451–460 of 518 posts
My Thinkpad has outlasted 3 phones.
I want so badly to nope out of this whole ecosystem.
Don't even mention IOS.
I recently bought a Nokia 2.2, which in in the Android One program. Two main reasons: a removable battery and OS updates for two years and security for 3. At this point, there's very little difference between the hardware of flagships and commodity, especially considering the real-world use of smartphones. I mean, is anyone compiling programs on these things or doing anything particularly intensive? Not really. So gi…
> a removable battery and OS updates for two years This provokes me. Are we supposed to be happy with two years ? The environmental impact of e-waste and the production of electronics should not be understated. I have a Nexus 5 as a backup phone. It works just as well as my main handset. I know how to duck the G-surveillance and I'm able to keep it alive because I have the knowledge to install roms. Not everyone does…
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Telegram is the best compromise imo
Please stop advocating for Telegram: https://gizmodo.com/why-you-should-stop-using-telegram-right... https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/987372998935105539 Signal is definitely the more secure choice, but Whatsapp is still king of the network effect at least in my neck of the woods.
https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37#issueco...
Signal is just as non-free as WhatsApp.
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Hope you have it backed up, because they die sooner or later. For me it was sooner, for my friend it was later. Some soldering problem if I recall things right. A bootloop is the first (and sometimes the last sign).
> Hope you have it backed up, because they die sooner or later Tangential to your point, but is there anything useful that isn't backed up more or less by default in the standard Android workflow? I get that the privacy-concerned wouldn't use eg Google Photos, but they also likely heavily overlap with the set of people savvy enough to set up backup solutions for important data.
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Comparing Samsung's OneUI and stock Android, I would pick OneUI without blinking. I used to hate Touchwiz.
It's not just a question of design philosophy. Samsung software is often riddled with bugs, things don't work, features removed relative to stock android, forcing inferior version on us (like their keyboard...), then on top of it all the crapware, the fake android store, the lack of updates, etc. etc.
It also has features, that will show in the next Android version. The dark mode, for example, has been there since they introduced Pie version. The only one feature that I noticed they removed, is the SIP client, which most users do not use anyway.
They do ship their keyboard, but you can still choose you own, the Android mechanism for that works. I also do not have any problem with it, it is on par with the Sony one, for example.
What I do appreciate though, is that their software doesn't push me into cloud services. Their gallery is perfectly fine with working just on device, without asking me to upload my photos somewhere, unlike Google Photos, which doesn't know the answer "No, thank you, don't bother me again". Samsung account is entirely optional, I still didn't create mine and it works perfectly well without it.
As the cherry on the top, the esthetic of OneUI is nicer than Google's. It makes somewhat softer impression, where Google apps are unnecessarily harsh.
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Comparing Samsung's OneUI and stock Android, I would pick OneUI without blinking. I used to hate Touchwiz.
It more comes down to the permanently installed crap software they bundle like it’s a 1998 emachine. And the lame Samsung account requirement. And Bixby. There’s that weird rewards program thing where you earn xp for using different features on the phone. The updates are slow. It feels more like spyware than standard google stuff. The whole thing is a pretty terrible experience.
It works perfectly fine without Samsung account. I couldn't be bothered to make one, and I'm not missing anything. If you do not have Samsung account, Bixby won't bother you either. Just because there was a step to make one in the OOBE, doesn't mean you have to make one, you can skip it.
Updates are there at the beginning of every month, I have no idea why you think they are slow (and for some reason, S8 updates are there day or two in advance to S10 updates... go figure). Samsung doesn't insist on using cloud services, unlike Google, where Google Photos nag the user to enable upload to cloud, even if the user never intends to do so. Google apps do not know the answer "no", Samsung (or Sony) apps do.
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> a removable battery and OS updates for two years This provokes me. Are we supposed to be happy with two years ? The environmental impact of e-waste and the production of electronics should not be understated. I have a Nexus 5 as a backup phone. It works just as well as my main handset. I know how to duck the G-surveillance and I'm able to keep it alive because I have the knowledge to install roms. Not everyone does…
What's interesting is that most people that buy the 140 dollar phones tend to keep them for 3 or 4 years, and people who buy the flagship 1000+ dollar phones, tend to keep them for 1 or 2 max.
Somehow I doubt that Apple just throws my phone away.
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Please stop advocating for Telegram: https://gizmodo.com/why-you-should-stop-using-telegram-right... https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/987372998935105539 Signal is definitely the more secure choice, but Whatsapp is still king of the network effect at least in my neck of the woods.
Please stop advocating for Signal: https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37#issueco... Signal is just as non-free as WhatsApp.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Telegram is the best compromise imo
Please stop advocating for Telegram: https://gizmodo.com/why-you-should-stop-using-telegram-right... https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/987372998935105539 Signal is definitely the more secure choice, but Whatsapp is still king of the network effect at least in my neck of the woods.
My one wish is for the server codebase to be open sourced but given that Telegram is in the midst of a backend architectural change to the Telegram Open Network, I forgive them this, for now.
Every alternative is riddled with issues: WhatsApp is controlled by Facebook who let's face it may as well be the face of evil for Silicon Valley today; Signal is controlled by a power-tripping maniac who refuses to work with the open source commons on releasing to package repos like F-Droid, the app itself also has major deliverability issues; Wire would be good if they just sorted their notifications on mobile out but I've been waiting for that day for a few years now; Matrix is slow to deliver messages among networks larger than a handful.
There's your overview.
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Live in the UK. Never received an RCS. Nor has anyone I know. For all Google's bluster here it's not supported by the carriers, and only works on Google's own SMS app - not the AOSP or OEM ones - which only the tiniest proportion of the market uses as it's not the default on 90%+ of Android phones shipping today. There is no UK RCS market.
RCS is a federated protocol. Any app could use it if the network providers supplied a service for it. Google is providing a Google server fallback for if they don't. There may not be a UK RCS market, but given it was just turned on a couple months ago and for a few countries, perhaps it's too soon to call it decided?
There isn't really any reason to surmise that is going to improve, and Google's boasting here is very silly. RCS is a dead end product in every non-US territory, and Google have no market levers to pull that can improve it's performance. They should give up on it and focus their efforts on the US bluntly.