

I picked up a pixel 6 pro and sold the fold 3. I'm now on the pixel 7 pro. I replaced the galaxy buds with pixel buds, but I kept the watch. I will give it to Samsung on that, they have the best wear os watch experience I've ever used.

The experience syncing devices in the ecosystem was very nice, very apple like, and I do miss the quick sync between my phone and tablet. Google messages PWA is nowhere near as nice as the messages app on the Tab S7. Not being able to take phone calls on it anymore kinda sucks too. The earbuds and watch are pretty fluid, but not quite as seamless as when it was all Samsung.

My opinion on them based on my last phone I got from them (S22 Ultra Exynos) is pretty mid just like the phone for its price. I overall think they are right now in a bit of a slump and resting very much on their laurels. Their phones are still for the most part very good, market leading in some points even, but they have slowed down the innovation a lot. Like the last 3 Galaxy Ultra phones are pretty much the same product. And the regular S20, S21, ... line also takes 0 risks and cuts one too many corners for my liking. And the whole Exynos situation is just a shame since usually where I live we pay more for less. If they stuck those Chips in 500 - 700€ ish phones and passed along the saving they would wipe the floor with all the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 1 wannabe flaghips.

What I think however nobody will take away from them anytime soon is OneUI. I think right now its the best and most feature complete Android skin and its refreshing seeing Samsung stick and refine one design for this long (before they changed the look and feel every 2 - 3 years). I only wish they would bring back Linux on Dex which was in beta for some time. That would be a killer feature for me!

I feel its the "cheap" ( even if it costs so much ) like preinstalled sponsored apps, some bad performance on like 2-3 Year old phones. Not the best ui. But its like the standard in every phone.

I've had a few samsun galaxy phones. They have been really fantastic. Lightning fast and very reliable. The only other smart phone i've had was a sony xperia which was equally excellent. My current galaxy is 3 years old with 6GB of ram and it's still lightning fast.

Used mid end phone m20. Looks good on paper. Shit phone. Can't repair.

Samsung is just apple with Android phones.

I had one about a decade ago after my HTC Magic. Didn't like it, never went back. My mother keeps buying them and is infinitely frustrated. She'll also ask for help and I have no idea what to tell her. They move all the settings around, so it's next to impossible to understand unless you already know it.

I know we're not doing Sony here, but the Xperia Performance X was the most amazing phone I've ever seen. Glass slate phone dropped out of a god damned car on the highway at 120km/h. Chipped a corner and went on the work for another 2 years. Same phone went through a foam and mud obstacle course run in no case. Dirt and water wedger in every square inch of the thing, still worked for another 3 years, although the camera lenses did have some water in it (camera still worked though!). Only phone I've ever been impressed by.

I dislike Samsung phones. Always has. But because they are so popular have I tried them two times (I am a bit of a advocate of try first criticize later)I am on one right now (s21). Bixby is my biggest source of annoyance together with all their other apps I can't uninstall and stuff I am used to be able to customize. Bixby wouldn't have been annoying if it wasn't because they force you to use it. I had to turn off the shortcut by setting it to turn off the phone only so now do I need to use a sidebar to do stuff like taking a screenshot. I got used to it but it annoys me when a standard is removed. It is like when you want to do copy on a computer and ctrl + C is an assistant instead and you need to use the mouse now because you can't bind the keys as you wish (it is either assistant or dead keys). the battery is pretty bad too, I am not a heavy phone user (2-3h per day) but it is still at around 30% in the evening. My other phones has been Sony, Huawei and Motorola. So I am used to a battery that last for almost 2-3 days. Samsung also overheat (and I guess that is why the battery is draining). I have my screen brightness at the lowest possible because that seem to be the reason it gets so hot(it gets extreamly hot in a short time on higher brightness) it will get hot if I use it for 15 min or more(non dark mode). My coworker had the same model and the battery almost completely died on him (it started to bloat up) so I am a bit worried the same will be true for mine.

One good thing is their dule Sim, I don't want to use two phones (work and private) and it is pretty easy to switch in the ui.

When this one is dead will I buy a pixel. I like to try out different models and phones even if I love moto. Some day would I like to try a OS like calcy but I need to do more research first.

I've had several Samsung phones over the years and do not like how bloated their apps have become like Samsung Notes, Samsung Health, and such. I liked their software experience when S5 was released much better. Remember Milk Music? 🙂

The only reason to buy a Samsung these days is their top shelf hardware but primarily in. their flagships. Also had hardware issue with last Samsung flagship device I owned and then awful tech support from Samsung to boot.

Moto has really upped their game especially in their Moto G 2023 5G models.(U.S. here) I'll be sticking with Moto mid-range going forward.

I have a Galaxy A13 as a test phone for work. Not great, but great for the price. The UI is fine. Cheap Android phones have gotten a lot better recently.

I have a Galaxy Tab S8 for myself. I like the 120hz screen and the design, it feels solid and pretty. Good speakers. I also have a Galaxy Tab A7 Lite that I got for free from T-mobile. I like the size

Got a couple of Galaxy Tab S5e at work for testing purposes as well. Currently both of them have been hacked up to install Android Automotive and one of them is in my car serving as my infotainment system. Pretty sweet.

I wish Samsung would allow unlockable bootloaders on their US phones/tablets with cellular radios in them. I want to hack up my A7 Lite to install Android Automotive so I don't have to hotspot to the S5e anymore.

I want to like them, but Exynos has consistently ruined it for me. I live in one of the countries that got the Exynos versions of their flagship phones until very recently. I had a Note 9 which the US-based Android world raved about, but I was unimpressed because the Exynos version was just that much worse and I feel the same way about the Galaxy S21+ I have now.

The processor overheats and throttles after the slightest workload making the system UI a laggy, janky mess and the battery life is mediocre at best. The modem is crap too, it switches between 5G and 4G for no discernible reason far too often.

The camera is infuriatingly slow all around; slow to launch, slow shutter, slow processing and slow UI. I miss so many photos of my toddler because of it. I had my phone replaced under warranty for an unrelated issue and the replacement has the exact same problem.

They're the best Android phone, but not the best experience.

When it works, it works really well. I've had many of their Galaxy line up. I've even switched briefly to iPhone and came back to a Galaxy S23 Ultra, and it's so so good.

On the other hand, their budget phones aren't bad. I use one of their really old A lineup phones as a digital dash of OBD2 data for my car. That battery is just amazing, it stays charged for days, takes in the heat, and still operates no problem.

The only issue I have is support. They want to demand similar pricing to Apple, but if something break it's pretty much go fuck yourself attitude.

I have an S10, I will stop using Samsung phones after this one. My phone heats up by itself in my pocket and drains my battery by 20% in a matter of minutes no matter how optimised my phone is. The curved screen is a nightmare with screen protectors and they've stopped with headphone jacks and sd cards in later models.

They are also as anti right to repair as Apple is although they don't have the hardware locked in atleast.

The camera resolution even with 12MP is very good but Samsung always oversaturates pictures by a massive amount so that grass looks like vomit. Raw images is the only way around that. And the camera app has weird limitations like no pro mode with the UW and tele lenses and third party apps can only use 1080p60 on exynos chips.
I'm just done with them

If you get the right model they are nice but stock firmware is not the best not the worst