Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I will never buy another Samsung device

lehtimaeki.medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

571–580 of 664 posts

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#571

Post by LeoPanthera »

vinay427 wrote: post #428
LeoPanthera wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sony TVs use Google software, and while Google spies on you too, at least they're honest about it (!), and allow you to turn it off. I also trust Google to have fewer glaring security issues than Samsung.

> and allow you to turn it off. Source? On Android with Google Play Services, which almost always applies to Android TV as they’re essentially the same OS, there are no UI toggles to turn off the spying. You can check this using a DNS proxy, for instance, and viewing the log after blocking Google domains using such a proxy might prove quite alarming. Android devices even with location and search tracking disabled con…

You can disable tracking account-wide at https://myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy - scroll down to the confusingly-named "History settings".

If you turn these off, particularly "Web & app history", your TV (and all other Google devices) will obey the settings if it is logged into that Google account.

It will still be contacting Google's servers, but it won't be recording anything.

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#572

Post by lobocinza »

Hnrobert42 wrote: post #407
southerntofu wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's sort of understandable when Google or Facebook spy on you and monetise your data to profit from the services that they provide you free of monetary charge to you. I personally don't like that line of reasoning. If you start to justify abusive behavior in the name of making money you're not giving someone for a "service", it's a small leap to reach the conclusion that abusive behavior (and profiting from it) is…

Google and FB are unscrupulous and terrible. But it is absurd to insist the only two valid transaction models are offer paid service (which I assume means for money) or gift. Even in your hypothetical, it would not be unreasonable for them to give me a donut in exchange for taking notes on which donut I like and handing me a coupon for my next donut. To me, the issue is not the data collection. It is the lack of tran…

> Even in your hypothetical, it would not be unreasonable for them to give me a donut in exchange for taking notes on which donut I like and handing me a coupon for my next donut.

Google Rewards

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#573

Post by lobocinza »

pnutjam wrote: post #565
rjzzleep wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just saw the Samsung S22 and it looks kinda like an iPhone 13, very solid build, comparably compact, it would actually be a good device if it weren't for the fact that the moment you unlock it they trip an e-fuse to make sure you can't use certain things. Sony used to wipe the drm keys to brick the camera on their phones. I had a samsung active2 watch. It advertised ECG, which didn't materialize until almost 2 year…

Motorola has some newer models that seem pretty comparable and the battery actually lasts a day or two. I've been sticking with Motorola for my Android and I've been pretty happy.

I only had bad experiences with Motorola but that was years ago.

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#574

Post by jmyeet »

Hello71 wrote: post #533
jmyeet wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple cables really are terrible. I've had teh cladding come off multiple Lightning cables to the point I never use the Apple cable anymore. I just buy Anker cables without thinking about it. I honestly don't know how Apple cables can be this bad. More to the point, I don't understand how Apple leadership can tolerate this from a PR perspective.

Allegedly, one major reason is that Apple has been successfully pressured by Greenpeace to remove PVC from their cables, causing them to be more brittle and fail sooner. https://fee.org/articles/this-is-the-real-reason-your-iphone... is one source, but Apple and Greenpeace themselves tout this "achievement". It seems to me to be just like replacing nuclear power with coal and natural gas power: another casualty of id…

Interesting. What about nylon clad cables? Anker makes these (as do others) and this is what I buy. Why couldn't Apple sell those?

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#575

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

Angostura wrote: post #514
josephg wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I have a smart tv. (What other kind exists today?). The remote has a netflix button - which is super useful. But according to my router, the TV sends a trickle of data over WIFI constantly. Even when its "off". So I've banned the TV from my WIFI network, and I just have a PC plugged into it. Its less convenient this way - we need to pull out a wireless keyboard & mouse to watch netflix. But I think its the right…

At Least my LG TV shows up in the Offline Devices list on my router when it's turned off.

because you can't capture speech without the network being active, and send it later as TTS?

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#576

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

forty wrote: post #453
southerntofu wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These applications are viruses. They eat all your resources, make connections to the network, and you can't get rid of them. I don't understand how some (most?) of humanity has accepted that it's acceptable for Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Huawei to make it mandatory to use their spyware. If i as an individual sold phones that are tied to crappy malware i would be in prison very quickly. They control your phone, you…

It turns out a good phone with good customer service and reasonable repair options is worth more than 300€ yes. Sadly we have been made believe that it could be much cheaper, but there are hidden human, privacy and environmental costs. Hopefully we finally start paying the actual cost for our smartphones, and our planet, the kids and our privacy will be grateful for it.

Buy dirt cheap used, install better OS.

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#577

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

p410n3 wrote: post #281
enw wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An acquaintance who worked as a security consultant for Samsung can corroborate. They said Samsung's security practices were terrible to say the least.

Any details? Concerned Samsung phone user here. This statement is very unspecific

Read the rest of the thread — if you have any sort of concern, junk their products, they even take screenshots of your television...

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#578

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

ksec wrote: post #546
duffyjp wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly there are only a handful of apps I use that couldn't just be a PWA. Maybe it's time for Windows Mobile 2.0.

Yes. But Microsoft seems to have completely given up.

Surface Duo + slowly building Surface brand properly is "giving up"?

Misread something, one of us.

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#579

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #571
vinay427 wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and allow you to turn it off. Source? On Android with Google Play Services, which almost always applies to Android TV as they’re essentially the same OS, there are no UI toggles to turn off the spying. You can check this using a DNS proxy, for instance, and viewing the log after blocking Google domains using such a proxy might prove quite alarming. Android devices even with location and search tracking disabled con…

You can disable tracking account-wide at https://myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy - scroll down to the confusingly-named "History settings". If you turn these off, particularly "Web & app history", your TV (and all other Google devices) will obey the settings if it is logged into that Google account. It will still be contacting Google's servers, but it won't be recording anything.

Are you sure?

Or are they just not showing you, via your UI, what they're collecting into their data pools anymore?

Re: Why I will never buy another Samsung device

#580

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

hddherman wrote: post #169
aaaaaaaaata wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am forced to Ten minutes on GrapheneOS.org web installer, no longer forced.

Properly supporting a device should be left on the shoulders of the manufacturer, not a group of volunteers who do it in their free time.

Not until society demands corporate responsibility with their cash....
Post reply on HN